2/16/2010

Justice, Southern Fried?

 

Time:  Late afternoon, a Thursday in February, 2010.
Place:  Homer, Louisiana.  Dust motes float in the air in the tired-looking courtroom.   The old man’s family waits anxiously to hear the results of the Grand Jury’s deliberations on charges of murder, manslaughter, and negligent homicide. 
Situation:  the police pull up to a yard filled with family members and friends gathered for a cookout. They are there to question a black man with a long police record.  Though there are no outstanding warrants against him, the man runs at the sight of the police.  
Victim:  the man’s elderly grandfather.  He is shot dead in his front yard, where he had been playing with his grandchildren.

Witnesses:  the victim’s family and friends, including twelve people who testified the victim was not carrying a gun, but a sports-drink bottle.
Defendant:  a white policeman who shot the victim several times.  He was seen by witnesses placing a gun, which he’d allegedly found on the front porch of the house, on the ground near the body.  
Outcome:  the courtroom hushes, and the verdict is read.  No indictment.
Justice?   As one town grandmother said:  “Ain’t nothing ever change in Homer.”

6 comments:

  1. Stories like this are so sad - and so frustrating. It just goes to show that the "good old boy" system of Southern 'Justice' isn't dead - though it certainly should be.

    ReplyDelete
  2. It is sad, Lou, and shocking. Here we are 50 years after the Civil Rights movement and the repeal of the Jim Crow laws, and yet things like this continue to happen. I only know what I read in the press, of course, but this sure seems to have been a case of racial profiling.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Justice? Bah!

    It's sad that this is still happening. :(

    ReplyDelete
  4. And we kill another Mockingbird with every miscarriage of 'justice'... God help them.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Thanks for commenting!

    Akelamalu: Sad indeed.

    Ti: That is exactly the image I had in my mind as I read the articles about this, as you cleverly deduced from my description of the courtroom.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Breaks my heart that this still happens, not just in the South, but anywhere.

    ReplyDelete

Thoughts? I would love to hear from you.