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This guy who turned the words "Howard Beach" into shorthand for "white racist neighborhood" Has died by committing suicide. While I like to think that anyone can overcome bad past and earn redemption, I'm not sure Jon Lester ever fully comprehended what the Howard Beach episode, now 30 years old, meant for the city we love, let alone for himself:
"I know this race thing is following me wherever I go, but I have never been a racist," Lester added. "I was very young when it all happened. I didn't know what I was doing."
I initially thought he was tormented by what he had done, and that had driven him to depression and then suicide.
But NO... Jayne Lester told The Times that her brother's depression stemmed from "the fact that he was wrongly convicted."
So was he guilty or not? Why would it torment him? I mean, if you’re a racist and killed you’d think of yourself if having a medal. Or am I wrong? Or was he a nut?
So was he guilty or not? Why would it torment him? I mean, if you’re a racist and killed you’d think of yourself if having a medal. Or am I wrong? Or was he a nut?
I was just saying my first thought when I read the headline that he had committed suicide was that he must have killed himself from the torment of having caused someone to die out of an attack he provoked. Later in the article I find out his depression was not from guilt over taking a life but because he felt he was wrongly convicted.
He also claims he was never a racist, although he was quoted as saying "There's n***gers on the boulevard. Let's go kill them."
Maybe he was proud of himself for the attack until he got caught and jailed.
Huh, I assumed the attackers were all Italian-American given the neighborhood.
And from the coverage for years that intentionally made it seem that way.
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