Activism and Culture

In 1974, Graham Nash of the harmonic trio Crosby, Stills, and Nash (sometimes a quartet with Young) released “Prison Song,” an upbeat political folk melody about drug sentences.  Although the song primarily has to do with those sentenced to long periods of time for Marijuana-related crimes under mandatory minimums, one stanza struck a particular chord–and it wasn’t middle C:

“There’s not a rich man there

who couldn’t pay his way

and buy the freedom that’s

a high price for the poor.”

Not only is this song still a soulful blend of folk, rock, and country music, but also it is still relevant, only for something much more serious than extensive pot sentences–death.

I know I wrote about the death penalty yesterday, but it continues to haunt me. When I was a kid, I used to be terrified of going to jail, even though I never did anything illegal. With ten year sentences for pot smoking and possession, children sentenced to life in prison because they happened to be in the same car as a criminal when he robbed a convenience store and shot the clerk, and over 3,000 American citizens, residents, and guests on death row (http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/article.php?did=188), I guess my fear is legitimate.

Along with being afraid of going to prison when I was a kid, I had a similar fear and disgust in regards to the death penalty. While others watched movies where criminals were executed by beheading with a sort of distasteful enjoyment, I always shuddered at the images. In middle school, I read a book called Princess that detailed the life and hardship of a Middle Eastern woman who also happened to be part of the royal line. In part of the book, the woman described how female offenders were often punished with drowning in the family pool. That’s still an image that I can’t get out of my mind.

But this is America. That wouldn’t happen, right?

Wrong. We may not be drowning our daughters in pools for their sexuality yet, but we’re getting close. Innocent people sit on death row for years pleading their innocence to all ears who can hear only to be silenced again and again until they are finally released with no education and no way to get by in the world years too late.

Others are sentenced to death under the “law of parties” or “felony murder rule,” which allows the death penalty even for those who did not kill someone else.

It isn’t drowning in a pool, but it’s close. It’s taking away a life that we did not give.

But this is the United States, the land of the free, and the place where you can still be tried, arrested, convicted, and sentenced to death while innocent.

Even for those who are not innocent, the death penalty seems barbaric and outdated, similar to whipping, the stocks, or water torture.

And yet the United States, supposedly the richest, most civilized nation in the world, allows this.

I welcome comments and discussions on this topic.

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