Capital Punishment...Hmmmm?

First of all can you believe that I am posting on the same day the class is held? lol...Yeah. Anyway, I thought it would be interesting to post on one of the subjects Im referring to in my paper. Capital punishment is an issue that I am very passionate about not only because I don't believe in murder of ANY individual by ANYONE for ANY reason, but because it applies mostly to people of color, e.g, African American. Plus if you do the research, you will find that most of these individuals on death row are innocent. Isn't that a nasty pill to swallow? Well anyway, if you haven't figured it out by now, I am against capital punishment. It wasn't until I saw the movie "Dead Man Walking" (with one of the greatest actresses of all time, Susan Sarandon-in my opinion) that my view on capital punishment changed implicitly. The book-turned-movie was written by Sister Helen Prejean, whose character stars in the film about a spiritual advisor who counsels inmates on death row. Sister Helen Prejean's work is a true inspiration and pure and genuine example of Christ's work and mission. Here are some of my favorite quotes by Prejean from the article "Would Jesus Pull The Switch";

"There's a lot of what I call "biblical quarterbacking" going on in death-penalty debates: people toss in quotes from the Bible to back up what they've already decided anyway. People want to not only practice vengeance but also have God agree with them. The same thing happened in this country in the slavery debates and in the debates over women's suffrage."


"Jesus Christ, whose way of life I try to follow, refused to meet hate with hate and violence with violence. I pray for the strength to be like him. I cannot believe in a God who metes out hurt for hurt, pain for pain, torture for torture. Nor do I believe that God invests human representatives with such power to torture and kill. The paths of history are stained with the blood of those who have fallen victim to "God's Avengers." Kings, popes, military generals, and heads of state have killed, claiming God's authority and God's blessing. I do not believe in such a God."

"I don't see capital punishment as a peripheral issue about some criminals at the edge of society that people want to execute. I see the death penalty connected to the three deepest wounds of our society: racism, poverty, and violence. In this country, first the hangman's noose, then the electric chair, and now the lethal-injection gurney have been almost exclusively reserved for those who kill white people.....In Louisiana, murder victims' families are allowed to sit in the front row in the execution chamber to watch the murderer die. Some families. Not all. Almost never African American families."

These are just a few quotes from the article. If you would like to read the whole article for yourself click on the following link;
http://salt.claretianpubs.org/issues/deathp/prejean.html

Here is also a clip of Sister Helen Prejean talking about capital punishment and another one below is a clip from the movie starring Susan Sarandon, as Sister Helen Prejean, & Sean Penn, as Patrick Sonnier. Some of you have probably seen this movie. Hope you enjoyed the post!...feel free to comment.





The following quote is also from the article "Would Jesus Pull The Switch" by Sister Helen Prejean. It is very powerful. I found it fitting as a closing piece for my post and the clip from this movie;

"When you accompany someone to the execution, as I have done three times as a spiritual advisor, everything becomes very crystallized, distilled, and stripped to the essentials. You are in this building in the middle of the night, and all these people are organized to kill this man. And the gospel comes to you as it never has before: Are you for compassion, or are you for violence? Are you for mercy, or are you for vengeance? Are you for love, or are you for hate? Are you for life, or are you for death? And the words of Jesus from the gospel kept coming to me that night: "And the last will be first" and "This too is my beloved son, hear him." On death row I grasped with such solidity and fire the grace of God in all human beings, the dignity in all human beings."