COVID-19 Lockdown, Day 79

Have you ever seen a family of geese? There is a retention pond close to my home, and for the past month, I see a goose family always walking together and eating from the ground. The father goose walks ahead of them all. He is the protector. The gander usually walks right behind the father goose. Her head is usually to the ground, and she usually shows her goslings where to find food. Then there are six goslings following their mother.

I enjoy driving by the pond to watch them. There is a man named Jason who works for my village. He also goes to watch them, and so does his father. They will even give them an entire loaf of bread to eat. Nice to see people enjoying the simpler things in life. It's a joy to watch the goslings grow bigger and more grayish brown every day, casting off their fuzzy yellow coat. I wonder how much longer until they are adults. Will they stick close to their parents, or will they fly away to find their own ponds?

In thinking about the riots, I have thought much about all of the cases that have happened before the Floyd Affair. In fact, the cities hit hardest by riots have had cases of African-American men killed by excessive force or just killed.  In St Paul, the twin city of Minneapolis,  Philando Castile was shot five times after being pulled over for a traffic violation when he informed the officer that he had  a legal firearm on his possession. He did the right thing by alerting the officer, and even though he 

assured the officer that he would not pull the gun out, he was shot anyway. He was arrested for manslaughter, and even though the officer was dismissed from his job and the city settled a civil suit the family filed, the cop was acquitted of all charges. In New York, a police officer put Eric Garner in a chokehold that was no longer even allowed, similar to the chokehold that killed Radio Raheem in "Do the Right Thing." He was the first to say "I Can't Breathe." Those officers were not even charged. Then, here in Sweet Home Chicago, Laquan McDonald, a teenage boy, was shot 16 times even though he was unarmed and running away from the police. He was convicted of 2nd degree murder, but he only received 78 months in prison, being eligible for parole after 24 months. To digress, this officer, Jason Van Dyke, was beaten up in prison for the second time since being locked up. Forgive me, but I have no pity for him. If he only must do a short amount of time, let it be the hardest time around. Returning to the topic, when people heard about Floyd, they thought of the lynchings that took place in their own cities. That is when they started protesting and rioting.

I have been reading about the oppression my people have suffered over the years, which made me think of one of the catalysts for the Civil Rights Movement: Emmett Till. The 14 year old boy was kidnapped, beaten, castrated, and mutilated before shot in the head with a .45. This is all because he allegedly had gotten fresh with a White woman named Carolyn Bryant. Some say that he whistled at her. Others say that he said "Bye, baby" to her as he left her store. She told everyone that he grabbed her hand and her waist, making sexual advances towards her. She told this in court and even to the FBI. First, she told it to her husband, who then told his half brother, J.W. Milam, and they decided to make an example out of Till. Even with all of the evidence, these monsters were acquitted, and, when he knew he could not be tried again for the same crime, Roy Bryant admitted everything he did to Till. Then, only a few years ago, Carolyn Bryant admitted that she lied about Till ever touching him.

I have a simple question: why hasn't this woman been arrested yet? If it were not for her, Till would probably still be alive. Her lies caused her husband and brother-in-law to evade justice. And please, don't say that she is too old for prison and that it was a long time ago. Even if it were 100 years ago, she has a debt to pay, and she MUST pay it. Besides, age has not stopped people from punishment before. Byron de la Beckwith, a man who assassinated Medgar Evers, was 71 years old when he was sentence to life in prison. A 95 year old man who was discovered to have worked in a Nazi concentration camp was arrested, stripped of his American citizenship, and deported. Emmett Till should have been allowed to see old age with relative comfort. If he cannot, why should she? Even if she dies in prison 6 months after incarcerated, at least it will teach the lesson that age will not prevent a person from facing justice.

--Signing off.