Creative Nonfiction Blog by Brenda Gaines Hunter

Look! Okay

Look, when the OJ Simpson case happened, I believed he was guilty (I lived in California at the time and it did not start off as a front page story), and I still believe he is guilty. I believe Casey Anthony was guilty, too, but also, just like in the OJ case, I don't believe the the prosecution proved its case. (When you cannot determine what to convict someone of, then there is a reasonable doubt?) Now, in this case what convinces me is this: Zimmerman was told not to follow Martin. He was given a direct order. He continued to. That was a civil rights violation right there; we have the right to walk freely, non-impeded. Martin was walking down the street with his bag of Skittles. Further, I believe that 99% of men would have confronted Zimmerman. (Martin was still technically a boy.) A woman would have been too afraid to; she probably would have screamed and ran. And I don't believe that the right to bear arms is the same as the right to shoot.

Zimmerman Doesn't Have a Legitimate Self-defense Claim

I think even if Martin did get into a fight with him, so what? Martin could have been fighting for his life. He is likely the one who had the legitimate self-defense claim. First, he was followed, even after the police told Zimmerman to stop it; second, he was followed by someone who was carrying a gun. Who wouldn't stop and ask what in the f- are you following me for? Or Zimmerman may have said something to Martin. In any case, what should have been no more than a fistfight turned into a shooting because a fool was carrying a gun while following someone he was told by the police not to follow. He has no self-defense claim.

http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/05/16/11736208-trayvon-martin-killed-by-single-gunshot-fired-from-intermediate-range-autopsy-shows?threadId=3420494&commentId=66024150#c66024150

Archeology in Africa

I'm glad to see that archeologists have stepped up their efforts to uncover ancient cities and other artifacts in sub-Saharan Africa. Until fairly recently, black Africans appeared to have contributed nothing to civilization but hungry people, while almost all of the history of Africa that meant anything to the world was concentrated in what is known as "white" Africa--Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia--countries above the Sahara desert.

A Short Course re: the History of Slavery

(Response to a post.)

Slavery was a byproduct of indentured servitude. People of all races, and men, women, and children, were indentured servants.

The first black child born in America, Baby Williams, was born free in 1619. The first person in America to be sentenced to a lifetime of servitude was a white man. Most indentured servants became so through an arrangement whereby their masters paid their fare to America in exchange for them working for their masters for a period of time, usually about three to four years. Female indentured servants were being impregnated by their masters, and under English law, the men were responsible for the children. They usually even had physical custody. The men often made arrangements with the women to set them free in exchange for the women keeping the paternity of their children quiet. Hence, there were a lot of what one governor called "bastard" children (of all mixtures of races) running around the colonies--something which was intolerable, especially given that most of the European colonists were Puritans. Various colonies tried a multitude of methods for dealing with the problem. Laws came on the books. Gradually, white women were remanded to the custody of the churches. Black women, who were thought to be more lascivious than white women, were put out in the fields. Finally, the State of Virginia put the first law on the books tying slavery to the womb:

African Soul (Response to a Response: Grio "How the Black Church Cope's With Scandal")

When slavery occurred, one of the beliefs was that Africans did not have souls. Columbus argued that the Indians did. No one argued for the Africans. Since we did not have souls, we could not get into heaven and, therefore, were no different than a camel or a goat. About a century later, we began incorporating the white man's religion, Christianity, to show them that we did indeed have souls and, therefore, were human just like them. Now I say the white man's religion because many posters on these boards seem to be confused about who wrote the Bible and practiced the religion first. And many more seem to not understand that Mary, Joseph and Jesus were Jews and, furthermore, Jesus was a rabbi. Christianity came after Jesus' death--not while he was still alive. Let's clear those misunderstandings up first, so that our arguments can have some integrity.