Race and Bebe's Kids


Forgive me if my thoughts seem to be all over the place.
I just watched a video in which a Black man, Mario Woods, was killed by police in San Bernadino, CA. It won't seem significant when people read this later on, but I watched that video.
And then, I started watching "Bebe's Kids" and I'm enjoying it, which I always do. It gets to the part when Robin, Jameka and the kids enter Fun World and Khalil is getting some water and he is IMMEDIATELY surrounded by park security. They started asking him what trouble he was into and what "gang insignia" was on his hat. Basically, they're harassing him. And they tell be "watching him" and they, thankfully, leave him alone. On hand, it could be interpreted as funny because they don't know to be scared and wary of him because he will cause havoc, but not because he's Black, but because he's Khalil.

On the other (and more important) hand, they're afraid of him and they have no reason to be, he hasn't said or done anything, but be young and Black in their park. But because the security officers have been trained to think that young, Black people can do nothing but wrong, they treat him like a criminal before he even as a chance to prove otherwise.

I mentioned the video in the beginning because it didn't take six or seven officers to apprehend or detain Mr. Woods, nor did it take six or seven security officers to approach Khalil. It's not right or just. And while it is "just a movie" and shouldn't be taken so "seriously," I think movies like "Bebe's Kids" have something more to offer than their comedy (which is above par).
There's also a point in the movie when Khalil points out that the other kids (white kids) are misbehaving and acting just as wild, if not more, but they're not being punished. It makes sense that even as a young child, he can point out the differences and see that he's been mistreating. And while it doesn't excuse his behavior, he knows that everyone should be treating fairly and they're not.

"Do you even remember what you came here to find?"

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Yeah, this is nonsense. The guards have every reason to be concerned about Bebe's kids. If you do a job well, you develop an instinct, and they are proved correct. What IS scary is that this film is disturbingly prescient and accurately predicts the decline in society that has continued since this "funny" animated film was made. Funny how Tyshimah doesn't seem at all concerned about the fact that the unseen "BeBe" is out doing God knows what, abandoning her children, who become violent truants and troublemakers, and expecting others (like the witless, politically correct enabler, Jamika) to raise and feed her [BeBe's] own offspring. The empty refrigerator seen close to the end which is what the kids come home to, also apparently causes Tyshimah no concern though it is a warning flag of the deepest red.

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It's not nonsense.
Before they even come into the park, they're targeted.
How would the guards know that they cause trouble and they haven't done or said anything yet?

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And then later he hijacked a pirate ship and started killing people.

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Where ever Bebes kids go they riot and destroy everything in sight. Sound familiar?

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