Last June, a local, young black football star, Tahliek Taliaferro, was shot and killed in my hometown. A young friend traveling in the car with him was seriously injured. Those of you who follow my blog, such as it is, know I live in a sleepy, peaceful little place with a low crime rate. Until recently, people here thought locking your doors at night was a silly thing to do.
Until 2008.
Tahliek and his friends had been playing basketball at the local high school (the county only has 1). Afterward, they went to a local hangout, of sorts. There, they met a group of young white kids with whom they had words—tense words. Apparently, there was a long standing tension between Tahliek and Joey Parrish, one of the boys in the other group. A challenge was issued by Joey – follow me and let’s finish this. One of the young women with them got out of their car at this point.
Joey, then 17, his cousin Ethan 25, and two, under-age women spent the day smoking pot, doing LSD, and drinking. To my knowledge, only one person in this group was legally of age.
Tahliek and his friends, tragically, followed the intoxicated Parish boys, apparently at some distance behind…
The Parish boys pulled over on a country road, Joey had enough time to get out of the car, cover the license plate, and arm himself. Ethan armed himself with an assault rifle loaded with an 83-round clip. This, in my opinion, is laying in wait – which implies premeditation.
From here the reports are conflicting…
Allegedly, according to Ethan, he saw the driver of the car brandishing a firearm (which turned out to be a bb gun – and the other witnesses deny seeing this) and he, Ethan, opened fire. After the car had passed. Tahliek was shot in the back of the head, his friend shot in the back.
The 3 “shooters” ran – making their way all to the Canadian border. It seems to me running implies guilt – if it’s an accident, there’s no reason to run, right? That’s the legal logic, right?
They were apprehended. The young woman turned State’s evidence (which is where the afore-mentioned details came from). Joey, in an apparent act of desperation, tried a daring, but thwarted, jailbreak.
The handwriting seemed to be on the wall. When the trial started last week a jury of 11 whites and 1 black was seated. The Parishes pleaded self-defense. Everyone laughed, sure such a defense in the face of all of the evidence was surely foolish. How do you shoot someone in the back in self-defense? Ethan, the shooter, testified that he was afraid for his life, that he had only wanted to scare the others, that the gun (the 83-round assault rifle) “got away from him.” Whatever that means. It was all a tragic accident. The laughing continued… people whispering, “they’re gonna fry”…
Until yesterday. Ethan and Joey Parish were found guilty of involuntary manslaughter. They accidently pulled over, armed themselves, shot 2 young men in the back and ran? The black community here is justifiably outraged, crying racism in the county. I wasn’t in the courtroom – all I have is news reports – but I hope my black neighbors know and understand that the majority of the white community here is likewise shocked and horrified by this verdict. Justice was not served here.
I don’t know if the tables had been turned – if it was a black boy that had shot and killed a white boy that the verdict would have been different. The idealist in me wants to believe that justice would have been served. But I wanted to believe that yesterday too, and it wasn’t.
In the end, Ethan Parish will serve less time than Tahliek Taliaferro lived. I hope Tahliek’s family has retained an attorney to file the wrongful death suit – I hope they seek justice in a way that will avenge Tahliek and not feed the seeds of racism. More tension and violence will accomplish nothing here, most people, across color lines disagree with this verdict.
Say prayers for my little community, it’s being torn apart today.
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