#gregory hill

"It’s up to the individual to decide if they are real, but if you take a goddess of confusion seriously it can be just as profound and metaphysical of a trip as taking Yahweh seriously."

It was around 3:00 p.m. on a January afternoon in 2014. 30-year-old African-American Gregory Hill Jr. was hanging out in his own garage with the garage door shut, drinking and listening to some music. He was waiting to pick up his daughters from the school across the street from his home.

Another parent waiting across the street for her own children called the police to complain about loud, obscene music. (Hill was listening to Drake, whose lyrics sometimes say “fuck.”) The police arrived and pounded on the garage door. They did not identify themselves as police. When there was no immediate answer, one went to pound on Hill’s front door. Meanwhile, Hill raised the garage door about halfway, saw the other deputy, and started to close it.

The deputy immediately shot Hill four times through the garage door, striking him three times, including a shot to the head that killed him instantly. Hill’s 9-year-old daughter, Destiny, was just across the street, and saw her father murdered right in front of her.

Playing around with making images using screenshots and AI.

Gregory Hill (2nd generation) and his 4th wife, Princess Gyda of Nordhaven, from my Ultimate Decade Challenge. I think that these came out pretty well.

@ckvotepromote ( Christian Kane Vote & Promote) Instagram

Last week, a court case in Florida regarding the death of a man shot in his garage by police ended with a jury setting the value of that man’s life at $4. It was determined that the man was 99% responsible for his death, and the police officers on the scene were 1% responsible. This meant his family only saw 1% of $4. That’s 4 cents.

4 cents.

Many people decide lives are worth more than that. They purchase life insurance which values a life at hundreds of thousands of dollars...maybe millions.

Had this man’s life been valued at even a quarter of a million dollars, his family would have received $2,500 in damages for the police’s 1% responsibility. 

No amount of money can truly determine the value of a life. It’s not like comparing apples and oranges. It’s like comparing the sun with a piece of paper.

I don’t know anything about this case other than what I’ve shared above. I don’t know how it was determined the man was 99% responsible for his own death. I don’t know if that is fair or not. It sounds concerning, but it is not my concern here.

My concern here is the $4. 

Do you think you could buy $4 worth of life insurance? What would you have to pay? A penny every six months?

Minimum wage in Florida is $8.25. That means this man’s life was worth less than 30 minutes of work. 

Gas in Florida is going for just under $3.00 a gallon. Which means this man’s life was worth less than 1.5 gallons of gas.

The clothes the man was wearing, ruined by gun shots were undoubtedly worth more than $4. 

I’m sure I don’t understand the ins and outs of why a ruling of 4 dollars was given. I’m sure there’s some legal description that can explain why this happened.

But it is not logical. It is not reasonable. It is not fair. It is not common sense. 

Life is cheapened no matter what dollar figure we put on it. But something this embarrassingly, insultingly low makes me want to scream. 

This man’s life was worth more than $4. 

Thankfully, the value of your life is not determined by a jury, but by Jesus. We have a Savior who paid for that life, not with gold or silver or a five dollar bill (keep the change), but with his holy precious, blood and with His innocent suffering and death.

This Savior paid for your life too. Even if your life is valued in the millions, His cost was higher.

Your life and the life of the man shot in his garage are of equal value, a priceless value, a value that cost the very Son of God His life. And in a bizarre twist, even though humanity was 100% responsible for His death, and He was 0% responsible, we receive His death benefit, eternal life.

You see, we are His family, His heirs. He has made us so in baptism. He has claimed us by the Word of God.

Gregory Hill Jr. was the man’s name. I don’t know if he was a part of this family or not. I hope so. I hope those 4 dollars turn into forever with Jesus. I hope he exchanged the closing garage door he hoped would save him for Jesus, the door to eternal life. I hope his 99% responsibility turns into being among the 99 sheep who are safe and sound in the Good Shepherd’s pen, never to wander again.

Florida jury spitefully awards Black children $4 for father’s death by cops, attorney says

In 2014, Gregory Hill, a 30 year old Black man, was shot three times and killed by police in his Florida garage after complaints of loud music. To add insult to injury, last week, a federal jury awarded his family a $4 verdict in their civil case. (more…)