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PA Alternatives #6: Juneteenth—Remembering the abolition of slavery
by
Ashlee Shelton, Director, Pennsylvanians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty | 06.24.2009
"Life is the great primary and precious and comprehensive of all human rights... it is not to be deliberately or voluntarily destroyed, either by individuals separately, or combined in what is called government." — Frederick Douglas  Hello all, Juneteenth, or Emanicipation Day, is the oldest nationally celebrated commemoration of the ending of slavery in the United States. Abolitionists fought for years to break the chains of violence, servitude and oppression that were the backbone of slavery in the United States prior to 1865. Similarly, as Diann Rust-Tierney illustrated in "We, too, are abolitionists," a parallel movement started while slavery was challenged; a movement to abolish the death penalty. It is no secret that while slavery no longer legally exists in this country, certain individuals are still persecuted, imprisoned and sentenced to death more often than others. Pennsylvania serves as a prime example of the blatant racism found in the capital punishment system. Seven out of ten death row inmates in PA are people of color. "They were digging a new foundation in Manhattan and they discovered a slave cemetery there, may their souls rest easy now that lynching is frowned upon and we’ve moved on to the electric chair." - Ani Difranco The American Bar Association’s blue-ribbon panel study of Pennsylvania’s capital punishment system found that Pennsylvania fails to comply with over 93% of the ABA’s 92 recommendations designed to improve the fairness and accuracy of the death penalty. In October of 2007, the ABA recommended that Pennsylvania conduct further and ongoing study on racial, economic, and geographic disparities in the capital punishment system. Bias in the death penalty system can be detected by the uneven distribution of death sentences by the race of the offender AND by the race of the victim. In Pennsylvania, it has been found that a black offender of a white victim is four times more likely to receive a death sentence than a white offender of a black victim. Today, let us all remember the struggle of the men and women that worked for abolition of slavery back in the 1800’s. I hope that it will serve as a reminder to us all of the ugly truth of institutional racism being perpetuated in PA’s death penalty system as well as a reminder of the struggle and success fought out by abolitionists in the past. May we honor that work toward equality with our work toward the abolition of the death penalty today! "The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice." Please continue to scroll down to learn about how you can help end the death penalty in Pennsylvania. In Solidarity, Upcoming Events: Murder Victims’ Families for Reconciliation (MVFR) and PADP Meet & Greets: July 20th in Pittsburgh July 27th in Harrisburg PADP will be tabling at Harrisburg’s PRIDE celebration: Attend a local PADP chapter meeting! Click here for details. GET ACTIVE! Write letters to your state senator and representative! Click here to find out who your law makers are... Example letter: Dear Senator Piccola, As one of your constituents I would like to urge you to think about the negative effects that the death penalty has on our state. New Mexico and New Jersey found that their states were spending exorbitant amounts of money on a system that is flawed. I believe that Pennsylvania is doing the same. The Pennsylvania American Bar Association issued a report at the end of 2007 that states that PA is at risk of executing an innocent person. This is not a risk that we should not be willing to take. The report also documented racial, economic and geographic disparities in the capital punishment system. I urge you to consider supporting a moratorium and study of the death penalty in PA. Thank you for your time and consideration. Sincerely, MAKE A DONATION: https://padp.ejusadb.org/sites/padp.ejusadb.org/modules/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=291&qid=37138 |
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Comments
Death row
Submitted by jon peppers (not verified) on Wed, 06/24/2009 - 6:04pm"Seven out of 10 on death row are people of colour" . Why...because they did it and the JURY found cause. If you have a minority majority within a local' isn't it logical there would be a larger percentage of minorities charged with violent crimes and convicted within that community? You claim some of the victims were of another racial background...in your words "white". So what...were they store owners, truck drivers, cab drivers etc. Your logic is flawed and deceptive. The cost of defending death row convicted murderers ala Mumia Abu Jamal are due to , in my opinion, the VERY liberal flawed appeals system which allows defendant attorneys to throw the kitchen sink into the mix to get their client off....doesn't matter if they fib or give some ridiculous defence, Arnold Beverly comes to mind. Do the crime ...do the time.
Jon Pisano
Justice for Daniel Faulkner Crowd
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