You're Fired! I'm Representing Myself!

"Somebody needs to kill my trial attorney." The last words of George Harris (1959-2000). Harris was on death row and was executed on September 13th, 2000 in Missouri.

I know Harris is not famous, but I read the quote and I could not resist writing something about it. I've grown up around attorneys and judges, because of my father who happens to be a judge.

Harris was on death row for shooting a man in the face. He was then arrested for armed robbery in Columbia 2 weeks later. In 1982 Harris was convicted with first degree murder and armed robbery. In court he said that he murdered the man in self defense, but the supreme court did not believe him and sentenced him to death.

I'm not sure if he was making a joke, or if he was actually serious. Personally I think it is one of the funniest things said before execution. Usually people give their love to their families, or say they are innocent, or even apologize for what they did. But this man, he wanted someone to kill the lawyer who represented him. The man was obviously not in the right state of mind, but blaming your attorney for being convicted is completely crazy. He did the crime, he's lucky he had the right to an attorney and a chance to go to trial. Or at least that is how I see the situation. His attorney was helping a guilty man, Harris should have been able to see that the attorney was doing him a favor. A guilty client is not the most desired client.

X'd Out

"Cool it brothers..." The last words of Malcolm X, born Malcolm Little (1925-1965). On February 21st 1965 Malcolm X was shot 16 times in Manhattan, New York.

Every one's heard of Martin Luther King Jr. but not everyone has heard about Malcolm X. Martin Luther King Jr. is an American hero, and he should be. But I believe there is someone else that we as a country have been overlooking, Malcolm X.

Growing up Malcolm did not have the easiest life. In 1931 Malcolm's father was found dead, his death was ruled as a suicide. After his father's death his mother had a nervous breakdown and was declared legally insane. She was then committed to the state mental hospital. Malcolm and his 7 brothers and sisters were split up and sent to foster homes. His mother remained committed until Malcolm and his siblings released her 26 years later. Malcolm's education stops at junior high school. He had aspirations of being a lawyer, but one of his teachers told him that being a lawyer was not a realistic goal for a black man like himself. Malcolm moved to Boston to live with his half sister. After living in Boston he moved to New York City in 1943. After some time in Harlem, he began to involve himself in things such as robbery and drugs. In early 1946 he returned to Boston and was arrested for burglary. Two days later her was indicted, once again, for carrying firearms. On January 16th he was sentenced to eight to ten years in prison. He began serving his time on February 27th. It was in prison when Malcolm converted to Islam. On August 7th 1952 he was released from prison.

It was directly after he was released from prison that he changed his name to "X". The "X" symbolized the rejection of slave names, and the absence of an African inherited name. This led many members of the Nation of Islam to change their surnames to "X." In 1953 the FBI opened a file on Malcolm, calling him a communist. A few years later he became the minister of the Nation of Islam Temple Number Eleven. Soon Malcolm was seen as one of the most influential figures in the movement. (After his friend Elijah Muhhamah) He even got the famous boxer, named Cassius Clay, to convert to the Nation of Islam, and change his name...to Muhammad Ali. (Later in life Ali would go on to become the most famous boxer in the world, and he would leave Nation of Islam, and would join mainstream Islam) Malcolm publicly announced his break from the Nation of Islam on March 8th, 1964.

There were numerous assassination attempts on Malcolm X. Only one was successful. In 1965 in Audubon Ballroom which is in Harlem, New York, Malcolm X would give his last public speech. About three minutes into his speech three men stood up and shot him 16 times. Before being shot Malcolm said, "Cool it brothers..." but they didn't cool it. By the times the paramedics had arrived, he was already dead. The shooters were arrested at the scene of the crime.

Malcolm X stood for black power, he had a huge impact on African American Rights. He gave numerous speeches, all very passionate. And they all told the brutal truth...or what he thought to be the truth.

Dear Suicide,

"I Love You, I Love You!" The final words of Kurt Donald Cobain (1967-1994). On April 5th, 1994 in his home in Seattle, Washington, Kurt Cobain committed suicide by a self inflicted gunshot wound to the head.

Kurt Cobain is best known for being the lead singer, and lead guitarist for the band Nirvana. Cobain wrote all music and lyrics for Nirvana. Looking at his lyrics for the first time, they look like nothing more than random words put together. But many of his songs had a brutally controversial, deep meaning. Of course, teenagers at the time were not listening to the words in the song (not that they could understand them...) but listening to the music. The guitar, the bass, the drums, and to top it off Cobain's haunting howl. Most didn't know, or even care to find out, what Cobain was saying in his songs. One of the best things I have done in my life try and take the time to really understand his music. I say try, because there is no way to truly get inside of the twisted mind and the tortured soul of a man like Kurt Cobain.
One of my favorite Nirvana songs is "Polly" off of their album, Nevermind. Charles R. Cross, author of Heavier Than Heaven (a biography of Kurt Cobain) writes, "...A song like "Polly" found Kurt taking a newspaper clipping and crafting an emotional back story to go with the headline. The song, originally titled "Hitchhiker," had its roots in a real-life incident from 1987, when a young girl was kidnapped, brutally raped, and tortured with a blow torch. The song is written, surprisingly, from the perspective and in the voice of the perpetrator. Kurt managed to capture the horror of the rape ("let me clip dirty wings"), yet at the same time subtly pointed out the humanness of the attacker ("she's just as bored as me"). Its literary strength was that it concerned itself with internal dialogue...Kurt ends the song with a line that could stand as an epitaph for the rapist, the victim, or for himself: "It amazes me, the will of instinct." Bob Dylan picked "Polly" out of the entire Nirvana catalog as the most courageous song. Speaking of Cobain, Dylan says, "That kid has heart."

By breaking down Cobain's suicide note, like Cross did "Polly" one can see the simplicity of Cobain's last words. It is his grand gesture, his final goodbye to his daughter, Frances Bean. In the note Cobain states that he believes that him leaving the world will be a good thing for his daughter. He may have left this world with his family in mind, but I believe that subconsciously he was thinking of himself. He was depressed and on drugs, he was obviously not in a clear state of mind. I believe that he took his life to rid himself of all of the inner pain he had. I also believe that he convinced himself that he was taking his life to help his daughter, so he would not feel as guilty. I know that he loved his daughter, you could see it in his eyes, you could see it in his smile, and you could see it in the way he lit up when she was around him. I believe that Kurt Cobain's last words, "I Love You, I Love You!" were meant for Frances. Subconsciously I believe that he knew he was doing this for himself, not her. The "I Love You, I Love You!" was his way of subtly telling his daughter that it was not about her, it was about him and what he thought he had to do. Like Bob Dylan said, the kid had heart, and it's too bad that he was the only one who couldn't see it.