Many people brush off the terms prisoners use to describe their situation, conditions or the powers that be. These terms are often viewed as colourful or over exaggerated. However, could it be that we’re in denial about what we’re facing, going through and the methods being used against us?
I think for any person that lives in this country they can admit that politics is the predominate art in the land; and politics are built on the skill of being persuasive. Therefore, we’re surrounded by people whose goals are to convince, if not fully control, our minds. Point being, you’re going to find some very colourful and exaggerated speaking. It’s up to us to separate the wheat from the chaff and the only way that will be done is when we care enough to study for ourselves to find out what’s going on and not depend on others to think, and do, for us. And it should already be understood that when another thinks for you they will usually think on behalf of their own well-being before yours.
We have an environment where there is a large population of poor and I think it goes without saying that the poor is neglected. And when you have a neglected people you have a people who can be easily controlled and contained. This is done by keeping them away from what can empower them – be it resources in the form of food, money, opportunity or education. So, what we have is a section of people on one hand who don’t know what’s going on, thus can’t act, and then on the other hand you have some that know a little bit about what’s going on, but can’t do anything about it because they are disempowered… or at least feel that way.
“The more corrupt the state, the more numerous the laws” (so said Tacitus, Roman senator and historian A.D. c.56-115). Does this sound fitting for what we see going on in this country today? This should not dismay us and cause us to throw our hands in the air in defeat. In fact, this should cause us to do the opposite – get aware of what is taking place so that we can counter-attack it. The first is becoming aware, which leads to the topic of this discussion.
I’m here to tell you that Capital Punishment is a form of genocide. Some people may say “Whoa! That’s a strong word to use,” but I use it with no hesitation. When people hear the word genocide they may say to themselves that only applies to places like Rwanda. While it’s true that we haven’t seen genocide on those levels it’s not true that we haven’t seen genocide at all. As with all things there is a starting point. America has started and if we don’t put a stop to it conditions like Rwanda may not be so unimaginable for this country.
And that’s part of the problem – people allow themselves to become detached from things that affect other parts of the world thinking it has no bearing on their lives. That’s a critical mistake, especially for people who live in America which is a country that makes it their business to meddle in the affairs of other countries. We’re so detached that we are unaware of what’s going on right in front of our faces and most definitively international affairs. Americans have become a very absorbed people and due to such they are absorbing into their own destruction.
I’m going to highlight the Article 2 of the International Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (1948). This was established by the Special Tribunal on Violations of Human Rights of Political Prisoners and Prisoners of War in the United States Prisons and Jails which was convened by 88 sponsoring and endorsing organizations from all parts of the United States. The members of the Special Tribunal assumed jurisdiction pursuant to accepted principles of international law approved and adopted by the world community under the United Nations Charter, in accordance with the precedents of Nuremburg and Tokyo Tribunals and following procedures approved by the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations (Resolution 1503 [XL VIII]).
Here, Genocide was defined in the following way:
Genocide: any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole of in part, a national, ethical, racial or religious groups as such:
*Killing members of the group;
*Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;
*Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;
*Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the groups;
*Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.
Now, if genocide doesn’t describe the conditions and calculated state-sanctioned murders going on on death row then I don’t know what does.
In fact, points 1-4 describe a lot of ailments people are facing everyday in the ghettos, prisons and communities where drugs and alcohol flood the people’s daily lives. What American’s problems is they want to compare this country’s atrocities to other country’s atrocities, and when they do that, they often come back with “Well, it ain’t so bad.” We have to demand that people drop that mentality. If America is going to flaunt itself as this amazingly advanced and civilized country then we are going to have to hold them to that. We can’t allow one to say – “Well look at how it is in Africa.” Africa has never had the advantage of being an Imperialistic country that sucks the resources out of other countries. We have to hold America to the standards it has set for itself and as of now America has failed miserably.
What we see going on in America is systematic genocide. It is subtle in its form: booming prison systems made to seem like rehabilitation centers when they are just like concentration camps; tobacco products made to look cool for kids when it’s only killing them; lack of Health Care provided while curable diseases are ravishing the communities; police murders which are given passes under the law; purposeful poverty; and the most blunt being Capital Punishment.
Capital Punishment is an “in your face, what are you going to do about it” type of thing. It can be defeated just like all of the above. And in truth, Capital cases spawn from conditions like mentioned above.
What we have are politicians in our face screaming words like “Terrorist,” “Fundamentalist,” etc. They use these words to instil fear, to push us down and to capture the way we think about others. We have to do the same with our words. We must not feel inconvenienced to call things/people as they are. We must not allow ourselves to be frightened into a state of immobility. We’ve surrendered our rage and given it to Governmental monstrosity. We can only empower ourselves by verbalizing the truth. This will not only allow us to learn how to fight the enemy, but it will bring healing to the constant pain and frustrations that we feel.
I’m here to expose the death penalty for what it is. I’m here to call these politicians exactly what they are by what they live out. I won’t allow them to dilute their conscience into believing that they aren’t the problems that are creating the problems. I will continue to call them what they are and I will continue to scream that CAPITAL PUNISHMENT IS GENOCIDE! AND I MEAN THAT!
