Originally Posted by
gnome
The incident last year which targeted Mr. Thomas was indeed odious; however, it too carries its own backstory and qualifiers. According to the twitt-a-verse the photoshopped pic was an swipe at Mr. Thomas' penchant for throwing the victim card around school. Now, I'm not a parent of a Seaholm student, and have no love for the Fighting Maples, in fact I think the snooty factor there is buried in the red; but apparently the white kid was tired of Thomas' act about being persecuted.
You folks might be aware of local whiner, Greg Thrasher, the fool from Birmingham who sees a Klan rally at every white sale. Thrasher's tiresome act is on par with Thomas and his penchant for throwing the victim card.
This certainly does not absolve the white kid for his tasteless photoshopping, but it places it in a different light.
However, the real issue for Mr. Thomas is the punishment he might face for instilling fear in the lives of his classmates and their families. He terrorized families. Pretty serious stuff for a parent to send their child off to school with the thought in the back of their mind that that child might not come home. How many kitchen-table conversations centered on this fear. How many times did a mother jump out of her skin when the phone rang during the middle of the day? How many times did a father drop his son at school with a gnawing ache? What is the punishment to heal those wounds?
The answer is none. Nothing can salve those wounds besides time. No time in prison, no time with a shrink, no amount of community service by Mr. Thomas will fix this situation.
To be fair, the punishment for white or black offenders would be the same. I recall a couple years back a pair of Melvindale crackers burned a cross on a lawn and are now in Federal tennis camp now. Is that where Mr. Thomas belongs? Will the State spending $35K housing Mr Thomas fix things? Is that the equal, blind and fair thing to do? Everyone equal?
I don't think so.