Black Man’s Killing in Georgia Eludes Spotlight

I know that there are a few *bleeding heart* anti-gun libbers that read this blog, and I can guarantee that they are not going to like my *take* on this story.

Black Man’s Killing in Georgia Eludes Spotlight

LYONS, Ga. — Norman Neesmith was sleeping in his home on a rural farm road here in onion country when a noise woke him up.

He grabbed the .22-caliber pistol he kept next to his bed and went to investigate. He found two young brothers who had been secretly invited to party with an 18-year-old relative he had raised like a daughter and her younger friend. The young people were paired up in separate bedrooms. There was marijuana and sex.

Over the course of the next confusing minutes on a January morning in 2011, there would be a struggle. The young men would make a terrified run for the door. Mr. Neesmith, who is 62 and white, fired four shots. One of them hit Justin Patterson, who was 22 and black.

The bullet pierced his side, and he died in Mr. Neesmith’s yard. His younger brother, Sha’von, then 18, ran through the onion fields in the dark, frantically trying to call his mother.

On that day, Jan. 29, 2011, Mr. Neesmith was arrested. The district attorney brought seven charges against him, among them murder, false imprisonment and aggravated assault. On Thursday, Mr. Neesmith is expected to plead guilty to involuntary manslaughter and reckless conduct, which might bring a year in a special detention program that requires no time behind bars.

Over the past several weeks, the men’s parents, Deede and Julius Patterson, watched news of Trayvon Martin’s death in Florida and focused on the similarities. In both cases, an unarmed young black man died at the hands of someone of a different race.

Full Story Here:
Spotlight Eludes Black Youth’s Killing in Georgia

The 1st thing I have to say is look at the picture being used, the media (NYT) is once again playing on the sympathies of the bleeding heart readers by using a picture of these guys that is obviously one of them as children. That is nothing more than a ploy for sympathy.

Now, I am not UP on all of the nuance of Georgia law, but the family and friends of Justin Patterson and Sha’von Patterson are using the typical *victim mentality*, ‘why isn’t MY boy getting all that press po’ Trayvon got, why aren’t WE getting our names in the paper?”

Well, the New York Times has accommodated you.

Now, to the Patterson family, here is a healthy dose of TRUTH; your boy was shot in the house of Norman Neesmith if I am reading this correctly. Trayvon Martin was shot and killed, for right or wrong, in a street confrontation. Your boy was killed in the home of Mr. Neesmith, and by ALL that is right and holy, Mr. Neesmith was in his *CASTLE*

In case you don’t know, or aren’t familiar with The Castle Doctrine:

Georgia (a person who is attacked has no duty to retreat; [...] has a right to meet force with force, including deadly force)

Texas (Established for individuals habitation in 1995 by House Bill 94 and extended to vehicle or workplace effective September 1, 2007 by Senate Bill 378. Senate Bill 378 also “abolishes the duty to retreat if the defendant can show he: (1) had a right to be present at the location where deadly force was used; (2) did not provoke the person against whom deadly force was used; and (3) was not engaged in criminal activity at the time deadly force was used.”)

States like Texas allow citizens protecting their homes, car, or place of business or employment to use force – including lethal force – when an intruder has unlawfully entered or is attempting to enter using force; is attempting to remove someone from the home, car, or workplace by force; or is attempting to commit a crime such as rape, murder, or robbery. An attempt to retreat is not required before a citizen is justified in using force against the invasive party in Texas. Castle Doctrine

These boys, young men, whatever you want to call them, were in Mr. Neesmith’s home, there was a *struggle*, that *struggle*, in and of itself, gave Mr. Neesmith all the reason he needed to fire on these individuals, at least when the Castle Law is taken at it’s most basic intent.

Apparently Neesmith didn’t KNOW they were in his home, they were not there by his invitation, he was apparently not informed that they would be there, smoking dope and having sex with these girls and quite frankly, the fact that Neesmith is facing ANY charges at all is just unbelievable.

Now, let me address this Black/White thing.

Maybe I’m reading something into this story that’s not there, but I am seriously thinking that the NYT, the Patterson family, the NAACP and who knows WHO else are trying their best to make this a RACIAL issue.

And they began to wonder why no one was marching for their son, why people like the Rev. Al Sharpton had not booked a ticket to Toombs County. The local chapter of the N.A.A.C.P. has not even gotten involved, although Mr. Patterson’s father approached them.

“We are looking into the case,” said Michael Dennard, the president of the chapter, after a reporter called more than a year after the crime. He would not say more.

Let me tell you RACE BAITING sons a bitches something; in a struggle, in the dark, you may not even be remotely aware of the race or sex of the person you’re in a struggle. All you know is that you are in a fight, one that could well be a fight for your life, and the idea of RACE doesn’t enter the equation. SURVIVAL, and removing the threat is ALL that’s on your mind.

Personally, if you come into MY home, uninvited by ME, in the middle of the night, and I believe you are there with the intent to commit some nefarious deed, I don’t care if you’re Black, White, Brown or green with purple polka-dots, you will have a chance to find out if Heaven or Hell truly exist.

Why some cases with perceived racial implications catch the national consciousness and others do not is as much about the combined power of social and traditional media as it is about happenstance, said Ta-Nehisi Coates, a senior editor at The Atlantic who writes about racial issues.

Several events coalesced to push the Martin case forward: an apparently incomplete police investigation, no immediate arrest and Florida’s expansive self-defense law.

“These stories happen all the time,” Mr. Coates said. “It’s heartbreaking and tragic, but there’s not much news coverage unless the circumstances are truly, truly unusual.”

“Stories like the south Georgia killing don’t have the same particulars,” he said. “One of the great tragedies is that people get shot under questionable circumstances in this country all the time.”

In MY opinion, this wasn’t about RACE, it was about a perceived HOME INVASION, and only God knows what else Mr. Neesmith had flying through his mind, assault, rape, who knows, but he was in HIS home, and he stood HIS ground.

The RACE BAITERS will always look at an event like this and try to make it a Black/White issue when it’s merely a case of a man defending what is HIS.

“I definitely believe racism is why he was shot,” said Mrs. Patterson, who recently left her job as director of operations at a uniform company and moved to another small Georgia town. “And for him to get nothing but a slap on the wrist? There is something wrong here.”

Of course you believe it’s all about race, ‘My po baby he wont be doin nuffin wrong, he was shot because he Black, dats all’, and many will see that as a racist statement by me, personally, I don’t give a DAMN, the truth is NOT hate speech, and you can bet your last dollar, THAT is the basic conversation taking place.

Still, like so many other crimes where race might be a factor, this one is not so clear-cut. Mr. Neesmith says he felt threatened. He says he aches for the parents but believes none of this would have happened if the young men had not been in his house when they should not have been.

“I think about it every day. It’s the worst thing I’ve ever been through,” Mr. Neesmith said as he stood in the doorway of his home. “In two minutes it just went bad. If you ain’t never shot nobody, you don’t want to do it, I’m telling you.”

I have to fully agree with Neesmith, no person in their right mind wants to shoot another person, but if you DO have to shoot, use enough gun to do the job.

If Neesmith had owned a pistol more powerful than a .22, Justin Patterson probably wouldn’t have made it to the yard to die.