A lot happened today, and I wish I could put my life on hold for the rest of this trial because I am so intrigued. Firstly, Joseph Bey testified, which made for an interesting dynamic, as his brother Yusuf Bey was one of the two defendants. The second witness was an Oakland police officer who found the kidnapping hide out used by (supposedly) the Bey brothers. His testimony was somewhat graphic, and already I found myself having a hard time detaching from the story. The last witness whose testimony got cut short was the ex-girlfriend of Yusuf Bey who witnessed his gun being used at a San Francisco night club.
The three of us were quick to chat up the prosecuting attorney, the defense lawyers, and other spectators. All in all, it was a great day, incredibly interesting and exciting.
My dilemma? I briefly mentioned my innate inability to detach from the victims as testimonies were told. As the prosecuting attorney showed pictures of Bailey after he was shot, my heart sank. It was truly a surreal experience sitting just feet away from men I believe to be involved in such cruelty. I couldn't help asking myself: "Where's the humanity?"
It was even hard to keep my temper down. Especially when one of the defendants, Antoine Mackey, smiled at me as he was led out of the courtroom--chills, people, chills. And not the good kind. I couldn't shake the image the whole way home.
I know journalism is the right move for me. I just hope I can learn to detach without becoming cold to compassion.
I'm so glad you guys were there. I will post our awkward pictures with my blog soon.
ReplyDeleteKealan, These are exactly the right dilemmas to have: how to be objective without losing humanity and being cold to compassion. It's what we have to do, tell the story as it is. But you remember how I said that many journalists suffer from trauma after years (and some only one horrible experience) of reporting. I always tried to balance the horrendous stories with stories that show the reader (and the writer "where's the humanity." It's really with you, in your ability to retell the tale, because the human is both a dark and a sweet character; we have the ability for the very worse and for the very best. The journalist meets all these sides of humanity.
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