THE DEADWILEY TRUTH
OP-ED COLUMN
By Eric M. Deadwiley
September 26, 2011The execution of Troy Davis, a man who many believed was an innocent man has ignited a discussion on the use of the Death Penalty as a form of punishment in the United States of America. According to the Death Penalty Information Center, out of 50 states: 34 states (including the U.S. Gov’t and Military) currently have the death penalty. As of 1976—up until this year, there have been 1,270 people in the U.S. executed. Out of those executions, 56% of those executed were White, 35% were Black and 7% were Hispanic. According to the U.S. Census 2010 data, blacks only represent approximately 12.6% of the United States population, yet, the Death Penalty Information Center reports that blacks represent 35% of those executed in this country; and out of those executed for “interracial murders” 255 blacks were put to death as opposed to 17 whites.
Out of a U.S. population of less than 13%, and a death row population of 3251 death row prisoners, blacks represent 42% of those prisoners. Out of all the Chief District Attorneys prosecuting death penalty cases, a “disturbing” 98% are white. These statistics are a clear reminder of the policies and practices that have defined the civil relationship between whites and blacks since the founding of this great nation. The “Death Penalty,” more than any other penalty—as a punishment for a criminal act, represents the very essence of “civil death.” The very act of a “state” putting a citizen to death—is and of itself, (by definition) a “civil death”. Civil death is the act, practice or policy of denying a person the rights provided in the Declaration of Independence. Civil death was–and–still is a practice of punishment and deprivation of civil rights to “any” person who commits a criminal act on the federal, state or local level.
Jim Crow, however, is a product of “States Rights” in the deep south, where mostly “black folk” were subjected to “restrictions” and “discriminatory practices” based on color discrimination alone. Blacks did not have to commit a crime to be restricted to seating in the “back of a bus,” entering through the back door of a Hotel or using separate “public bathrooms.” Black folk certainly did not have to commit a crime to be relegated to separate and inferior Schools i.e., Brown v. Board of Education. Civil death penalties (with very few exceptions) are practiced exactly as they were practiced back in the 17th and 18th Century. The practice of “branding” a person with a “letter” is still in place. When a person is convicted of a “class A” felony, that felony is “publically” disseminated all across the country; just as the letter “A” was sewn on the clothing of any person convicted of Adultery in 17th century European colonies. The purpose of the letter was to make the person’s conviction “public”—so the greater society can know that the person is a convict.
Civil death penalties were in the past (and are currently) used against a person convicted of a crime. There are currently 2.5 million people in U.S. Prisons today. According to the Justice Department, there are currently over “82 million people with convictions on their public records. There are over six hundred thousand people released into society each year from prisons and jails all across the country. If you want to make an argument that the term “convict” is the new and updated version of the word “nigger,” you will get no argument from me. However, the policies of Jim Crow could “never” match the cruelty and uncivilized practices of “Civil Death.” Human beings often search for “politically-correct” terms to replace other terms that make us uncomfortable i.e., “Collateral Consequences” instead of “Civil Death” and “Correctional Facilities” instead of “Prisons.” It is my intention to focus attention on the real enemy that plagues the 82 million people in this country with criminal records. That enemy is the ancient, archaic and draconian practice of “Civil Death.”
Our country is headed towards a financial disaster which could collapse our economy to the level of a “third world nation.” We have a “tax revenue” problem that (if unchanged) can usher our nation into financial ruins. It is no longer practical or intelligent to keep over one fourth of the population of the United States “unemployed.” What we need is “progressive” legislative or judicial change to the thousands of civil death laws across the country. This is why I wrote the book, “Civil Death In New York State, How New York State Utilizes Criminal Conviction Records to Impede the Economic Growth of Formerly Convicted People” and “introduced” a “Ban the Box” proposal to the New York State Assembly, Senate and the New York City Council which prompted Mayor Bloomberg to issue an Executive Order removing the question (Have you ever been convicted of a crime?) from New York City job applications. Yet, Banning the box on job applications is not enough.
We need to aggressively advocate for “spent sentence” and “conviction set-aside laws for “rehabilitated” formerly convicted people who have spent more than 10 years crime and drug free. Black unemployment is at a 27 year high. We do not have any time to waste. High black unemployment is a direct consequence of civil death policies, not Jim Crow.
Eric M. Deadwiley is a Freelance Op-Ed Columnist and Author
Contact: Eric M. Deadwiley
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