Man, did this bring back memories from my childhood.  I can remember the feeling as a young kid in Atlanta watching the evening news as so many young black boys were found.  I lived in a pretty safe neighborhood and being white wasn’t necessarily a target, but being that age and never knowing for sure what the motive or reasons were meant you still were cautious.

It was a different time, one where parents aren’t as cautious as they are today.  I was often dropped off at a mall for example or allowed to cruise the mall while my Mom shopped – something that today I wouldn’t dream of doing with my own kids.

And I loved the game rooms, which was one angle they expected was used to lure some of the victims.  Later in life soon after I started with CNN I can recall playing in the game room and thinking about the stories from back then as one boy, Patrick Baltazar, would frequent that game room.  The game room was shut down soon thereafter.

So I look forward to watching this special over the weekend on CNN.  It will be stirring to hear the case summarized and all the facts, both at the time and since, to see if there is any doubt the right person is still sitting in jail.

Is Wayne Williams the Atlanta Child Murderer? – CNN.com.

 

This is sad.

Using updated state-by-state data, the report said 2,319,258 adults were held in U.S. prisons or jails at the start of 2008 — one out of every 99.1 adults, and more than any other country in the world.

Report: 1 percent of U.S. adults behind bars

© 2011 gregtyree.com Suffusion theme by Sayontan Sinha