If, as the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. once said, that, “unmerited suffering is redemptive,” then we — as a race of people — should be able to demonstrate our dignity by how well we bear this unimaginable burden that’s been placed on us by a hate-filled 21-year-old southern bigot. And the first step we blacks should take to show the world that we indeed are better than the white rabble that spawned this cold-blooded killer is to not call for his life to be taken by the state in retribution for the nine beautiful black lives he so callously extinguished as they were studying the word of God.
If killing this monster — who I will steadfastly forever refuse to name, thereby in my own small way denying him the notoriety he so obviously craves — would extend the life of even one of his victims by just one more day … indeed, one more hour … then I’d gleefully call for and willingly take part in his execution. But the fact is, it won’t. Nor will the snuffing out of his life deter others of his ilk and stripe from celebrating his infamy.
It’s not that I don’t wish this monster dead — I do. I certainly wish he had ended his own life in that historic church, in that way sparing us the pain of his prosecution, but he was too much the coward.
And certainly there are some who will take delight — who will wallow in schadenfreude — as the case inches its way through our labyrinthine criminal justice system, waiting, hoping and praying to see this sick person break down under the enormity of his act, but they will be left waiting. This psychopath is already emotionally dead, and dead people don’t show emotions; they simply can’t, they don’t have the capacity.
With the distracting death penalty off the table we as a nation can then more effectively turn our attention to the bigger (and more actionable) issues of guns in our society, the failures of our mental health delivery systems and the abiding, virulent, racial animosity that still lurks just beneath the surface of our supposed civilized society, like a shark waiting to attack swimmers.
By eschewing the call for the death penalty we can then turn our attention to examining the culture of hate that still permeates many regions of the country, even as the majority of Americans are desirous of moving past age-old hatreds based on race, gender, sexual orientation and immigration status. By not calling for the biblical “eye-for-an-eye” that would eventually leave everyone blind, we blacks can demonstrate that we understand the true meaning of the messages delivered by that long ago prophet from Galilee.
This is not a call to “turn the other cheek,” which can be construed as being weak; it’s a call for us black folk to show how strong and resolute we are; strong enough to turn tragedy into triumph; to take the wrong of this horrendous act and use it to force the residents of those places in America where bigotry still exists to look squarely at their own reflections in the mirror — indeed if they dare.
We should not allow untrammeled racism off the hook — we should not let the debt to be paid — by the offering up a madman for execution, giving the haters the opportunity to say, “Gee, you killed him, what more do you people want?” His death would square nothing. It essentially would be meaningless in the grand scheme of things
Like other murderers, he could die a thousand times over at the hands of the state and it would not even come close to balancing out the evil he wrought. Let this twisted person live and make him into a living memorial of the evil that men can do … so that we never forget.
[Image by Karl L. Guillen]
From Cool Cleveland correspondent Mansfield B. Frazier mansfieldfATgmail.com. Frazier’s From Behind The Wall: Commentary on Crime, Punishment, Race and the Underclass by a Prison Inmate is available again in hardback. Snag your copy and have it signed by the author by visiting http://NeighborhoodSolutionsInc.com.
One Response to “MANSFIELD: Don’t Murder the Murderer”
Leo Russo
Well written, Mansfield!