The Hunted
I have waited to write this piece to let my anger subside, to let my fear for my own son's life subside and to let my fear for my own life subside. I have waited and waited only to come to one conclusion. That feeling of fear and anger that I have felt since I was a teenager will never go away because the hunt for African-American males, especially young African-American males continues.
Jordan Davis was a 17 year old African-American that was a passenger in a vehicle full of young African-American males that was playing loud Rap music when it pulled into a gas station in Jacksonville, Florida. At the same time Michael Dunn pulled into the same filling station to get gas.
Dunn was annoyed by the loud Rap music and confronted the unarmed teens, most of whom were in the car. The end result was that he pulled out his pistol and fired 10 shots. 9 hit the vehicle, 3 hit Jordan, 2 in the legs 1 in the back. That was the last night of Jordan Davis' life.
I have no problem with firearms (but there are some challenges) and I would have no problem with "Stand Your Ground Laws" if the interpretation of them is not a license to hunt down and kill people because you are scared of how they look, you don't like how they look, you assume they are criminals based on how they look or you don't like the music they are listening to.
I wonder what the outcome would have been if the vehicle Jordan Davis was riding in was playing Dunn's favorite song. A young man lost his life over they type of music and the volume of the music he was listening to in combination with the color of his skin. Dunn expressed his disdain for the music to his girlfriend before he got out of his vehicle.
There are just too many cases where people, particularly Whites but also people of Color, have assumed that the African-American (usually male) in a given situation is a criminal and something must be done. We saw it with Trayvon Martin. We saw it in the killing of Jonathan Ferrell, a former student and football player at Florida A & M University, who stumbled to and knocked on a door of a home immediately after being in a terrible car accident. The woman who answered the door slammed the door in his face and called 911. Maybe that is an acceptable action considering it was 2 a.m. but she told authorities he was trying to break in to the house (he knocked) and said in reference to her baby who was in the house:
"He is in his bed. I don't know what to do. I can't believe I opened the door...Please don't let him get me baby."
I am not a mother so I know there are motherly instincts that make her want to protect her child but how do you get from an injured man knocking on your door to "Please don't let him get my baby?" There is an assumed criminal, bad or evil element that some people automatically plug into a situation when an African-American is involved, especially a male.
The police arrived and when Ferrell saw them he approached them, barefooted, unarmed and hands outreached to them, likely very disoriented from the accident and seeking help. As he was approaching the officers there were no orders to get on the ground or freeze. There was an order to get on the ground as the shooting began (sound and some video on officers video cam). Officer Randall Kerrick fired 12 shots 10 hit Ferrell most from a superior position meaning that Ferrell was not a threat. The shots went, 1,2,3,4, pause 1,2,3,4,5,6 pause 1,2. There were two other officers on the scene. One to the left and one to the right of Kerrick, they did not even pull their weapons. There were no drugs in Ferrell's system. He did have alcohol in his system that was far below the driving limit. He was just a 24 year old man who needed help but could not get it because he was assumed to be a criminal because of the color of his skin.
The initial partial Grand Jury refused to indict the officer. A second full Grand Jury did indict the Kerrick in January of 2014. The problem is in this case as it is with Michael Dunn is that even spending the rest of their lives in in prison or on Death Row it does not bring back the lives of the young men that they took. It does not repair the broken hearts of the families that have to live in the wake of the actions they took that were precipitated by their fear anger and ignorance of other people and other cultures.
"Just because it's different than what you know does not make it wrong or bad." 44Black
I find it disgusting when someone plays the race card and race has nothing to do with a situation I find it more disgusting that we are constantly told that race has nothing to do with situations that are obviously driven by race. I hear people saying "oh he is just playing the race card but this has nothing to do with race." It seems to me that society wants to make you feel guilt for mentioning race is part of a situation even when it is obviously one of the main drivers in a given situation. Guilt over claiming your own civil rights?
Back to the Jordan Davis case. As I said earlier, I would have not problem with the "Stand Your Ground" laws that many states have if it were not for the interpretation of these laws. I am especially troubled by the comments of Circuit Judge Russell L. Healey, had read to the jury after the closing arguments at Dunn's trial in which he was not convicted of murder but was convicted of attempted murder for firing his gun in to the vehicle.
Dunn was annoyed by the loud Rap music and confronted the unarmed teens, most of whom were in the car. The end result was that he pulled out his pistol and fired 10 shots. 9 hit the vehicle, 3 hit Jordan, 2 in the legs 1 in the back. That was the last night of Jordan Davis' life.
I have no problem with firearms (but there are some challenges) and I would have no problem with "Stand Your Ground Laws" if the interpretation of them is not a license to hunt down and kill people because you are scared of how they look, you don't like how they look, you assume they are criminals based on how they look or you don't like the music they are listening to.
I wonder what the outcome would have been if the vehicle Jordan Davis was riding in was playing Dunn's favorite song. A young man lost his life over they type of music and the volume of the music he was listening to in combination with the color of his skin. Dunn expressed his disdain for the music to his girlfriend before he got out of his vehicle.
There are just too many cases where people, particularly Whites but also people of Color, have assumed that the African-American (usually male) in a given situation is a criminal and something must be done. We saw it with Trayvon Martin. We saw it in the killing of Jonathan Ferrell, a former student and football player at Florida A & M University, who stumbled to and knocked on a door of a home immediately after being in a terrible car accident. The woman who answered the door slammed the door in his face and called 911. Maybe that is an acceptable action considering it was 2 a.m. but she told authorities he was trying to break in to the house (he knocked) and said in reference to her baby who was in the house:
"He is in his bed. I don't know what to do. I can't believe I opened the door...Please don't let him get me baby."
I am not a mother so I know there are motherly instincts that make her want to protect her child but how do you get from an injured man knocking on your door to "Please don't let him get my baby?" There is an assumed criminal, bad or evil element that some people automatically plug into a situation when an African-American is involved, especially a male.
The police arrived and when Ferrell saw them he approached them, barefooted, unarmed and hands outreached to them, likely very disoriented from the accident and seeking help. As he was approaching the officers there were no orders to get on the ground or freeze. There was an order to get on the ground as the shooting began (sound and some video on officers video cam). Officer Randall Kerrick fired 12 shots 10 hit Ferrell most from a superior position meaning that Ferrell was not a threat. The shots went, 1,2,3,4, pause 1,2,3,4,5,6 pause 1,2. There were two other officers on the scene. One to the left and one to the right of Kerrick, they did not even pull their weapons. There were no drugs in Ferrell's system. He did have alcohol in his system that was far below the driving limit. He was just a 24 year old man who needed help but could not get it because he was assumed to be a criminal because of the color of his skin.
The initial partial Grand Jury refused to indict the officer. A second full Grand Jury did indict the Kerrick in January of 2014. The problem is in this case as it is with Michael Dunn is that even spending the rest of their lives in in prison or on Death Row it does not bring back the lives of the young men that they took. It does not repair the broken hearts of the families that have to live in the wake of the actions they took that were precipitated by their fear anger and ignorance of other people and other cultures.
"Just because it's different than what you know does not make it wrong or bad." 44Black
I find it disgusting when someone plays the race card and race has nothing to do with a situation I find it more disgusting that we are constantly told that race has nothing to do with situations that are obviously driven by race. I hear people saying "oh he is just playing the race card but this has nothing to do with race." It seems to me that society wants to make you feel guilt for mentioning race is part of a situation even when it is obviously one of the main drivers in a given situation. Guilt over claiming your own civil rights?
Back to the Jordan Davis case. As I said earlier, I would have not problem with the "Stand Your Ground" laws that many states have if it were not for the interpretation of these laws. I am especially troubled by the comments of Circuit Judge Russell L. Healey, had read to the jury after the closing arguments at Dunn's trial in which he was not convicted of murder but was convicted of attempted murder for firing his gun in to the vehicle.
The Judge said the defendant “has no duty to retreat.”
The defendant has “the right to stand his ground.”
“The danger facing the defendant need not have been actual.”
My understanding of this case is that Dunn was the aggressor so wouldn't the boys be the party that 'has no duty to retreat?' Wouldn't the boys have the right to stand their ground?
The last quote is the one that strikes the most fear in my heart for me and my family, "The danger facing the defendant need not have been actual." My interpretation of that quote is that if I walk into a grocery store or worse yet one of my kids walk in to a grocery store and someone decide that they are in danger they are within their rights to pull out a gun and shoot me. Saying that the danger need not have been actual says that it need not have been reasonable either. Actual danger is reasonable. Just the color of one's skin should not strike fear in one's heart.
My understanding of this case is that Dunn was the aggressor so wouldn't the boys be the party that 'has no duty to retreat?' Wouldn't the boys have the right to stand their ground?
The last quote is the one that strikes the most fear in my heart for me and my family, "The danger facing the defendant need not have been actual." My interpretation of that quote is that if I walk into a grocery store or worse yet one of my kids walk in to a grocery store and someone decide that they are in danger they are within their rights to pull out a gun and shoot me. Saying that the danger need not have been actual says that it need not have been reasonable either. Actual danger is reasonable. Just the color of one's skin should not strike fear in one's heart.
I have mentioned myself and my family in this post because it relates directly to me and my family. I think about my kids, most of whom are old enough to drive now. I worry every time they go out without me. I worry that they are going to be interpreted as a danger to someone or be in the wrong place at the wrong time. I worry that I have given them too much or too little to worry about when it comes to race in our society and interactions with the police. I am a grown man 48 year old man and never have I passed an officer in my car and not glanced in the mirror to see if the officer decided to follow me.
I worry about the tail light that is out on one of the cars right now (I am going to fix it as soon as I post this). I worry that my son will be pulled over and something he will say or do will be interpreted as an act of aggression and it is his last act of any kind. I worry that the cars we drive are too nice or too crappy for the neighborhood that we are driving through and that we may be wrongfully stopped and searched.
Mainly, I fear that all kids of all colors are being hunted, incarcerated and killed if they are underprivileged, different or considered weak in some way.
That's All I Got!!
I'm Out!!
44Black
I worry about the tail light that is out on one of the cars right now (I am going to fix it as soon as I post this). I worry that my son will be pulled over and something he will say or do will be interpreted as an act of aggression and it is his last act of any kind. I worry that the cars we drive are too nice or too crappy for the neighborhood that we are driving through and that we may be wrongfully stopped and searched.
Mainly, I fear that all kids of all colors are being hunted, incarcerated and killed if they are underprivileged, different or considered weak in some way.
That's All I Got!!
I'm Out!!
44Black
posted by 44Black at 9:55 AM
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