The Absent Outcry of a Murdered Mother and Her Son
I imagine the morning of June 16, 2013 started off like any other traditional morning in Amy Gibbon's house. A young single mother trying to provide the best life possible for her 5-year-old son in the small town of Calumet, Oklahoma, the everyday stresses of being a parent on her own probably vanished at the smile, which usually dominated her son's face.
On that same day, in a Courtroom in Sanford, Florida, the second round of jury selection in the George Zimmerman case was getting under way. Attorneys were arguing over the details of what exactly a jury of Zimmerman's peers might look like, meanwhile leaders in the black community like Al Sharpton, Jessie Jackson and others were speaking of race and hate.
The events of the day have not been released to the public yet however what we do know was that Amy was found dead in her home, killed by the blunt force of an object to her head. Her 5 year old son's body also found laying just yards away from his mother in what remained of their humble home. While we don't know if the boy witnessed the murder of his mother or not, we do know he died an extremely painful death being suffocated by the smoke of the fire which had been set to the house.
Ten days later, Dereck Posey age 30, was arrested after police executed a search warrant, which was issued because of Amy's cell phone and debit card being recovered. Dereck was a loose acquaintance of Amy who worked close by at a temporary job at a nearby oil field. The police are convinced that Mr. Posey murdered Amy and then purposely set fire to the house.
The details about Amy Gibbon's life are very hard to find. It's not surprising that her life wasn't public enough to add numbers to a Google search as I imagine she probably stayed very busy between work and her son. The surprising part is that in her horrible death, very few stories have been done on this shocking murder. Because of the lack of interests from the mainstream media this story has had very little to no exposure. No wall-to-wall coverage on the networks. No opinion columns or radio segments filled with outrage. No political leaders calling for justice as this woman and her son could have been anyone's daughter, neighbor or friend.
We might never know if Amy had an opinion on the George Zimmerman trial yet the Zimmerman trial will always have an effect on Amy. On any other given day, Amy's death might have received more then a few headlines and local news packages however with the world being fed the idea of white racism, the murder of Amy a Caucasian female and her Caucasian son by a black male did not fit perfectly into the storyline.
This is why we have a problem with race in America today and I find it very sad that rather then have an honest conversation on how American's should act and grow together, we find people using the murder of individuals to deepen the divide in this Country. Amy and her son are just two victims of murder, which occurred during the weeks, which were spent obsessing over the details of the Treyvon case. The double standard that has been created in America today is escalating and unfortunately instead of mending fences, the rhetoric being spoken by those calling for justice for Treyvon only stokes the fire of racial division.
We owe it to the victims of all murders to find out and recognize the truth regardless of their race. No one life is more valuable then another in the eyes of the Creator, I believe in death this is true as well.
While I believe the death of Amy Gibbons and her son might never be proven to be racially motivated, I believe ignoring their death and the details of their murder based on the color of their skin is just as prejudice.