For the benefit of North Kingstown voters, who allow Jennifer Lima to represent them on their school committee, let's review the factual circumstances of Austin Metcalf's murder in Texas.
His assailant, Karmelo Anthony, brought a knife to a high school track meet. He entered into another team's space, settling under their team tent. When asked to leave, he threatened Metcalf. When Metcalf grabbed or pushed him, he took out his knife and stabbed to death.
Both were teenage students.
What this has to do with Lima is that, as part of a "conversation" she thinks the community should have (just weeks after a shocking stabbing at Narragansett Town Beach on "Senior Skip Day"), she shared an article that told Metcalf's father his son's death was his fault because he "failed to teach him that black boys have boundaries."
Lima understandably received "hundreds" of objections and opted not to attend the schools' commencement for that reason. Positioning herself as the victim, she admits that, in "hindsight," the "treatment of a grieving father may have overshadowed the larger point."
No. No "hindsight" should have been necessary to see the outrageousness, here, and what's more, blaming the white father was intrinsic to "the larger point."
North Kingstown voters should look in their mirrors and ask themselves what sort of people they want representing them and guiding their children's education. Rhode Island journalists should likewise ask themselves why they don't think it's their job to keep voters informed enough to make such decisions.