RIP Willy Brown

Eighty eight years ago this week, a most heinous and unjustified execution took place in Omaha, Neb. It's victim a wrongfully accused man named Will Brown. Brown an African American, was wrongfully accused of raping a white woman, when it was later discovered the assailants were white men dressed in black face. The paper at the time the Omaha Bee was doing yellow journalism stories about crimes that blacks had committed. The woman who was allegedly raped fingered Brown as her rapist.

An outraged mob gathered at the courthouse in protest demanding that Brown be handed over to them. The guards in the jail refused and the mob set fire to the courthouse, stranding the jailed men on the roof. The mayor tried to quiet the people, but he was hanged, and later rescued. Brown was not so lucky, he was handed over to the crowd. The crowd hanged him from a light post before dragging his body behind a car to an intersection where they set fire to his corpse. A later investigation revealed that a crime boss in Omaha, had his flunkies dress in blackface make-up and perpetrate crimes to unsettle the citizens. The paper ate it up and the result was an innocent man was wrongly imprisoned, and was unmercifully tortured for a crime he never committed.

Me, being a resident of Omaha, recently discovered this dark chapter in my hometown's past. I was shocked and ashamed at the history of my hometown. It haunted me that people could be so cruel to one another, and even go so far as to ignore the facts of a case and instead of using correct judgment to set them free, using hateful judgment and blind racism to condemn them.

This week learn from the past and keep the truth in your writing. Use your best judgement, do not judge others lest ye be judge.

losing it

For generations people have searched for the meaning of life. It has been the topic of books, movies and has kept the greater part of the population in the dark about what it's all about. Individuals have tried different methods to reach the enlightenment about man's plight, from God, religion and soul searching to drugs, sex and rock and roll. But it still remains there is no definite answer. Man's plight is simply searching for some substance to life, the old "where's the beef?" applied to daily life. There's no map to find the meaning of life, there is only the pursuit, the chase to make the realization that life is only what you make of it that is the meaning to life.

Tired

What does it mean to be tired? Tired either relates to physical exhaustion, grogginess due to lac of sleep, or general discontent due to one's state of mind. There is no reason to be tired, every day is a new experience in post-football life. There's new challenges to be met, new people to meet, but still I'm tired. From the meek existence I live, to being in this town, somedays I feel like leaving at ten o' clock at night, and driving all night to get to somewhere new. Not for a vain attempt to make spring break six moths early, but to explore the vast back highways and expanses of America, to find solitude, and piece of mind and to reignite the enthusiasm I once had for college. I'm tired and I want to go.

Time for change

People have often looked forward to college, as a new start, a time to reinvent themselves. Tried that, didn't work. I ended up being as close to a 'A' lister, not the Hollywood kind, but the kind who attends meetings and talks about their troubles. I don't want to end up that way, especially after the asschewing/lecture my father afforded me the past weekend. I would've felt better had he called me 'a piece of shit,' but no I was informed that over the past six years I've been nothing but a disappointment, and have put a strain on his relationship with me. I know I don't preach the Bible openly, but I am a God fearing Catholic. It might be that I'm the youngest in my family, it might be that my parents are of the 'old guard', or I could be the blacksheep whatever the case is I am not that bad of a person. I might daydream, or slackoff which ever way you view it, but hey that's me. My friends will tell you I'm a good guy, I genuinely listen to them when they have problems, I care for them, and I'll always be there for them. so what makes me a bad guy? I couldn't tell you, but I can tell you it's time for me to try and change my ways.