Newspaper Page Text
THURSDAY. FEBRUARY, 25 • THE MAROON TIGER • PAGE 14
Political Meltdown From page 10
school just to graduate, or to only
learn what’s taught in the class
room or on a job. I am here to
educate myself in order to be bet
ter able to interact with my whole
world, not just aspects of it. How
many times am I going to be able
to be part of a public event such as
this one, and how many opportu
nities am I going to have to go to
class? Very few, and very many.
I decided to go because I felt that
although class is important, other
things are important also. I took
my pick that day, as did any stu
dent who knew about the march.
I’m sorry that so many chose class,
but everybody has a right. So
often we talk about how blacks
should present strong images of a
united front, yet when a chance to
do that comes up, everyone has
their excuses not to show. So I
went...
How strong and united do we
look when the number of police
men along the route was so close
to the total number of marchers,
all of whom did not come from
AUC schools? I would say that
policemen outnumbered AUC stu
dents. Some unity and strength.
The reasons for not coming were
good; the timing of the march was
bad, Fridays in the AUC usually
mean social not political activity,
and the march may have been un
necessary, but there are still some
reasons to consider that might
make you rethink your thought the
next time.
I answer those three statements
this way: 1, show me a man who
waits on the perfect time to act
and I’ll show you a stationary fool;
2, Those who think that an occa
sional Friday is too much to give
up should not complain in the
manner they often do about politi
cal problems and the need to ad
dress them without knowing them
selves to be hypocrites; 3, you do
not have to participate, but you
might need someone sometime to
support your “unnecessary” ac
tions, and you’ll find yourself
alone, cut by your own ideologi
cal sword. So I went.
That’s alot of thought for ten
minutes of driving isn’t it? Obvi
ously my mind isn’t as long-
winded as my hands, but those are
the thoughts that led me to join
the march.
The march itself was well done,
but I chose to talk about what led
up to my going on the march rather
than the march itself because I
thought exploring the reasons to
go might be more useful than a
description of the event, consid
ering that the vast majority of us
obviously did not attend.
It is my hope that more of us will
decide to sacrifice some of our
personal goals and comforts in or
der to create an environment in
which those individual goals and
comforts can be easier to achieve
in the future. Or if we don’t sac
rifice, at least I hope we will stop
scratching our heads wondering
why so little gets done among
blacks.
The funniest thing to me about
the march'was that the flag they
brought to burn was not cloth, but
plastic, which melts long before it
will burn. Rather than see a ban
ner of hate go up in a blaze of
righteous anger, we watched a few
guys dressed in black with torches
melt holes into a cheap plastic
banner of (dislike?) that dripped
and dribbled into a bucket and left
an ugly smell...When I think about
it. maybe those are the more ap
propriate analogous images and
smells anyway. Racists are cheap,
plastic people...And they stink,
too.
The Death Penalty:
Is Justice Being Done?
By Ed Blakemore
I have proof that America is an
animalistic society. My proof is
the mass populace's love of capi
tal punishment. I have no prob
lem understanding such a stance
when the punishment is used prop
erly. I would even support the
measure if everyone was punished
equally, but unfortunately, that is
not the case.
One of the most common argu
ments posed by individuals who
are in favor of capital punishment
is that it deters crime. The num
ber of crimes has yet to decrease
because of the institution of the
death penalty. So, in effect, the
death penalty actually deters no
crime. Even if capital punish
ment did deter some other person
from committing a crime, is it
morally correct to use a person as
an object for the betterment of
society? It is impossible to jus
tify the death of one person in
order to deter the death of another
by placing your reasoning under
the guise of "the common good."
Another argument posed by pro
ponents of the death penalty is
that death is morally required by
the crime. Such an argument is
antiquated, at best. That argu
ment relies on the assertion that
the death penalty is a correct
means of retribution. That state
ment is extremely erroneous. The
death penalty cannot be effective
if used as a means of consolation
for the minds and souls of Ameri
cans. Such a stance does not as
sist society in any way, shape, or
form. People who believe in capi
tal punishment frequently quote
the Code of Hammurabi as a point
of reference. It should be remem
bered that the "Eye for an eye,
tooth for a tooth " theory was used
for an ancient society. Unless
America wishes to admit that it is,
in effect, an uncivilized society,
then such a reference cannot be
made.
An additional argument speaks
of how it would cost less to ex
ecute someone when compared
with the cost of life imprisonment.
Their thoughts apply only in the
long run because, in most cases,
persons sentenced to death begin
an appeal process. This process
can take up to and over twenty
years to be completed. Since the
appeals process in itself expen
sive (i.e. jury trials, court time,
cost of detention) little money, in
actuality, is saved. In the context
of the aforementioned argument,
the topic arises of whether or not
the abolishment of the death pen
alty would increase prison over
crowding. There is very little, if
any, evidence of capital punish
ment contributing to a decrease in
the overcrowding of America's
prisons. The reason for this is the
death penalty is utilized very few
times. There are numerous cases
where prisoners languish on death
row, for long periods of time, and
eventually plea bargain down to a
lesser sentence. More impor
tantly, since when did cost deter
mine whether or not an individual
deserves to live?
I believe capital punishment
should be abolished because it
gives the state the opportunity to
take a life needlessly. Execution
is unnecessary to save the lives of
any innocent citizens. If the pris
oner does escape, the fault lies
within the detention center not the
rehabilitation program. It is mor
ally wrong to kill anyone. If the
state uses the death penalty it is
condemning the person of the very
same crime it is itself committing.
If persons could reform their life
without dying, what is the pur
pose of killing them? I believe
that all people deserve a second
chance because no one is infal
lible. Also, to kill the mentally
ill, who may or may not fully real
ize the effect of their actions, is
"cruel and unusual punishment."
One of the greatest faults in the
death penalty is that someone can
be wrongly convicted and sen
tenced to death. There is no re
course after such an instance hap
pens. With rehabilitation, no such
dilemma arises because the per
son can be exonerated or compen
sated. By allowing the justice
system to use the death penalty,
the American public is placing
their welfare in the hands of the
American government. Let's not
forget that this is the same gov
ernment that has wrongly con
victed numerous persons. With
capital punishment, can you ever
be sure that justice was done?
Someone can also be convicted
on the basis of race or socioeco
nomic status. African-Americans
are disproportionately given the
death sentence. It's easy to see
that racism, in many cases, plays
a large role in an individual's con
viction. The fact that the judicial
system, like the rest of America,
is racist happens to be the major
reason that I oppose capital pun
ishment. Justice is not always
done. Many times it becomes a
case of money instead of guilt or
innocence. The best paid attor
neys, usually, do the best jobs.
Since indigent or lower income
individuals cannot afford the sal
ary demanded by those attorneys,
they are convicted more often.
One of the most common argu
ments I have run into happens to
be the "escaped murderer" hypoth
esis. The usual situation involves
an escaped convict who slays one
of your family members. Such a
hypothesis is great food for a tele
vision movie. If it ever happened,
the fault for the occurrence lies
not in the lack of the institution of
the death penalty, but with the
prison that allowed the criminal
to escape. Another common myth
which I have been exposed to,
states that without the death pen
alty, vigilantism would rise. The
common argument is that, with
out the death penalty, more people
would seek out revenge on the
killers of their loved ones. It
would be very difficult to con
vince me that someone who seeks
out revenge for the death of a loved
one would stop to think about
whether the justice system could
work before killing the individual.
I doubt very seriously whether
vengeance is ever governed by the
laws of government.
As I hope the reader can realize,
the death penalty, in actuality,
deters no crime. Capital punish
ment is just an excuse for a system
of government that refuses to al
locate money for rehabilitation.
As I said before, America is an
animalistic society.