Reflecting on the Kern speech - By N.L. Belardes
Today marks a historic day with the largest mass murder in Bakersfield ending in a death sentence for the convicted killer, Vincent Brothers.
Sitting adjacent to the ABC23 newsroom from my fish bowl, I wondered how a black man could get convicted in Bakersfield for mass murder, while O.J., in the news again, might walk free, again.
Executive Producer Jay Jones automatically said “L.A.” Does that mean L.A. courts versus Bakersfield courts? Would Phil Spector’s trial have ended the way it did if cast in the Bakersfield theater of mean justice? Would O.J.’s first case fair the same? What about the second O.J. case?
What do you know about Mean Justice?
Now I’m not saying Vincent Brothers is innocent. His family seems convinced he killed members of his own family. The courts proved he killed his family. But then, I’ve read The Innocent Man by John Grisham. Innocent men do get locked away for murder.
They sit in prisons and rot and wait for the needle, noose, electric chair, or whatever it is their state uses to execute them. And they were proven guilty too.
Now once again, I’m not saying Vincent Brothers is innocent. A man who can’t acknowledge his own daughter while she talks about her loved ones killed in cold blood…well, I would have a hard time being lenient on such a man too, to let's say, serve life without parole rather than getting the chair, needle, etc. I don’t even think he looked her in the eye; his own beautiful daughter.
Should Brothers sit in prison and rot? Obviously the courts don’t think so, even though Brothers will likely rot in prison for years before his death sentence is carried out. If ever.
I heard one person in the newsroom say, “He’ll be there 20 years.” Maybe there won’t be any further executions in California. I doubt that. I’m sure the blood bath will start up any day.
Not that I don’t believe in executions for heinous crimes. Although sometimes it may be better for convicted criminals to sit and rot instead of leaving the world.
I do have to say I understand what it feels like to have an unsupportive family in one way or another. And to lose that family by being either excommunicated in one way or another. And although one of my uncles was murdered years ago, I can’t possibly imagine so many members of a family gone at once, though I can easily imagine broken and unsupportive relationships with family.
There was so much anger and passion in Margaret Kern’s speech that I had to take off my headphones for a moment to dry my eyes. I couldn’t separate emotionally from Kern’s emotions she displayed.
I think by showing her entire statement on the ABC23 website it makes for a necessarily tougher day for the community. So I put it there. People need to see her entire statement, feel her pain. At least for the portion of the community who cares about the falling apart of familial relationships, hurt daughters, an ethnic community in turmoil, and resolution to tragedy and loss.
Sitting adjacent to the ABC23 newsroom from my fish bowl, I wondered how a black man could get convicted in Bakersfield for mass murder, while O.J., in the news again, might walk free, again.
Executive Producer Jay Jones automatically said “L.A.” Does that mean L.A. courts versus Bakersfield courts? Would Phil Spector’s trial have ended the way it did if cast in the Bakersfield theater of mean justice? Would O.J.’s first case fair the same? What about the second O.J. case?
What do you know about Mean Justice?
Now I’m not saying Vincent Brothers is innocent. His family seems convinced he killed members of his own family. The courts proved he killed his family. But then, I’ve read The Innocent Man by John Grisham. Innocent men do get locked away for murder.
They sit in prisons and rot and wait for the needle, noose, electric chair, or whatever it is their state uses to execute them. And they were proven guilty too.
Now once again, I’m not saying Vincent Brothers is innocent. A man who can’t acknowledge his own daughter while she talks about her loved ones killed in cold blood…well, I would have a hard time being lenient on such a man too, to let's say, serve life without parole rather than getting the chair, needle, etc. I don’t even think he looked her in the eye; his own beautiful daughter.
Should Brothers sit in prison and rot? Obviously the courts don’t think so, even though Brothers will likely rot in prison for years before his death sentence is carried out. If ever.
I heard one person in the newsroom say, “He’ll be there 20 years.” Maybe there won’t be any further executions in California. I doubt that. I’m sure the blood bath will start up any day.
Not that I don’t believe in executions for heinous crimes. Although sometimes it may be better for convicted criminals to sit and rot instead of leaving the world.
I do have to say I understand what it feels like to have an unsupportive family in one way or another. And to lose that family by being either excommunicated in one way or another. And although one of my uncles was murdered years ago, I can’t possibly imagine so many members of a family gone at once, though I can easily imagine broken and unsupportive relationships with family.
There was so much anger and passion in Margaret Kern’s speech that I had to take off my headphones for a moment to dry my eyes. I couldn’t separate emotionally from Kern’s emotions she displayed.
I think by showing her entire statement on the ABC23 website it makes for a necessarily tougher day for the community. So I put it there. People need to see her entire statement, feel her pain. At least for the portion of the community who cares about the falling apart of familial relationships, hurt daughters, an ethnic community in turmoil, and resolution to tragedy and loss.
Labels: ABC23, Bakersfield, Brothers trial, Harper Family
This entry was posted by N.L. Belardes, on
Thursday, September 27, 2007.
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wow! such torn emotion... so hard for all involved. my heart goes out to everyone.
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