Kimora Lee speaks on recent video of 14-year-old Trevor Casey, who was beaten so badly by police his mother couldn’t even recognize him.

I watched astounded, as two uniformed police officers manhandled a bloodied, teenage, young black male. I could not believe what I was seeing. I have since read that the two grown men choked and beat 14-year-old Trevor Casey so badly that his own mother, Karen, was unable to recognize him afterwards. He was not a “thug,” he was a child. He could’ve been yours’ or mine. I am not trying to rush to judgment against the police officers, but it was clear from the video that something obviously went wrong.

But the video tells a larger story than the violent incident visited upon the Caseys of Toledo, OH. It’s a story about the on-going conflict across our country between our communities and the agencies created to police them. Too often, these victims are black males. This is important to note since I’ve come to realize that, because this incident has been largely overlooked by the mass media, and also because it’s dawned on me that our children may not be safe.

As a mother of two beautiful daughters and another child on the way, I am horrified at the way that our young black males are stereotyped; viewed as negligible and disposable and destined for trouble. Mortified, then, is a good word to describe my reaction at having seemingly witnessed an attack on thin-limbed Trevor, who can’t weigh more than 115 lbs – including his non-threatening attire: summer shirt and wind shorts…