My piece in the Waco Tribune today
September 15, 2008
Let's talk about the death penalty
Monday, September 15, 2008
The Waco Tribune
In the early 1990s, I started correspondence with a man on death row, then visited him in person.
What I experienced shocked me. Instead of an angry human being, I met an intelligent person who seemed broken.
Out of an abused, unloved childhood he had lived the only way he knew how: in survival mode.
Uneducated, drugged up, jobless, he had struck out and viciously murdered a woman. He had spent 20 years on death row when I met him, and he still had no understanding of what it meant to be “productive” or a part of society. Kill or be killed. That is what he knew. Several years later after our meeting, he was executed by the state.
As a society, without a doubt, most of us agree that murdering a fellow human being is a horrendous act. It stains the perpetrator, or even an entire country (think Germany) for life, for all time.
Texas robustly enforces the death penalty. But it needs to ask itself: How does executing another person ever solve anything?
And what about those executed who are innocent? The greatest example that comes to mind is Jesus Christ. Or Bruno Richard Hauptmann (executed for allegedly kidnapping the Lindbergh baby. His wife, to this day, cries out that he was an innocent man).
As a mom and a musician, I wanted to start a dialogue about the death penalty. My hope was to start a dialogue that was open to all in the spirit of healthy debate and information — a forum where people who were opposed to . . . or for. . . or conflicted by the death penalty could meet and discuss the issue without fear or hostility.
In cooperation with the Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty I have been staging a series of monthly concerts around Texas to discuss the death penalty.
The next concert is Thursday night in Waco.
Attendees have heard comments from a variety of speakers including El Paso Mayor John Cook, who has joined our tour, singing and speaking and challenging other Texas mayors to come out to the events.
We’ve heard the amazing account of Rev. Carroll Pickett, the death row minister who witnessed 95 executions in Huntsville. He is convinced that at least 15 of those men were innocent.
Please, come express your opinions. Meet family members of murder victims. Meet family members of those executed on death row.
This isn’t easy. In fact, it’s intense.
A closing thought: When Cain murdered Abel in the old testament, God didn’t destroy Cain. He banished him, yes, but he set him out in the world marked with protection that no one would harm a hair on his head.
Why would God do such a thing? I challenge you to start the dialogue and continue the conversation.
Sara Hickman is an Austin-based singer and songwriter.
posted by Sara Hickman at 06:02 pm
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If you have a moment, print this out, sign it and mail it to your officials
local, state and national officials. It seems like a small thing to send a letter, but if lots of us are sending the letters,
maybe we can make a difference.
Love,
Sara
Honorable Rep. Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick
Chairwoman, Congressional Black Caucus
2264 Rayburn HOB Washington, DC 20515-2213
Honorable Rep. Kilpatrick,
We are writing you as members of National Alliance for Prisoners' Rights (NAFPR), a newly formed, grassroots advocacy organization whose work is informed by decades of collective experience of prison conditions and efforts to apply universal covenants and treaties to the treatment of incarcerated peoples. We seek your help in investigating and correcting serious abuses which are occurring right here in America, in our own prisons. You have demonstrated a concern for social justice for all citizens and we thank you for your efforts and ask for your help in attaining prisoner's rights.
The problems of the correctional system in the United States have become very serious. It is a failing system.
The United States now incarcerates 1 out of every 100 adults in the country. This is 700 times the rate of imprisonment that existed in South Africa during the height of apartheid. In 2004 the United States surpassed Russia in incarceration rates to become the world leader. With 5% of the world's population and more than 25% of the world's prisoners, there are now more than 2.3 million people inside and upwards of 7 million either on parole, probation or waiting trial. One in every 33 people in the United States is under state control and that number is still growing. We cannot build our way out of this predicament.
The economic burden on the society of such levels of incarceration is huge and the potential of these members of society who are incarcerated is wasted. Over the course of a year 13.5 million people spend time in jail or prison, and 95 percent of them eventually return to our communities. Many of those who are incarcerated come from and return to poor African-American and Latino neighborhoods, and the impact on the stability of those communities has an effect on the health and safety of whole cities and states.
Crime, police and prisons have become one of the fastest growing sectors in the economy and there is pressure to maintain a level of occupancy. There are nearly 5,000 adult prisons and jails in the United States. Approximately 750,000 men and women work in U.S. Correctional facilities as line officers or other staff. Economically deprived areas of the country are confronted with growing pressure to accept the construction of a new facility in their area in order to provide jobs, creating a vicious cycle.
We acknowledge here the enormous role that racism; classicism, poverty, lack of education, and diagnosed medical and mental illness play in mass incarceration. Many individuals with diagnosed medical and mental conditions are inappropriately incarcerated. Most of the imprisoned in the United States are poor, and they are disproportionately African-American and Latino.
Individuals with diagnosed mental conditions could be better
By themselves our high rate of imprisonment and disproportionate distribution profoundly compromise our commitment to the democratic ideals of liberty and equality. But there is more. There is serious abuse taking place in our prisons, even leading to fatality and suicide.
The Commission of Safety and Abuse in America's Crime Police & Prisons, in its recently released findings, reports high rates of disease and illness among prisoners, the increasing use of counter-productive high-security segregation, and other serious problems.
In addition, in recent years there has been a growing trend toward privatization of correctional facilities, with the associated focus on profits, increased rate of violence and with the result of many charges of lowered standards. The shift to corrections as an industry as a business rather than a service of governmental institutions, results in the inevitable push to create more and more prisons and prisoners. Treatment of prisoners tends to decline and abuse of prisoners to increase. In spite of assurances to the contrary, evidence of this continues to mount.
As the Commission noted, some of the people confined in our jails and prisons have committed serious and violent crimes. While we as a society might legitimately imprison them, we cannot allow anyone who is incarcerated to be victimized by other prisoners, abused by officers, or neglected by doctors. As a nation, we are asked to broaden our scope of analysis and compassion to include people who have done terrible things. But we are also called to live up to democratic principles and to assess whether our criminal justice system is operating according to these standards. Is it just? Does it uphold human rights?
We seek a criminal justice system that is driven by hope, fairness, and rehabilitation rather than fear, arbitrariness, and cynicism.
We are asking for your help with the following points:
1) Immediate adherence to International Covenants and Treaties which correlate to prisoner issues and conditions, including but not limited to the United Nation Declaration of Human Rights (UNDHR); the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights (CCPR); the International Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD); the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CAT); the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against women (CEDAQ) and the Convention of the Rights of the Child.
2) Protection of prisoners from physical and psychological abuse by other prisoners, as well as by prison staff. Guarantee of community standards of medical care. Uniform standards for prison conditions, which adhere to, the Universal Declaration Of Human Rights, adopted in 1948.
3) Rehabilitation and educational programs, since it has been established that education reduces crime.
4) Parole reform and other measures to reduce recidivism. The United States has the highest rate of recidivism.
5) Immediate, comprehensive and independent investigation of reported abuses by independent third parties entities which include prisoner rights advocates and family members. Access to prisoners by friends and families.
6) Legislation mandating equal requirements in hiring, salaries, and conditions for federal prisons, whether governmental or private and eventual elimination of prisons for profits. Mandated random drug screening for prison staff.
7) End to arbitrary arrests and excessive sentencing, which serve the sole purpose to populate prisons. End to arbitrary and excessive sentencing of children as adults.
8) Reform of the Prison Litigation Reform Act (PLRA) so that the prisoners and their families are guaranteed lawful protection from physical and medical abuse and neglect.
For years many of us have worked to obtain results through our state correctional agencies, by campaigns, public actions, petitions, letters and calls, and have seen that work ignored, dismissed or trivialized. We believe that you will hear our voices and that you care about true justice. We urge you to conduct investigations and to pass legislation to correct the problems within our justice system.
Please reply to our appeal.
Respectfully,
YOUR NAME HERE
This came to me (Sara) from the
NATIONAL ALLIANCE FOR PRISONERS RIGHTS
C/O New Vision Organization, Inc.
BOX 66 BROCKTON, MA 02303
TEL/FAX (508) 941-5367
and these members who sent it to me:
* Idriss Stelley Action &Resource Center (ISARC)
* Black&Brown Equitable Drug Policies Coalition (BEDPC)
* Education Not Incarceration SF Chapter (ENI SF)
posted by Sara Hickman at 05:22 am
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I Thought You Would Want to Know: Facts from Truth Out. Org
September 13, 2008
Friday 12 September 2008
by: Bill Quigley, t r u t h o u t | Perspective
In its 2007 Annual Homeless Report to Congress, HUD reported that nearly one in four people in homeless shelters are children 17 or younger.
Bill Quigley's "Social Justice Quiz 2008" challenges us to look through the eyes of those less fortunate and educate ourselves about how liberty,
opportunity, income and wealth are distributed in the US and around the world.
We in the US who say we believe in social justice must challenge ourselves to look at the world through the eyes of those who have much less than us.
Why? Social justice, as defined by John Rawls, respects basic individual liberty and economic improvement. But social justice also insists that liberty,
opportunity, income, wealth and the other social bases of self-respect are to be distributed equally unless an unequal distribution is to everyone's
advantage and any inequalities are arranged so they are open to all.
Therefore, we must educate ourselves and others about how liberty, opportunity, income and wealth are actually distributed in our country and in
our world. Examining the following can help us realize how much we have to learn about social justice.
1. How many deaths are there worldwide each year due to acts of terrorism?
Answer: The US State Department reported there were more than 22,000 deaths from terrorism last year. Over half of those killed or injured were Muslims. Source: Voice of America, May 2, 2008. "Terrorism Deaths Rose in 2007."
2. How many deaths are there worldwide each day due to poverty and malnutrition?
A: About 25,000 people die every day of hunger or hunger-related causes, according to the United Nations. Poverty.com - Hunger and World Poverty. Every day, almost 16,000 children die from hunger-related causes - one child every five seconds. Bread for the World. Hunger Facts: International.
3. 1n 1965, CEOs in major companies made 24 times more than the average worker. In 1980, CEOs made 40 times more than the average worker. In 2007, CEOs earned how many times more than the average worker?
A: Today's average CEO from a Fortune 500 company makes 364 times an average worker's pay and over 70 times the pay of a four-star Army general. Executive Excess 2007, page 7, jointly published by Institute for Policy Studies and United for Fair Economy, August 29, 2007. The 1965 numbers from State of Working America 2004-2005, Economic Policy Institute.
4. In how many of the more than 3,000 cities and counties in the US can a full-time worker who earns the minimum wage afford to pay rent and utilities on a one-bedroom apartment?
A: In no city or county in the entire USA can a full-time worker who earns minimum wage afford even a one-bedroom rental. The US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) urges renters not to pay more than 30 percent of their income in rent. HUD also reports the fair market rent for each of the counties and cities in the US. Nationally, in order to rent a two-bedroom apartment, one full-time worker in 2008 must earn $17.32 per hour. In fact, 81 percent of renters live in cities where the Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom rental is not even affordable with two minimum-wage jobs. Source: Out of Reach 2007-2008, April 7, 2008, National Low-Income Housing Coalition.
5. In 1968, the minimum wage was $1.65 per hour. How much would the minimum wage be today if it had kept pace with inflation since 1968?
A: Calculated in real (inflation-adjusted) dollars, the 1968 minimum wage would have been $9.83 in 2007 dollars. Andrew Tobias, January 16, 2008. The federal minimum wage is $6.55 per hour effective July 24, 2008, and will be $7.25 per hour effective July 24, 2009.
6. True or false? People in the United States spend nearly twice as much on pet food as the US government spends on aid to help foreign countries.
A: True. The USA spends $43.4 billion on pet food annually. Source: American Pet Products Manufacturers Association Inc. The USA spent $23.5 billion in official foreign aid in 2006. The US government gave the most of any country in the world in actual dollars. As a percentage of gross national income, the US came in second to last among OECD donor countries and ranked number 20 at 0.18 percent behind Sweden at 1.02 percent and other countries such as Norway, Netherlands, Ireland, United Kingdom, Austria, France, Germany, Spain, Canada, New Zealand, Japan and others. This does not count private donations, which, if included, may move the US up as high as sixth. The Index of Global Philanthropy 2008, pages 15-19.
7. How many people in the world live on $2 a day or less?
A: The World Bank reported in August 2008 that 2.6 billion people consume less than $2 a day.
8. How many people in the world do not have electricity?
A: Worldwide, 1.6 billion people do not have electricity and 2.5 billion people use wood, charcoal or animal dung for cooking. United Nations Human Development Report 2007/2008, pages 44-45.
9. People in the US consume 42 kilograms of meat per person per year. How much meat and grain do people in India and China eat?
A: People in the US lead the world in meat consumption at 42 kg per person per year, compared to 1.6 kg in India and 5.9 kg in China. People in the US consume five times the grain (wheat, rice, rye, barley, etc.) as people in India, three times as much as people in China, and twice as much as people in Europe. "THE BLAME GAME: Who is behind the world food price crisis," Oakland Institute, July 2008.
10. How many cars does China have for every 1,000 drivers? India? The US?
A: China has nine cars for every 1,000 drivers. India has 11 cars for every 1,000 drivers. The US has 1,114 cars for every 1,000 drivers. Iain Carson and Vijay V. Vaitheeswaran, "Zoom: The Global Race to Fuel the Car of the Future" (2007).
11. How much grain is needed to fill an SUV tank with ethanol?
A: The grain needed to fill an SUV tank with ethanol could feed a hungry person for a year. Lester Brown, CNN.Money.com, August 16, 2006.
12. According to The Wall Street Journal, the richest one percent of Americans earns what percent of the nation's adjusted gross income? Five percent? Ten percent? Fifteen percent? Twenty percent?
A: "According to the figures, the richest one percent reported 22 percent of the nation's total adjusted gross income in 2006. That is up from 21.2 percent a year earlier, and it is the highest in the 19 years that the IRS has kept strictly comparable figures. The 1988 level was 15.2 percent. Earlier IRS data show the last year the share of income belonging to the top one percent was at such a high level as it was in 2006 was in 1929, but changes in measuring income make a precise comparison difficult." Jesse Drucker, "Richest Americans See Their Income Share Grow," Wall Street Journal, July 23, 2008, page A3.
13. How many people does our government say are homeless in the US on any given day?
A: A total of 754,000 are homeless. About 338,000 homeless people are not in shelters (live on the streets, in cars or in abandoned buildings) and 415,000 are in shelters on any given night. The 2007 US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Annual Homeless Report to Congress, page iii and 23. The population of San Francisco is about 739,000.
14. What percentage of people in homeless shelters are children?
A: HUD reports nearly one in four people in homeless shelters are children 17 or younger. Page iv, the 2007 HUD Annual Homeless Report to Congress.
15. How many veterans are homeless on any given night?
A: Over 100,000 veterans are homeless on any given night. About 18 percent of the adult homeless population are veterans. Page 32, the 2007 HUD Homeless Report. This is about the same population as Green Bay, Wisconsin.
16. The military budget of the United States in 2008 is the largest in the world at $623 billion per year. How much larger is the US military budget than that of China, the second-largest in the world?
A: Ten times. China's military budget is $65 billion. The US military budget is nearly 10 times larger than the second leading military spender. GlobalSecurity.org
17. The US military budget is larger than how many of the countries of the rest of the world combined?
A: The US military budget of $623 billion is larger than the budgets of all the countries in the rest of the world put together. The total global military budget of the rest of the world is $500 billion. Russia's military budget is $50 billion, South Koreas is $21 billion, and Irons is $4.3 billion. GlobalSecurity.org.
18. Over the 28-year history of the Berlin Wall, 287 people perished trying to cross it. How many people have died in the last four years trying to cross the border between Arizona and Mexico?
A: At least 1,268 people have died along the border of Arizona and Mexico since 2004. The Arizona Daily Star keeps track of the reported deaths along the state border, and it reports 214 died in 2004; 241 in 2005, 216 in 2006, 237 in 2007, and 116 as of July 31, 2008. These numbers do not include deaths along the California or Texas borders. The Border Patrol reported that 400 people died in fiscal 2206-2007, while 453 died in 2004-2005 and 494 died in 2004-2005. Source The Associated Press, November 8, 2007.
19. India is ranked second in the world in gun ownership with four guns per 100 people. China is third with third firearms per 100 people. Which country is first and how widespread is gun ownership?
A: The US is first in gun ownership worldwide with 90 guns for every 100 citizens. Laura MacInnis, "US most armed country with 90 guns per 100 people." Reuters, August 28, 2007.
20. What country leads the world in the incarceration of its citizens?
A: The US jails 751 inmates per 100,000 people, the highest rate in the world. Russia is second with 627 per 100,000. England's rate is 151, Germany's is 88 and Japan's is 63. The US has 2.3 million people behind bars, more than any country in the world. Adam Liptak, "Inmate Count in US Dwarfs Other Nations'" New York Times, April 23, 2008.
AND IF YOU WANT TO SEE SOMETHING UNBELIEVABLE, watch this about John McCain:
http://therealmccain.com
posted by Sara Hickman at 11:34 am
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Where Music Comes to Play: The Full Arch of Spirit and Love United in A Day
September 12, 2008
transgendered people meet with their employers in a neutral environment (the Austin Convention Center) so people can discuss what
this means for everyone involved. I'll be bringing songs of love and unification, hope and thought...I'm wearing my new red hair and
a big smile!
And, then, tonight, I am singing for the Ladies of Charity in San Antonio and I will be wearing brightly colored church clothes, my big smile
and dining with women of Christian faith, and sharing stories and songs of laughter and the downtrodden in society; how we can make a difference in
our actions and deeds.
I see this as the symbolic arch of what music can bridge...differences in lifestyle and opinions, and I like to think that somehow what I do
unifies people across those bridges.
God bless everyone in the path of the storm, and may there be adequate shelter and provisions, comfort and safety with not one single soul
hurt or lost. I'm putting that out to the universe because I know it matters to think positive!
XOX
Sara
posted by Sara Hickman at 03:28 am
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September 11, 2008
September 11, 2008
May today be a day of peace within your heart.
May it be a day of forgiving old wounds.
May it be the start of living with joy and
good intent around the world.
May it be a day where people awaken and
recognize what being asleep to hatred has cost us.
May it be a day of serving others with love.
May it be the beginning of walking towards
understanding.
May hands be held.
May hearts be healed.
May governments become humble.
May neighbors celebrate one another.
May life unfold peacefully.
Amen,
Sara
posted by Sara Hickman at 05:47 am
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