Extremely interesting information has come out relating to the Georgia death-row case in the news.
First of all, the fact that Georgia authorities were willing to wait to hear what the US Supreme Court had to say in the matter was a nice surprise. They didn't have to wait by law, but they waited. Another surprise was the letter offered by multiple former - and current - correctional officers and wardens pleading for caution. Their own consciences have been damaged and a great deal of loss of sleep has been suffered by this collective group who have executed people who might possibly have been innocent.
What struck me more though, were the surprising cultural issues and glaring differences between attitudes of Blacks and Whites concerning our execution practices themselves.
The man being executed in Texas at the very time of the Georgia case's national attention this week, was a white man who confessed his guilt and was known by others to have been guilty without question. And the crime of dragging a black man unmercifully behind a vehicle for miles, actually beyond causing death, going on until the body was decapitated - this heinous crime would seem to shout for the ultimate penalty. Yet it has been reported that the [black] family of the murdered man had begged the court not to execute this despicable [white] human who murdered their loved one in such an unimaginably horrifying way. They said killing someone could not lessen their loss.
In Mississippi currently another [white] man is unquestionably guilty of murdering a [black] man, and again the family of the deceased has made the case for not taking another life in an attempt to lessen their loss; their statement was rational and powerful. So much so that Mississippi authorities are considering taking the death penalty off the table. The family's prepared statement was an amazing document that expressed so much pain and suffering caused by the crime but at the same time conveyed that there would actually be new pain still to come for these sufferers if they were to see the murderer executed.
In both of these cases, there was no question of guilt; there was only the question of penalty. And in both cases, the black sufferers of loss asked the courts to not take a life for a life, but to allow the clearly guilty white criminal to live.
In the case in Georgia, a black man has spent over twenty years in prison, on death row, his execution set now for the fourth time, and all along he has been pleading innocence of the crime. [This is, of course, itself an extremely rare event; the truly guilty practically always unburden themselves at some point and admit to the crime, especially over a long period of imprisonment. This man refuses even to eat a "last meal" each time the execution is imminent; he is that strong still in proclaiming his innocence.]
Seven of the "witnesses" against this man have recanted in recent years, some admitted to lying, under pressure from police, about what they saw. Of only two remaining "witnesses" from the trial, one was also a suspect in the crime and his testimony against the accused helped remove himself from suspicion. Three members of the jury from that trial say they could now not find the accused guilty due to the lack of sufficient circumstantial evidence. It had been the weight of nine "witnesses" at the time that made the case; at least seven of them really should not have counted at all.
Amid all the above extenuating circumstances, the white family of the deceased have vehemently called for the execution of the black man convicted. One reporter stated that these people are "not blood-thirsty, only justice-thirsty." If this were true, why would they not want, more than anything, to know beyond any shadow of a doubt that the actual murderer is the one being executed? Is it enough for these folks to know that somebody, in this instance, maybe even important that some black somebody, is paying the ultimate penalty for the death of their loved one?
If ever there were a case in which a family suffering loss would want to show the utmost patience in order to be assured of the guilt or innocence of an accused murderer, it seems this would be that case. It would appear that if the racial variables were reversed here, at the very least the deceased's family would be asking the court to please not execute until absolutely sure of guilt; if the examples of the attitudes of black families mentioned in other cases are any indication of cultural differences involved, the plea would likely be to not execute at all - to not take a life for a life.
As a member of the segment of the human race called white, I am culturally embarrassed by the proceedings in Georgia. I was similarly culturally embarrassed recently by the debate crowd's eruption in applause and hoots of approval for the many executions carried out under the administration of the governor of Texas. My guess is that the audience was heavily predominant in white attendees.
Here's another cultural slant that bothers me, though there is no space to cover it properly in this post, so it will need further rumination later. In the raucous response to the record of a far-right governor, especially this particular governor who also boasts of a great following by ultra-religious conservatives, there is a strange dichotomy of attitudes. Those same folks who gladly witness executions and apparently want more, will do practically anything to see that no abortion is ever allowed in our country! In other words, the medically approved and directed method of preventing an embryo from even becoming a human being is never to be sanctioned by religious people. But directing the execution of a fully functioning human being - because he is thought to be guilty of some terrible crime, whether or not it's provable beyond any shadow of doubt - that kind of killing is justified. And apparently applauded!
As I said in an earlier post, I am eternally confused!
An infuriating P.S. - this morning's news tells us the execution was carried out late last night.
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