Here is the story. Snyder, TX - small West Texas town... in 1998, a black boy from Sweetwater drowned in Towle Park Pond when "drinking" with a group of people. People remember the story as: a bunch of kids got drunk, and 2 tried to swim across the pond, Moses accidently drowned...
My brother (Ike) just transferred to Snyder High, he was well-known, athletic, cute... one of the seniors, Andy Parker (the other kid who swam across the pond) decided to get some attention. Andy stole the tool box out of the back of Ike's truck, where Ike kept his spare tire, his backpack, everything... so he was determined to get it back. He found out it was Andy, Ike told Andy he was going to fight him if he had to (Ike is a stupid boy for wanting to fight, he is also a strong boy) Andy told Ike this exact thing: "I drowned that nigger from Sweetwater & got away with it, I think I can handle this." My dad was very upset about this & decided to find out what happened. He was friends with the town judge & got info. from him. Andy's family was a prominent political & financial one in town. The chief of police dealing with this case (who I understand tried to investigate further) was fired soon after.
The story goes, from the judge, that Moses was in the water, Andy was wet sitting by the pond crying, and other kids were further back watching. It was late at night & the police came & took everyone home but Andy. Andy said they were racing to the other side, and something happened... he didnt realize & went on. It was then too late. They pulled Moses' body out of the water, and for some reason put it back until a few hours later. Once they pulled his body back out, there was no way to tell if there was in fact alcohol in his system. (?)
I'm not venturing to say anything more happened, or make any accusations. If I believed that more than what is shown happened, I woud probaby say that Andy might have jokingly pushed Moses, something playful, resulting in an accident, hence the need to put the body back in the water & make all the witnesses go home. I don't really know.
I would like to analyze articles from the Snyder, Sweetwater, Abilene, Lubbock, and surrounding newspapers. Sweetwater has a higher African American population than Snyder, I'd like to see the "spin" each paper might take. I've looked, and found only one article in a paper from Pecos, TX. Nothing in the archives of Snyder Daily News Online, or Sweetwater Reporter Online. I could find them, but I can't find them all from here in Denton.
Is this a good final project idea? Should I do this? Is this bad of me to stir up? Can I look at things other than Racism...
who knows...let me know!
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