"We few, we happy few, we band of brothers..." (Henry V)

.....I just got a new edition of Time magazine with an image of a hood of the kind Trayon Martin was wearing on the night that he was shot.  And the title superimposed on this image is "After Trayon".  I haven't read the article as yet; I've been badgered sufficiently by the media--newspapers, magazines, and TV; especially TV,  and especially CNN.  And now it seems that this event, because of the verdict, has been turned into an issue of racial discrimination.  A white vigilante male, while his head was being bashed on the sidewalk, shot a black teenage male .  He pleaded self defense; the jury agreed, and so he was acquitted.  Now, suppose his head was being bashed against the sidewalk by a white teenage male.  Would he have been found guilty?  The prosecution wanted a guilty verdict based on second-degree murder?  Well, I thought that was pushing it a bit.  I don't think I could ever find a man guilty of that charge beyond a reasonable doubt, that would put a man in prison for life.  Perhaps the prosecution might have gotten a guilty verdict on the charge of manslaughter; perhaps not.  Who knows?  But the media climbed aboard the choo-choo of racism and blew that train whistle for all it was worth.  Racism? Hey, millions of Americans voted a black man for president.  Wherever racism is involved, it exists in the Congress of the United States.  If our president was white, would he be subject to the virulent kinds of mischief he's been subjected to since he has been President? For  certain, racism does exist in our country; it evolves from one ethnic group to another; from one culture to another, and it will always be that way--but that is why we are a country of laws, and if there exists a better system somewhere else, I'd like to know where that is.

.....from former student:

.....I re-read "Tailgunner".  Daughter had it for a few years.  I read the last half of the book first, from your low point in the VA Hospital after the War and all that followed.  What a life!!
.....I'm glad you're blogging, it gives us all a lift.   EBJ