Latasha Harlins was fifteen years old when she was killed in a Los Angeles convenience store in 1991 after being accused of stealing orange juice. Security footage later showed she had money in her hand. Thirty-two years later, fourteen-year-old Cyrus Carmack-Belton was killed in South Carolina after being accused of stealing bottles of water. Investigators argued the accusation itself was unfounded. Although the cases occurred decades apart, they raise many of the same ques

Martin Luther King Jr. argued that the greatest obstacle to civil rights was not extremist groups, but moderate individuals who prioritized order over justice. He described people who agreed with equality in principle but resisted the disruption required to achieve it. This pattern continues today. Public attention often drives engagement with social issues. Topics trend, people respond, and then attention shifts before meaningful change occurs.