The security camera footage broadcast by CNN shows a grisly scene : a black man in Jackson , Mississippi , being fatally run over by a pickup truck after he was viciously beaten in a motel parking lot on a Sunday morning in June . Prosecutors say a group of white teens chose the man at random . They say the alleged ringleader , an 18-year-old now charged with murder , laughed about it afterward and boasted in a phone conversation about how he `` ran that n -- -- - over . '' When we 're confronted with such a shocking act of violence , we search for answers . We want to know what 's in the hearts and minds of the attackers . We wonder what motivates someone to extinguish a life for no other reason than the color of the person 's skin . And , in an odd way , some people take comfort in the fact that it happened in Mississippi , with its legacy of Jim Crow segregation and terrorism aimed at the African-American community . We want to see the crime as simply a reflection of a Deep South state still haunted by its racist past -- something that could n't happen in other parts of this country . It 's wishful thinking . In Patchogue , New York , Marcelo Lucero , a 37-year-old Ecuadorian immigrant , was stabbed to death in 2008 when he was attacked by a gang of white teens who decided to hunt down and attack Latinos for sport -- or as they called it , `` beaner hopping . '' In Huntington Beach , California , three men and a woman with white supremacist tattoos went into a predominantly Latino neighborhood on July 3 , 2009 , looking for a `` nonwhite '' to hurt . They attacked a Latino man in an alley . Yelling racial slurs , they reportedly stabbed him three times . In West Allis , Wisconsin , the opening night of the state fair this month turned to mayhem when dozens of black youths began attacking white people . A 16-year-old boy detained by police said he and others attacked white people because they were `` easy targets , '' according to The Christian Science Monitor . We ca n't pretend that what happened in Mississippi that June morning could n't happen elsewhere . It already has , and it will again . The social fabric in our country is fragile , and the fault lines are often defined by race . Our communities and schools are increasingly segregated . Globalization and our economic woes are leaving many young people without hope for the future . And we 're seeing a backlash against the nation 's changing ethnic makeup . All of this provides fertile ground for bigotry and violence to take root and flourish . Meanwhile , our political system seems paralyzed , incapable of protecting the interests of working people , much less pulling us together . Messages of hate and bigotry can be found not only on the fringes of our society but virtually nonstop on television , talk radio and the Internet , where certain groups of people are demonized and held up as scapegoats for our problems . Too many of our politicians pour fuel on the fire by exploiting divisions in our society -- fostering an us-versus-them mentality and casting entire groups of people as `` the other . '' Despite the promise of the Obama presidency , it 's time to realize we 're not living in a `` post-racial '' society . It 's time to speak out against bigotry and to call out those in public life who encourage hate and violence with their words . And it 's time to invest in the future of our nation and its youth -- to provide hope and opportunity to the next generation . Our future depends on it . The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of J. Richard Cohen .
A black man was killed in what prosecutors called a racially motivated attack in America . Cohen : Such incidents are n't just a African-American problem , but they are national in scope . He says Mississippi 's social fabric is fragile , and fault lines are defined by race and ethnicity . J. Richard Cohen : It 's vital to invest in young generation and provide hope to counter power of hatred .