As much as I'm glad this is near some closure for all parties involved, as well as within the hearts & minds of our community, no justice will bring Lawrence back. From the beginning of this, too much focus was placed on punishing & not enough on the rehabilitating/educating the boy who we had a window to help.
It's tragic that "we" couldn't see a boy of 14, whose response to being asked as a Valentine by a boy of 15 was to shoot him, was obviously not mature or adult in any way. Putting him on trial as one, doesn't make him one. "Old enough to commit the crime/Old enough to do the time" is trite & easy to rhyme, but does nothing to truly break down barriers that caused Brandon's response or the bullying and cruelty that continues beyond this case.
Now, the boy will enter "adulthood" at 18 by potentially learning the behavior/orientation conflicts of prison life; gay sex(behavior) vs his [presumed] heterosexuality(orientation). Perhaps that is ironic justice to some of us, but it seems as cruel as the hostility we would work to abolish against us--at all ages.
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The daily jazz of my mind, as pure & honest as possible; but know that words are themselves filters of the original thought/idea.
