Latreshia Davis knows that her 14-year-old son, Eugene Allen, has disciplinary problems, but she doesn't think putting him in a cage is the way to solve them.

McDonogh City Park Academy allegedly begs to differ.

The eighth-grade student at the charter school in New Orleans, La., told his mother that after "getting off the lunch line," he was placed in a "cage" with other students on Tuesday, and left alone for long periods of time.

Davis is in disbelief that the Academy would lock up her son, and says it could potentially damage his self-esteem.

"This speaks in volumes to me," Davis said. "It puts things in the kids' minds saying, 'You are not worth anything or it's okay to be behind bars or locked up in a cage.' It's so many things, and it hurts my heart because I would not lock my own child in a cage, so I don't appreciate someone else doing it."

The New Orleans Charter Schools Foundation, which runs the academy, is investigating the incident, and released the following statement late Tuesday:

"It is true that the room is equipped with a mesh fence, because it was formerly used as an equipment room. At the present time, the gate to the fence is not and cannot be locked. The students were under the supervision of one of our teachers, who was present throughout the entire seven minutes that the students were in the room."

Though officials stated that the mesh fence would be removed before the room was used for those purposes again, Michael Bagot, president of New Orleans Charter Schools, remains unapologetic:

"The student was given lunch detention, but claims that he was locked in a cage are unfounded."

I understand Davis's anger. It would be difficult for any mother to get the news that her child was contained in a cage; however, if the school is to be believed, the unruly students were not locked inside of a cage, only placed in an area with a mesh fence.

So why would her son exaggerate the truth, if in fact, he did? Clearly, to accomplish exactly what is going on now. To enrage his mother, and subsequently ignite the anger of a community tired of seeing our men caged like animals for crimes they didn't commit, or otherwise forced to pay consequences that don't match the crime.

In the midst of the uproar caused by the "cage" photos, and someone, somewhere, I'm sure trying to get Reverends Sharpton and Jackson on the line, the central issue is getting ignored:

There is a 14-year-old boy with disciplinary issues that are not being examined...all because he had to sit in a room with an unlocked mesh fence.

During Morehouse College's 143rd Founder's Day Symposium in February 2010, R. L'Heureux Lewis, assistant professor of sociology and black studies at the City University of New York, presented a thesis entitled Shadowboxing the Self: Confronting Black Male Privilege. While discussing his controversial theory with NPR host Michel Martin, Lewis made one of the most insightful statements I've ever heard:

"So often, black men are used to being under attack that when it comes to being accountable for the actions we take, we quickly say, 'Well, I couldn't possibly be doing anything wrong. Look at all the ways in which I'm oppressed. Look at all the ways in which I'm at the bottom of the barrel. What that does is rob us of an opportunity to actually build stronger communities and it robs black men of a chance to actually take hold of the actions that they have so that we can empower the community."

Let that soak in.

Yes, cages are associated with animals, and I empathize with the dehumanizing effect being placed in one could potentially have on a child. Placing things in perspective, though, prison would be much worse. There, the cage is locked, and mommy can't come to the rescue.

Maybe, just maybe, containing students with disciplinary issues is not such a horrific idea. Maybe, just maybe, a 14-year-old boy should not be allowed to play victim to detract from whatever he did to warrant punishment in the first place.

Or maybe, we, as a community, are so sensitive to the mental whipping our African-American men have had to endure in society, that we have become accustomed to protecting their fragile self-esteem, instead of making it stronger through accountability.

Maybe.

One thing is certain, though. If our communities are ever to live up to their full potential, allowing our young men to not live up to theirs is a privilege we can no longer afford.