Word: goetze
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1980-1989
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...acquittal of Bernhard Goetz ((NATION, June 29)) carries frightful implications. The jury's decision sends a message to society: a man may shoot four others in self-defense whether or not his well-being is actually threatened. And to those who live in our cities, two messages are evident: first, shoot to kill; second, whites may shoot blacks...
There was no racism involved in the verdict. There was only a notice to people who prey on those of us who appear to be meek that we are sick of being victims. Would Goetz have been less threatened if the toughs who demanded money from him were white? No. The fact is that both blacks and whites who want to feel safe in public areas applaud the verdict...
This was a jury of ordinary people, people who ride the crime-ridden subway and know how things are down there. Six of the twelve had been victims of street crime. Anyone taking a subway ride last week could hear similar views. "I can understand what Goetz did," said Eileen Dudley, a black secretary. "I was held up once. You would do anything in that situation...
...commonest accusations was that if Goetz had been black and his victims white, he would have been severely punished, which may be true. But few recall the case of Austin Weeks, then 29, a black who was riding a subway train through Brooklyn in April 1980 when he was accosted by two white youths, both 17. One of them, Terry Zilimbinaks, leaned over Weeks in his seat and uttered a number of racial insults. Weeks took out an unlicensed pistol, according to police, and shot Zilimbinaks dead. Like Goetz, Weeks slipped away unnoticed. Unlike Goetz, he did not turn himself...
NATION: A Manhattan jury says "not guilty" to Subway Gunman Goetz...