Food for Thought Part 45
DEATH BEFORE DYING
(A Flawed and Unjust System)
For a country that is dead set in a system of mass incarceration, putting more of their citizens in prison than any other country in the world, there needs to be an extreme overhaul of a broken judicial system.
The Death Penalty, life without the possibility of parole and other excessive mandatory sentences are not only causing the defendant to die in these prisons, but are killing families that are connected. The sad and scary part about it is that many of those convicted of these crimes are innocent. Hundreds of innocent people have been exonerated through DNA testing, many after spending decades behind bars, often family members dying during the process of their unlawful incarceration.
Innocent people are dying in these prisons on a daily basis because most of us don't have DNA as an issue to prove the injustice. Remember even those that were exonerated by DNA went through the same process, court procedure, witnesses, etc, in this so – called best judicial system in the world, but were still convicted. So this so called best judicial system, isn't so great after all.
A while back the “National Academy of Sciences” concluded that comparative bullet lead analysis and arson testing were no longer reliable, basically saying it didn't pass scientific mustard. Now, recently they've reported fingerprint comparison hair and fibre and handwriting analysis are all unreliable. The only scientific test that still survives is DNA testing, So for decades, F.B.I agents have been paraded before juries all across America, misleading and persuading them to convict defendants, contributing to this mass incarceration with cold blooded junk science. Why isn't there any outrage? One of the reasons there isn't any outrage is because the majority of the people incarcerated and dying in state and federal prisons are poor whites and people of color. These are the people our government feels are expendable.
This country is still infested with an awful lot of hate and prejudice, Do you think racial profiling is an accident? Do you think the big shots continue to allow and justify “Stop and Frisk” Police tactics in New York and other major cities that target Blacks and other minorities is an accident? Do you think the Klan and other hate groups haven't infiltrated the ranks of our police forces, prison and judicial system? Why do you think the infamous “Stand Your Ground” laws are readily available when a Black gets shot, but somehow unavailable when a Black Mother earlier the year in 2011 tried to protect herself from an abusive husband, down in Florida, not far from the Zimmerman/Trayvon Martin incident, Why wasn't she allowed to use it, they sentenced her to 20 years.
Keeping it real, this racial profiling isn't ever going to stop! Even if they pass laws saying it's illegal, they will still do it and find ways to justify their actions, just like they do when they exclude Blacks from the juries. They come up with other reasons to get around the laws and continue the same evil an unjust practice.
They even got Black leaders, psychological consulter’s, etc. talking to parents, about teaching our kids to not appear suspicious and to be respectful to the police when stopped, Telling them not to make any sudden moves when confronted. Hold up a minute!!! All of that sounds real good and probably would be helpful if those police were actually trying to do their jobs and there wasn't any hidden agenda. If there weren’t so many that have infiltrated from one of those hate groups or had that “us against them mentality” etc, etc, Black children shouldn't have to act any different than any other race, It's not the children that have to change the way they act, it's the police and all the people co signing their actions.
The average Joe citizen needs to make this happen, One of the ways to make this change is to get out and vote! I can't stress enough the importance of voting, especially when the extreme right are definitely going to vote and you can bet your bottom dollar, their vote will be for another extreme right wing clown and things will go from bad to worse, I con go one and on about this but I wont.
To be continued The Struggle continues
by Robert Fisher
Pa, Death Row