From the fictionalized account of Dr. Henry Kirkland Jr’s life, who became a Hall of Fame educator twice over, in A Rainbow in the Dark comes a powerful scene in which young Kirk encounters a dying man who was shot. Kirk finds himself caught up in the drama largely because of the color of his skin. Here is the account from the book; while Kirk sits in the sheriff’s car as a suspect to a murder he had nothing to do with:
“The strong aroma of blood suddenly grabbed him like an iron fist. He could even taste the blood. It was a sweet metallic taste that reminded Kirk of weekends he’d spend with his grandparents, just outside of Stringtown. They raised cattle and hogs. In the summer, Kirk and his dad would help butcher the hogs. It was always a brutal day that Kirk dreaded. His visits to the farm were peaceful and quiet, except on butchering day.
The event would begin by Kirk’s grandpa, Sam Colbert, walking into the hog pen with a hammer. He would find the hog he wanted, and then hit the hog right between the eyes. Grandpa Sam then took the razor sharp knife and slashed the hog’s throat from ear to ear. As the hog’s blood gushed everywhere Kirk’s job was to help drag 9in to the scalding vat. Before the day was over he would be covered in blood.
The sheriff walked around the front of the car, then opened the door and was seated. “You’ve got some ‘splainin’ to do, boy.” said the sheriff. What was this about Whiskey, drugs, revenge? Or was it just random?”
I don’t rightly know,” said Kirk. “I’ve heard Johnny hadn’t been very faithful to his wife and he smacks her around.
The sheriff jumped back in his seat.
“Are you tellin’ me Marie put you up to this?’
“Put me up to what?” asked Kirk with a blank look on his face.
“Killing Johnny Morman.”
“What the hell are you talking about?” asked an incensed Kirk. “I didn’t ki8ll him. I was trying to save the poor bastard.”
“Save him?” said a disbelieving sheriff. “Would you like to know what I think?” asked the sheriff.
“Yes, sir.”
“I think you are a liar!” scream Sheriff Cain. “I’m gettin’ real tired of your lying. Get out of this car.”
Kirk stepped out of the vehicle, and the sheriff strode over to where he stood. Cain spun Kirk’s tall thin body around and forced him over the car hood. He then frisked Kirk down from head to toe. When he felt the gun in Kirk’s pocket, he stopped.”
So, here stood Kirk, alone and innocent. But the sheriff was building a good case against him. This it seems is where police work get difficult. One must keep an open mind about all the evidence and not rush to judgment.
The case of Zimmerman-Davis in Florida highlights the problem with 24-hour news channels. These cases hit a news cycle and must run their course before they fade from the national scene. The true tragedy here is a young man’s life is over. The second tragedy is as a nation we seemed to be asked to take a “side” before anyone knows what really happened that night on a street in Florida. The best scenario would be to let justice take it’s course in the county in which the event occurred. Do we really know the police had put this case to rest without plans on arresting Zimmerman after further ongoing investigation? No one knows what really happened that night. What we do know is a young man in dead. Many in the media have turned the victim though into the older Zimmerman. The man, Zimmerman, is the one with the gun, the one who was told to stand down by the police, the one who was “patrolling” the street with gun at the ready, the one who decided to become investigator, prosecutor, judge, and jury that night. And, on the other hand, Davis has been painted as the young small innocent kid who went for skittles and a glass of tea. Did he approach and attack Zimmerman that night. Many in our country seem confident he did.
We would all do well to hold the police accountable for investigating a case in which an unarmed man is gunned down in the street. We could also do well to attempt from forming an opinion about a tragic case in which we really know nothing about.
In A Rainbow in the Dark, Kirk was about to get caught in the middle of a crime he had nothing to do with. If not for some LOCAL influence, he could have been accused and convicted of a crime he had nothing to do with. That would have changed his life forever. And on that dark street in Florida a young man’s life was ended forever. But, let’s all let the police to their job. The police should be investigated by an outside law agency in my opinion to see if they ended their investigation abruptly.
