“If you saw that and you didn’t see anything wrong with that, you’re part of the problem.” “As a Black queer man, I have experienced some of the same homophobia and some of the same abuse by the hands of people that I love as a child,” Barrington-Ward said.
In the background, someone can be heard telling him to “say it.”ĭevin Barrington-Ward, a local activist and candidate for city council, told FOX 11, “My heart was broken because I saw a piece of myself in that.” “They were just showing me, like, you need to stop doing that.”
“My brother and them, they didn’t abuse me,” he says in the video. Prior to being placed in protective custody, a second video was uploaded to Instagram showing the same youth claiming that he was “good.” “At this time, we are working closely with DFCS and the investigation continues.”
“Investigators were able to find the incident location and identify the juvenile and he was placed in the care of the Georgia Division of Family & Children Services (DFCS) on the evening of ,” APD said in a statement. The City of Atlanta Police Department last week confirmed its Special Victim’s Unit had launched an investigation to identify the boy, as well as those in the video with him.ĪPD called the video “difficult to watch” and the behavior of the adults “absolutely unacceptable.” The video was uploaded to Instagram Live on June 17 by the boy’s mother, where it caused outcry and demands for police intervention.