My initial feelings were anger. I was angry that there's no justice for the baby. I was angry because my belief is that had Casey been black or brown she may have been one of the few women in this country sentenced to death. I was angry because our folk rot in prison for far less. I was angry at the jury for choosing the route they did and then choosing not to cop to it in public.
Shutting the tv off I can say that I understand that the preceedings were rigorous, that the jury's lives had been disrupted by their service and that they need to decompress. I understand that the jury, the prosecution, the defense and the judge were all just doing their jobs.
While I got caught up, while we got caught up in this trial what did we miss? How many black and brown children went missing and were later found dead? Did these children get any attention outside of their immediate homebase? What about women and men of color who go missing? Do we look for them? Are we glued to every press conference, commentary, post or tweet about them? Is there even any media coverage of them or their families? Where are the massive search parties? Where are the volunteers from other states to lend a hand in searching for our loved ones?
This verdict or debacle however we choose to see it is really irrelevant. What is relevant is the lives that are lost in our own communities. Instead of ranting (and I am guilty) about cases like Anthony's we should consider having that same ire, and expending even greater energy right at home. We have to demand fair an thorough investigations, demand that justice be served and ensure that each and every missing person and those who are eventually found departed have their stories told, even if we have to shout it on every street corner ourselves.
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