An editorial in a local New York newspaper argues that a "teenager [who] has been charged with a hate crime after being accused of spray-painting swastikas and racial remarks on buildings" should do "major" community service that involves the area's diversity.

The editorial attempts to make the larger point that the teenager "wasn't born with prejudice" and as a result such hate was learned. Moreover, when a person so young commits a hate crime, society must ask itself the following: "How prejudiced are we? Do we pass that on to our children?"