Get out of this place.

When I was 16, my friends and I were being very mischievous in a grocery store parking lot, so someone called the police on us. We’d been drinking a little bit, so the cops put us in the backseat of a couple of squad cars. I was terrified, but what made things worse is that Dustin was in the car with me and he decided it would be a good time to tell our cop what he thought about police in general. He rattled off injustices attributed to the police force since its inception in a very calm, but patronizing manner from where we sat behind the mesh divider. By the time we made it to the station, he’d blamed our specific cop for kicking the Native Americans off of their land, and I was certain we were going to jail for at least a month. Luckily, we just had to call our parents to come get us. The older I get, the more I respect Dustin for his argument as well as his refusal to be scared of anyone or anything.

Dustin Benton was found in his Memphis apartment today with his guitar in one hand and his iPod in the other. I’ll never forget him. May he rest in peace.

(Photo jacked from Facebook)

7.24.2011.