Hope in the Face of Hate.

As the nation comes to grips with the tragic shooting of Trayvon Martin in Florida, another national story that relates to racially-motivated violence has come to its conclusion. Last Thursday in Jackson, Mississippi three white men pleaded guilty to the charges of killing James C. Anderson, an African American man, based on his race. The three were charged with one count of conspiracy in addition one count of violating Mr. Anderson’s civil rights, which they all pleaded guilty to. Deryl Dedmond, 19, was the one who admitted to driving his truck over Mr. Anderson deliberately in an effort to kill him, to which he was successful. He was given two consecutive life sentences with no chance of parole.

In looking at this senseless case and looking at the shooting of an unarmed seventeen-year-old African American minor it can be easy for someone to make the argument that racism, particularly violent racism, has not been completely abandoned. It is indeed tragic that despite all that we have accomplished as a nation these kinds of events still occur from time to time. However, to believe that we can completely eliminate racism is like believing we could fully eradicate crime and hatred, which while ideal, is impossible. Instead what we can only continue to do is to try and teach the younger groups that such hatred should be prevented as much as possible. Another area we must change is how our law enforcement addresses these incidents. In both the shooting of Martin and the killing of Anderson law enforcements were reluctant to tackle these cases from a racial standpoint and did not proceed with adequate aggression until after protests from the general public in the Anderson case. As of this day Trayvon Martin’s shooter has not been arrested or charged in his death. Clearly, both of these cases show we need to readjust how law enforcement and public prosecutors handle incidents with racial and ethnic undertones, or in the case of Anderson blatant overtones. Fortunately, in the Mississippi case served as a testing for new federal hate-crime laws passed in 2009 which broadens the definition of hate-based crimes and better facilitates cooperation between federal and state governments in handling these incidents.

Finally, what I found most interesting in the case of Mr. Anderson’s death was his family’s request that Desmond not be executed for the murder. The family, who oppose the death penalty, has hoped to use this case, namely Desmond apparent remorse for his actions, as a chance to promote greater racial unity. While I do not agree with their position concerning capital punishment I cannot help but admire their ability forgive and hope for using such a tragic occurrence to help heal themselves, their community, and hopefully society as a whole.

You can find the story concerning the Mississippi trial here.