Rest In Power

Rest In Power

Adult nonfiction
"The child I lost was a son, a boy who hadn't yet crossed the
final threshold to becoming a man. He had been seventeen for only
three brief weeks, still in the beautiful and turbulent passage
through childhood's last stages, still on his way to becoming.
Instead he will be remembered for the things he left behind."
It was February 26, 2012. Trayvon Martin was at his father's
girlfriend's home in a gated Florida community watching sports on tv.
He decided to go to a nearby convevience store to get Skittles and a
cold drink. It should have been a routine errand. It wasn't even
that late.
But the head of the community's neighborhood watch, George
Zimmerman, was making rounds. There had been burglaries in the area.
He was convinced that they weren't being taken seriously. "Those #%*+
they always get away." When he saw Trayvon, a Black teen wearing a
hoodie, he decided, with no other evidence, that he looked
suspicious. He got out of his vehicle packing heat. Moments later
Trayvon was dead, shot through the heart. Zimmerman was using
Florida's Stand Your Ground law to claim self defense, saying that he,
an adult with a gun facing an unarmed teen, feared for his life. When
Trayvon was in a morgue, Zimmerman was in his own bed.
If you read or saw news coverage of Trayvon's murder and were as
outraged as I was you'll want to read the inside story as revealed in
Rest In Power. It was written by the people who know Trayvon the
best--his grieving mother and father who endured what no parent should
ever have to. In addition to having to bury their beloved son, they
saw his reputation intentionally trashed. To get even the most
rudimentary steps toward justice they had to bare their hearts and
souls to the media and fight tirelessly.
I don't know how they did it. I would have totally fallen
apart. But they were determined to get justice for Trayvon, to show
the world who he truly was, and to prevent other children and teens
from being slain as brutally and senselessly.
"We tell this story in the hope that it will continue the
calling that Trayvon left for us to answer and that it might shine a
path for others who have lost, or will lose, children to senseless
violence. We tell it in the hope for healing, for bridging the gap
that separates America, between races and classes, between citizens
and the police. Most of all, we tell it for Trayvon, whose young soul
and lively spirit guide us in everything we do."
If that isn't incentive to read the book I don't know what is.
On a purrrsonal note, this is a very exciting day for me. I was out
and about. My friend, Diane, gave me a ride to cash in $39.95 worth
of bottles and cans. Of course we were masked. We stopped by
community garden and picked some veggies and flowers for me. Then we
went to another place to harvest potatoes. We found one shaped just
like a manatee. We saw wild turkeys and a v of geese. It was great
being outside and spending time with a good friend....
...and now in less than half I'll be zooming to my first online
statistics class. Yikes! I'll let you all know how it goes. (Jules)
She's going to be talking to the little people in the machine. (Tobago)
A great big shout out goes out to my good gardening friend, Diane.
Tobago and Jules Hathaway




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