Listen Live
Magic 95.5 Featured Video
CLOSE

Look, what happened to Kiera Wilmot occurred in the state of Florida. Should we REALLY be surprised?

What happened to Wilmot? Oh, she got expelled from Bartow High School in some jerkwater town called Bartow, Fla. And arrested. And led from school in handcuffs.

So Wilmot must have attacked a teacher and cleaned his or her clock pretty good, right? Or brought a Tech 9 to school and waved it around.

Nah, you’re not thinking that. You’re not thinking that at all. You’re thinking that THIS HAPPENED IN FLORIDA. And yes, you’re also thinking that young Ms. Wilmot – she’s only 16 – also happens to be black.

Put those two things together – Wilmot is black and living in Florida – and you’re not surprised that what she did was to mix some aluminum foil and toilet bowl cleaner in an eight-ounce bottle. That happened around 7 a.m. on Monday, April 22.

There was a chemical reaction – the aluminum in the foil reacting with sodium hydroxide in the toilet bowl cleaner, according to a story on the web site http://www.businessinsider.com — and the cap flew off the bottle, causing a minor explosion that sounded, according to some witnesses, like a firecracker exploding.

Smoke also came from the bottle. That was enough to get Wilmot expelled, arrested and charged – as an adult – with “possession/discharge of a weapon on school grounds” and “discharging a destructive device.”

Wilmot, according to the http://www.businessinsider.com story, is an honor roll student, makes straight A’s and has no prior disciplinary problems. Too bad she lives in Florida.

In a more reasonable state, school officials would have looked at what Wilmot did, looked at her grades and record of deportment and opted for a course of action other than expulsion, handcuffs, arrest and felony charges as an adult.

No one was hurt in Wilmot’s science experiment, and no damage was caused. But Wilmot – who will have to finish school in an alternative “expulsion program” – is black and lives in Florida. That makes all the difference.

Brenton Butler was a black kid – only 15, one year younger than Wilmot – when he was walking his dog on a Sunday morning in Jacksonville, Fla.

Unbeknownst to Butler, a black man had robbed a white tourist couple soon before he walked his dog. The robber killed a white woman.

Cops were told the suspect was a black male. Two cops were talking when one noticed Butler.

“Hey,” the one cop said. “There’s a black male right there.”

Attention Black Teens: Steer Clear of Florida, If You Can  was originally published on blackamericaweb.com

1 2Next page »