The Ballad of Jaquise
Before Jaquise Lewis lost his life defending his friends from an act of racist white mob violence, he was universally loved and admired.
Fun to be around, said one relative. Never got into any trouble, his aunt remembered. One after another, they lined up to tell the Albuquerque reporters the story of how Jaquise was in the “wrong place at the wrong time.”
Alternately an innocent victim and a hero saving his friends.
The kind words poured down like rain shortly after that day in March when a bunch of white skaters attacked Jaquise and his friends at a skateboard park when all they were trying to do was have a little fun at a birthday party.
“Several dozen people remember a teenager who died too young,” intoned Tessa Mentus, the anchor at KOB news as she introduced a story on a memorial for the recently deceased Jaquise. “Gunmen opened fire at the Los Altos skateboard park last night, and 17-year old Jaquise Lewis died at the scene.”
“Six other people were shot,” said another reporter at KOB. “And understandably people were upset.” The sanctification continued with a report from the scene of the memorial: “Jaquise was well loved,” said the somber reporter Ryan Luby. “And the shooters were still at large.”
And as for the gang colors on display and gang signs many of the mourners were flashing? No one really noticed. Or cared. They were too busy consoling one of Jaquise’s homeboys who attended the memorial in his hospital gown, who was also a “victim” of the dirty white boys and their racist violence.
The next day, it got real: several friends of Jaquise reported that someone burned down their makeshift memorial. And much like the shooting of Jaquise itself, there could be only one explanation how a makeshift collection of candles and paper displays and ribbons left unattended in a windy parking lot could catch fire: White Racism.
Friends of Jaquise “say the destruction of his memorial was a hate crime,” reported KRQE. “To be honest, I think it was racism,” said a friend of the fallen teenager.
“We spoke to the victim’s grandfather earlier today,” said a reporter from KRQE. “And he said several of his family members said race may have played a role” in the death of the young Jaquise.
And that is how it stood for several weeks: White people running amok in Albuquerque. Shooting unarmed black teenagers for no reason whatsoever.
Then last week, with the help of video, the story… evolved.
There was no birthday party.
Jaquise and his friends went to the park to create havoc and violence. ...
http://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2015/05/the_ballad_of_jaquise.html
Posts
