SQUARES
by Broncey
The Curious Cases of Kendrick Johnson &
Ryan Singleton Part I
I want to open by helping you understand the grim practice of organ
donation. Assumption leads you to believe it’s an altruistic decision—only
requiring you to check a little box as you register or renew your driver’s
license. Then, if you happen to die, your organs go to a person in need.
Unfortunately, it’s not that simple. You don’t have to be completely dead
before they begin harvesting your body. All a doctor has to do is verify that
you cannot pass a few rudimentary tests. (They splash ice water in your
ears, check your gag reflex, poke your eyeballs with cotton swabs, etc.) Said
tests are brief; and if you fail them, they hook you back up to the respirator
to keep you breathing and your blood flowing.
This keeps the organs protected and allows them to begin cutting. This
practice often takes place if you begin breathing on your own again and,
in some cases, even if you still show brain activity. While this practice is
utterly macabre, it is 100% legal. So if the legal practice of organ harvesting
is morally ambiguous, we can believe the illegal markets are exponentially
worse.
Kendrick Johnson’s story can almost be read as a script, given the almost
cliché and unyielding surplus of innocent black children murdered in America
these days—however, it is the truth.
Kendrick was a 17-year-old, African American athlete who dreamed of playing
pro ball. He attended Lowndes High School in Valdosta, Georgia. On January
11, 2013, he was found in a rolled-up wrestling mat in the gymnasium of the
school—dead. Did you automatically assume foul play? I did. But how much
of that is social conditioning? Let’s examine the facts.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation swiftly stated that he died from
positional asphyxia, which means he was in a position that prevented him
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