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.

Sacred Lands

Seriously. White people tend to act like they are native to the Americas, or any place else they happen to be for that matter. They tell black people, whom they brought over here as slaves, to go back to Africa. Hispanics, many whom are basically Native American, especially on the West Coast, that they are illegal immigrants, even though the borders between Texas, Arizona, New Mexico, and California have always been porous. Never occurs to them that if they are unhappy, they are free to return to Europe. Yeah, I know there are illegal immigrants there now, too. Just like there has been in Africa and the Americas for hundereds of years now. Wait! Australia, too. Now they're wondering why Native Americans should be given back their sacred lands, when after all, the Natives weren't doing anything with them until they came along and made something of them. So using their logic, it would be okay if their children now steal our bicycles off back porches since they've sat since last fall?

http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/05/05/11551618-un-official-us-must-return-control-of-sacred-lands-to-native-americans

Question: Casey Anthony

If we believe that Casey Anthony really did kill her daughter, but are unsure of how--murder (malicious intent); manslaughter (intent to cause bodily harm), or involuntary manslaughter (accidental), then what should she have been convicted of? If we do not know what to convict her of, then is there a reasonable doubt? Does the manner of death need to be known to determine culpability? I do think we maybe should start looking more closely at the word reasonable.

Casey Anthony: The Lizzie Borden of the 21st Century

I think that Casey Anthony did kill her daughter. However, the burden of proof in criminal trials is "beyond a reasonable doubt." That's a pretty high standard. We should also ask ourselves whether there really is any such thing as justice for the dead? It seems that the point of trying murder cases is to send a signal to other would-be murderers to live in fear--that there will be retribution for taking a human life.

In terms of verdicts, the justice system doesn't always work. However, the process usually does. When it comes to convicting someone of a crime or civil offense, the system is tilted toward the defendant. The prosecution has the burden of proof. That is the way it really should be. Proving the negative--you did not do something--is usually extremely difficult. So the defendant is usually only put in the position of having to deflect claims. Sometimes that can be done just by sitting quietly. The reasoning is that it is better for the guilty to sometimes go free than it is for the innocent to be convicted and punished, maybe, via execution. Casey gets to ultimately answer to God. And we should try to keep in mind that we are not God and that the jury has spoken. Those truths may not be pleasing to us, but they are what we have to work with. Regardless of what really did happen, Casey gets to live with the fact that her child is still dead and that she is the Lizzie Borden of the 21st Century.