General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: "Guilty": Part Two [View all]H2O Man
(73,510 posts)In 1998, when a racist hate gang of 17 men viciously assaulted my nephew -- they resented a non-white high school student getting good press for being a scholar/ champion athlete -- and left him for dead in a dark field, I had to come to grips with what life deals. There were other young men who wanted to hunt these thugs down, and splatter some blood on the walls. I wanted to end that cycle of violence.
I knew at the time that those in the legal system at that time lacked the moral-ethical capacity to deliver justice. Thus, I decided to "try" the case in the court of public opinion. I was focused on educating the public about hatred and violence, and how "the system" would protect white defendants in cases involving a violent attack on black people.
As terrible as the situation was -- and it was horrible -- I am convinced that some good actually did come from it. And so with this case, although I have had faith in the people now running the system, I have again sought to use it as an opportunity to teach about the toxic effect of gross violence in our society.
And I'm only getting warmed up. All of the newspapers in our region will be publishing the op-eds that I'll submit to them. I'll also talk about in at the colleges and universities in central NYS.