You are walking alone, being stalked by a stranger. The stranger approaches you, and addresses you in a belligerent manner. The stranger is not a police officer. He are carrying a gun. What do you believe is about to happen? What do you do?
This is why George Zimmerman's excuse does not sound like any kind of an excuse at all to me. Even if it is completely true that Trayvon Martin hit him and tried to take his gun, that would only mean that young Trayvon had decided that his best chance of getting out of there alive was to overpower his assailant.
The 'followed him back to his car' part of the story does not fit with the narrative that Martin's girlfriend provides. She was receiving an ongoing account from Martin right up until the apparent struggle where he was killed. She heard the initial exchange of words between them.
Lastly, how would Martin even know that Zimmerman had a gun to take away, unless he was brandishing it?
None of us know the whole story. There may be much one to this than any of us know. But why do I see these stories offered at face value, with none of the important questions being asked?
Saturday, March 31, 2012
Friday, March 16, 2012
Prisoners of War
I had the opportunity to visit Andersonville, the site of the infamous prisoner of war camp run by the confederacy during the civil war. Also there is the national Prisoner of War Museum.
The museum exhibits spoke in generalities, the history of how prisoners of war have been treated, and it also spoke personally, stories of individuals and their experience as prisoners of war. And it talked about all the different flavors of prisoner.
The Japanese-Americans who were shipped to camps during the second world war, they were, in a way prisoners of war. They had committed no crime, not taken up arms against this nation, and yet they were treated as hostile foreigners. Their treatment was similar to civilians who were living in hostile or occupied countries when war broke out, interned for the duration.
But as I walked through the museum, reading the stories of men and women who had endured capture and sometimes torture, I could not help be be reminded of what a stain on our national soul is Guantanamo.
Someone in the Bush administration made up the term 'illegal combatants' to justify what would otherwise be illegal treatment of captives. In 10+ years, how many of these men (and sometimes children) have been charged with any crime? I still maintain that they must be treated as prisoners of war, or charged with some sort of crime.
We do not defeat terrorism by becoming terrorists. Terrorism is a tactic used by the powerless against the powerful. It is not an end unto itself. As long as people feel oppressed, that their hopes and dreams are being ignored or actively suppressed, there will be terrorists. You defeat that by attacking the root cause, and yet we continue to be the root cause instead.
As long as places like Guantanamo exist, there will continue to be more and more people who come to the conclusion that we are their enemy. And how do you strike out an an enemy so large and powerful as the United States? With acts of terrorism.
By our refusal to follow international convention, or even our own laws, we have become our own worst enemy.
The museum exhibits spoke in generalities, the history of how prisoners of war have been treated, and it also spoke personally, stories of individuals and their experience as prisoners of war. And it talked about all the different flavors of prisoner.
The Japanese-Americans who were shipped to camps during the second world war, they were, in a way prisoners of war. They had committed no crime, not taken up arms against this nation, and yet they were treated as hostile foreigners. Their treatment was similar to civilians who were living in hostile or occupied countries when war broke out, interned for the duration.
But as I walked through the museum, reading the stories of men and women who had endured capture and sometimes torture, I could not help be be reminded of what a stain on our national soul is Guantanamo.
Someone in the Bush administration made up the term 'illegal combatants' to justify what would otherwise be illegal treatment of captives. In 10+ years, how many of these men (and sometimes children) have been charged with any crime? I still maintain that they must be treated as prisoners of war, or charged with some sort of crime.
We do not defeat terrorism by becoming terrorists. Terrorism is a tactic used by the powerless against the powerful. It is not an end unto itself. As long as people feel oppressed, that their hopes and dreams are being ignored or actively suppressed, there will be terrorists. You defeat that by attacking the root cause, and yet we continue to be the root cause instead.
As long as places like Guantanamo exist, there will continue to be more and more people who come to the conclusion that we are their enemy. And how do you strike out an an enemy so large and powerful as the United States? With acts of terrorism.
By our refusal to follow international convention, or even our own laws, we have become our own worst enemy.
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