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By: Tonyaa Weathersbee, BlackAmericaWeb.com

Black youths who tend to see the civil rights struggle solely as the stuff of grainy, black-and-white 1960s footage should pay close attention to what happened to Shaquanda Cotton.
If nothing else, her ordeal illustrates why even today, it's important for them to understand that struggle still continues. There are people out there who are bent on turning back the clock on equality -- that is, racists who will still use any means necessary to keep black people in their place.

These days, it seems young black people like Shaquanda are becoming easy prey for them.
As we all know by now, the then-14-year-old Paris, Texas freshman was sentenced last year to up to seven years in prison for shoving a hall monitor at her school. The woman, whom Shaquanda said pushed her first, wasn't seriously hurt.

The same judge who three months earlier sentenced a 14-year-old white girl to probation for burning down her family's home saw to it that Shaquanda was sent off in shackles.