>>A CUB SCOUT FROM COLORADO IS HEARTBROKEN AFTER HE WAS KICKED
OUT OF HIS DEN FOR ASKING THE FOLLOWING QUESTION OF STATE
SENATOR VICKI MARBLE, TAKE A LOOK.
>> I DON'T THINK ANY CHILD SHOULD BE BANNED FROM
COMING BACK FOR ASKING A TOUGH QUESTION.
>>WE KNOW WHAT YOU ARE THINKING, THIS IS APPARENT SCORING
POLITICAL POINTS USING THEIR KID AS A MESSENGER.
>>I HELPED HIM WORK OUT THE PRINTER BUT NO, IT WASN'T MY
AGENDA.
THERE WERE KIDS WHO ASKED ABOUT FRACKING, ABOUT THE BORDER
WALL, ABOUT FOSSIL FUELS, IN THE MIDST OF THAT IT DIDN'T
SEEM GUN CONTROL WAS THAT DIFFERENT.
>>THAT WAS AMES MAYFIELD, HE IS CURRENTLY ON THE SEARCH FOR A
NEW DEN, BUT THE BOY SCOUTS OF AMERICA HAVE RELEASED THE
FOLLOWING STATEMENT, SAYING --
>> I CAN'T STRESS ENOUGH HOW
SPECIAL OF A KID HE SEEMS, HE IS
INCREDIBLY SMART, WITTY, A LITTLE PRECOCIOUS, I DON'T
BELIEVE THIS WAS THE POLITICAL AGENDA OF THE MOM, ALTHOUGH WHEN
I HEARD THE STORY INITIALLY I FULLY BELIEVED THAT, I WAS LIKE
A NICE JOB, PARENT, BUT IT SEEMS LIKE THIS IS SOMETHING HE STAYED
INFORMED ON, THAT HE'S INTERESTED IN.
I THINK THE
QUESTION IS FAIR, IT IS STRANGE THAT IT WAS THE PACK LEADER THAT
KICKED OUT AMES -- I'M BLURRY ON HOW THAT WORKS, MY BROTHER WAS
AN EAGLE SCOUT BUT I BLACKED OUT FOR THE ENTIRETY OF WHEN HE WAS
DOING THAT, THE PACK LEADER IS DIFFERENT FROM THE DEN LEADER,
THE PACK LEADER SAID AMES WAS NO LONGER GOING TO BE A PART OF
THAT, NOW HE'S GOING TO FIND A DIFFERENT DAN IN COLORADO --
BUT THIS QUESTION IS NOT UNFAIR.
>>IT'S FAIR GAME, AND HIS RATIONALE BEHIND IT -- BY THE
WAY, AMES MAYFIELD, LITTLE ROCK STAR, HE'S THE TREASURER OF HIS
STUDENT GOVERNMENT.
HE'S A PRODIGY, HE'S SO SMART.
JUST TO
PREPARE THIS LIST OF QUESTIONS --
I WAS COLLECTING BEANIE BABIES AT HIS AGE.
>>I WAS STEALING GIRL SCOUT COOKIES, I WASN'T EVEN
SELLING THEM, THEY WOULDN'T LET ME.
>>I WAS PROBABLY CHOWING DOWN ON SOME SAMOSAS.
>>YOU WERE CHOWING DOWN ON MIMOSAS.
>>MY PARENTS WERE HIPPIES, THEY WERE COOL.
IT'S FAIR GAME
BECAUSE HE SAW THE SECOND AMENDMENT WAS PART OF THIS STATE
SENATOR'S PLATFORM, THAT'S A FAIR QUESTION, AND THE
TRAGEDY IN LAS VEGAS WAS WEIGHING ON HIS MIND AND I THINK
IT WAS SENSITIVE AND POIGNANT TO BRING UP THOSE QUESTIONS.
>>YOU HAVE TO LOOK AT THE CONTEXT OF THIS QUESTION, IT'S
THE SHADOW OF LAS VEGAS, AND ALSO THE OTHER CONTEXT IS THE
CONTEXT OF WHAT WAS GOING ON IN THE DEN MEETING OR WHATEVER IT'S
CALLED WHEN THEY ARE ASKING THESE OTHER QUESTIONS THAT ARE
ABOUT FRACKING AND THE LIST OF ISSUES THAT ARE ALL ASSOCIATED
WITH THINGS THAT ARE MAKING HEADLINES NOW.
THESE ARE ALL
FAIR QUESTIONS, AND THEN DEFAULT TO THE FACT THAT THIS IS AN
OUTSPOKEN LEGISLATOR WHEN IT COMES TO SECOND MOMENT RIGHTS,
AND IT IS AN APPROPRIATE QUESTION.
IT'S SAD TO ME THAT
THE BOY SCOUTS OF AMERICA ISSUED THAT RIDICULOUSLY LAME STATEMENT
WHERE THEY SAY NOTHING -- IT'S LIKE MATCH.COM, WE HOPE THIS CUB
SCOUT CAN END UP WITH THE APPROPRIATE DEN.
WHAT, WHERE
THEY DON'T TALK ABOUT THIS KIND OF THING?
>>IT SEEMS LIKE YOU ARE PUNISHING A KID FOR DOING HIS
RESEARCH, BECAUSE HE DID POINT OUT THAT SENATOR VICKI MARBLE
DID CORRELATE SOMETHING ABOUT BLACK AMERICANS FOR HAVING POOR
HEALTH BECAUSE OF BARBECUE CHICKEN, HE CALLED HER OUT ON
THAT, SO THE GUN CONTROL QUESTION IS GETTING THE
HEADLINES NOW BUT HE DID HIS RESEARCH ON WHO THE SENATOR WAS
THAT WOULD BE VISITING WITH THE TROOP AND ASKED HER QUESTIONS
BASED ON HER RECORD.
WHY ARE WE PUNISHING HIM?
HE'S A LITTLE
PRODIGY JOURNALIST, THAT'S MORE RESEARCH THAN A LOT OF
PEOPLE DO.
>>THAT QUESTION ABOUT HEALTH AND POVERTY IN THE BLACK
COMMUNITIES, I THINK WHAT THIS KID WAS TRYING TO GET
CLARIFICATION ON IS OKAY, WE ARE TALKING ABOUT PERSONAL DECISIONS
PEOPLE ARE MAKING ABOUT HEALTH, WHAT THEY CHOOSE TO EAT, BUT WE
ARE IGNORING THE DISCRIMINATION THAT'S RAMPANT IN THE HEALTHCARE
SYSTEM AND HOW THAT IS LINKED TO HIGHER RATES OF HYPERTENSION AND
HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE, WE ARE IGNORING HOW THE INFANT
MORTALITY RATE FOR BLACK BABIES IS HIGHER IN SEGREGATED CITIES
ACROSS AMERICA, AND I DON'T KNOW THAT THIS MISS MARBLE
ANSWER TO THAT.
>>SEEMS LIKE SHE LOST HER MARBLES.
I'M SO SORRY.
>>LET ME SAY ONE LAST THING, YOU COULD HAVE GONE THE OTHER WAY
AND IT WOULD HAVE BEEN GREAT FOR THE BOY SCOUTS OF AMERICA AND
THE CUB SCOUTS, YOU COULD HAVE CELEBRATED THIS CONVERSATION AND
SAID GUYS, WAIT A MINUTE, IF THERE WERE JEERS OR BOOS, THIS
IS WHAT WE ARE ABOUT, WE HAVE TO BE TOLERANT OF A REAL
CONVERSATION THAT ADDRESSES THESE ISSUES.
YOU COULD REALLY BE ON THE CUTTING EDGE OF A REAL
CONVERSATION ABOUT THESE ISSUES.
>>AND SETTING AN EXAMPLE FOR THE REST OF THE COUNTRY.
THIS IS AN
11-YEAR-OLD BOY AND A STATE SENATOR HAVING A MORE CIVIL
DISCOURSE THEN IT SEEMS LIKE WE OFTEN HAVE AS ADULTS IN
THIS COUNTRY.
>>I WOULD APPLAUD THIS KID WHETHER HE ASKED A DEMOCRAT OR A
REPUBLICAN TOUGH QUESTIONS, JUST TO HAVE THE COURAGE AT THAT AGE
TO DO THAT.
AND ON THE HEELS OF THE VERY POLITICAL SPEECH THE
PRESIDENT MADE AT THE BOY SCOUTS JAMBOREE, THE BOY SCOUTS ISSUED
THIS STATEMENT SAYING WE ARE NONPARTISAN ORGANIZATION, SO
THEN WHY ISN'T THE KID ALLOWED TO STAY IN HIS DEN?