Healing Begins Within
Article from Southern Poverty Law Center, By Don Terry
Before he was a monster he was a child, who waited for help. No one came.
Four weeks from now he will be executed.
I truly believe that JPF should be relieved of his suffering. His energy has been nothing but dark, evil and murderous. I equate it to an abused animal that can’t be stopped from killing and harming at will.
I am not seeking revenge. If I sought revenge I would want him to die in prison in his 90’s. I am seeking the mercy for his suffering life.
I think about what happens to our energy when we die. Energy doesn’t die it transforms. His energy is a black hole of hate. How could that be healed? I think of Martin Luther Kings quote, “Darkness cannot drive out darkness. Only Light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate. Only Love can do that.”
Some people think of God as Light and Love. I am one of them.
Maybe his dark energy could be transformed into light before he dies. I hate to think of his energy binding with more dark energy.
He never knew love. As a child he was brutalized, starved, beaten under the peripheral vision of family members who didn’t help him. “It wasn’t polite conversation. It was none of their business.”
He was a product of the village that turned their eyes to the suffering of an unprotected abused child.
I am not making excuses for him. I can only forgive when I truly hear his narrative.
But knowing how he was raised I understand how he grew up to murder the children in the village. Averting our eyes to the suffering of a child, doesn’t shield us from their pain.
I pray for him.
I pray he is sincere in his apology and renouncing of racism.
I pray for his healing before he dies.
I pray there is a God.
I pray for reincarnation.
I pray he is born to a loving nurturing family and is raised to value love and life.
I pray for the end of child abuse, racism and apathy of the village.
I pray for a TSUNAMI HEALING RIPPLE EFFECT in Humanity.
My Podcast Interview With Rod Arquette at 60:50
My Podcast Interview With Rod Arquette at 60:50
I spoke with a talk show host named Rod Arquette the other day, regarding healing my PTSD through my art exhibit and the story of my friends murders in Liberty Park.
Its ironic that the murders were so contrary to the name of the park. “Liberty” was literally murdered on the street right in front of my eyes that night in 1980.
I never thought about it til today, but I had such a beautiful history with Liberty Park before the murders. It was a stable place where I felt safe.
I loved Liberty Park as a child. It was a place I visited often. My grandparents lived down the street.
When I was 5 I looked for the tooth fairy in the tree knot holes and performed on the Victorian stage that was torn down years later. In the summers I took swimming, tennis and art lessons there while my single mother worked. I was a member of the Liberty Belles, girls tennis team. My friends and family picnicked, played, roller-skated, sang and danced there before the murders.
As a child we moved alot. I went to 22 schools by the time I was in 10th grade. But Liberty Park was a safe zone for me until I was shot there at 15 years old.
When Ted and Dave were killed there, so was my affection for Liberty Park. It was such an ugly irony that the name is based on American values and the truth about American made terrorism was being displayed on the grounds that were so sacred to me.
I often get asked if things are better since the murders. It has been 33 years. In some ways its better.
But all you have to do is look at the trial of George Zimmerman and the comments from trolls on the internet that send hate behind the anonymity of a keyboard and screen.
The “Angry Trayvon” game that depicts the murder VICTIM as a thug and aggressor is VICTIM BLAMING plain and simple. Victim blaming has always been an effective and accepted tool to control the masses of the oppressed.
I think of Trayvon’s mother and all the mothers who know this trauma and I want to protect them from the hate.
I want to heal this cancer of us and them.
I think about whether JPF would still be in prison 33 years later, after convictions of 22 murders. They stopped bringing charges against him since he has 5 life terms and 2 death sentences. They thought it would be a waste of taxpayers money. I agree. But I question if he would still be tax burden to the citizens, with a death sentence hanging over his head, if he were a black Muslim killing white people because of their race.
Lee Malvo, a black serial killer that implicated a young black boy, killed 15 people was convicted in 2005 and executed in 2009. That’s 4 years of waiting. The impressionable young boy got life. Their killings were considered “terrorist” attacks.
In my opinion JPF was an American, white, Christian terrorist.
Racism is still an issue.
Terry J Mitchell Eportfolio 