Happy Monday, peeps. It’s really stormy and cozy here, but not exactly wintry with the temperatures in the mid-70s. This is my hubby’s last day of vacation, so it’ll be nice to spend time together all day. I’ve been completely spoiled having him around so much, and it’s going to be hard when he goes back to his office routine. 

A quick announcement: the Channeling Erik mobile app is ready for Androids. Check it out on Google Play. It’s under review by Apple, but in 10 days or so, if all goes well, it should be available for iPhones in the app store. Thanks to Bobby Salmon, Mr. Genius, for building the app for me! Remember that the app is completely free and puts all CE content at your fingertips notifying you for every blog post, YouTube video, tweet, Instagram post and radio show right away when they’re posted. That way, you won’t miss a thing that Erik has to say.

Let’s continue our conversation with Trayvon Martin, Freddie Gray and Michael Brown: 

Me: Well, let’s talk to Trayvon Martin. Thank you for coming. Could you shed some light on the circumstances surrounding your death that we might not already know about?

Robert: He calls you, “ma’am.”

Me: Aw.

Robert: He talks differently, too, than Freddie.

Trayvon: I own up to my mistakes.

Me; Which were what?

Trayvon: You know, I’m young.

Me: Yeah.

Trayvon: And sometimes we young guys, we get a little cocky like, “Don’t tread my space.” This is all about everybody participating. I played my part, [George Zimmerman] played his.

Robert: Trayvon said he got rewarded!

Me: Who, Trayvon?

Robert: Yeah.

Me: What do you mean?

Trayvon: Because I don’t have to be there anymore.

Me: Aw.

Robert: I don’t like saying that. That makes me uncomfortable to say!

He laughs nervously.

Me: Yeah.

Robert: Because his family is having to go without him!

Me: Yeah. Well, the guy who shot you, I can’t even remember his name! I’m drawing a blank!

Robert: Trayvon, I’m familiar with, and that’s George Zimmerman.

Me: Oh yeah! George Zimmerman. That’s right. Now, was he trying to defend himself, or was he just trying to do the vigilante thing?

Trayvon: Nah, he wasn’t trying to defend himself. He was provoking just as much as I was. We were going back and forth.

I notice a distinct change in Robert’s accent.

Robert: I’m going to talk like Trayvon. I don’t know. This is kind of how he makes me feel.

Me: Okay.

Trayvon: And then I’d turn around and talk my shit right back to him, and I said, “Man, just fuck off.” Then I started to walk away, and he fucking shot me.”

I gasp.

Me: Is it true that you pounded his head into the sidewalk or something? He had–

Trayvon: Well, I hit him because I thought that’d make his ass go away!

Me: Yeah.

Trayvon: But the fucker wouldn’t go away!

Me: Okay. Anything else you want to say before we go to Michael? Then I’m going to present questions to all of you guys as a group.

Trayvon: I’m just glad you gave me this chance to talk because there’s been a whole lot of shit out there talking about me, talking about George, Mista Zimmerman. I don’t got no hard feelins about anybody no more, and what’s done is done. Just let it go.

Me: Okay, Michael, would you like to talk about the circumstances surrounding your death? Now they say you tried to grab the policeman’s gun when he was putting you in the car. I don’t know if that’s true or not.

Michael: How I gonna grab his gun when my hands behind my back?

Me: Oh, so you did not—was that before they cuffed you?

Michael: They always, always trying to make things up. I wasn’t trying to grab nobody’s gun. They was hurtin’ me. I was tryin’ to get loose.

Me: Why? Why would you try to resist arrest? You know it’s just going to get you in harm’s way!

Michael: It you got yo finger slammed in the door and it’s hurting, wouldn’t you want to pull your finger out?

Me: Ah, I see. Yeah. Okay, that makes sense. So they were hurting you. How were they hurting you?

Michael: My wrists! They were twistin’ my wrists!

Me: Oh, yeah.

Michael: And my shoulder. My shoulder hurt.

Me: Mm. That’s what they did to Erik, too.

Michael: And they kicked me in my leg.

Robert: He’s kind of mad. He and Trayvon are kind of mad. I can’t see a visual of what this guy looks like. Do you know what he looks like? Is he a big guy?

Me: Yeah, a big guy.

Robert: Yeah, because I feel a bigger guy.

Me: Were you beaten, or I guess I can say brutalized, because of prejudice on the part of the officers involved?

Michael: Well, they kinda scared of me.

Me: Well, you’re big, yeah. I bet they were.

Michael: I cain’t blame them for bein’ scared of me, but I cain’t say they prejudiced. They weren’t all white.

Me: So, they were just scared, maybe.

Michael: They scared of me.

Me: Especially when you tried to get away.

Michael: Yeah, I was scared so I fought. I didn’t mean to scare nobody, you know.

Me: Oh, yeah. Of course not! You can’t help that you’re a big dude! This is for the whole group—well, first of all, do you want to say anything to the public that would bring enlightenment, or is there anything you just want to get off your chest?

Michael (crying): I’m just sorry. I’m sorry, you know, that I had to go.

Me: I’m sorry you did, too.

Robert (tearing up): He’s making me cry!

Me: Aw!

Michael (still crying): I didn’t mean to leave nobody.

Robert wipes away his tears.

Me (choking up): Aw, Robert. This is so emotional.

Robert: Yeah, they send me stronger emotions now.

Me: Gosh, poor Robert.

Robert: No, it’s kind of like a poignant feeling, too.

Me: Yeah, okay for all you guys, do you think this is happening more and more, or is there just more media attention on this?

Erik: Mom, I’ll speak right now.

Me: Okay.

Erik: This has been going on, not just in the United States, but in a lot of cultures and nations. Right now, it’s easier to advertise and create more of an awareness because people have cameras and all this stuff.

Me: Oh well, that’s true.

Erik: And people are much more vocal about things that they see that are unfair. This calls attention to the unfairness that goes on in our society because of a person’s race or economic status or their immigration status or whatever. It’s just fucked up, Mom. It creates this sadness in the world. Human beings are starting to realize that they don’t want that anymore. So all of this is getting advertised, and our attention is being drawn to it so that people who aren’t aware of what’s going on can be outraged about it, too.

Me: So, it’s not more common? It’s just more advertised?

Erik: It’s more advertised. In fact, some of the brutality was even worse earlier in history.

Me: Oh, I bet.

When racism was even more prevalent!