I'd love to be able to find out, without harming anyone, if Shannon Jones and Larry Roberts would feel the same way about Nathaniel if Ronnie had been their child. Unfortunately, it's easy to give a glib, self-affirming answer to such questions when not actually facing or having faced the situation oneself. Walk a mile in the shoes of the dead child's family before excusing Nathaniel. While there are differences in the formulations of the two letters, both express the concern that by discussing the social circumstances of Nathaniel Abraham's life we thereby excuse the shooting death of Ronnie Green. The problem with this approach is that Nathaniel's case is not an isolated incident.
Any serious investigation reveals both the specific and the broader social causes of events.
At issue are the circumstances of this individual youth's life, as well as the shift in politics and philosophy that have resulted in what we consider to be a cruel and inhuman social policy. The cuts in mental health are truly scandalous. Michigan politicians, Democratic and Republican, have closed down 76 percent of the mental hospitals, replacing them with facilities operated by the Community Health Department, a system that is widely recognized as inadequate. This helps explain why Gloria Abraham, Nathaniel's mother, was unable to get help when she desperately sought it. Mental health care experts have stated that the number of cases like Nathaniel's is increasing as a direct result of the cuts by state governments in health care, including the care for children.