Submitted by: Lady E
LETTER FROM ANTONIO SANTIAGO TO AMERICA
You won't
recognize me. My name was Antonio Santiago and I was the 13-month old child who
was shot at point blank range by two teens who were attempting to rob my mother,
who was also shot. A Grand Jury of my mommy's peers from Brunswick GA
determined the teens who murdered me will not face the death penalty...too bad I
was given a death sentence for being innocent and defenseless.
My family
made the mistake of being white in a 73% non-white neighborhood, but my murder
was not ruled a Hate Crime. (This is only relevant because the make-up of the
Sanford FL community, which was misrepresented as being 78% White. The actual
demographics are 50% white, 30% Black in Sanford, not quite what was represented
by the media.) Nor did President Obama take so much as a single moment to
acknowledge my murder.
I am one of the youngest murder victims in our
great Nation's history, but the media doesn't care to cover the story of my
tragic demise, President Obama has no children who could possibly look like me -
so he doesn't care and the media doesn't care because my story is not
interesting enough to bring them ratings so they can sell commercial time
slots.
There is not a white equivalent of Al Sharpton because if there
was he would be declared racist, so there is no one rushing to Brunswick GA to
demand justice for me. There is no White Panther party to put a bounty on the
lives of those who murdered me. I have no voice, I have no representation and
unlike those who shot me in the face while I sat innocently in my stroller - I
no longer have my life.
(Again, the specifics regarding the esteemed
Reverend's involvement, as well as that of the Black Panthers and our Nation's
leader are what propelled the State of Florida v. George Zimmerman case into the
national spotlight.)
So while you are seeking justice for Treyvon,
please remember to seek justice for me too. Tell your friends about me, tell you
families, get tee shirts with my face on them and make the world pay attention,
just like you did for Treyvon.
Thank
you
Antonio
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