Trayvon Martin, RIP...

Racism is alive and well and living in America. Trayvon Martin is not. Trayvon was killed in cold blood and buried by his parents while his killer is free to sit in his living room recliner, drinking beers and rooting for his favorite sports team. A friend of mine alerted me to this story yesterday and it haunted me all night. My blog cannot do justice to this case and it’s times like these I wish I had a larger readership. This is a story that everyone who lives in this country should be aware of, should be talking about, should be demanding that swift action be taken. Trayvon’s name should be a household word. It should enrage our sense of injustice. Let me tell you what happened, if you haven’t heard.

On February 26th, Trayvon Martin, a black, 17 year old boy, was returning to his father’s fiancée’s house after going out to buy some skittles and iced tea. When he got back to the gated community, George Zimmerman, the racist neighborhood watch volunteer and vigilant, spotted him and began following Trayvon. At the same time, Zimmerman took out his cell phone and called 911, reporting Trayvon as “suspicious.” Trayvon, who was wearing a hoodie, pulled it up and started walking faster, because he was being watched and I suspect he was afraid. Zimmerman was on with 911 the entire time and eventually caught up with Trayvon. Trayvon was also on the phone with a friend, who has told authorities what was happening at the time. Trayvon asked Zimmerman why he was following him. Zimmerman asked him what he was doing there. The next thing Trayvon’s friend hears is someone being pushed. Trayvon screamed for help many times. Other residents made 911 calls and his screams could be heard in the background. They were too afraid for their own safety to go out and help. The next thing they heard was a gun being fired and Trayvon was dead. George Zimmerman is claiming self defense. Trayvon was 17, unarmed, without a record and weighed about 150 pounds. Zimmerman was 28, armed, with a record and weighing in at about 250 pounds. Trayvon is dead. He was hunted down like an animal because he was black and killed by a single bullet. It was a cold blooded murder. The 911 tapes have it all recorded. Yet Zimmerman has not been arrested. They even have Zimmerman making this racist comment on tape:

“After being told not to follow Martin, you can hear Zimmerman saying "these assholes, they always get away" and whispering what sounds like "fucking coons" or "fucking goons" at the 1:52 mark. Zimmerman and dispatch end the call after he asks that police call him when they arrive to the scene.”

Why hasn’t Zimmerman been arrested? The evidence is as clear as day. He targeted Trayvon, it was a hate crime. Where is the outrage of everyone in this country? Of every parent who has an innocent child? Thankfully, I see that the case has gotten so much attention that it will be investigated by several agencies including the U.S. Justice Department's Civil Rights Division and the FBI. 

There has to been some justice for Trayvon Martin and his parents. So, though I normally never ask that you spread the link to any of my blogs, I am asking readers to do so today. Let’s make others aware of this hate crime and the man responsible. Let’s help get justice for a boy whose life was taken because of the color of his skin.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/trayvon-martin-death-friend-phone-teen-death-recounts/story?id=15959017#.T2h-ocU7Vdw

911 Calls

Natalie Wood: Accident Or Murder?

When Natalie Wood died on that boat thirty years ago, I thought it was murder.  Everything I heard pointed to it and I blamed Robert Wagner.  Now the captain of the ship, one of four people who were present that night, has written a book on the thirtieth anniversary of her death.  More details seem to be coming out now.  The case is being reopened by investigators.  It’s about time.

Let me tell you what we do know and you decide if it sounds like an accident or murder to you.  I got a lot of this information from a good friend because 48 Hours was a waste of time.  Here we go:

There were four people on that boat the night Natalie Wood drowned: Natalie, the captain, Robert Wagner (her husband), and Christopher Walken, her costar.  Robert Wagner reportedly said that he last saw his wife fixing her hair in the bathroom.  Natalie was in her flannel nightgown and socks, apparently getting ready for bed.  The autopsy revealed that there were two undigested pills in her intestine, possibly sleeping pills.  

We also know that Natalie Wood was extremely afraid of the water.  Her sister said that this is because their mother told her that she would die in cold, dark water. Does it make sense that Natalie would try to get on a dinghy, in the dark of night, in her nightgown when she is so afraid of drowning?  True she had been drinking, but so had her husband and Christopher Walken.  There was a lot of arguing going on that night, with Wagner accusing Walken of wanting to sleep with his wife.  Wagner was in a jealous rage and full of alcohol.  A deadly combination.  The captain says Natalie would have never taken the dinghy down herself, she would have asked him to do it, if she had intended to get in it.

If she accidentally fell overboard, for some reason, wouldn’t she have been screaming for help?  No one heard a sound.  If she had hit her head hard against the boat and was unconscious there would have been an severe head injury, but there wasn’t. The boat they were on wasn’t that big at all.  The captain says he even had to play his radio loudly to drown out the arguing that had been going on all night.  The captain stated that he saw Wagner and Woods arguing on the deck and shortly after Wagner went to him saying he couldn’t find Natalie.  So evidently, the statement Wagner made that he last saw her brushing her hair in the bathroom was a lie. The captain searched the boat for her, but never found her. She was missing and Wagner was not that concerned because he poured drinks for himself and the captain and told him not to alert anyone that she was missing.  For all anyone knows, according to my friend, Wagner himself could have unsecured the dinghy after throwing her into the water to make it look like she left on her own.

The captain feels that Robert Wagner had something to do with her death.  The captain told a story at the time, that was consistent with the facts that Wagner wanted to reveal.  However, when Natalie was missing, during the first 15 minutes or so, the captain wanted to put on the ship’s light and start a search.  Wagner told him not to do that, to leave her out there and teach her a lesson…a lesson that lasted 4 hours and ended in her death.  Natalie was found a mile from the dinghy, wearing a down jacket over her nightgown. Wagner wasn’t the one to identify the body either, the captain did that.

Wagner theorizes that Natalie was trying to leave the yacht when she accidentally slipped and fell.  However, a woman in a nearby yacht heard a woman screaming for help around midnight. The cries lasted for 15 minutes and then she heard a voice call out, “Take it easy, we’ll be over to get you.”

I didn’t know half of this information thirty years ago and I thought it was murder then.  I am more than convinced of it now.  This facts just don’t add up to an accident.  Whatever happened, there are still three people from that boat who are alive and can tell us.  One of them, Christopher Walken, has hired himself a lawyer to advise him.  Wagner, who is 81 and has lived out his glorious life happily married to Stephanie Powers, is not a suspect, or so they say.  For me he is and always has been the number one suspect.  The case was closed way too fast and not enough investigating was done.  All of these facts should have been pursued at the time of her death, not thirty years later.  And what about this person Marilyn Wayne, who heard a woman’s shouts for help that were ignored?  Well investigators evidently ignored what she had to say too.  

I hope Christopher Walken knows exactly what happened and opens up about it.  Three people were there, give them all lie detector tests and get to the bottom of it already.  It’s time that Natalie Wood rest in peace.

NYC Tragedy, Nine Year Old Boy Murdered…

I hate to hear stories like this one. It makes me sick to my stomach. But it’s all I can think about this morning. It was everywhere on the news and it’s going to stay with me all day. A parent’s worst nightmare.

Leibby Kletzky, a nine year old boy, went missing Monday after day camp. The boy told his parents that he wanted to walk home alone, “he was a big boy.” We’ve all heard that from our children at one time or another. The parents agreed to the boy’s request and he had a specific path to walk where his mother had planned on meeting him. It should be said that this family lives in a predominantly Orthodox Jewish community. That fact lead the parents to feel somewhat secure in trusting their son would be safe walking the streets there. It’s a tight knit community, and until most New York City communities, the people who live there know one another. So when Leibby went missing Monday it affect everyone.

A massive volunteer group, of 1,000 to 2,000 people, formed to help police find the missing boy. There were surveillance cameras in local businesses that captured part of the boy’s walk home. He has not been on the path designated by his mother. At some point between when the cameras last captured him and the location where he was to meet his mother, he disappeared. A detailed description immediately went out to the news media. Police used helicopters, dogs and horses to try to find the boy. A reward of $100,000 was offered by the community for information. It was later raised to $125,000.

Early this morning the boy was found dead. A suspect has been arrested. Parts of the boy’s body was found in his apartment, parts were found in a suitcase in a nearby dumpster. He was brutally murdered. One of the security tapes shows the boy appearing to be speaking to a man in a gold car. He was supposed to meet his mother a mere three blocks away. Leibby was never seen again.

Just 48 hours ago Leibby was getting ready to go to summer camp, now his parents have to arrange his funeral. What makes matters worse, is that the suspect lived among them, and maybe was even part of their community. More details will surface after police conduct their questioning of the suspect.

I get sick over the thought of what this little boy must have gone through at the hands of this monster. I an haunted by what his last moments must have been like. What torture did he inflict on him before he murdered and dismembered his body? Was the boy crying out for his mother? That’s the way it plays in my mind. And what about the poor grief stricken parents? The devastating news of what happened to their young son will haunt them forever. Maybe they will be guilt ridden for giving in to his request to walk home alone on top of the grief of losing him in such an unspeakable manner. Thank God they have a family type of community to help support them and pray for them through this tragic ordeal. They are going to need all the help they can get.

As for the monster who did this, I wonder, can this be his first victim? Who does such vile, sick things to an innocent child? There is no punishment severe enough that will ever do justice to what that poor boy and his family have gone through and will continue to go through.

So many times we have “signs” from individuals that they are mentally unstable, but it’s only after they harm one or more people, do we take action. I wonder if this suspect has a criminal record or a mental illness history? We are always putting these people back on the streets, there is a shortage of places to keep them. The jails are overcrowded and the mental hospitals are too. So they get out early, without being rehabilitated or “cured” only to pose a new threat to society.

Today, I’ll be praying for Leibby and his parents. As a parent, I can only imagine the depths of their despair and grief.