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Momentum to abolish the death penalty picks up among conservatives

LOUISIANA WEEKLY — A gathering of anti-death penalty activists this month in New Orleans was to kick-start a movement to abolish the death penalty at the state level. But those attending are not capital punishment’s typical foes. “I’m a lifetime Republican, a cradle conservative,” E. King Alexander told Facing South. “From a small government perspective, I think the government needs to stay in its lane vis-à-vis the liberties of the people.”

Published

5 years ago

September 22, 2019

Oakland Post

Photo by: Matthew Ansley | unsplash.com

By Olivia Paschal

(Special from Facing South) — A gathering of anti-death penalty activists this month in New Orleans was to kick-start a movement to abolish the death penalty at the state level. But those attending are not capital punishment’s typical foes.

“I’m a lifetime Republican, a cradle conservative,” E. King Alexander told Facing South. “From a small government perspective, I think the government needs to stay in its lane vis-à-vis the liberties of the people.”

A public defender in Louisiana’s Calcasieu Parish and a member of his state Republican Party’s Central Committee, Alexander is a part of Conservatives Concerned About the Death Penalty. The national group was launched at the 2013 Conservative Political Action Conference as a project of Equal Justice USA, a Brooklyn, New York-based nonprofit that works to break cycles of trauma through justice system reforms.

Conservatives Concerned held its first annual national meeting from Sept. 6- 8, giving like-minded anti-death penalty advocates from across the U.S. a chance to meet, network, and begin organizing campaigns in their respective states. People affiliated with the group hold various views on why the death penalty should be abolished. For some, like Alexander, the taking of a life represents government overreach. For others, it’s a cost issue, as carrying out a capital sentence is often more expensive than life imprisonment. And for those like Donald Triplett, the treasurer of North Carolina’s Swain County Republican Party, it’s an extension of their fundamental values.

“I was raised to be pro-life,” Triplett told Facing South. “Around my teenage years, I started questioning — how far does that go?”

Support for capital punishment, once seen as a necessary credential for politicians running on a tough-on-crime platform, has eroded in recent years as evidence has mounted that the death penalty is ineffective at driving down crime rates, unevenly and often arbitrarily applied, and that many innocent people have been sent to death row. According to Gallup, which has asked about the death penalty in its polls since the 1930s, 45 percent of Americans believe the death penalty is imposed unfairly, the highest level since Gallup began asking that question in 2000. In all, 41 percent of Americans now oppose the death penalty for a person convicted of murder — the highest level since 1972, when the U.S. Supreme Court in Furman v. Georgia briefly struck down capital punishment.

But there’s a deep partisan divide over the death penalty, one that makes its abolition an uphill battle in red states. In 2018, the Pew Research Center found that while just 35 percent of Democrats and 52 percent of independents support the death penalty for people convicted of murder, 77 percent of Republicans favor the policy. While that number might seem high, it represents a 10-point dip from 1996, when 87 percent of Republicans favored capital punishment. Support for the death penalty among self-identified independents, who make up 38 percent of the voting population, is down more than 27 percentage points over the same time period.

The movement to abolish the death penalty continues to gain steam. New Hampshire became the latest state to abolish capital punishment earlier this year, with significant Republican support. Six other states — Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maryland, New Mexico, and Washington — have gotten rid of the death penalty since 2009, two through court rulings declaring state capital punishment laws unconstitutional. Today, 21 states have rejected the death penalty by law, and four more have done so through governor-imposed moratoriums.

But every state in the South except West Virginia still has the death penalty. The region includes two of the three states with the highest death row populations: 349 people in Florida, and 218 in Texas. In Florida, 29 death row prisoners have had their charges dismissed since the 1970s, the most in the country.

Among the factors driving opposition to the death penalty are the dramatic racial disparities in its administration. According to a Facing South analysis of data compiled by the NAACP Legal Defense Fund and the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey, 46 percent of the South’s death row population is Black, although Black people make up less than 20 percent of the region’s total population. Several studies, including one by the federal Government Accountability Office, have shown that murder cases with white victims are more likely to result in capital murder charges and the imposition of the death penalty than those with victims of another race. And all too often, capital trials occur without a true jury of one’s peers: Recent high-profile cases in Mississippi and North Carolina have accused prosecutors of excluding black people from death penalty juries based on their race.

“The death penalty continues to exist in the parts of America it exists in because of racism and revenge,” said Kenneth Reams, the founder of Who Decides, a nonprofit that educates people about the history of the death penalty. He is also a current resident of Arkansas’ death row; though the state’s Supreme Court reversed his death sentence last year, he remains there pending further proceedings. “It’s not just racism, but poverty. The death penalty affects people in our society who are uneducated and poor.”

Preaching outside the choir

It’s no accident that Conservatives Concerned’s first national meeting was set for Louisiana. A coalition of groups from across that state’s political spectrum recently came together to pass Amendment 2 overturning a Jim Crow-era law that allowed people to be convicted of felonies by non-unanimous juries. Alexander was part of that coalition, as was tea party Republican Rob Maness, a former U.S. Senate candidate in Louisiana and a retired Air Force colonel who sits on his parish’s GOP executive committee.

“We had to build a team of not just conservatives, but also independent and moderate-type folks, and then the very liberal side of the Democrats, and independents too, so across the spectrum of ideology,” Maness told Facing South. “We were able to build that team, because [reversing the amendment] was the right thing to do.”

The measure had support from the state Republican and Democratic parties, from a slew of criminal justice reform organizations, and from the Louisiana branch of the Koch-funded Americans for Prosperity, a conservative group that has pushed for criminal justice reform in other states as well. Advocates hope they can keep this coalition together to push for the abolition of the death penalty, either by way of another constitutional amendment or with a state statute.

The meeting in New Orleans was to connect Louisiana anti-death penalty conservatives with each other and with others like them around the country. It will also serve as a training ground to get other state-based movements up and running with sessions teaching advocates how to talk to legislators and how to carry out grassroots organizing targeted at conservatives.

The attendees know their views are out of step with most Republicans; Maness said that if he decides to run for office again he’s certain GOP voters will “hold me accountable” for not being sufficiently “law-and-order.” But they hope to reach people around the South who might be predisposed to discount the arguments of liberals.

“If you’re a Democrat you’re preaching to the choir,” said Alexander. “Where we need to make progress is with Republicans.”

That’s been the focus in Tennessee, said Amy Lawrence, who leads the state’s chapter of Conservatives Concerned. People who have been in conservative circles their entire life may not have thought about the death penalty from a pro-life lens, or may not be aware of the expense of sentencing someone to death, she said.

“We still have some work to do,” Lawrence said. “We have lawmakers who say, ‘I get it, I understand that there are flaws with the death penalty, that it’s an exorbitant cost, that it’s an arbitrary system.’” There’s still a stigma associated with being anti-death penalty in Republican circles, however, and some lawmakers fear that vocalizing their opposition to capital punishment could mean losing their seat, said Lawrence and other advocates.

But that’s beginning to shift. In 10 states this year, three of them in the South, Republican legislators sponsored bills to repeal the death penalty. In Georgia, a bipartisan group of three Republican and three Democratic legislators introduced a bill in April that would abolish capital punishment and change the sentences of the state’s 55 death row inmates to life without parole. Though it was introduced too late to advance this session, its timing was aimed to spark debate next year. In Louisiana, Republican state Sen. Dan Claitor put forward a constitutional amendment to get rid of the death penalty, but it was rejected by the legislative body. And in Kentucky, Republican House Majority Whip Chad McCoy introduced a bill to repeal the state’s death penalty. Though it gained several co-sponsors, including other Republican state legislators, it died in committee.

“If we can get lucky enough to get one of the states in the South to seriously look at capital punishment, to simply put a moratorium on it, that would be a start,” said Reams. “If we could get one state in the South to abolish it, I think it would open the door.”

This article originally appeared in the online magazine of the Institute for Southern Studies, www.southernstudies.org. The Institute for Southern Studies is a nonprofit research and media center that exposes injustice, strengthens democracy and builds a community for change in the South.

This article originally published in the September 16, 2019 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.

This article originally appeared in The Louisiana Weekly. LOUISIANA WEEKLY

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Beloved Actor and Activist Louis Cameron Gossett Jr. Dies at 87

NNPA NEWSWIRE — Louis Gossett Jr., the groundbreaking actor whose career spanned over five decades and who became the first Black actor to win an Academy Award as Best Supporting Actor for his memorable role in “An Officer and a Gentleman,” has died. Gossett, who was born on May 27, 1936, in Brooklyn, N.Y., was 87. Recognized early on for his resilience and nearly unmatched determination, Gossett arrived in Los Angeles in 1967 after a stint on Broadway.
The post Beloved Actor and Activist Louis Cameron Gossett Jr. Dies at 87 first appeared on BlackPressUSA.

Published

4 weeks ago

March 29, 2024

Oakland Post

By Stacy M. Brown
NNPA Newswire Senior National Correspondent
@StacyBrownMedia

Louis Gossett Jr., the groundbreaking actor whose career spanned over five decades and who became the first Black actor to win an Academy Award as Best Supporting Actor for his memorable role in “An Officer and a Gentleman,” has died. Gossett, who was born on May 27, 1936, in Brooklyn, N.Y., was 87. Recognized early on for his resilience and nearly unmatched determination, Gossett arrived in Los Angeles in 1967 after a stint on Broadway.

He sometimes spoke of being pulled over by law enforcement en route to Beverly Hills, once being handcuffed to a tree, which he remembered as a jarring introduction to the racial tensions of Hollywood. In his memoir “An Actor and a Gentleman,” Gossett recounted the ordeal, noting the challenges faced by Black artists in the industry. Despite the hurdles, Gossett’s talent shone brightly, earning him acclaim in groundbreaking productions such as “A Raisin in the Sun” alongside Sidney Poitier. His Emmy-winning portrayal of Fiddler in “Roots” solidified his status as a trailblazer, navigating a landscape fraught with racial prejudice.

According to the HistoryMakers, which interviewed him in 2005, Gossett’s journey into the limelight began during his formative years at PS 135 and Mark Twain Junior High School, where he demonstrated early leadership as the student body president. His passion for the arts blossomed when he starred in a “You Can’t Take It With You” production at Abraham Lincoln High School, catching the attention of talent scouts who propelled him onto Broadway’s stage in “Take A Giant Step.” His stellar performance earned him the prestigious Donaldson Award for Best Newcomer to Theatre in 1952. Though initially drawn to sports, Gossett’s towering 6’4” frame and athletic prowess led him to receive a basketball scholarship at New York University. Despite being drafted by the New York Knicks in 1958, Gossett pursued his love for acting, honing his craft at The Actors Studio under the tutelage of luminaries like John Sticks and Peggy Fury.

In 1961, Gossett’s talent caught the eye of Broadway directors, leading to roles in acclaimed productions such as “Raisin in the Sun” and “The Blacks,” alongside legends like James Earl Jones, Cicely Tyson, Roscoe Lee Brown, and Maya Angelou. Transitioning seamlessly to television, Gossett graced small screens with appearances in notable shows like “The Bush Baby” and “Companions in Nightmare.” Gossett’s silver screen breakthrough came with his role in “The Landlord,” paving the way for a prolific filmography that spanned over 50 movies and hundreds of television shows. From “Skin Game” to “Lackawanna Blues,” Gossett captivated audiences with his commanding presence and versatile performances.

However, his portrayal of “Fiddler” in Alex Haley’s groundbreaking miniseries “Roots” earned Gossett critical acclaim, including an Emmy Award. The HistoryMakers noted that his golden touch extended to the big screen, where his role as Sergeant Emil Foley in “An Officer and a Gentleman” earned him an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, making him a trailblazer in Hollywood history.

Beyond the glitz and glamour of Hollywood, Gossett was deeply committed to community activism. In 1964, he co-founded a theater group for troubled youth alongside James Earl Jones and Paul Sorvino, setting the stage for his lifelong dedication to mentoring and inspiring the next generation. Gossett’s tireless advocacy for racial equality culminated in the establishment of Eracism, a nonprofit organization dedicated to combating racism both domestically and abroad. Throughout his illustrious career, Gossett remained a beacon of strength and resilience, using his platform to uplift marginalized voices and champion social change. Gossett is survived by his children, Satie and Sharron.

The post Beloved Actor and Activist Louis Cameron Gossett Jr. Dies at 87 first appeared on BlackPressUSA.

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COMMENTARY: D.C. Crime Bill Fails to Address Root Causes of Violence and Incarceration

WASHINGTON INFORMER — The D.C. crime bill and so many others like it are reminiscent of the ‘94 crime bill, which produced new and harsher criminal sentences, helped deploy thousands of police and surveilling methods in Black and brown communities, and incentivized more states to build prisons through a massive infusion of federal funding. While it is not at the root of mass incarceration, it significantly accelerated it, forcing a generation of Black and brown families into a never-ending cycle of state-sanctioned violence and incarceration.
The post COMMENTARY: D.C. Crime Bill Fails to Address Root Causes of Violence and Incarceration first appeared on BlackPressUSA.

Published

4 weeks ago

March 27, 2024

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By Kaili Moss and Jillian Burford | Washington Informer

Mayor Bowser has signed the “Secure DC” omnibus bill passed by the D.C. Council last month. But we already know that this bill will be disastrous for all of D.C., especially for Black and brown residents.

While proponents claim that this legislation “will make D.C. residents safer and more secure,” it actually does nothing to address the root of the harm in the first place and instead maintains a cycle of violence, poverty, and broken community ties. The omnibus bill calls for increased surveillance, drug-free zones, and will expand pre-trial detention that will incarcerate people at a significantly higher rate and for an indeterminate amount of time before they are even tried. This bill will roll back decades of nationwide policy reform efforts and initiatives to keep our communities safe and whole, which is completely contradictory to what the “Secure” D.C. bill claims it will do.

What is unfolding in Washington, D.C., is part of a dangerous national trend. We have seen a resurrection of bad crime bills in several jurisdictions across the country — a phenomenon policy experts have named “zombie laws,” which are ineffective, costly, dangerous for communities of color and, most importantly, will not create public safety. Throwing more money into policing while failing to fund preventative measures does not keep us safe.

The D.C. crime bill and so many others like it are reminiscent of the ‘94 crime bill, which produced new and harsher criminal sentences, helped deploy thousands of police and surveilling methods in Black and brown communities, and incentivized more states to build prisons through a massive infusion of federal funding. While it is not at the root of mass incarceration, it significantly accelerated it, forcing a generation of Black and brown families into a never-ending cycle of state-sanctioned violence and incarceration. Thirty years later, despite spending billions each year to enforce these policies with many of these provisions remaining in effect, it has done very little to create long-term preventative solutions. Instead, it placed a permanent moving target on the backs of Black people, and the D.C. crime bill will do the same.

The bill calls for more pretrial detention. When our loved ones are held on pretrial detention, they are held on the presumption of guilt for an indeterminate amount of time before ever seeing a judge, which can destabilize people and their families. According to experts at the Malcolm Weimer Center for Social Policy at Harvard University, just one day in jail can have “devastating consequences.” On any given day, approximately 750,000 people are held in jails across the nation — a number that beats our nation’s capital population by about 100,000. Once detained, people run the risk of losing wages, jobs, housing, mental and health treatments, and time with their families. Studies show that pretrial detention of even a couple of days makes it more likely for that person to be rearrested.

The bill also endangers people by continuing a misguided and dangerous War on Drugs, which will not get drugs off the street, nor will it deter drug use and subsequent substance use disorders (SUDs). Drug policies are a matter of public health and should be treated as such. Many states such as Alabama, Iowa and Wisconsin are treating the current fentanyl crisis as “Crack 2.0,” reintroducing a litany of failed policies that have sent millions to jails and prisons instead of prioritizing harm reduction. Instead, we propose a simple solution: listen to members of the affected communities. Through the Decrim Poverty D.C. Coalition, community members, policy experts and other stakeholders formed a campaign to decriminalize drugs and propose comprehensive legislation to do so.

While there are many concerning provisions within the omnibus bill, car chases pose a direct physical threat to our community members. In July 2023, NBC4 reported that the D.C. Council approved emergency legislation that gave MPD officers the ability to engage in vehicular pursuits with so-called “limited circumstances.” Sgt. Val Barnes, the head of MPD’s carjacking task force, even expressed concern months before the decision, saying, “The department has a pretty strict no-chase policy, and obviously for an urban setting and a major metropolitan city, that’s understandable.” If our law enforcement officers themselves are operating with more concern than our elected officials, what does it say about the omnibus bill’s purported intention to keep us safe?

And what does it mean when the risk of bodily harm is posed by the pursuit itself? On Saturday, Feb. 10, an Eckington resident had a near-miss as a stolen car barreled towards her and her dog on the sidewalk with an MPD officer in pursuit. What responsibility does the city hold if this bystander was hit? What does restitution look like? Why are our elected officials pushing for MPD officers to contradict their own policies?

Just a few summers ago during the uprisings of 2020, we saw a shift in public perspectives on policing and led to legislation aimed at limiting police power after the highly-publicized murders of loved ones Breonna Taylor and George Floyd — both victims of War on Drugs policing and the powers gained from the ’94 crime bill. And yet here we are. These measures do not keep us safe and further endanger the health of our communities. Studies show that communities that focus on harm reduction and improving material conditions have a greater impact on public safety and community health. What’s missing in mainstream conversations about violent crime is the violence that stems from state institutions and structures that perpetuate racial and class inequality. The people of D.C. deserve to feel safe, and that includes feeling safe from the harms enacted by the police.

Kaili Moss is a staff attorney at Advancement Project, a national racial justice and legal organization, and Jillian Burford is a policy organizer at Harriet’s Wildest Dreams.

The post COMMENTARY: D.C. Crime Bill Fails to Address Root Causes of Violence and Incarceration first appeared on BlackPressUSA.

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Mayor, City Council President React to May 31 Closing of Birmingham-Southern College

THE BIRMINGHAM TIMES — “This is a tragic day for the college, our students, our employees, and our alumni, and an outcome so many have worked tirelessly to prevent,” Rev. Keith Thompson, chairman of the BSC Board of Trustees said in an announcement to alumni. “We understand the devastating impact this has on each of you, and we will now direct our efforts toward ensuring the smoothest possible transition for everyone involved.”
The post Mayor, City Council President React to May 31 Closing of Birmingham-Southern College first appeared on BlackPressUSA.

Published

4 weeks ago

March 27, 2024

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By Barnett Wright | The Birmingham Times

Birmingham-Southern College will close on May 31, after more than a century as one of the city’s most respected institutions.

“This is a tragic day for the college, our students, our employees, and our alumni, and an outcome so many have worked tirelessly to prevent,” Rev. Keith Thompson, chairman of the BSC Board of Trustees said in an announcement to alumni. “We understand the devastating impact this has on each of you, and we will now direct our efforts toward ensuring the smoothest possible transition for everyone involved.”

There are approximately 700 students enrolled at BSC this semester.

“Word of the decision to close Birmingham Southern College is disappointing and heartbreaking to all of us who recognize it as a stalwart of our community,” Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin said in a statement. “I’ve stood alongside members of our City Council to protect this institution and its proud legacy of shaping leaders. It’s frustrating that those values were not shared by lawmakers in Montgomery.”

Birmingham City Council President Darrell O’Quinn said news of the closing was “devastating” on multiple levels.

“This is devastating for the students, faculty members, families and everyone affiliated with this historic institution of higher learning,” he said. “It’s also profoundly distressing for the surrounding community, who will now be living in close proximity to an empty college campus. As we’ve seen with other institutions that have shuttered their doors, we will be entering a difficult chapter following this unfortunate development … We’re approaching this with resilience and a sense of hope that something positive can eventually come from this troubling chapter.”

The school first started as the merger of Southern University and Birmingham College in 1918.

The announcement comes over a year after BSC officials admitted the institution was $38 million in debt. Looking to the Alabama Legislature for help, BSC did not receive any assistance.

This past legislative session, Sen. Jabo Waggoner sponsored a bill to extend a loan to BSC. However, the bill subsequently died on the floor.

Notable BSC alumni include former New York Times editor-in-chief Howell Raines, former U.S. Sen. Howell Heflin and former Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Perry O. Hooper Sr.

This story will be updated.

The post Mayor, City Council President React to May 31 Closing of Birmingham-Southern College first appeared on BlackPressUSA.