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Protect children from hatred

This is in response to the march by pupils at the school where a child was killed in crossfire between cops and robbers in Johannesburg.

This is in response to the march by pupils at the school where a child was killed in crossfire between cops and robbers in Johannesburg.

Is it moral to incite young children to do or say things on behalf of parents? While I agree that citizens need to speak out about crime, why drag our children into it.

Yes it affects them too, but do children understand what happens when a person is hanged? I don't think so. We are creating little Nels who will one day shoot to kill. That young boy, Johan, did not just wake up and decide to shoot his first victim when he was 15 years old. He acted out the anger and racist remarks that were made at home.

We can argue till we froth at the mouth, but we know that what we say or do in front of our children will be repeated by them. Right now we have radical youth who believe in solving issues through violence, hence we see students trashing universities. We can't blame the children because they are acting out their parents' frustration about fighting the old system. Our children still relate to those times of mass confusion and mayhem to solve little disagreements. No wonder we have school violence. In our time, we fought and were bosom friends afterwards. Today it becomes gang-related across schools.

Ntozakhele Lucas, Rosebank

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