About 15 years ago, I worked in what was essentially a prison for kids. Most of them repped some gang. Kids were in for everything from armed robbery to kidnapping.

I was hired to teach, but that also required spending time in the dorms, cafeteria, and so on. It was not a fun experience. Kids fought each other. Kids fought security. The amount of blood I saw at that place still haunts me.

I once had to call security because a usually reasonable kid started losing it in my class. The security guard asked the rest of the class to leave and proceeded to basically fight the kid. I didn’t see the altercation, but I could hear it. Eventually, the guard “calmed” the situation by choking the kid out.

I don’t even know how legal this stuff was in hindsight, but this was the world I worked in for a year.

Nevertheless, the violence usually isn’t the first thing I think about when I think about those kids.I think about the respect the kids showed women, especially kind elderly women.

They almost always avoided fighting in a woman’s classroom. It was always, “Yes, ma’am”. If a man, especially a younger one, made the same request, it could easily turn into a brawl.

As a young man, it warmed my heart that these kids, despite everything, were raised with enough sense to respect elderly women.

Somewhere we lost that.

Attacking grandma

I’ve written about my students attacking their mothers before, but attacking their grandmother is even more horrifying. Luckily, I haven’t heard about any of my students doing this, but I have received a couple of videos over the last year about teenagers violently attacking their elderly grandmothers.

Still, nothing could really prepare me for Dr. Ellena Gooch-Reid’s story.

Civil Rights Activist left for dead

“Elderly people are being attacked because they can’t defend themselves. I’ve spoken to the police and am trying to find out what’s going on and whether they have found somebody. I have given all the information I know to give….This has to be solved for the rest of the senior citizens to have a safe place to live”-Dr. Gooch-Reid

This is Dr. Gooch-Reid’s warning after barely surviving the brutal attack against her. She was robbed, hit in the head by a man, and left in a pool of her own blood. She has two broken arms and multiple stab wounds across her body.

It is always hard to read about monstrous attacks like this, but I don’t think I’ve ever been so enraged and so embarrassed. Dr. Gooch-Reid is 87 years old and a Civil Rights Activist. She fought to change the world and never stopped.

This attack likely stems from her kindness. She helped a teenager get clothes, and that same teenager was involved in the attack, according to Dr. Gooch-Reid.

As a teacher, I always try to hold out hope that kids can grow out of their bad decisions, but what type of person attacks an 87-year-old with this level of cruelty? Who specifically targets someone who went out of their way to help them? I hate to call children monsters, but I’m struggling to find any word more optimistic than that.

I’ve sacrificed for many kids in my day, and I admit they are sometimes not especially grateful. They want more and more and more. I am a relatively big guy, but I’m also getting older. What happens when I start looking like an easy target?

No arrests?

Dr. Gooch-Reid gave the police 4 names as potential attackers. The monsters stole her phone and credit cards. They even used the cards to withdraw cash. This means they probably went to an ATM which also suggests they are on camera.

Obviously, I don’t have all the information, but no arrests after a month is shocking. I’m also surprised I’m not hearing more about this situation. It was even difficult to find information to write this.

It is easy to lose faith in humanity when we hear about stories like this.It is easy to label an entire generation, but I was struck by what Dr. Gooch-Reid said while recovering from her attack.

“The person definitely needs help, but I want justice.”

Despite everything, she is able to find the humanity in her attackers. That takes a special person, and she is right on both counts. This is even more reason to find these kids.