Why do these things happen?

I wasn’t alive in 1927 to scream for justice when the government killed Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti in the Italian xenophobia craze of the 1920’s. I wasn’t alive in 1955 when Emmitt Till died. I wasn’t alive yet just 5 years later in Louisiana when federal agents had to escort a 6-year little girl too old to school to keep her safe from members of her own community. I’m very happy that Ruby Bridges is still alive today at 70 years old. I still wasn’t there yet to throw a brick in The Stonewall Riots in Manhattan when the LBGTQ+ movement began. The fight when human beings took a brick and bottle and demanded to be treated as humans from the local law enforcement, their government, all the way from civic, to federal level. 

I was introduced to injustice early. I knew exactly who Ryan White was and why the way he was treated by the community was wrong. It was the wrong way to treat a person, any person sick or not. He was a boy my age and I remember a direct reference from catholic school Jesus was nicer to the lepers than grown-ups were to Ryan White. I noticed that. He was my age. This chip on my shoulder has been dug for a long time. I turned nine years old an unarmed man stopped 59 tanks in China and though I admit I myself wasn’t in the square either and i was 8 years old still (almost nine) and I wasn’t sure why the tanks were there tank man was a fucking hero. 

I remember clearly this week 26 years ago when Matthew Sheppard died. Most people today don’t know that in Springfield Illinois 1998 some people told me they thought that what happened to Matthew was ok. The monsters that tortured and hung a 21-year-old boy on a fence in Laramie WY on October 6th, 1998, and he died from his wounds 6 days later in a hospital in Fort Collins Colorado. 

How old are you reading this? I’m 44 years old as of the time of this writing.  26 ago today supporters in Springfield Illinois the monsters who did that had more cult fanbase supporters than Kyle Rittenhouse by number and shock value comparison for the state of the times. Some of the people that said these things out loud are the parents of people reading this. Some people reading this who you could know personally were totally ok with his death back then. I was told by students of high-school age that they believed Matthew Sheppard was in hell because the Christian leadership in their church told them that was the case. I was proud to be over 200 local citizens who told Fred Phelps to leave Springfield Illinois after that conversation regarding Matthew Sheppard. I’m very proud to say he took our advice.

I can’t take the division in our world anymore so I’m officially on the fence now too. Put me with my friends, my loved ones and my allies up on that cold same fence to die. Let me die on that fence after you torture all life from me like Matthew Sheppard. Keep in mind, I won’t go easy or quiet. But I will not back down to that hatred especially when a forked tongue speaks false proficiency. I was in a Midwestern town only four years past its most recent kkk rally (Dr Martin Luther King Jr Day 1994) on the steps of the state Capitol. In the 90’s this was still a very unwelcome place to scream back at hatemongers who are threatening violence: “ SO! YOU WANT TO GAY BASH SOMEONE?!?! GO ON! GAY bash ME MOTHERFUCKER!!! Most people did back down, possibly because they were caught off guard, most likely because they had ZERO BALLS to begin with. Only a few times did I need to use the phrase “you just got your ass kicked by a faggot” And it would happen in front of their buddies and girlfriend. Shameful.

I will never be ashamed of being my brother’s keeper. I will never be ashamed of loving my neighbor before myself. I will never ever under any circumstances tolerate a child being hurt. I will not surround myself with ethnic hatred and will not be quiet when I see it. I piss people off a lot right now with the amount of hate being created during this election 

If I am the last object standing between hate and peace the fire at all cannons. If you can kill me then do it. No one has killed me yet. But that is my curse not yours.

Get Some Rest Now Matt…. I wish I could have met you. 

– Ross

  . Matthew Wayne Sheppard .

 December 1st 1976 – October 12th, 1998 

*I’d rather be called a sinner by a hypocrite than commit outright blasphemy myself*

*For Christians see – (KJV. Matthew25:28-25:40]

Oh Yeah, I Almost Forgot

ALL of This Happens with the assistance of bystanders and/ crowds full of people doing nothing to help.