Who Failed Ma'Khia Bryant? It was not the police.

Ma'Khia Bryant's death raises a few questions:

1. Why did this 16-year-old feel the need to go after two other girls with a knife?

2. What happened in her young life that made her so angry that she was willing to kill (or seriously injure) someone at 16?

3. Where were the adults in her life helping her navigate through difficult situations? Did she have any adults that she trusted and could turn to?

4. Why was she so lost that she was willing to lose her life at 16? I say "willing" because you don't go into a knife fight without knowing that you may be the one who ends up dead, and she was at the age of reason.

The police officer was only doing his job. We know good and well that if he had let Ma'Khia kill or injure the other 2 black girls, we (in the black community) would have said that he did not care because they were black. He, in fact, saved a life.

And, honestly, if she went after my child with a knife, I would have stopped her, or wanted the police to, in order to save my child's life, 16 or not.

It's sad that Ma'Khia lost her life at 16, but it was the adults in her life who failed her, not the police.