Guilty of Adolescence and Executed Without Trial

Thinking about the Loud Music case and the 1st degree murder verdict for Michael Dunn in the Jacksonville, Fla., death of 17 year-old Jordan Davis, I remembered this guy.

At 16, he played his music loud. Hung out with his friends, was outspoken, mouthy and opinionated.

There were many words used to describe him, but scary and threatening were not among them.

Had some idiot gunned him down and claimed "the scary black man" defense, things might be different.

Michael Dunn did not shoot into a car "full of blacks." He shot into a car full of teenagers who were African-American.

These unarmed children were doing what teenagers do. Hanging out, listening to music.

The "myth of the scary black man" defense is a worn and tired throwback that refuses to die.

It is a reality that governs day to day relationships, creating an artificially aloof decorum in the work place and often slashing like a knife to legitimize some slight or reason for exclusion.

In schools, churches and even some social circles the threat of the "scary black man" is spoken in terms from whispers to roars or communicated with glances or body language exchanged silently.

There is a disconnect in the United States.

We speak of children who die violent deaths for acting like kids as victims and their suspected killers as predators, unless those left dead are black.

Then they are thugs who surely must have done something justifying deadly force.
Michael Dunn shot into a car filled with people, unarmed CHILDREN.

I know little of Jordan Davis, aside from the fact that he hung out with his friends, listened to his music loud and had an encounter with Michael Dunn in a parking lot in Jacksonville, Fla.

At 17, he does not appear to be much different from the kid depicted in the photo at the top more than 45 years ago.

Like Trayvon Martin, 17, or Michael Brown, 18, 17 year-old Michael Brown is dead. Each of these young men were taken out by gunfire at a time evidence shows they were unarmed, and doing things teenage boys have always done.

Walking from a store, talking to a girl on the telephone, or hanging out listening to loud music with friends in a parked car. None of these acts warrant a summary execution on the street.

Those who point to political change and rail against what they see as the failures of an elusive "post racial society," should ask themselves how they justify in their minds that "the blacks" must be controlled in 21st Century America.

Respect for authority does not equate to surviving encounters with armed and distrustful police or private citizens determined to dominate encounters with "angry black males."

Adults with morals and conscience should have little difficulty seeing the evil and the tragedy of young people being cut down for simply being kids.

Our system supports innocence until proven guilty, yet these young are dead in part because to some they were considered suspicious and in death they remain suspect.

The young man pictured at the top has survived for many decades. At times, an awareness that some people on the streets would distrust him, detain him, hurt him or try to kill him was an instant reality.

Knowing and understanding the meaning and the culture of the "scary black man" defense was something the elders imprinted in me before my teenage growth spurt.

It is something that mothers, fathers and grandparents teach to this day. It is also something the parents of some biracial children worry about in the night. 

That President Obama, Attorney General Eric Holder, the young Derrill Holly, pictured above and hundreds of my friends understand it is based upon our individual life's experiences. That others may not get it means that as a nation, we are simply not there yet.

Totally Unqualified

Every law enforcement agency is not qualified to handle homicide investigations.

I am not police officer, but in the past 40 years, I have been to an unbelievable number of crime scenes. I have also seen good, average, poor, shoddy and bad police work.  While some of it is kind of like you see on television, it is neither simple or easy and it is seldom wrapped up in an hour.

In Sanford, Fla., local police do not appear to have much experience with homicide investigations.

There has been no indication that they secured the crime scene, which in many places is routine, even pending a coroner's inquest. Did I say coroner's inquest? There has not been one, nor have the results of the autopsy on Travis Martin been released.

That means that more than a month after the 17 yea-old was shot and killed as he walked back to the home where his father was staying from a convenience store there is no official ruling into his cause and manner of death.

We know he was shot and died instantly as a result of a bullet that entered his chest at close range. We do not know officially if the manner of death was homicide.

What we do know is that many potential witnesses have not been interviewed by the police. We also know that some evidence that might be critical to the investigation and any resulting prosecution in this case has not been collected, secured or preserved.

There also has not been much effort put forth to secure the integrity of people who would likely be called as witnesses in any criminal trial.

Statements offered in court by people who have told their stories repeatedly on television may not stand up well when lawyers decide to roll the video tape.  If this case goes to trial, prosecutors may have to build their case upon facts that have not played out in the press.

In most cities or counties, when a family member of a current o former judge or other official gets involved in something as sensitive as the death of a child, local authorities run to find someone else handle the matter. This helps them avoid the appearance of impropriety or conflicts of interests.

In Sanford, it appears someone made a decision to just act like this case was going to go away.  Now, this week, they have attempted to stop national journalists from poking around in a case that is garnering world attention. Believe me, no one I know who is covering this case is likely to disappear. What's more, the lawyers and the bail money are standing by if local lawmen decide to interfere with the pursuit of the news.

Every police officer is not an investigator, and every investigator does not necessarily have the skills, the experience or the guts to investigate homicides. 

In Sanford, the Trayvon Martin case stinks for a number of reasons. Not just how he died, but also how the search for the truth has been totally botched up by the boys in charge.

Enough!

I was in my late 30s when I finally stopped being an automatically suspicious person. Still, my instincts tell me that the best way to encounter armed authorities, particularly after dark is with my driver's side window down and my hands  firmly gripping the steering wheel at 10 and two.

The Trayvon Martin case saddens me, angers me, and troubles me.  A 17-year-old child, dressed like anybody's 12 to 22 year-old child walks toward his house through a subdivision where his parents pay taxes and a mortgage wound up dead.

The 9-1-1 tapes are chilling. You hear a young boy screaming in terror. He is 140 pounds, with a soda and some candy in his pockets and he is walking home. Someone decided he looked like he was up to something and despite appeals from a 9-1-1 operator, chose to go after him in an S-U-V.

This citizen watchman not only decided to confront this child, but felt somehow he had authority to try and grab him, hold him and detain him not far from the presumed safety of his parents home.

We have to assume a struggle took place. Any of us who are parents would expect our children to run from danger in the interest of their survival., When he couldn't get away, he begged the darkness for help. Perhaps he tried in vain to protect himself with defensive maneuvers, even as his child's voice wailed out in terror.

If you have not heard the 9-1-1 tapes from this sordid, sick incident. I encourage you to listen: Trayvon Martin 9-1-1 Call



 They are the sounds of distant witnesses who at least had the human decency to call police. They are also the tragic screams of anybody's child. If you listen you may hear the utterances of disbelief from a boy who could not understand why walking home became the final seconds of his too short life.

Some would try to desensitize a mother's pain by suggesting that this is just another case of street violence. While it is true that young people are die everyday in our cities and some of our suburbs, there are no indications that this was about drugs, or girls or labeled shoes or jewelry or leather jackets or gang violence.

This was not a domey, or a case of "Addidas Up," as i have heard law enforcement officers describe incidents of domestic violence or neighborhood beefs repeatedly over the years.

This was just a kid, headed home, who allegedly ran into the wrong wannabe vigilante. Neighborhood watch people simply watch, they do not drive up as judges, juries and executioners and blow away their neighbors' children.

We have allowed ourselves to be desensitized to so much of the violence and other problems occurring in our own backyards. If our hearts become cold to any parents' pain, then who are we? Could we meet our God with such apathy for the worth of the living and claim for a moment we lived our lives for good?

Misdirected Anger

The deaths of 16 Afghan villagers was a tragedy.  That it allegedly occurred at the hands of an American soldier is unfortunate. 

Sad things happen in war, and military doctors and judge advocate office investigators will sort through the reasons why. 

Still, the disturbing backlash of violence now being blamed upon this isolated act is every bit as tragic.

In Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Libya, Israel, Lebanon, Kenya, France,Turkey, the United Kingdom, Uzbekistan and the United States, terrorist violence has repeatedly been used as a political weapon.  

It moves well beyond the limits of "by any means necessary" to the senseless slaughter of innocents.  Victimizing  civilian populations for political gain is a strategy worthy of universal condemnation.  

NATO and the United States have had successes building alliances with locals willing to hunt down killers who use terror as tools of death and fear. Collateral damage should not be an acceptable means of bringing about change.

The vocal indignation registered by those led would rule Afghanistan is meaningless. They have had years to step and and take control of their country, but corruption and graft have kept them from reaching that goal. Silk robes and posturing politics do not represent power to a people still waiting for basic services.

If the American soldier allegedly involved turns out to be responsible for the killings, he will face justice before a U.S. military tribunal. International security forces maintain the right to discipline their own.

Once the Afghans can handle the security of their own cities, villages and their entire country, they will have the right to subject foreign nationals to justice in their own courts.  For now, that is not only impossible, it is out out of the question.

Universal condemnation of terrorism, and no quarter for those who would target the powerless represents a course that leads toward a more peaceful world.To not negotiate with terrorists is no longer enough.

The threat they represent is ample enough to warrant pre-emptive actions.  It is  why the drones of the United States are armed and continue to strike when intelligence warrants a deserving target. It is a foreign policy approach that is paying dividends. Others in the world should adopt that approach. 

One Dangerous World

War, terrorism, political famines, acts of God and random crimes. We live in a very dangerous world.

But even if we have to be on guard, most of us still try to live.

No one can know when they could get caught up in events where their very survival will be on the line.

You can drive defensively ans still be involved in a crash; you can eyeball all 150 people who board a crowded train car and still become a victim of collateral damage when and if something happens; you cannot make a storm change course by the force of your will.

But you can decide to live without fear.

For most of my young life I knew governments, the United States, the Soviet Union and others, could blow up the world.

Today the talk about limited nuclear war. Some extremely well armed countries are dealing with internal strife that could spiral into civil wars.

Who ultimately will control their weapons or keep up with their technology is anybody's guess.

We live in a very dangerous world, and while I may think about it, I am much too busy living life to worry about all the possibilities. 

Perhaps we will be here to see tomorrow, but maybe not.

Guns Kill People if People Want them Too

12/20/2011

Terrible Tragedies --

This is what our children are doing. Seventy people were arrested and 161 guns seized over the past year in a sting operation mounted by police in Washington, D.C. Police set up a recording studio and put out the word that they were interested in guns and drugs.

They took in more than $7 million in various drugs and illegal weapons. They also learned a lot about murders and other crimes, including a plot to take down the studio and possibly kill everybody inside.

The word often used on the street between folks in the life is "soldier." They use it as a term of honor and respect among themselves, even though it has nothing to do with crap like this.

There is no honor in street violence. There is no discipline in dealing death for a few dollars. There is no manhood in disrespect for humanity.

That's the tragedy of it. Not just the funerals of people who die much too young for being in the life, but too often, the good folks caught up in the violence and the mothers, sisters and children who shed tears or won't venture outside without looking out the blinds first.

When I drive through cities and see young men on canes, or in wheelchairs for all the wrong reasons, it's hard to not think of them as the lucky ones who have survived a plague of urban violence that's ripping our families apart.

Music used to be fun, and it still should be. This is not a blast at rap or hip hop. They are art forms no different than jazz, R&B or country. We are losing a generation to a war on the human spirit.

The tragedy is thuggery, and the indignation that doesn't rise up until the honored dead are family, close friends, or the children of someone we know.

Don't hate the players, hate the game. The stakes are life or death.

— with Jeanmarie Stokes at Any Sad City, USA .