Thursday, September 25, 2008

Is There Hope?


One of these people is the face of evil, the other is evil's innocent victim. Last January, 20 year old Kyle Bormann sat down to watch the Green Bay Packers and the New York Giants play in the NFC Championship game. He started drinking whiskey and got ready to root his Packers onto the Super Bowl.

Brittany Williams was at her job. She was working to put herself through UNO and become a nurse. She also volunteered at Habitat For Humanity and the Boys and Girls Clubs. She was going to make the world a better place.

Kyle Bormann was drunk. He was pissed. The Packers had lost. He thought the officials in the game had favored the Giants. The official was black. Some of the Giants players were black. In the twisted mind of Kyle Bormann, despite the fact plenty of black men played for the Packers, the black referee favored the black Giants players. Therefore, Kyle Bormann had to make his feelings known, Somebody black had to die.

Brittany Williams called home. Did anybody need anything? Her mother said it would be nice if she picked her stepfather up some KFC for when he got off work at midnight. She said fine, she'd stop on the way home.

Kyle Bormann sat in his car in a parking lot about 130 yards away from the KFC. He had his scoped deer rifle pointed out the window. The Packers lost, somebody black had to die. He pointed the rifle out the window and looked through the scope.

Brittany Williams pulled up to the drive-thru window to get her stepdad some chicken for later. She was like that, always thinking of others.

Kyle Bormann saw a black woman in a car at the drive-thru window of the KFC. This is it, he thought. Somebody has to pay. The Packers got screwed. Those goddamned black refs.

The window on the passenger side of the car shattered. Brittany Williams slumped over, a bullet in her head. She was dead. Just like that. Dead. The world ceased to be a better place at that moment.

Kyle Bormann drove away. He had to get closer to his kill. He drove up to the scene of the crime to view his revenge. That'll show them. The police began to arrive and put up crime scene tape.Kyle Bormann panicked and drove through the tape. The cops chased him. He jumped out of the car and stumbled away. The police caught him. He drunkenly told them his sick story. He was justified he slurred.

Kyle Bormann was convicted today of 2nd degree murder in the killing of Brittany Williams by a jury of his peers . They apparently thought because he was so drunk, he couldn't possibly have planned this murder. 2nd degree murder. 21 years to life.

I don't believe in the death penalty. I do believe in throwing people like Kyle Bormann into a deep, dark hole forever. People like Kyle Bormann make me question everything. Whether this earth is worth saving. Whether I give a shiite if humanity survives. Whether I care if a higher power exists.

Then I think of people like Brittany Williams. There are so many more of her than him. At least I hope so

2 comments:

Just Kevin... said...

I'm on your side on this one. I had an employee who worked with the bilingual kids at my school for just 2 months when he died in an accident. He was an incredibly talented and caring 22 year man. I remember we stopped the interview questions halfway through not because he'd screwed it up but he'd made this impact on both of us interviewing him. His mother had just transferred out of the job and I was blessed to hire him for it. I'm NOT an easy interview, believe me. He made such a mark at our school in such a short time. We were all stunned and grieving for what seemed like an inordinate amount of time for one we knew for such a short time. I eased my grieving by writing his mom a long & heartfelt letter about what a difference he made and how many of us felt it. I was a wreck writing it but I was encouraged by my staff who wanted his mom to know how we loved this kid! I wanted her to know that many of us saw his potential and that while his life was cut short, he'd made a difference, a big difference, for many of us who knew him. I never heard back from her but I didn't expect to. His mom recently transferred to my new school and is working with me again. I wasn't sure how to talk to her about him (or if I should) but one day she came in my office and closed the door. She spoke softly and quickly and then left. She said that it took her almost a year to read my letter but that every time she'd read part of it, she'd be able to feel better. The horrible loss didn't mean he didn't get a chance to make an impact. He mattered and his influence can't be measured by the time he spent here. I hope someone is able to convey that to Brittany's mom. I know she did make an impact and that her soul, her spirit and her contributions will be felt for years.

cb said...

Personally I think they should have given Kyle a gun and then forced him to shoot his own sister (if he had one)... and tHEN locked him away forever.