On January 4th, the nation awoke to the horrid news of four Chicago teens torturing an 18-year old man with special needs. The video showed the four teens yelling many hateful and obscene statements for no apparent reason and the four teens were arrested and swiftly charged with a hate crime. The entire video was being recorded and streamed live via Facebook. As the days have passed, more details have been released. But regardless of what information has been brought to light, there is no denying the inhumane nature of this crime.

In the days following the event, the media circus was going wild and articles, videos and anything else that could provide information regarding this was and is still being published, and rightfully so. Like any other big story, the public outcry and responses all over social media were ones of anger, disgust, and disbelief. Once again, the response from the nation was understandable, until the tide of the conversations started to take a turn away from the topic at hand and began to name the BLM movement as the motivating group behind the actions of these four teens.

The hashtag #BLMKidnapping started to trend on Twitter and cries and echoes of the teens being associated with Black Lives Matter or them being a representation of the movement. The ridiculousness of this claim is one beyond measure and is yet another sad moment for the country. The narrative being stirred by the media and the public's willingness to accept the media's tactics have once again taken attention away from the actual horror and crime. The public response has slowly turned into an attempt to yet again chastise the disenfranchised people in this country.

Despite the difference in opinion regarding BLM the hypocrisy, and overzealous, tendency people have when it comes to aligning the realities of society in juxtaposition with their personal and socioeconomic beliefs is turning a moment where hate and malice were displayed into an opportunity to denigrate the legitimate claims of an underrepresented group in this country.

The BLM movement, while being in the middle of a ton of controversy, has done a great job of getting the voices of the black community heard on a national level. In a country where race is always at the center of discussions, the movement has alerted the nation of many issues that have long plagued the American justice system and society alike.

Many feel that the discussions that are brought up by this movement or any other group with similar interests are "divisive" and are bringing about a "racial divide." The truth is these issues have always existed and all the hysteria in 2016 and this event happening at the dawn of 2017 being centered around the issue of race should come as a surprise to no one.

This idea is yet another example of the bad habit of consistently utilizing the lazy argument. That any event or public action done by a black individual, or a group of black people, is associated with the motive's of BLM is ridiculous and does nothing but shed light on just how divided the mentalities and perceptions of our society truly are.

Now, you may be thinking, four people tortured one defenseless man, what argument could be made? I'm sure you're thinking to yourself, "typical black guy bringing race into this." Well, let's discuss last month's sexual assault with a coat hanger and maybe we can start seeing eye-to-eye.

Last month, in Dietrich, Idaho, R.K. Howard and two of his football teammates (three white guys) forced a coat hangar into their black teammate Antwon McDaniel's (special needs student) anus, kicking it four or five times to force the hanger deeper and proceeded to rape him.

Minus a few details, that sounds similar, right?

Now, this isn't an attempt to compare these two crimes, because both are horrific and inexcusable, but the repercussions and the public reaction are what truly emphasize the broken soul of this country.

Howard, the main offender in this particular crime, was not charged with a hate crime, is serving no jail time and accepted a plea deal that requires him to complete over 300 hours of community service and two to possibly three years of probation.

Basically, Mr. Howard got a slap on the wrist and a nice long lecture. I'm sure his many hours of picking up trash in the hot sun will whip him into shape.

Now, the media coverage surrounding this crime in Idaho was nowhere near the level of attention that this facebook crime has received, there was hardly any response from the public and it seemed to fade away as quickly as a rumor in high school.

Frankly, this is pathetic. The same folks chastising BLM and calling out the very evident racism in the torture video were expectedly silent during this time. There was no calling out President Obama to declare this crime a hate crime, no politically-charge tweets. It was just another day in paradise. No one seemed to care, and honestly, I'm not surprised.

To be honest, if BLM was disbanded tomorrow, it makes no difference to the ongoing battle that the black community face. It's been a great tool to get more voices heard, but ultimately, is just becoming the scapegoat of every happening that has any racial implications coming from any black person.

The media is once again undefeated, and the American people have once again let their feelings be heard loud and clear.

Crime, in any way, shape, or form is horrible. Assault, regardless of the intent, is a despicable act and anyone doing such a heinous crime should be punished accordingly.

These simple concepts of justice should not be hard to apply, and the same vim and vigor that has been displayed in the past week need to be applied regardless of the color or the background of the person or persons who are responsible. Whether you're moderate, leftist, right-wing, indifferent or just don't give a damn, we are all human beings at the end of the day and the unrelenting need to make everything a social/political debate needed to have died a long time ago.

Think of the victims. Think of the parents. Get off your high horses, stop feeling threatened, entitled, or any other way and be a human being.

Hopefully one day this country can take the same anger that they displayed towards a fast-talking boxer from Louisville when he said no to war, or a preacher from Atlanta who wouldn't stop preaching, or to an afro-wearing man that decided to kneel during an archaic national song, towards a just cause. Maybe, just maybe, we can get somewhere as a nation.