By “Mr. Dunn, your life is effectively over.”
These were the words of Judge Healey as he sentenced Michael Dunn to life in prison with no chance of parole. Dunn got a total of infinity years + 90 years for 3 counts of attempted murder. This despicable man had the nerve to shoot at a car full of teenagers because “their music was too loud”, go back home with his girlfriend, and order pizza as if it was an ordinary Friday night. Even though he will rot in jail, the justice is bittersweet. No amount of jail time will bring 17-year-old Jordan Davis back to his loved ones.
Starting with the Trayvon Martin murder and now with Michael Brown and Ferguson, the nation has started to second guess the ancient legend of the Innocent White Man vs. Armed Black Man. It seems to be open season on black teenagers as we are seeing (or just noticing) an increasing amount of ballsy white people, especially cops, murdering defenseless black men and women and children without a thought about the consequences. Maybe in the back of their minds they know that the law is on their side. I mean, in the case of Michael Brown, his murderer literally was the law. The blatant racism and injustice of these cases is enough to make one’s blood boil, but nowadays justice seems to be a distant dream.
Even though Jordan Davis’s murder was obviously motivated by racism, much of the public seems to be in denial. Quite too many find Dunn’s “self-defense” justifiable and that it absolutely had nothing to do with any racial biases. It makes you wonder whether these people take a step back and really think about why they came to these conclusions and if they would’ve thought the same if Davis wasn’t black, or if Dunn wasn’t white. The racial motivation is so blatant. It is blatant in the fact that Jordan and his friends were listening to rap music which is often associated with “thugness.” It is blatant in the fact that Jordan was character assassinated all over major news networks despite being the victim. It is blatant in the fact that white mass murderers get more sympathy than black victims. It is blatant in the fact that Jordan would’ve been alive today if he was white. Not a single doubt about that.
As Muslims, it is demanded of us to be on the side of justice. We need to show our support for all these families and causes in any way we can. Do not think that “this does not affect us” because injustice for some is injustice for all.