By this time tomorrow night, the state of South Carolina will have executed Calvin Shuler for the 1997 murder of James Brooks during an armed robbery. It will be the latest in a long string of revenge killings conducted in the name of justice. Sadly, most of these state-sponsored murders have been committed in the South. Rankings by state of the number of executions since the death penalty was reinstated in 1977 show that 10 out of the top 12 are in the South. Texas, the state that brought us the most blood-thirsty cowboy in US history, leads the pack.
According to the Death Penalty Information Center, the list looks like this:
TEXAS: 395
VIRGINIA: 98
OKLAHOMA: 84
MISSOURI: 66
FLORIDA: 64
NORTH CAROLINA: 43
GEORGIA: 39
SOUTH CAROLINA: 36
ALABAMA: 36
LOUISIANA: 27
ARKANSAS: 27
ARIZONA: 23
The numbers are even more frightening when measured against what’s happening in the rest of the world. Amnesty International reports:
* 129 countries have abolished the death penalty in law or practice.
* Last year, 91 percent of executions took place in China, Iran, Pakistan, Iraq, Sudan and the United States.
Looks like our Cowboy in Chief may have more in common with his enemies than he might think.
Executions have become so common in this country that they barely make news. As a people, we have come to accept them as normal. Perhaps that should come as no surprise, since we are not just inundated with violent imagery every waking hour; we actually seek it out as entertainment. This strikes me as aberrant behavior. Any killing not done in self defense is wrong. It is especially wrong, I believe, when premeditated and sponsored by the state. Every time someone is executed in South Carolina, it is done in our name. Done in my name. We all should be outraged and ashamed.
After more than a decade of writing about this issue (see The Other Victims and The Killing of Karla Fay) I am out of ideas about how to engage folks. After taking part in dozens of vigils and protests, after getting arrested in an act of civil disobedience on the occasion of the 500th execution in the US (see Death Penalty Protesters Discover High Cost of Free Speech) I am running low on activist juice.
My hat is off to those who dedicate themselves to this difficult work. My heart breaks for the family members of inmates on Death Row. But there must be something more we can do than simply standing outside the prison complex with a candle and a prayer as the state carries out its dirty business. If someone has any ideas, please let me know.
Becci Robbins
Even my Christian brothers and sisters are strangely silent (and uncomfortable, I think) on this issue.
My church has taken a position opposing the death penalty.
http://www.elca.org/socialstatements/deathpenalty/
For me, our country, through its policies, hypocrisy, arrogance, inhumanity, greed, apathy and a litany of other critical adjectives is so far adrift from itself, those of use who pay attention are exhausted. Those of us who know the media is the most powerful form of social control ever invented (television) and who dig for more information about topics that ARE important (not just the ones we are fed, by slight of hand and mind) are overwhelmed. Honestly, has the big screen TV, high calorie/ low nutrition food, Travartine, Re-financing, debt slavery, mediocrity and vacuousness of Western culture totally anesthetized the masses so such an extent that they/we are just droids?
The wealthier you are ( and ideally white and even more ideally male), the less you have to worry about any kind of injustice for yourself or those you know. Hire a lawyer. In many cases the threshold for obtaining justice is a non-refundable retainer away. So, what if you are working poor? You have one or more jobs and yeah, you have health coverage but the employee contribution is more than you can afford and still pay your other bills? My husband’s monthly “contribution” is 700.00. What a deal, huh?
One step away from financial disaster, these families and individuals are throw-aways along with those living at or below poverty levels whom we have not shown interest in or mercy for in eons.
Corporations are pilaging our country and the world. do even a tiny bit of research and you will find that they pay little or no taxes, they exploit developing and third world countries with plants that pay outrageous wages and pollute the environment, they defraud the public through tax and investment schemes in the billions of dollars! Then if they don’t make numbers, what do they do? cut pensions, cut retiree health benefits ( guess who picks up that tab), cut workers and current benefits. They “restate” thier earnings. Legally corporations are considered people, so why can’t we go back and restate our earnings when the IRS calls us?
Where to start with trying to make things better? Civil and Constitutional rights? Environment? Healthcare (by the way, the cat’s out of the bag that our healthcare system isn’t the best in the world at all, far from it), education, economic justice, human rights, trade reform, tax reform?
Personally I am doubly challenged by living in a state where the denial and apathy of the average person is only surpassed by thier ignorance of the issues. Not stupid, just uncaring and too “busy” with children and church and home care and daily minutae to look any further into any issues. No volunteerism. Not much international travel. not to be too hard on the state’s residents, the system is set up to discourage independent thought and punish non-compliance. It is easier just to ignore the issues of the world and think that they somehow are not touching your life. But if you believe this lie, what other untruths are our basing your life on?
Truth often has a bitter taste. It does not go down smoothly and causes internal dissonance. I, personally, want to be in more control of my own truth about why we/I live the way we do and why we think we have control over anything. In my life, I see that I have very little control over how I behave and how I use my mind.
I want more control, not less. So I turn off the TV as often as i can, I make conscious decisions about how and where I spend my money, i read and research issues for myself, I speak out when I can and as often as I can and I try to reach out to others who also want to be present and accountable in life.
Shannon Staley
Killing people to prove killing people is wrong remains at the core of human problems.
Killing Timothy McVeigh silenced forever the only person who could tell us the names of his other co-perpetrators, so justice remains unserved rather than the revenge killing & desired martyrdom of McVeigh.
Killing Saddam Hussein silenced one who could expose Britich MI5 & CIA perpetrators of killings which have escalated into full blown revenge killing called “war.”
I feel that working for a Presidential candidate who genuinely establishes non-violent policies rather than violent policies is my path of effective change of the status quo.
One may feel more frustrated when separating out partisan politics from wrong policies we desperately need to change.
Dennis Kucinich is the genuine article.
Working for others who may say some words we want to hear will not get the change we seek.
Praying for peace while paying & voting for killings is not the answer. Work for real justice & real candidates.
I recently retired as a psychiatric social worker after 12 years at Lieber
Correctional Institution. Death Row, located at Lieber, was my area for a while. The actual administration of the death penalty is probably more
strange than you can imagine. Strangely, it is usually the quietest place
in the prison, and the safest. Clearly, there are approximately 75 living examples resident there of the lack of the penalty’s deterence. I cannot reveal individual information on inmates out of respect for their privacy, but I am glad to answer questions about general information. Also, remember that the executions are carried out at Broad River Correctional
Institution, and I did not work there.