DEERFIELD BEACH, Fla. — Ronnie Brown just had to come here, to this sprawling middle school campus about 40 miles north of Miami where 600 kids at an assembly hang on his every word.
Violence brought him here.
In October 2009, Michael Brewer, a 15-year-old student at Deerfield Beach Middle School, was sprayed with rubbing alcohol and lit on fire in an off-campus incident stemming from a beef over a video game. Over 75% of his body was burned.
In March, Josie Lou Ratley, 15, suffered permanent brain damage when he was beaten outside the school by a student from another school who allegedly received a disparaging text message from Ratley about his brother, who had committed suicide. Ratley, an eighth-grader, was stomped with steel-toe boots.
Those horrifying incidents, and others involving area youth, struck a nerve with the Miami Dolphins' star running back
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