A Mexican-American Emmett Till in 2009?

I recently read a shocking news article about the trial of two teens, accused of beating a Mexican immigrant to death. Despite clear evidence that the two former high school football stars, ages 17 and 19, were involved in a “physical altercation” with 25 year old Mexican Immigrant Luis Ramirez (even their lawyers did not deny this), both were found not-guilty for all charges they faced (aggravated assault, reckless endangerment, ethnic intimidation, and third-degree murder) by an all-white jury of six men and six women. The argument put forth by the defense was that while both teens were involved in the incident (which included other teens), neither of these two were responsible for the blows that led to Ramirez’s death from blunt force injuries two days later in a hospital. The defense also sought to portray Ramirez as the aggressor in the situation.

The prosecution, on the other hand, alleged that the teens, who were intoxicated, used racial epithets to bait Ramirez into a fight, a fight which ended with Ramirez “convulsing in the street, foaming from the mouth.” The 17 year old, Brandon Piekarsky, was accused of delivering the fatal kick to Ramirez’s head after he was knocked to ground.

I found the outcome of this case incredibly disturbing. The fact that two teens who were unarguably involved in a brutal beating and killing of another human being and managed to get away with it entirely unscathed is insane and horrifying. The nature of the horrific crime reminds me of the murder of Emmett Till which we studied about and discussed in class. In this case, two white men accused (and as evidence had shown were clearly guilty) of brutally beating and murdering 14 year old African American Emmett Till were also acquitted by an all white jury. The fact that these two cases share so much in common despite the fact that Emmett Till was murdered in 1955 prior to the Civil Rights Movement makes the current case increasingly disturbing. Gladys Limon, a spokeswoman for the Mexican-American Legal Defense and Education Fund stated:

"The jurors here [are] sending the message that you can brutally beat a person, without regard to their life, and get away with it, continue with your life uninterrupted... ...In this case, the message is that a person who may not be popular in society based on their national origin or certain characteristic has less value in our society.”

The extent of Ramirez's injuries, which had left his brain oozing from his skull, according to medical testimony, should have sufficed for a conviction other than simple assault, Limon said.

"The acts here were egregious in brutality and it's just outrageous and very difficult to understand how any juror could have had reasonable doubt, especially as to the aggravated assault and the reckless endangerment charges."

Limon stated that the group plans to press the Department of Justice to file federal charges against the teens.

What if Israel Attacks?

In light of our recent Iran/war simulation, I fought a recent news article I read rather intriguing. Entitled “Israel ups war training despite US discontent”, the article detailed the Israeli Air Force (IAF) and its recent training exercises against MiG-29 Fulcrum fighters, the fighter jets used by neighboring Arab nations including Iran. Israel was apparently loaned these soviet-designed fighters by an unidentified foreign country in order to simulation dog fights and other military encounters with potential enemies. This recent and specific military exercises have worried the White House, who have been seeking reassurance that Israel would not launch a surprise attack on Iran without first notifying the US. While the US and Israel remand strong allies, the new Obama Administration has changed the US’s policies in regards to Iran, attempting to engage in direct diplomatic relation with Tehran in order to address Israel and the US’s nuclear concerns. One of the worries that the article addresses is that the hawkish government of Israel’s new prime minister could potentially blindside the US government and drag the US into an undesirable war with Iran.

In this article, I noticed many parallels with our own simulation on the issue in class. Similar to the stances my classmates portrayed in the simulation, the US is desperate to solve the issue diplomatically and reserve war as a last resort, while Israel appears ready to attack Iran at first sight of a threat. I also noticed a parallel regarding the alliance between Israel and the US; namely how while the US has agreed to support Israel militarily despite the two nations’ differing approaches to solving the issue of Iran’s nuclear program. In our simulation, the danger of such an alliance was made clear as the US mobilized forces to Iran’s border along with Israel, despite the fact that the US, in the simulation UN summit a day prior, had proposed a peacefully and fairly lenient compromise on the issue. Luckily, in our simulation, Israel did not jump the gun and invade Iran at this point, as such actions would have forced the US into war which it had little intentions of entering. However, the recent military preparation detailed in this article makes the troubling suggestion that Israel could potentially invade Iran without first consulting the White House, knowing that the US would be forced to engage regardless. Thus, the US would be forced into another costly, unfavorable war, this time over an issue it had tried to solve (and perhaps made significant progress in solving) diplomatically.