拋磚引玉：一個六年級男孩的Peter Liang case study

這周學校放假，娃在家有時間幹點和平時不一樣的事情。正好這件事正熱，事件本身和梁這個人都讓當媽的有點危機感，覺得該跟娃聊聊這事，又不知道怎麽跟娃談才好，幹脆讓他自己學習。

六年級娃平日對付學校作業，讀書，彈琴，參加點體育，再額外做點數學什麽的，一天天就過去了，不看報不看新聞，對國家政治法律的了解基本來源於學校的social study和書本。拿到題目是就隻看出像是個Chinese name，還問是不是個科學家，發現跟槍擊死亡有關係，有點生氣，質問為啥讓他學習這個。

當媽的略略解釋了原因，給他看了城門那個非裔女性的短視頻，後來還有些short discussion。娃寫的基本是自己網上閱讀的成果。要求他寫個300~500的description，再加點各方看法，和他個人的思考。娃基本掐著低線完成了。請叔叔阿姨們看看，看有什麽該引導補充的。

PS, 不想太拔苗助長。

On November 20^th, 2014, a twenty-eight year old African American man named Akai Gurley was accidentally shot and killed by twenty-seven year old rookie police officer Peter Liang. Officer Liang and his colleague Shaun Landau were conducting a vertical patrol on staircases in the Louis H. Pink Houses in Brooklyn. Liang entered a dark, unlit stairwell with his firearm drawn and ready to fire, when Gurley and his girlfriend, Melissa Butler, entered the staircase a story below. Liang was opening a door when he was startled and his gun went off. Neither Liang nor Gurley saw each other when the firearm discharged. The bullet ricocheted off of a wall and hit Gurley in the heart. Gurley reportedly ran, and didn’t even notice that he was critically bleeding until he collapsed on the fifth floor. That shooting was similar to one that happened in 2004, in which Timothy Stansbury Jr. was accidentally shot on the roof of a building.

Peter Liang was charged with second degree manslaughter and official misconduct for not helping Mr. Gurley when he lay, dying. Melissa Butler testified that while she had tried to resuscitate him, Liang had paused briefly but hadn’t helped in reviving Gurley before heading down the stairs. The jury debated amongst themselves for two days before deciding that Liang was guilty. Additionally, the police department said that they would fire Officer Liang. Liang might face fifteen years in prison. The verdict brought along a lot of controversy, with Liang’s defenders claiming that he hadn’t had sufficient training before the incident, and his opponents criticizing him and saying that he hadn’t made the slightest attempt to help the dying Gurley. Upon hearing the verdict, Liang bowed his head and covered his face with his hands, while Mr. Gurley’s family and friends shed tears of joy, embraced, and offered thanks and words of relief.

There are several ways to look at the matter. It can be considered as an unfortunate accident, or as a case of manslaughter, which is a crime. There have been many conflictions between whites and African Americans, as well as between police officers and African Americans. Behind this case, there are many racial prejudices and other things. On July 24^th, 2014, in Staten Island, Eric Garner was placed in a chokehold and died from compression of the neck and chest. The white policeman who killed him wasn’t fired, or put in jail, but the African American sergeant was brought to court simply because she witnessed the whole thing and didn’t do anything about it. On one side, Liang’s arrest was a good thing, but on the other hand, it was a matter of racism. If Liang had been white instead of Asian, it is doubtful that he would’ve had as severe a punishment.

From reading about this unfortunate incident, I learned that everyone makes mistakes, but not everyone will correct them. In Outlier by Malcolm Gladwell, I heard about two smart people. Robert Oppenheimer made a very serious mistake when he was young, but he corrected it well and became one of the most important scientists of his time. Chris Langing had a higher IQ, as well as other advantages, but when he made a trivial mistake, he was at a loss at how to fix it, and destroyed many opportunities that could have come his way. Liang’s mistake had cost a life, and since he didn’t sort it out, he destroyed much of his future.