It was this week in 1972 the U.S. Supreme Court ruled capital punishment was both cruel and unusual, especially due to some states’ “capricious and arbitrary” ways of employing the death penalty.  The Court ruled race placed too large a role in determining who lived or died.  It didn’t stop there, however.  The Court recommended new legislation be instituted so that the death penalty might become constitutional again and went on to say legislation should directly address racial problems regarding capital punishment and that new guidelines should be put into place.  This, of course, wasn’t what opponents of the death penalty wanted, but for many, it was a start.

Then, in 1976, a substantial new study revealed over 65% of Americans not only supported the death penalty, but wanted it made constitutional again.  The Supreme Court heard the majority loud and clear and after having been satisfied of the changes it had strongly encouraged some four years earlier, the death penalty was once again deemed constitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Interestingly, the first execution only a year later was commissioned via the firing squad.  Gary Gilmore, a Utah killer, faced the squad and in a split second, his life was over.  Still, many groups, including Death Penalty Focus, a group committed to abolishing the death penalty once and for all, insist racism is still too big a priority of those deciding the lives of others.   Further, it also reiterates the many who were convicted and executed, only to be found innocent later due to DNA or other evidence not available prior to the execution.  Currently, nearly 130 people across the country who were facing execution dates have been found innocent and not only taken off death row, but released from prison completely exonerated.  To date, there are over 3,300 prisoners who are on death row awaiting conviction.

It becomes difficult to reconcile those who adamantly insist the system is racist, especially since almost 45% of those currently on death row are white.  African Americans follow with slightly less than 42% of the total death row population, followed by Latinos (11.3%), Native Americans (1.10%) and Asian (1.10%).

With so much crime in today’s headlines, each story more evil than the one before, the odds of the death penalty being deemed unconstitutional again in the near future are practically nil.

A Mississippi lawyer, Ed Blackmon, discovered remnants of his home state’s segregationist past while looking for information for one of his upcoming cases.  It was an opportunity to finally erase a law that while no longer constitutional, still remained on the books.  This was an especially heartfelt effort as he successfully fast tracked a bill to remove these laws, since these were the very ones that were used to arrest him nearly fifty years ago as he protested those wishing to prevent black voter registration.  “I had an indelible memory of what those laws meant and when I saw it, I was reminded of my own experience”, Blackmon said in an interview.

Governor Barbour repealed these laws this week. 

 The controversy, if you can call it that is that many are questioning why there wasn’t brouhaha as this milestone was marked.  There have been accusations of those wishing to keep it quiet out of shame and that it’s evidence of a racist society that still exists in Mississippi.  I’m not so sure.  I believe it was more likely a decision Blackmon made out of respect for the process.  I could be wrong, but his motives were to eradicate the remnants that not only serve as a painful reminder on a personal level for him, but should serve as a reminder to every Mississippian of how things were and why they should forever be remembered.

My only memories of racism while growing up was an accidental view of a KKK meeting one night as my mom drove us home from my grandmother’s.  The rally was between our home and my grandma’s and Mom made us get in the floorboard.  It was her way of protecting us from something that maybe even she couldn’t provide an explanation for to her children.  I had raised my head long enough to see the white robes and pointed masks that only convinced me we were in the floorboard because it was Halloween and Mom didn’t want us to know so that we wouldn’t ask to go trick or treating.  What can I say…I might have been five or six years old.  Still, those images stay with me and the realization that it wasn’t an effort to slip Halloween past us, but an effort to protect us from the ugly side of human nature resonates with me now as an adult. 

Despite the intentions of those laws, the state as a whole progressed, even as those with evil intentions pushed hard to keep it from happening.  There were many who paid with their lives to ensure those laws would eventually be ruled unconstitutional and the efforts of one man over the past couple of weeks finally closes that chapter.

You gotta love a southern gal who refuses to bite her tongue.  Angie Harmon found herself defending her displeasure once again with the way the country’s being run by President Obama.  The fact anyone would have to defend his or her stand on the state of this country flies in the face of what this same country is built on.  She’s been accused of being racist because she voiced her displeasure with some of the decisions made by the Obama administration.  Harmon’s always been outspoken in all things political, and even when I find myself biting my tongue to keep from stirring the hornet’s nest, I quietly sit back and think, “You go, girl”.  When asked for a comment by Fox News, she clearly had a bellyful and unleased what she’s obviously  been holding back, “Here’s my problem with this, I’m just going to come out and say it.  If I have anything to say against Obama, it’s not because I’m a racist, it’s because I don’t like what he’s doing as President and anybody should be able to feel that way, but what I find now is that if you say anything against him, you’re called a racist.  But it has nothing to do with it, I don’t care what color he is.  I’m just not

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crazy about what he’s doing and I heard all about this, and he’s gonna do that and change and change…so okay….I’m still dressing for a recession over here buddy and we’ve got unemployment at an all time high and that was his number one thing and that’s the thing I really don’t appreciate.  If I’m going to disagree with my President, that doesn’t make me racist.  If I was to disagree with W, that doesn’t make me racist.  It has nothing to do with it, it’s is ridiculous.”

Anyone who’s ever seen her in an interview knows she probably didn’t stop to catch her breath - in true Harmon form, if it’s on her mind, it’s on her tongue. 

With such across the board statements we heard after the election that the new President’s arrival in the Oval Office would eradicate racism simply hasn’t panned out (And why would anyone think it would?).  Maybe it’s because racism goes far deeper than one man who happens to hold the highest office in the country.  Is racism alive and kicking?  Unfortunately, it is.  But to disagree - keep in mind, there’s a big difference in ‘disagree’ and ‘disrespect’ - with any decisions or policies any president makes should simply indicate the fact we live in a country that makes it absolutely acceptable.  It’s not indicative of racism.  Period. 

There are many who would disagree with President Obama regardless of what he was doing in office - but it has nothing to do with race and has everything to do with loyalty, albeit displaced at times, to the political party.  Just as President Bush had those who vehemently disagreed with all of his policies, there were some who admittedly did so simply because he is Republican.  How many times have we said, “Aw, c’mon…you know if the Republicans had control, that never would’ve come to pass” or “A Democrat would never have allowed that.” 

I’m wondering why Harmon’s vocal approval and insistence that Sarah Palin would have made an excellent vice president doesn’t have folks pointing and yelling, “Feminist!  Feminist!”

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