Watch not Do

I was having fun last night when the news came across my phone. I was at a local Historical Society event that was USO themed. There was laughter, singing, dancing, and a few drinks. There were many races all coming together to have some fun. Then the news announcement on my phone. Zimmerman acquitted.


It didn't feel real. How could it be? He clearly killed that boy. Shot him dead. The boy was not armed (unless you consider skittles as such a choking hazard that they should be outlawed).

Let's, for just a moment, take race out of this all together. You have a 17 year old kid walking home from the store in the rain. He is wearing a hoodie. It is completely understandable that he would pull the hood up to shield his head from the rain. You have a neighborhood watch person in a truck. I am sure he knew it was raining. The neighborhood watch person, first, failed to recognize one of his own neighbor's sons. Honestly, if you are going to have a neighborhood watch, you really need to know who your neighbors are to be able to protect them. If you do not know who your neighbors are, you do not need to be participating in a neighborhood watch. Second, he failed to listed to the voice of authority on the issue and defied a direct order to stay in his truck and wait for the real police to show up. He got out of his truck. Third, he chased the boy down. From the boy's point of view, a strange man in a vehicle was following him. He couldn't shake him. It was raining, late, and no one was out. He tried to lose him. The stranger was not wearing a police uniform. The stranger was not wearing any visible official signage to denote he was part of anything, let alone the neighborhood watch. He was a stranger to the boy... which goes back to my first point. Zimmerman did not know all his neighbors and all of them did not know him. Treyvon had a right to stand his ground too. He was cornered by someone he didn't know and who could have been a threat.

Even this could have been cleared up after the police arrived. However, Zimmerman brought a gun. A neighborhood watchman brought a gun. A jittery, obviously jumpy, neighborhood watchman was carrying a gun. He pulled that gun and took a life. After being the aggressor, after stalking a teen, he pulled a gun and ended a life. He was just acquitted.

The bottom line is this, He was told to stay in his truck. He did not. Everything after that point was his fault. The heightened fear Treyvon displayed. The desire to run that Treyvon displayed. The necessity to fight back that Treyvon displayed. They were all because Zimmerman defied a direct order, by the voice of authority he is supposed to report to, to STAY IN HIS TRUCK!

Very few things have the ability to affect me so violently that I feel ill upon hearing it. This verdict shook me to the core.


Neighborhood watches are to be watches. The first line of defense. You are to know who your neighbors are and protect them by watching not doing, noticing not judging, and then reporting to police not taking the law into your own hands.

Zimmerman failed. He didn't protect his neighbors. He judged them. He didn't watch his neighborhood. He judged it and he walked. He walked because of the Stand your ground law. On the surface, the law sounds perfect. You have a right to defend yourself from possible harm. Great. Well, what about Marissa Alexander?

Marissa Alexander was given a 20 year sentence for firing warning shots at her abusive husband in the hopes of avoiding another vicious beating. She had already taken out a protection order against him. She declined a plea deal for three years in prison because she didn't actually shoot him. They were warning shots. She was clearly defending herself. She got 20 years in prison. The stand your ground laws did not help her. She was trapped. Had no where to run. She fired warning shots and was given 20 years. Zimmerman chased a boy down. Confronted him. Fought with him. Then pulled out his gun and shot him. He was allowed to use the Stand your ground defense and was Acquitted. How is this fair? How is this justice?

Our country needs some major changes. At this point, if you have enough money or have the right connections, you seem immune. This is not equality. This needs to change. He didn't accidentally hit someone with his car. He had to consciously pull out his gun and pull the trigger. It isn't the same as looking down for a second and not seeing someone. He saw, he chose, he killed.

My heart goes out to the Martin family. I cannot begin to imagine the hurt you are feeling. I cannot imagine the hole in your lives that this has left.

My heart goes out to our minorities. This injustice only solidifies what you have to deal with on a regular basis. Unequal "equality". It is not fair. It is not right. It is time to have our voices heard. Peacefully.

My heart goes out to our nation. Justice was spit on yesterday. A guilty man walked free...again and an abused woman is serving prison time for warning her husband not to abuse her...again. These are just two incidents amoung thousands that happen every year.

We need to wake up. We need to demand truly equal representation under the law. Sweeping legislature that does not allow individual pockets of hate, discrimination, and supression to pass judgements that are so obviously unjust. Vigilante,Race, gender, sexual orientation, domestic... violence should not be tolerated in any instance. This should be federal law that trumps state law because this is a human rights issue. We need to protect ALL of our citizens, not just the privileged few.

I was having fun last night. Real fun. Fun that was color blind. Fun that was status blind. Just fun. Now it's time to get to work. It's time to push for change for all of us. True equality, Now! Nothing less.

Day 2

I went in this morning to talk with the Assistant Principle, who I don't think quite understands the nature of bullies as his solution was to have my Son tell the teacher immediately when the kid says something. I tried to point out in an email last night to him that if he did that the other children, who right now are letting him alone, may start targeting him as a snitch. He also had sort of an attitude about me sending him an email on it. Making statements like, "Unfortunately, I find out about the problems from you--a day or so after the fact." and " does not communicate to me that he is having a problem. Is he telling the teacher(s) in charge?" .

The tone of his email started to seem like accusations that my Son was not doing his job. His job, meaning the Assistant Principal. The funniest part is all of my emails have been kind and calm. I let them know I fully appreciate all they have done so far and how well they have tried to keep this other child from harming mine and then I simply fill them in on what had happened that day. His emails are so defensive, I guess he is just too used to being yelled at by parents to see when one isn't accusing him. However, I never let my children get away with making accusations to try to take the focus off of themselves if there was ever a problem yet here I am being forced to deal with someone who never learned that lesson... or so I thought.

This morning I walked into the school with my son and didn't even make it in the doorway when I was greeted by the Principal. She was standing there for a while waiting for me and my son to enter. The assistant Principal had forwarded the emails and she has taken over. She pulled us aside and adamantly told my son that she did not want him immediately tattling because she agreed with me that it would bring more trouble. She had alerted his teachers of the new protocol she is putting in place so they are aware and if an issue arises, such as he is given a message from that boy that he is going to beat my son up he is to stay in his seat when the bell rings and wait for all the students to leave. Then he is to go up and tell the teacher what happened. If he feels threatened at all when it is time to leave the school he is to go into the office,not out to the bus ring, and she will have an assistant walk him to my car. She let him know the importance of reporting the issues so that they had a paper trail on exactly what this child is doing or they are powerless.

It turns out she had to watch her brother get beat down by a bunch of bullies simply because he was smart. It's good to see some people will stand up and say NO MORE!

Origins of Bullies

Writing this based on events taking place right now with my son. He is smaller than almost everyone in his class but usually has a good sense of humor even when faced with hatred. He laughs most things off and lets the rest roll off his back.

The other week he was forced to defend himself when attacked by another student because he decided that after two weeks of giving up his seat to this kid he was not going to do it anymore. He told the kid no and the kid yanked the seat from under him and he shoved my son. My son, completely unaware he was now in a fight, was attempting to push the kid away so he wouldn't get hit by him. The kid thought my son shoved him so he shoved him again, this time to the ground. On the way down my son hit his face on the chair and came back up with his arms in the defensive position he learned in tae kwan do but was also shouting a**hole out of pain.

The students and the teacher thought my son was fighting back, to which I advised him not to set them straight, let them think he was hoping this would stop the kid from going after him. That isn't how these children act though. This kid has now taken it upon himself to harass my son. I advised him to ignore the kid but it is now interfering with his studies as most of his school day is spent trying to avoid the kid or getting death stares from him in the one class they do share. He is trying to get my son to meet him after school, so now my son is afraid to even leave school.

I have a meeting with the assistant principle tomorrow, already though the emails are not very fruitful. He is already acting like my son was in the wrong for not telling a teacher right away. Like my son said, he has a few friends right now but if he starts acting like a snitch and telling the teacher immediately he will lose those friends too. Not to mention the fact that kids like that tend to be very observant. They watch to see when no teacher is looking and make their move. This kid wanted to meet my son in the bus circle after school, hoping to fight in the middle of the kids. This shows a few things about this boy's character and his intentions. 1. He wants the beating to be public, inflict as much embarrassment as possible. 2. He does not care if he is caught, he knows he will be but is hoping the bus circle affords him enough time to hurt my son before the teachers intervene. 3. He does not care about consequences. He does not care what happens to him, his only focus is to hurt my son.

All three of these things make him severely dangerous. Where are his parents? Do they know what is going on? Do they care? As much strength as it takes my son to listen to me and constantly ignore his taunts I have to think it takes just as much strength for this kid to continue harassing him... who is telling him to do so? Is someone in his life saying things like " Don't let this kid make you look like a fool" or "Teach this kid who is the toughest M***** F***** in the school!" Are they his peers? Siblings? or worse yet... Parents?

I have heard so many theories of the Origins of a bully, everything from "they are hurting on the inside, we need to find how to reach them and change them" to "bad parenting" to "gang influence" .... Yet everyone skirts the issue that sometimes it is deeper. Psychopaths and sociopaths don't just wake up one morning and decide to be that way. Maybe we should be paying more attention to their actions while they are children and instead of saying "boys will be boys" actually taking the damned time to look at the behavior and make sure they are not tell tale signs of future issues before they lash out and hurt someone else and all we have left to do is look back on their childhood and say "I can't believe someone didn't stop that kid, he was always bullying and causing fights, someone should have done something before someone got hurt!"

We are that someone! TIME TO DO SOMETHING!!!!