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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 7, 1980)
Page 4 Portland Observer February 7,1980 Behind Walls By Dave Crawford 39830 The death penalty is an emotional issue. It is a reaction to the atrocious and hideous crimes commuted by a handful o f individuals. The death penalty is vindictive, discriminatory andfinal. As it stands, it is bad law. One would imagine, considering the foregoing statements, that the man behind this pen is opposed to capital punishment. Personally, I favor it, but for different reasons and under different circumstances than those written into law. Many articles and letters to the Editor have been written both for arid against capital punishment. Certainly, every person should and does have an opinion, and should be encouraged to express it. There are a few facts, statistically supportable, which should be received, however, in light o f recent statements. One statement dealt with the removal o f a dangerous element from society, permanently. On the surface it makes sense. II those who commit capital crimes receive the death penalty, they’ll never kill again! That logic cannot be argued. But let’ s look deeper. Who are the people who receive the death penalty? What are their back grounds? And how many o f those who have committed capital crimes ever run afoul o f the law again? Then there is the question o f where and how the emotion is generated which resulted in the death penalty reinstatement. Most capital crimes are crimes ol passion. They are committed generally by husbands, wises, bar room antagonists, and victims of violent acts. Most o f those people were laced with circumstances they were unable to cope with and became responsible lor another's death. They are people from all walks o f life, from cities and from rural areas. They are people who believe it could never happen to them, but it did. Some o f these •‘ killers’ * were caught up in circumstances they had no control over and made a wrong decision. Others have felt such guilt for circumstances which led to another’s death that they were willing to admit to anything to relieve the dual pressures o f con science and police interrogation. And some who are here were wrongly convicted. T his is not in defiance o f capital crimes, or in denunciation o f our criminal justice system. The system has it's faults, but all in all it does a job that must be done in the best way known or accepted. Capital crimes, like all crimes, should and must be punished. Much has been written concern ing recitivism, or the tendency for an offender to return to prison. Statistics have been quoted that show anywhere from 30% to 70% o f ex-convicts return to prison within 5 years. When you remove parole and probation violations, the 30% figure is probably very close to accurate. f rightening? Yu* and no. Most of those who do return, return on property related crimes; burglary, robbery, and drug related charges. How many o f the people convicted once o f capital crimes kill again? Less than 3%. That means that more than 97% o f the killers are perfectly safe to return to public life. Punishment is another matter. Capital crimes are serious. Serious penalities should and are levied against them. The news media often carry stories o f brutal and horrible crimes. Let's lace it; it ’s good material for newspaper sales. There is a strange and grizzly attraction to a tale o f hideous brutality. Few stories are considered news-worthy o f the successes o f those who are released from prison. The people who never become emershed in the wheels o f justice again. Had there never been a Carl Bowles, or a Marquette, would there be a death penally today in CELL TALK David Wrmht 839816 Assistant Editor Larry Baker 835021 O.S.P. Correspondent By Asmar Abdu Seifullah aka Joe West 840404 Oregon? I t ’s very doubtful. Those incidents, committed by only two people, created the foundation on which capital punishment was built. It’ s sad that the actions o f so few have had so drastic an effort on the life o f so many. There are some, though few, justifications. Some crimes are so hideous as to truely question the value o f imprisonment as punish ment. There are also times when it is more humane to offer death as an alternative to life spent as a prisoner. And perhaps those who have proven they cannot learn, returning again with a capital crime, have chosen for themselves. But so long as a man's bank balance can indicate his likelihood o f receiving life...o r death, and so long as the color o f a person’s skin or the ac cent o f their voice can determine when and where their life w ill end, justice is not served by imposition o f the penalty o f death. I f we caught the facts, known and accepted nationwide, that capital punishment is not a deterrant...that it's victims are historically poor, or m inority members, or both...that the odds against a person once con victed o f a capital crime becoming involved in one again are about 50 to I...the conclusions are obvious. As it stands today, capital punish ment is vindictive, wasteful, and very, very final. On the strength o f these few facts alone, where is there justification for the positon, ‘ ‘at least they’ ll never kill again?” Obviously, there is none. The issue o f capital punishment rode the crest o f a wave o f emotion, and understandably so. Control o f crime is a very necessary element o f law. But in its own right, control must be controlled. Many legislators and even a number o f judges question the legality as well as the value o f this law. While capital punishment may be useful, humane, and just tool, it must be used with great care...and a lot ol very serious thought. I ’ ve been trying to write this ar ticle for three days. For some reason other than the fall o f my creative abilities, the visions in my mind refuse to take form . They defy the stroke o f my pencil, elude the focus that's so crucial in expressing (he thoughts that form ulate cohesive patterns. I ’ ve contemplated at length, seeking the probable cause to this perplexing situation. I can only deduce that this cell is closing in upon me; that it’ s somehow ham pering the completion o f the word pictures that sway in the corridors o f my mind. The cell has taken a form other than that o f concrete, steel and im movable fixtures. It almost seems to have life...a w ill o f its own and nothing I do discourages its in dependent action. “ Perhaps I ’ ve become a part, attached to the um bilical cord o f time, to the very space that confines me; I can feel my identity slipping away; the me has become lost in the shuffle o f five digit numbers and correctional statistical print-out sheets that count men lives in blinking lights o f com puterized madness; emotions are ripped, torn, shattered into fragments o f cold; smiles have faded, laughter hollowed, einpitied out, devoid o f merriment, joy seems to have left me for the cyclops that guards the santcuaries o f de solateness. This infam y is ap- pauhngly real. Hell has materialized and the devil is iny keeper! “ This prison cell that confines the soul and spirit o f me is creeping into my consciousness; it is my con sciousness and I struggle to main tain a setnblence o f who I am, who I want to be! I ’ m filled with the gnawing reality that this day, this night could be my last...damn this infamy! Damn this reality! Who is less guilty than I? There cotnes a time in the life o f every man when he questions the validity o f his lifeless direction. Lucid walls of time ' THE OPTIMISTIC 1518 N E KILLINGSWORTH 284-7997 By Gary B ni. H olt 41300 EXODUS You know it wasn't easy to say goodbye to you such a small word that word goodbye but so final the meaning so final... such a sad word that word goodbye and so hard to speak why is goodbye a goodbye? maybe 'i ’ ll change it to it's definite meaning change it to badbye or sadbye or don’t cry... become the thought that once slept. . become not only the spark, but the fire as w e ll... become life's seeker of not man pigmetation but rather hum anity... become a truth even if it is only to self... Knowing that with the passing of time my moments in existence will along with those within the same dom ain.. .seeking the riddle to Ms Justice blindfold, be kicked down stairs into a cellar darkness of unconsciousness, locking doors that even the key called memory will never open again. YOUR HEALTH AND APPEARANCE COMPLETE COOPERATION ON ALL DENTAL INSURANCE CLAIMS WE HANDLE ALL THE DETAILS OF COMPLETING YOUR CLAIM FORMS FEBRUARY This is your invitation to EXODUS FORUMS J O IN US Each Tuesday Evening 7 00 p.m to 9:00 p.m. 1518 N E. Killingsworth Portland, Oregon 97211 Phone 284 7997 REPORT Exodus Forums are becoming Community Forums. During the month of January many com m unity t.ltizens joined our forums, seeking to share our concerns on making our com mumty a better place to live. ENLIGHTENMENT and ENRICHMENT is the food for better understanding our own responsibility to our own community. . . . UNION OR COMPANY ISA VALUABLE A SSE T . . . ( tt/e l PORTLAND. OREGON 9721 1 This time around I will become a microscopic organ within the sphere of consciousness, compounding forgotten memories and deeds, pondering new concepts upon the winding road of action .to the newness of tomorrow become what right is to wrong. DENTAL INSURANCE tP tttt/tt/ , / / / f t t t t / ' / i f t t / t / t r / / / BADBYE My existence is nothing more than particals of dust being blown in the winds of time, restlessly traveling no where fast no chance to see where I've been and programed through life idiosyncrasies not to care where I go, ye t.. I will I will I will I will I ’ m reminded o f a parable in the Bible where Prophet Jesus came upon the people beginning to stone a whore and the whore pleading for mercy - redemption. Prophet Jesus in his wisdom said, “ let he who is without sin cast the first stone.” "M e n will always commit crimes and other men w ill lock them up. There isn’t any excuse for either party when both parties are wrong. Remember that there was a time when the people of this country openly advocated the enslavement o f Black people and the genocide o f the true native American. The klan is back on the move and the Shah is protected by the representatives o f our government. Can anybody say with surity that law enforceinen; isn't designed to keep the slaves en slaved and master with the stones to stone the dreams o f...? ” EXO D U ò Edited by Julius D. Snowden, 38013 By Julius D. Snowden yourself, when in effect they still have the same social problems that lead them to prison. Il's not just the prisoners in maximum security institutions that are confined, it’s the whole social structure o f our country that’ s in jail; it ’s the poor, the Black, Brown, and Red people that suffer most at the hands o f capitalist minds (men). Prison as it exist in this society, is a very moral issue when you stop to think about who goes to prison and who doesn’ t. I t ’s a moral issue when people have to steal because the fat cats won’t get up o ff the knowledge necessary to survive. I t ’ s a moral issue when the constitution isn’ t en forced because law endorcement is big business, it’s a moral issue when the people prey o ff the conditions that cause other people to go to prison and it’s even more immoral when the very prisons that are sup pose to solve the problems o f men like myself, refuses to address itself to the pertinent moral issues o f my confinement. “ Man does not sur vive on bread alone.” when he realizes that he’ s chased one too many rainbows, that time is upon him like the final seconds o f the big game and there aren't anymore time outs left, when there are only two alternative left, “ hold on or turn loose!” Hold on to the pattern that’ s been established or turn loose, start all over again, seek new dreams, happier endings before death claims its dues. A ll that flashes through the confined man’s mind is that “ I don’t want to die here! I can't die trapped in this de solate mass o f forgotten men, con crete walls and iron bars!!!N ot when I haven’ t yet tasted life, loved or been loved...not when the horizon promises to be more than withdraw! pains and painted whores.” Prison is a graveyard. It houses the shells o f men long dead, long forgotten, still posing as life forms. Prison which is a representative ol the punitive attitude o f our society, is only a recycling factory - melt them down — recast them in old molds and lets resell them. Never mind what goes into them, just get them ready for purchase. Keep the wheels turning, keep the pay checks coming. Prison perpetuates a ca pitalistic attitude by allowing men, states, governments and nations to become wealthy by capitalizing o il the social conditions that manifest criminal mentalities. Its gotten to the point where society - the people are saying, we don’ t want anymore recycled defects, keep them locked up - close the factory down but for God’ s sake we don’ t want to see anymore o f our mistakes. So all the reform programs were shut down, men now vegetate behind the walls for X number o f years without any bonified efforts made toward re habilitation. They sit here and become bitter, cold, distant in humanism. One day they're cast out into the world and told to make it - act right — behave G EN ER A L S T A T E M E N T TO BLACKS O F O U R C O M M U N IT Y A PERSONAL M O M ENT FOR T H O S E W H O C A R I . ........................................... • m i T im e is our friend, a friend io be appreciated Tim« w ill cure all hurts and it too w ill prove the value of most anything. A fruit tree will bear only w ith the p assag e of tim e . A ship becomes proven when it has had Black History Month should make us aware of our responsibility to ourselves, to our families and to our communrty We should at this time evaluate our progress and growth as a people and most importantly as individuals All too often we sit baetr and refteee-oft of those who have succeeded and demonstrated their responsibility to our society, and in many cases w ithout our help tim e to w eather a few storms Love's first day is unproven love. W hen tim e allow s love to continue to grow, then love is blessed w ith the approval of Let's recognize them and celebrate thair accomplishments but let's remember to pull our own weight responsibly. tim e dividual accomplishments. I 't / M V i in yuiue our airection for in- A R e n u iH -i ■ •■■••■••■«•••••■■«■••(tliiSMiSee PHI SI , A first priority goal should be to began pushing in the same direction toward personal familv responsibilities and associated community» responsibilities Each community in the whole world reflects the total image of the people who live in it regardless of circumstances N T H ) BY no a p p o in tm e n t n e e d e d Come in at your convenience P A R K FREE — A n y P ark n S h o p Lot H O U R S : Weekdays 8 30am to 5pm Saturdays 8:30am to 1pm Dr. Jeffrey BRADY, Dentist S .W . 3R D b Y A M H IL L S T ., P O R T L A N D , O R E G O N T A K E E L E V A T O R T O 2 N D FLO O R 3R D S T E N T R A N T 't r AMERICAN STATE BANK 2737 N E U n io n A v e . l•• l• • • • ■ l• • ll• i• • • • • • • i• • • • l Another first priority goal should be to commit our energies to setting a good resoons.bilitv example for our children; remembering that it is we who are writing Black history todav but it is our children who will write it tomorrow. ’ ’’ ’ our personal families I and to our associated communities, but this must be done by every able Black pulling his/her own weight responsibly. H H Thomas Boothe Ph. D
