Barbaric execution in Florida spurs call to end the racist death penalty ------------------------- After the gruesome events of March 25, can any decent person doubt that the capitalist state's death penalty must be abolished? On that day Florida carried out the ghastly execution of Cuban-born Pedro Medina, whose head burst into flames as the electric current surged through his body. This incident should sicken and outrage every worker and oppressed person. If rebellions occur on death row, they will be more than justified. If mass demonstrations take place in the African American or Cuban American communities, they will be righteous. Not only this official murder but all subsequent remarks from representatives of capitalist institutions have shown contempt toward Medina and all the masses. Florida Attorney General Bob Butterworth hit bottom with his threats: "People who wish to commit murder," he said, "they better not do it in the state of Florida because we may have a problem with our electric chair." Such a comment lays bare the racist, fascist mentality of Florida's state officials. The New York Times described the execution on March 26: "Blue and orange flames up to a foot long shot from the right side of Mr. Medina's head." Trying to deflect the reader's horror, the writer added that Medina "had no obvious reaction to the flames." "This horrible state-sanctioned murder should be condemned by all progressives," Larry Holmes, a leader of the National People's Campaign, told Workers World. "It makes it even more important that the national demonstration against racism and cutbacks in Philadelphia on April 27 be strong and combative. "We have to oppose the policies emanating from the White House and Wall Street that create the anti-poor climate we face today," said Holmes. Referring to the case of an internationally known Black journalist now on death row in Pennsylvania, he added that the April 27 demonstration will "show solidarity with brother Mumia Abu-Jamal and with all those languishing in prisons throughout the country whose `crime' is to be poor or to have fought the system." Gloria Rubac of the Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty says, "The execution of Pedro Medina shows the need for a mass movement against the death penalty. Everywhere the capitalist government is strengthening this tool of repression. Texas plans to carry out more executions than ever. New York state, long a bastion of liberalism, just reinstated capital punishment in 1995. "We need a mass movement to end this repression." Florida Attorney General Butterworth said Medina'a execution would be a deterrent to crime. But this penalty has never been proven to deter killings. It is only effective as an instrument of repression. The capitalist government employs the death penalty to create a reign of terror against workers and oppressed. It is also a racist tool used disproportionately against oppressed people and the poor. Last July, the International Commission of Jurists released a 260-page report on the death penalty in the United States. It concluded that the administration of death sentences was "arbitrary and racially discriminatory." The ICJ's report showed that African Americans made up 40 percent of the people executed in the U.S. between 1973 and 1995 and 44 percent of the overall prison population. "The [ICF] mission has found that among elected judges, those who covet higher office-or those who merely wish to retain their status as judges-must constantly proclaim their fealty to the death penalty," said the report. Besides African Americans, Latinos and other people of color bear the brunt of state executions. Rich whites are sure to escape this barbaric form of punishment, no matter what their crime-as witness the recent insanity decision in the murder trial of a member of the billionaire Dupont family right outside Philadelphia. It's another reason why the cry to abolish the death penalty now is growing. - END - (Copyright Workers World Service: Permission to reprint granted if source is cited. For more information contact Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011; via e-mail: ww@workers.org. For subscription info send message to: info@workers.org. Web: http://www.workers.org) |