Friday, October 12, 2007

Exhibit ∞




















Where is the justice?



This is why.

This is why many of us aren't willing to write Michael Vick off because he killed some dogs.
This is why some of us actually (regrettably) celebrated when OJ got away with murder.
This is why few of us are moved when yet another white woman goes missing.
And this is why, despite criticisms that it was "overkill," tens of thousands of black folks put on black clothes (and many more of us who couldn't make it wore mourning colors in support) moved in on the little town of Jena, LA.


Today, in Panama City, it took an all-white jury 90 minutes to exonerate eight former "boot camp" workers who caused the death of a 14-year-old black boy. The victim, Martin Lee Anderson, died while being detained in a "get tough" children's rehabilitation camp. After being forced to run past the point of exhaustion, Anderson collapsed and was promptly ignored by his captors. He didn't receive the medical help he desperately needed because the group of guards who witnessed him falling to the ground assumed he was "faking" it. They were excused of their criminal negligence because they were simply following the orders of their employers. After a three-week trial, it took only an hour and a half for jurors to conclude that Martin Lee Anderson's life meant absolutely nothing.

When white America informs us day in and day out that our lives, and those of our children, don't matter, we eventually get the point. "Love Us While We Hate You" isn't a slogan that strikes me as catchy.

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9 Comments:

At 5:53 PM , Blogger Breez said...

Can the evidence become any more clear cut than this? I saw this child's (because yes, 14 is STILL a child) father speaking on the news today, and he expressed how shameful it is that a man can go to jail for killing a dog, but a black boy's death means nothing.

Essentially, they spent more time watching "Titanic" than they did considering whether or not this boy's life was worth a damn.

And yet, is this surprising?

 
At 10:42 PM , Blogger Another Conflict Theorist said...

"Essentially, they spent more time watching "Titanic" than they did considering whether or not this boy's life was worth a damn."

The movie is TWICE as long as it took them to mull this case over. Shameful indeed.

 
At 8:12 AM , Blogger BLESSD1 said...

Yet, we still have to qualify our feelings whenever we say that surely Mike Vick or the Jena Six or O.J. shouldn't be thrown in front of the bus. Man...this post is on point like icicles.

 
At 8:42 AM , Blogger Another Conflict Theorist said...

Peace blessd1,

Thanks for stopping by (again).

Question for you: Do you ever intend to update your blog? Not that I don't like that pic of you with the grill - I'm just saying..."Payment's Due" is too good of a name to let go.

 
At 2:51 AM , Blogger bint alshamsa said...

Where is Garrett Morris when you need him?

"I'm gonna get me a gun and shoot every...."

 
At 4:41 AM , Blogger Another Conflict Theorist said...

"Where is Garrett Morris when you need him?

"I'm gonna get me a gun and shoot every...."

Don't forget the second verse.."then I'ma find me a white woman..."

 
At 5:42 AM , Blogger bint alshamsa said...

Damn! Now why did you have to remind me about that second part?!!

P.S. I linked to you in the blog posts I just wrote about Martin Lee.

 
At 10:45 AM , Blogger BLESSD1 said...

ACT...thanks for calling me out on my jive. You're not the first. I'll take a shot at entertaining the masses (or rather, all 4 folx who'll read my brand of horse-puckey) very soon. :-)

 
At 10:06 AM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

Every time I hear that rhetoric about how much children in the US are loved it just makes me want to vomit. I guess that is why funding for children's health insurance was just vetoed by the president and we regularly prosecute children as adults, right?

I think what happened to this young man is part of the pro-business trend that has gotten so out of control in this country. It can't be any more obvious that human need at this point is tertiary in importance to the wealth and health of a corporation. Maybe they figured they could get away with this one extra easy because it was a "bad boy" in a disciplinary school, one, and two, a "Black one" to boot. Maybe they thought they would have the majority of white middle class suburbanites with them on this one so the kick back on the ruling wouldn't be so bad.

We are in some sick, inhumane times in this country, witness the denial of subsistance aid to immigrants during the CA fires, witness Katrina. How much worse is it going to get before it gets better? I know this is escapist fantasy on my part, but sometimes I think the best thing that could happen is for this whole damned country to be dismantled and for us to start anew.

 

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