Watch CBS News

Keller @ Large: Actions Have Consequences

BOSTON (CBS) - Here's a story with an important life lesson – actions have consequences.

This particular case study comes from the Atlanta area, where two white people in their mid-twenties were sentenced to long prison terms Tuesday for terrorizing local African-Americans, including a group at a child's birthday party.

The two perps had joined with other members of a group called "Respect the Flag" in a "drunken rampage" over two days in 2015, driving around in trucks festooned with Confederate battle flags, waving guns and hurling racial epithets.

Apparently, these creatures were inspired by the mass murder of black worshippers at a Charleston, South Carolina church by a white supremacist.

They will have plenty of time to review their behavior in prison after being convicted of violating the state's street-gang terrorism law. The whole episode is an outrage, including the fact that while police were called to the scene of this birthday party, they made no arrests.

But what especially appalled me after watching video of the two racists crying in court during their sentencing was the repeated claim by one of them, in the course of an apology, that her criminal behavior "wasn't me."

Sorry ma'am – that was you.

Don't blame the booze, your friends, politics or anything else.

All sorts of people get angry, nurse grudges, and suffer from problems. But you chose to terrorize innocent people, and now you can pay the price, blubbering apologies in court notwithstanding.

Remember - actions have consequences.

Listen to Jon's commentary:

View CBS News In
CBS News App Open
Chrome Safari Continue
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.