"A Fair Trial" Interpretation of CNN article by Adelaide Willert

"Border agent acquitted in fatal shooting of Mexican teen"

On Wednesday, Lonnie Swartz, the shooter of Mexican teen Jose Antonio Elena Rodriguez, was acquitted of "involuntary manslaughter." The 16 year old's family had a six year wait for the court to reach their verdict, as the shooting occurred in 2012. The author of this article, Nicole Chavez, brought in a specific past case - that of Sergio Adrian Hernandez Guereca. In this case, the federal court ruled that the officer was not guilty of anything because Sergio was not an American citizen, and therefore was not protected by constitutional rights.

Sergio's case to me echoes the Dred Scott v.s. Sanford case, because his case was dismissed by court when he was not held equal to his opponent. A person is a person, no matter what anyone says and that is inalienable and indisputable. I believe that in both of these cases (based off of the article I read), you can infer that both boys were shot because of the colour of their skin. No officer would be able to tell where someone is from simply from their skin colour, especially in this day and age when the United States is, as a country, considered a cultural melting pot. Regardless of this, all men and women should be held equal in court regardless of who they are. Their past actions should be taken into account, but no one's case should be dismissed or disregarded because they aren't a citizen of a certain country. Neither Sergio or Jose's families deserved to push themselves through law suits and court cases to discover that the killer of their child/sibling was acquitted, or that their case was dismissed because of a piece of paper. And all of this is around the huge immigration "issue."

We've always been told that we learn our history so we don't repeat it, but there are some times when historical repetition is good, like allowing people a chance at a fresh start in a new country where they can build a life and contribute to a culture. At the end of the day, everyone is made out of the same skin and bones and to discriminate or refuse someone simply because of who they physically are is, simply put, not okay.