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Saturday, February 28, 2009

Maryland's Death Penalty in its Final Throes

From Texas Death Penalty Blog

For those who haven't been following the death penalty situation in Maryland, it's a little complicated when you go into all the political players and dynamics, but the basic story is that the catholic, Democratic Mayor of Baltimore turned governor, Martin O'Malley, has decided to make repeal a key part of his legacy at a time where repeal is likely to enter the agenda of several states for cost-cutting reasons alone. Yet despite the strong support of the governor, the opposition to repeal, particularly in the state senate, is formidable. Yesterday the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee voted 5-5 on the death penalty repeal bill. It is only be special rules that the bill will go to the floor.

This is good news. It is what Gov. O'Malley and other leading death penalty opponents in the state have wanted all along. Nonetheless, Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller, a firm supporter of capital punishment, appears confident that the measure will fail to escape filibuster by a handful of votes and will never get to the House of Delegates, which will likely vote in favor. Activists like myself, mostly working under Maryland Citizens Against State Executions (MDCASE) have sent numerous letters to our representatives calling for repeal. We've also written letters to our local newspapers, challenging the misconceptions of many death penalty supporters that it is safe because it is not used often (five executions since the end of the moratorium in the 1970s) and that the death penalty must be maintained as the only punishment to lifers who murder prison guards or fellow inmates. We will know soon the fruits of our efforts.

But even if it fails this session due to the stubbornness of the old guard in the senate, I have no doubt that Maryland's death penalty is in its final throes, and this will resonate throughout the country, following the 2007 New Jersey example. Back in 2005, when O'Malley was campaigning for the governorship, I slipped inside his entourage and asked him what he would do about the death penalty if elected. He said that while he was personally opposed to it, he would uphold the law. Thanks to the de facto moratorium imposed by faulty lethal injection procedures, the governor has not been put in the position to "uphold the law," or appease the bloodthirsty, over his own sensibilities. I think he has shifted to the point where this dichotomy is no longer relevant, but even if he hasn't, the conditions for eliminating it are almost perfect. The time is at hand. The old guard will go along or be left behind.

Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Letter from Color of Change about NY Post Cartoon

Dear Matthew,

Yesterday, the day after President Obama signed the stimulus bill, his first major piece of legislation, the New York Post ran a cartoon depicting the bill's author as a dead monkey, covered in blood after being shot by police.

In the face of intense criticism, The Post's editor is standing by the cartoon, claiming it has no racial undertones, that it's not about Obama, and that it was simply referencing an incident earlier this week when police shot a pet chimpanzee (an argument that pundits and analysts simply aren't buying).1

It's impossible to believe that any newspaper editor could be ignorant enough to not understand how this cartoon evokes a history of racist symbolism, or how frightening this image feels at a time when death threats against President Obama have been on the rise.

Please join us in demanding that The Post apologize publicly and fire the editor who allowed this cartoon to go to print:

http://colorofchange.org/nypost/?id=2111-681493

The Post would have us believe that the cartoon is not about Obama. But on the page just before the cartoon appears, there's a big picture of Obama signing the stimulus bill.2 A reader paging through The Post would see Obama putting pen to paper, then turn the page to see this violent cartoon. The imagery is chilling.

There is a clear history in our country of racist symbolism that depicts Black people as apes or monkeys, and it came up multiple times during the presidential campaign.3

We're also in a time of increased race-based violence. In the months following President Obama's election there has been a nationwide surge in hate crimes ranging from vandalism to assaults to arson on Black churches.4,5 There has been an unprecedented number of threats against President Obama since he was elected,6 with hate-based groups fantasizing about the killing of the president. Just a week ago, a man drove from Louisiana to the Capitol with a rifle, telling the police who stopped him that he had a "delivery" for the president.7

There is no excuse for The Post to have allowed this cartoon to be printed, and even less for Editor Col Allan's outright dismissal of Black concerns.

But let's be clear about who's behind The Post: Rupert Murdoch. Murdoch, the Post's owner, is the man behind FOX News Channel. FOX has continually attacked and denigrated Black people, politicians, and institutions at every opportunity, and we've run several campaigns to make clear how FOX poisons public debate.8

We don't expect much from Murdoch. However, with enough public pressure we can set the stage for advertisers and subscribers to think long and hard before patronizing outlets like the Post that refuse to be held accountable.

You can help by making it clear that the Post's behavior is unacceptable, and by asking your friends and family to do the same. It only takes a minute:

http://colorofchange.org/nypost/?id=2111-681493

-- James, Gabriel, Clarissa, William, Dani and the rest of the ColorOfChange.org team
February 19th, 2009

References:

1. "NY Post Defends Cartoon, Slams Al Sharpton," Huffington Post, 2-18-2009
http://tinyurl.com/cdmhmm

2. "Obama Photo Preceded Cartoon Of Gunned Down Chimp," Huffington Post, 2-18-2009
http://tinyurl.com/d4jf3m

3. "'Curious George' Obama Shirt Causes Uproar," CBS News, 5-15-2008
http://tinyurl.com/d3ym5w

4. "Post-Racial USA? Not So Fast." Associated Press, 11-15-2008
http://tinyurl.com/b6nw6u

5. "Arson seen in post-election fire at black church in Springfield," Boston Globe, 11-8-2008
http://tinyurl.com/689k4k

6. "Obama never worries about his security despite record number of threats," Daily Mail, 11-27-2008
http://tinyurl.com/bwpr2b

7. "Winnfield man with rifle said he had 'delivery' for Obama," The Advocate, 2-11-2009
http://www.2theadvocate.com/news/39429842.html

8. ColorOfChange.org campaign -- "Dancing with the Devil"
http://colorofchange.org/cbci_debates/

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Is Obama Making Whites Nervous?

Though I am not and have never been a supporter of President Barack Obama because I do not agree with him on many issues and believe his record is that of a political opportunist, I was thoroughly impressed with his management of last night's press conference. It was his first public press conference as President of the United States, and I sincerely hope that it is not his last.

I can only imagine how some other white people are feeling at the moment. Even a white person wholly incapable of holding his brethren to the same standards as he holds black people could see that Mr. Obama was able to put together a longer string of intelligible words in one press conference than the former president did in a year. And this discovery would come after a bitter presidential campaign between the sharp, calculating Obama and the dull, crude McCain. As I hope you recall, Mr. McCain devoted almost the entire tail of his campaign to personal attacks, many of which were false of misleading. This was not a sign of strength and power, but of weakness and impotency. Sarah Palin's late-game entrance, despite its sparkle, only further revealed the campaign's primitive nature. The strategy seemed to be: If we can't beat 'im, just compare 'im to a terrorist (whom everyone hates). Most Americans, including many white Americans, saw how feeble these desperation tactics were and voted accordingly.

Of course there were other, mostly older white Americans who stayed with McCain to the bitter end largely because of his white skin (albeit desiccated), and I can imagine these same folks cursing the television whenever Obama brilliantly sidesteps a tough question from Helen Thomas or drives a softball question out of the park. He truly represents "change" in the sense that he gives dignity to blacks in this country who are often assumed to be dimwitted, thuggish or inarticulate before they even have a chance to open their mouths. Obama may not be Dr. King or Malcolm X, but he is a strong, confident black man (albeit half-black) who has already shown that he can easily match wits with the best of his Anglo-American presidential predecessors. I just hope my white brothers and sisters throughout this country can finally accept what they have deemed so unacceptable for so many years. I know it can be hard to step out of the box of denial, but it is truly liberating.