BrokenFingernail.com

Okay, if this story doesn’t make you sick, then you might just have something wrong with you.

I just got done watching a show that discussed the death of an individual that did nothing wrong but look different than the boy that murdered him. As bad as that sounds in itself, I was absolutely disgusted at the way the town they all lived in took it.

Okay, so, this kid that has a Mohawk and looks/is into the punk scene is obviously is evil because of the way he dresses. (Mind you, I’m being sarcastic.) I was treated like that throughout school. I never had the money to get good clothes like everyone else wore, so after middle school I started customizing them so I didn’t look like everyone else. That was my form of individuality, and though some people liked it—my parents were fine with it—there were always that select group of people at school that picked on me because of it. They thought that I worshipped Satan and was into the occult and all that wonderful stuff that people have a tendency to think when they have no contempt of who you really are, so, I took this horrific story to heart.

He dropped out of school his junior year because the jocks at the school kept picking on him. The way his friends were talking, it seemed that he was jumped by people at least every week, just because he was so different looking.

The thing that really gets me on this one is that his family was very religious. How horrible is that in itself? I mean, usually people automatically think that people that dress in black and wear spikes and such are Satan worshippers, but for him and his family to be that religious and for those people to still think that seems really horrible to me. I always thought people picked on me in school and said those things because they knew that my family and I do not attend church and are not the most remotely religious. How can a community that is generally based around God not notice someone for who they really are and not for how they appear on the outside?

This poor man went to a local restaurant that he and his friends would go to for coffee and such, only to be heckled and have things thrown at them by a large group of jocks from local high schools in the area that had been trying to start something for a few weeks. In the melee that ensued after they attempted to leave, he was caught alone in a group of men that basically tried to beat the hell out of him or possibly kill him. It was not just a one-on-one thing—there were many people with weapons trying to beat him and his friends. His friends finally got to him by fighting their way to him, but he was alive at this point. This beating was just one of many that he had endured over the years and wouldn’t have killed him. What came next did.

Some of his friends were trying to avoid a Cadillac that had been seemingly trying to hit them. The car did manage to hit this 19-year-old and not just run him over, no, it ran him over, drug him under the car onto the curb, and then went in reverse. As we should all know, it’s not like going in reverse is something that one can accidentally do, so this cannot really be labeled as an “accident” at this point.

His older brother picked him up, what was left of his body face and mangled body at this point, only to hear him say “I love you” right before he died. Now, that is absolutely horrendous—having to deal with your little brother dying in your arms knowing that you can’t do anything to save him.

Now, on top of all this, obviously the man that ran him over drove off. He was a local high school football player. He was a “good kid” that everyone liked. His friends thought it was horrible that he went to jail because of this event. I’m sorry, but the tissue of the man he ran over was found on the bottom of his car. The girl in the car with him when it happened testified against him. He said some of the worst things that someone in the position to be found guilty should have ever said. He basically dug himself into a hole, first saying that he was trying to protect a friend by hitting him, but upon realizing that the statement was badly flawed; saying that it was an accident, which was tossed out the window when they mentioned to the jury that he went in reverse.

So, it would seem rather obvious that he would be found guilty of murder, no? There were witnesses, character witnesses, the car which was the murder weapon, his own statements, and it all made sense to find him guilty. But, no—he was found guilty of manslaughter and, here’s the kicker, got ten years probation.

He is in jail now, because he was caught drinking underage and fled from the police to hide it, but, still, if this doesn’t seem like an outrage, I don’t know what does.

Anyone that was ever picked on for being different can most likely relate to his story. He was described as a kind-hearted boy that loved his family and, most importantly to me; he just wanted to teach tolerance to those around him.

He could have cut his hair the way everyone else did, he could have wore the same clothes that the popular kids did, he could have been just like everyone else—but he didn’t, and he was killed for it.

This post was originally from my MySpace blog and the entry can be found here.