Fatal encounters such as the one between Brown and Wilson understandably draw the nation's attention. But such tragedies are just the visible manifestation of a much larger reality. Most if not all young men go through a period between adolescence and adulthood when they are likely to engage in risky behavior of various kinds without fully grasping the consequences of their actions. If they are white  well, boys will be boys. But if they are black, they are treated as men and assumed to have malicious intent.