While blacks and whites in this country are murdered at relatively the same rate – about 47% blacks and 51% whites – 80% of those executed have been executed for murdering whites while only 7% have been executed for murdering blacks. So, what does this shocking reality tell you and I? It tells us several things:
- It tells us that institutionalized racism is very much alive because it is the powers that be who decide when to or when not to charge someone with a capital offense; 2) that if you murder a white person, you are ten times more likely to be executed than if you had murdered a black person; 3) that the lives of black people in this country is insignificant in relation to whites; 4) that the 14th amendment to the United States Constitution, which proclaims equal protection and treatment under the law, is only for human consumption because it is not put into practical application when it comes to its black citizens; 5) that even in this 21st century racism and bigotry against blacks is still prevalent in this society, both the South and the North; and 6) that 80% of executions occur in the Southern states.
However, this should not come as no surprise when you consider the fact that almost all the states which have their death penalty machine up and running are former slave states.
My brother, instead of trying to find justification and rationalization for the government’s discriminatory behavior towards our people caught up in the criminal “injustice” system, you should lift up your voice in protest. Malcolm X stated in his autobiography, “I learned early that crying out in protest could accomplish things.” He also said, “If you want something, you had better make some noise.”
Therefore, I urge you and all concerned citizens to take a stand against the racism and bigotry which are being perpetrated against blacks in our judicuary system.
