Monday, February 3, 2014

Exploration 2 Umer Haider

       Moreese  Bickham was a man who never gave up no matter how bleak his future looked. I admire him because even though he was sent to jail for a wrongful charge he still had hope that one day he would be free. At the mercy of racism, Moreese never had the opportunity to go to court to oppose his sentence. He was someone who guided the younger generation of prisoners to the right path, and was the only one who seemed to care for the dead prisoners. He showed sympathy to the lost souls of the prison that would get nothing more than a tombstone for remembrance. The thing I found most creative about this story was the connection Moreese had with god that led to his freedom. Moreese recounted that a spirit of God would help guide him out of this prison to freedom. That spirit turned out to be David Isay who brought the case of Moreese Bickham to the limelight of the public. He became the hero who not only got Moreese a lawyer, but was able to bring Moreese to freedom and to his family.

      The thing that surprised me the most in Scott Russell Sanders story was that he was overcome with guilt rather than anger. In paragraph 52 he says "Guilt burns like acid in my veins" (pg.191). This struck a cored with me caught me off guard. It caught me of guard because he felt like it was his fault his father was the way he was, and he was guilty of hiding the fact that his father was a drunk. I expected him to feel enraged or angry at his father, but he was actually frustrated with himself. It was sad knowing that someone who was not the person who was drinking would feel such an emotion. He had no part in causing his father to go to the bottle yet he felt bad as if it was his doing. So what did I learn from this? I learnt that there are many more emotions one feels when confronted with alcoholism, and to me the only emotion I could ever think of was anger. I understand now that people in such situations blame themselves because they feel they could have done something to fix it. I mean sure alcoholism can be fixed if the people who care really tried and did something, but it is also up to the person who is an alcoholic to put forth an effort to be treated.  


Did Moreese Bickham get some sort of compensation for the time he had spent in prison? I understand that he would be satisfied by being out, but that is still time spent away from his family. I hope the best for Moreese and hope he would get some sort of settlement. 

5 comments:

  1. I believe that Moreese was a good man. He stood up to the cops for the protection of his wife and teaching prisoners to choose the right path. That's a good quote because the guilt seeing his father in the state that he was damaged him. Also I liked it because it was a very descriptive simile and I can imagine what the narrator was feeling.

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  2. I like your point of view on the Sanders story, I really hadn't considered the guilt he felt for his father. I think we assumed that his father should be ashamed for himself and that no one else should feel his embarrassment. But you make a very valid point that it was everyone in his family that was regretful for hiding part of their lives, especially something so painful as this. I agree with your assessment of how many different emotions were felt because of this situation. I wasn't aware of how many different ways these sorts of things effect everyone involved, it certainly has made me more mindful.

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  3. I have always wondered the same thing about the people that are wrongfully convicted but sadly it is just time wasted away. I feel terrible for the people that get wrongfully convicted and always wonder what the justice system could do better to stop that kind of stuff from happening along with trying to better what they have done wrong. Sadly though, monetary compensation will probably never be enough for good people like Moreese.

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  4. I agree with your thoughts on Moreese. He defiantly has deep faith in God. I don't know if I would be able to keep fighting like him. Glad he got to get out and see what was left of his family.

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  5. Your interpretation on Moreese's story was spot-on. Often times we hear about how people are wrongfully accused due to insufficient evidence. hopefully in today's day and age, such discrepancies are corrected. I'm at least happy that he got to see his family after his acquittal after all those years. it's a modern day Shawshank story !

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