I wish this was movie but it isn’t. It sounds like a story we would read about that was based in Jim Crow, but unfortunately racism is alive and well in 2016.
Dilson Hernandez: Facebook | Instagram
“I never let him spend a night outside of the house, because I was so scared if he had an asthma attack, they wouldn’t know what to do. So I wouldn’t allow him to spend the night out, and it still ended up taking his life.”
His heart-broken mother never saw this coming. She looks for justice to do its part as the trial is now, all of sudden, being looked at more seriously after some media attention.
His name was Deyshen McKenzie, 16 years old. Unfortunately he didn’t make it far enough to reach his rap dreams as he fell victim to asthma. He even released a music video 4 days before he died. Check out one of his songs:
He and his friends were heading over to Checkers when they reached a conflict involving a group of mostly white teens, some Hispanic. Deyshen’s friend and one of the other boys got into an argument about a girl, of course. The white group came back in three separate cars, the car in the front having one guy with a gun.
While chasing the group of black teens, it was reported by people in the neighborhood that they heard the kids say
“I got a gun!… I’m gonna shoot you, n—-r!”
When the chase was over Mckenzie collapsed and his friends did everything they could to get him back up. An onlooker said
“The kids were throwing water on him. I came out and said, ‘What’s going on?’ They said, ‘My brother’s dead, my brother’s dead! He’s dying, he’s dying!’”
He was pronounced dead at the hospital. The police are only now focused on the gun issue than race because they feel like the race problem will cloud their judgement. So, we’ll just have to wait and see how this all turns out.
It is a shame that this happened. Those teens should be held accountable for their actions. No amount of justice will heal the pain his mother has to deal over her multi-talented son. His mother will never get to see her son become the rapper, comedian, promoter, and basketball player that he was. But all that we hope for is justice. As Diane Fatigati, an ex-NYPD officer and 9/11 responder, puts it:
“To me, it’s murder. They were chasing him — that’s a crime. You’re hunting them because they’re black … You’re calling them a n—-r.”
It definitely wont be the last time we hear from this case…
