News Flash! Deep South state executes Black man for killing White man!
Hmmm. What am I supposed to forget about in the execution of Troy Davis? That a lot of evidence used to convict him has been called into serious question? That he was convicted 20 years ago when the South still routinely executed Black men who were accused of murdering a White person? That we still have conservatives who somehow “don’t know” about all the research done on the equity of the death penalty? That the Supreme Court has been stacked in a conservative direction for some time? That the conservative mind-set is that it is better to kill 10 innocent men rather than let one guilty man get off? That a certain set of people in this country have made it clear they do not value the lives of poor people and that poor people seldom get good lawyers? That a certain set of people in this country think it more important to control Black men by executing them than to be able to claim ourselves to be a country of social justice? That few murderers would be deterred by the death penalty since they aren’t thinking that far ahead when they murder someone? That executing someone out of a sense of vengeance is not justice? That the only reasonable reason to execute someone is if you cannot control them?
And finally, that there is something deeply wrong with a country that incarcerates more people proportionately than any modern, civilized, post-industrial country in the world and more people than many not so modern, civilized countries?