Sounds like Ta-Nehisi Coates had a childhood much like mine.
And if Michael Brown was not angelic, I was practically demonic. I had my first drink when I was 11. I once brawled in the cafeteria after getting hit in the head with a steel trash can.
It wasn’t because I got hit in the head with a steel trash can, but I once brawled in the cafeteria, too!
Got suspended. The bully got suspended for longer at least that time.