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Victim's Son Speaks Against Death Penalty For King
Dick Gregor, Martin Luther
King III and the son of James Byrd, Jr.,Ross Byrd, will be in Houston today
for a press conference before the going to Huntsville for a 24-hour prayer
vigil and fast in front of the death house for death row prisoner John
King. (King was one of 3 racists who drug Byrd to death in Jasper,
Texas.) On July 4th they will go to Jasper for a memorial at the
grave of James Byrd. Even though Byrd's sisters campaigned for passage
of Hate Crimes Legislation, which enhances sentencing to include the death
penalty, Byrd's own children do not want to see their father's murderers
executed. They are taking a courageous position, given the horrific
nature of their father's murder. The following is the press statement
of the Abolition Movement that will be presented today.
Press conference July
3, 2002--SHAPE Center, 3814 Live Oak at 9:30 AM--to announce a prayer vigil
and fast by Dick Gregory and Martin Luther King III
Texas Death Penalty Abolition
Movement
SHAPE Center, 3903 Almeda
Road, Houston, TX 77004
Office 713-521-0629 ~
24-Hour 713-861-5965
Email: AbolitionMovement@juno.com
July 3, 2002
It is a privilege to be at SHAPE Center today with Ross Byrd, the son of James Byrd, Jr., Dick Gregory, and other guests. Today we welcome Ross Byrd into our family of abolitionists, abolitionists who know that the death penalty is not the answer to any racist lynching or any horrendous crime.
It is fitting that we
are here in this building today as we talk about the death penalty. It
was here that the largest grass roots movement against the death penalty
in Texas gathered every Tuesday for years and years until we freed
an innocent man in 1991, Clarence Brandley.
SHAPE Center is still
the heart and soul of the movement to abolish the racist and anti-poor
death penalty, housing our organization, the Texas Coalition to Abolish
the Death Penalty. When James Byrd was lynched in Jasper, Texas, our organization
immediately responded by collecting funds for the family, attending the
funeral in Jasper and widely circulating a flyer calling on the state NOT
to give the perpetrators of this heinous crime the death penalty. A press
conference was held in this very room. We shared the righteous anger of
the African American community. But we denounced Texas' call for the death
penalty.
Why?
Because the death penalty
has never been used to fight racism. The death penalty is racism.
The state of Texas has
gone from illegal lynchings, to legal lynchings. From the rope, to the
chair, to the needle.
The death penalty is
a racist tool of politicians who use being tough on crime to get elected.
Over 65% of those on death row are African American, Latino, Asian or Native
American. If you kill a white person, you are much more likely to get the
death penalty than if you kill a Black person. We will end racism and end
the death penalty through struggle, through winning hearts and minds,
through building a mass movement uniting people of ALL nationalities around
our common interests: jobs, health care, education and equality. Racism
certainly is not in the interest of people of color nor is it in the interest
of most white people. It divides us all and keeps us from focusing on fighting
a system that puts profits and prisons and oil and wars against people
around the globe as its priority.
Join us in making history.
Help give that final push to put the death penalty in the trash bin of
history. It will take a broad, mass movement. Participate in the inevitable
victory of abolition.
PRESS RELEASE ~ July 9, 2002
Contacts: Ricky Jason
409-347-1407 Cell 409-466-7307 Gloria Rubac
713-861-5965 Cell 713-503-2633
Ross Byrd, Son of Jasper
Hate Crime Victim James Byrd, Jr., to Protest
Wednesday’s Execution
of Jose Briseno in Huntsville
Ross Byrd will join other
protesters on July 10 in Huntsville when the state of Texas plans to execute
the 19th person this year, Jose Briseno. He will be outside the Walls Unit,
the Texas death house, at 5:30 Wednesday evening. Briseno’s execution is
set for 6:00 PM.
Byrd surprised the nation
this week when he announced that he did not want to see his father’s killers
executed and was joining the struggle to abolish the death penalty in this
country. He bases his about face on the death penalty on his Christian
upbringing and his belief in the ten
commandments, one of
which says "thou shalt not kill."
Byrd also said, "Look
at it—there are more African Americans on death row and being executed
than anybody. The death penalty is not the solution." On July 3-4th another
man whose father had been murdered, Martin Luther KING III as well as social
activist and comedian Dick Gregory joined Byrd. They led a 24-hour fast
and prayer vigil in front of Texas’ death house.
Martin Luther King Jr.
was murdered in 1968, 30 years before James Byrd, Jr., was dragged to death
in the most horrific, racially motivated hate crime of recent history.
"I am proud to be with the young Byrd today in Huntsville. Today he stands
head and shoulders above a whole lot of people in this country, including
the justices on the Supreme Court. Byrd and I are both victims yet we call
for the abolition of the death penalty which is nothing but state-sponsored
terrorism," King told the activists who had gathered in Huntsville.
Ross Byrd, who is a hip-hop
artist, will be accompanied to Huntsville by his manager Ricky Jason as
well as members of the Texas Death Penalty Abolition Movement. He wants
to show the world that he is no longer the same man who, after his father’s
killer John King was sentenced to death, replied, "One down and two to
go!"
Four years after his
father’s dragging death, young Ross Byrd says the State of Texas does not
have the right to kill.
THE DEATH PENALTY AND JOHN WILLIAM KING:
OUR BEST RESPONSE? by
Lara Kasper-Buckareff
"I think they should drag
him [John William King] behind a truck just like he did to that man
[James Byrd, Jr.]".[1]
The grisly, racially-motivated
murder of James Byrd, Jr. is a tragic reminder of what happens when the
"us versus them" mentality, born out of hatred and fear, materializes into
brutality and violence.
Our natural response
to such an act (I hope) is disgust and infuriation. We feel a need to set
things right, to do justice. But what kind of justice? This time our natural
reaction may be more
questionable for I suspect
it runs something along the lines of kill- the- Mother-Fucker -eye-for-an-eye-punitive
justice. But, is this the best we can do? The jury that sentenced John
William King to death by lethal injection seemed to think so, and the Byrd
family indicated the same. I think we can do better.
After sentencing King to his death, Joe Collins, the jury foreman, remarked,
"Hopefully he can (find) the Lord and ask for forgiveness for what he has
done. And maybe he can seek in his heart to find that hatred is not the
key to the way we should all get along."[2]
Is the death penalty going to influence King to take responsibility for
his
actions, to seek
forgiveness, and to learn
not to hate, but to love? I highly doubt it. King already sees himself
as a victim for he continues to adamantly claim his innocence. In a handwritten
note, read by his attorney after his sentencing, King stated, "It's been
obvious from the beginning that this community would get what they desired,
so I'll close with the words of Francis Yockey [a Neo-Nazi writer]: "The
promise of success is with the man who is determined to die proudly when
it is no longer possible to live proudly."[3]
The death penalty only supports King's mistaken idea that he is the victim,
and his death at the hands of the state will only confirm the suspicions
of white supremacists who believe that the government has been co-opted.
In the white power movement, King is already a hero; his death will make
him a martyr.
But what about the handmade knife and the noose made from electrical wire
that were
discovered in King's
jail cell after he obtained parts from a TV set he had destroyed in a fit
of rage?
The prosecution argued
King was planning on hurting someone, perhaps a guard, while the defense
suggested he was thinking of harming himself. For the jury, the prosecution's
argument was convincing. "He will hurt or harm someone," Collins was reported
to have remarked.[4] The problem is that this is a guess. We do not know
what King's intentions were when he made that knife and noose. And even
if we do believe King is a continuing threat to others, is killing him
our best answer? Is there not a better way of deterring King from committing
more violence? And if the death penalty continues to be our preferred method
of punishment and deterrence for men and women like King, what does this
say about us, about our criminal justice system, and about our idea of
justice?
Do we really believe
people like King are incapable of change -- beyond redemption? Juror Lequeta
Flowers seemed to think so and suggested her fellow jurors felt the same:
"[we] shifted through the evidence looking for a redeeming quality in King.
But it just wasn't there."[5]
It is difficult to see why King would be worth sparing. Not only did he
brutally attack and
murder another human
being, but he apparently had an agenda in performing the heinous act, namely,
to gain notoriety and a following in the white supremacist movement. King
chose Byrd as his victim merely because he was black and because he was
convenient. And even when the evidence was stacked against him, King still
refused to give in -- to admit his guilt, to repent. In other words, King
is a very disturbed man.
How can I hold out hope for such a person? Do I really believe King could
change? And even if he did change, what is the point, since I believe he
should spent the rest of his life in prison? First, while it is true King
has made extremely poor choices so far in his life, the rest of his life
and the choices that will shape it remain open. This is where our criminal
justice system needs to step in with the goal of rehabilitating men and
women like King, giving them the guidance and the tools necessary to make
better choices and lead productive lives. In other words, we need to be
working with a restorative model of justice, rather than a retributive
model. Second, while I do believe King should spend the rest of his life
in prison, I do not feel this means his reformation would be pointless.
While King has brought much pain in his short life (he's only 24 years
old), if allowed to live, he would probably have many more years that could
be used to bring enrichment, and even joy, to other people. There are plenty
of examples of prisoners who have come to accept responsibility for their
actions and to seek reconciliation with their victims' families. And while
nothing can ever make up for the loss of a loved one (including the execution
of their murderers), many prisoners seek to give back
to the community through
various kinds of work and service projects.
But, will this happen? Will King truly repent for his act, and will he
seek to change? We don't know. But, if the possibility exists, which it
does, then we need to give him a chance.
NOTES
1. Overheard in a local
office.
2. "Racist killer remembered
as loving son." CNN Interactive. 26 Feb., 1999. http://www.cnn.com/US/9902/26/dragging.death.01/index.html.
3. "Victim's family:
Jury sent a message in dragging death case." CNN Interactive. 25 Feb. 1999.
http://www.cnn.com/US/9902/25/dragging.death.04/index.html.
4. Ibid.
5. Ibid.
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