NITTI GRITTI III: A MATTER OF LIFE AND DEATH

On April 25-28, 2015 in the streets of Baltimore, Maryland, there were angry protests relating to the death of Freddie Gray who died while in police custody.  Signs carried by the marchers read “BLACK LIVES MATTER.”  There was also a post on Facebook that said, “POLICE LIVES MATTER.”  Do not ALL LIVES MATTER?     The planet Earth is a living nightmare of hate, greed and violence, where it seems “NO LIVES MATTER.”  What is to be done?

June 19, 2010, in a letter to the Daytona Beach News Journal I wrote, “I believe the death penalty is a crime against humanity and should be abolished.  The death penalty is an arbiter of revenge, not justice, and is an insane reaction to an insane act…”

One response was, “…First, the law does not allow the death penalty when the person committing the act is deemed insane…”  One definition of insanity is “a deranged state of mind…”  Can anyone be classified sane who deliberately kills another human being?

Another response was “…his bleeding heart on the death penalty is in the minority…”  I agree!  Rarely has the majority ever initially challenged a perceived evil (i.e. war, slavery, genocide, segregation, economic inequality, etc.).  History bears witness that it is always the small minority of people that actively raise up to right a wrong.

I wrote a poem that poses another question titled –

WASH YOUR HANDS

The State killed a man yesterday.
When the city lights dimmed
People cheered because
They believed
This man was evil
And thus, deserved to die.
Does the State claim a power
Greater than the Creator
To whom it pays homage in
Rendering the final judgment?

Or has the State discarded the pretense
Of ascribing to a Higher Power?
Come then, if this be fact,
While there is still time – wash your hands
As Pilate did when the State
Killed that criminal they called Jesus.

At this point in time the government of the United States has descended from forced relocation and torture to a new form of the death penalty – killing human beings in violation of all known national and international laws by employing unmanned drones.  Has the survival of the human race become “kill or be killed?”

Remember the breaking news to announce the killing of Osama Bin Laden?  Did he not deserve his day before the bar of justice?  Remember the war crimes trials after World War II?  If his dead body could be dumped into the sea, could not his live body be brought to stand trial?  Do you feel more safe today?

I urge you to read the lecture by Dr. Martin Luther King “Beyond Vietnam.”  Now, please consider this: If you have no finances, no family, and no friends you become hungry and homeless.  Who then, is supplying the financial support for those in poverty using weapons of war?

If we as a people begin to cherish the sanctity of “ALL LIVES” would it not be a beginning?  But as previously stated, only a small minority has ever come forth to fight injustice.  To which group do you belong – the majority or the minority?  If you choose the latter, you had better get busy!  We may be running out of time!