The toll on American kids

May 20, 2017 10:32 PM

A lot of the fallout from opioid addiction, homelessness and gun violence falls on kids. These are a few stories I've read. Tyshaun's dad was killed across the street from his elementary school.

Homeless kids on their fantastic viral stories. Somehow the stories are replicated by homeless kids all over the US. "They eat light so they can fly," eight-year-old Andre tells the children sitting on the patio of the Salvation Army's emergency shelter on NW 38th Street. Andre explains that the angels hide in the building while they study battle maps.

Opiod addiction in Clinton county Ohio is among the worst in the nation. A four year-old: "She asked me: if I took her away, who was going to take care of mommy?”

posted by bendy (8 comments total)

Here reasonably locally, we had infant Summer Chambers starve to death after her parents OD'd on fentanyl not that long ago. Not the only OD, but a particularly tragic one.
posted by which_chick at 3:33 AM on May 21, 2017

Wasn't that Miami mythos story debunked? As in, no one other than the story author could document it?
posted by thelonius at 7:35 AM on May 21, 2017

> Wasn't that Miami mythos story debunked?

That's my understanding. Too bad, too. There was some beauty in that thing. Let's now return to our grimdark timeline.
posted by cult_url_bias at 7:49 AM on May 21, 2017

These stories are soul crushing. If we put 1/10 of the resources we allocate to the military to solving this crisis how many lives could be saved? The "Myths Over Miami" story wrecked me. I'd be interested to know too, thelonius, if it's been debunked. Even if it's only "partially" true, it is fascinating, devastating and heartbreaking. Thank you bendy for the post.
posted by pjsky at 7:52 AM on May 21, 2017 [2 favorites]

I was interested to see that the Miami story cited Virginia Hamilton, because as I was reading the description of the mythology (real or not), one of the first things that I thought of was Hamilton's book, The Planet of Junior Brown.
posted by Halloween Jack at 8:03 AM on May 21, 2017

Also, from the Miami story (dated 1997): "Her name was first spoken in hushed tones among children all over America nearly twenty years ago. Even in Sweden folklorists reported Bloody Mary's fame." Bloody Mary is older than that. Source: my own childhood.
posted by Halloween Jack at 10:05 AM on May 21, 2017

On a lot of days, it is really hard to muster the kind of resilience that working with hopelessly broken and suffering requires, but the teachers in these schools -- I just cannot imagine. I couldn't do it. Within days, my hatred of humanity would consume me.
posted by Slarty Bartfast at 10:53 AM on May 21, 2017

Umph. I need to lie under my desk a moment and think about the world.
posted by 80 Cats in a Dog Suit at 6:57 AM on May 22, 2017