A frame grab from WPIX video on the ‘game.’ (WPIX)

Knockout Game ‘Trend’ Is Just a Racist Myth

Reports ‘part of ongoing demonization of black teens’: Robin Abcarian

By Matt Cantor, Newser Staff

Reports have been flying about a game called “Knockout,” in which teens punch innocent passersby for fun. And conservative outlets are blasting the politically correct-minded mainstream media for neglecting to mention the supposed fact that African-American teens are behind the attacks, writes Robin Abcarian in the LA Times. In fact, racially motivated attacks are overwhelmingly (72%) against black Americans, and these outlets are just contributing to “the ongoing demonization of black teenagers,” Abcarian notes—whether it’s the Scottsboro Boys or five teens jailed for a 1989 Central Park rape they didn’t commit. Back then, the Daily News warned of a trend called “wilding.”

“News flash: Teenage boys in groups can act like jerks, sometimes malicious jerks. That goes for all races,” she writes. A juvenile crime expert addresses videos that have emerged of the attacks: “It’s always dangerous to create a ‘trend’ out of isolated but vivid instances,” he says. Indeed, police aren’t even certain the “game” exists—though a GOP New York assemblyman seems to have few doubts, calling for a “Knockout Assault Deterrent Act” that would result in teens being tried as adults and facing sentences as long as 25 years. “That, friends, is how you institutionalize racism,” Abcarian writes