Abolish the Death Penalty, NOW!!

One of the presents that Monica got me for Christmas this year was a "Peace Calendar." It is a calendar that discusses significant moments of activism throughout history and celebrates diversity and human rights. The calendar reminds us that tomorrow marks the date a year ago when the "Illinois governor, George Ryan, commutes the sentences of 167 death-row inmates. 'How many more cases of wrongful convictions have to occur before we can all agree that this system... is broken.'"

Monica and I, along with my brother, Michael, were the local Fort Smith, Arkansas activists against the death penalty. (The above cartoon requires me to state that, in spite of the fact that Michael diverges with President Bush on the issue of Capital Punishment, he is a strong supporter of him as President. Similarly, I was a supporter of Bill Clinton, even though he was very much pro-death penalty.) Michael and I wrote several letters to the Southwest Times Record editor proclaiming the inadequcies and injustices of the death penalty. Monica and I gave several persuasive speeches in our Westark Community College public speaking class against capital punishment. All was done in a highly pro-capital punishment town. We received lots of arguments trying to refute our statistics showing that the death penalty was: 1) injustly administered more to lower-income criminals and racial/ethnic minorities, 2) actually more expensive to administer than life imprisonment (due to the lengthy appeals process that is necessary to maximize accuracy), 3) not a deterrent, and 4) not prudent due to the risk of convicting the wrong person. Mainly our statistics and logical statements were met with quotes from the Old Testement of the Bible that were parrallel with verses that condoned wife abuse and slavery, which our opponents chose to ignore.

Now, 10-15 years later, when technology has advanced to the point where we can determine through DNA testing the identity of some of the killers (and discover that the courts are not at all perfect as the death penalty requires it to be), one governer in Illinois has the guts to go against public opinion to proclaim enough-is-enough! Unfortunately, with the severe backlash against the last publicly anti-capital punishment presidential candidate, Governor Dukakis, I'm afraid it may be a long time before we actual get a candidate with enough guts to lead our country away from this barbaric and antiquated form of punishment. However, I am optimistic. I have sensed a changing of the tide in America. More and more of the people I talk to are questioning the prudency of the death penalty, and I think that it might not be long before we see an end to this injust, cruel, and ineffective form of punishment.

Here are a few quotes to think about:

"Them in old time hath said, 'An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth,' but I say bless them that curse you; be kind to those that despitefully use you and persecute you."
--The New Testement, Fifth Chapter of the Gospel According to Matthew

"'An eye for an eye' makes the whole world blind."
--Mohandus Ghandi

We who believe in freedom cannot rest, we who believe in freedom cannot rest until it comes,
not until the killing of black men, black mothers' sons, is as important as white men, white mothers' sons!"
--Sweet Honey in the Rock

Comments

[A.J.]

Heres a voice you should listen to for a second, "It's our obligation to hurt those who have done wrong by us. If we don't deter them by more deaths our voices will never be heard! Talking and compromising don't make the evening news. It's our God given right and obligation to kill the beast!" Now having heard the voice... who said that? The pro-capital punishment activist or the average terrorist? A bit melodramatic I know, but for a society that thinks they are so much more evolved than the average terrorist... why are we still thinking alike?

[Greg]

Very insightful!