Things. I don't like. About meanies.

An unarmed kid. Shot and killed. By a police officer. In a St. Louis suburb. Last summer. The officer fired his gun. Multiple times. Wounding the kid several times. The last bullet. In the head. That was the lethal one. You’d think that after the kid had been wounded. That the officer would figure. That’s enough. Let’s get the kid to a hospital.  No. No. Apparently he wanted to kill the kid. For having stolen cigars. And maybe for bad-mouthing/disrespecting the officer.  Or maybe it was because the kid was black. The officer white. That’s the way it is. In racist parts of America. A black life isn’t as precious as a white one. Little wonder. That tonight. A white grand jury. Coached by a white prosecutor. Exonerated the officer. Didn’t bring an indictment. That’s justice. The American white way. In St. Louis. And elsewhere, too. In far too many locales. Right here. In America. While so many of us white folks look away. And get on with our privileged white lives. Little wonder. That there are things. I don’t like. About mean people. –Jim Broede