NC NAACP Statement on the NC House of Representatives' Decision to Maintain and Preserve a Racially Biased Death Penalty System

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

June 14, 2012

For More Information:             Rev. Dr. William J. Barber, II, President, 919-394-8137

Mrs. Amina Turner, Executive Director, 919-682-4700

As read by Erin Dale Byrd, Political Action Committee Chair, on Behalf of the  

North Carolina State Conference of the NAACP

at a 

News Conference Hosted by Murder Victims' Families for Reconciliation (MVFR) at the NC General Assembly

June 14, 2012  

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NC NAACP Statement on the NC House of Representatives' Decision to Maintain and Preserve a Racially Biased Death Penalty System

Yesterday's shameful vote by the NC House of Representatives to gut the Racial Justice Act, with Paul Stam's RJA-repeal bill cleverly disguised as an amendment bill, is a refusal to deal with the systemic racism and racial disparities that have already been proven by the court of law to exist in our judicial system as it relates to the application of the death penalty.

We know the evidence of this racial disparity is true from history, we know it's true from certified studies and we know it's true because two judges have ruled in favor of the legislation. The death penalty cannot be reversed, and everyone should want to be sure as possible that there is absolutely no bias in its application. That is why proponents and opponents of the death penalty supported the RJA in its current format.

The only conclusion one can come to when you have legislators gut a bill that has already been used in the courts to prove systemic racism exists, is that those legislators do not care about, nor do they want to address, the reality of racial bias in our current legal system. And a refusal to use every tool necessary to root out the racist application of the death penalty is to in fact participate in the injustice itself.

We live in a state where seven men have been exonerated from death row, who would have been murdered by the state if the system had only worked faster. Five are black, one is Latino and one is white. ALL were charged with the murders of white victims. Also, support for the Racial Justice Act is not an endorsement of violence or a sign that anyone is "soft on crime." Criminal justice enforcement is only strengthened when the system confronts racial bias directly and attempts to rid it from its practices.

All the evidence shows that the death penalty system is flawed with racial bias. It is bizarre and unthinkable that legislators are striving to maintain the status quo of racism in the death penalty system and steal a tool from the courts to address this abomination. We hope legislators will wake up and hear their humanity calling on them to change their mind and vote against this bill when it comes up for a final vote.

Finally, we have to ask: If the facts were in the other direction, how would legislators supporting this bill feel about repealing a law that was attempting to address a death penalty system that was 2-3 times more likely to put white defendants to death than their black counterparts? Would they fight to maintain a racially biased system if it was their family members, or members of their community who were being racially targeted for the death penalty? Within constitutional and American principles, as a necessary rationale for our pursuit of justice, we should not excuse or allow to exist patterns of systemic racism and discrimination. To do so is both unconstitutional and immoral.

We have to ask: If it had been proven in court that the law was constitutional, if the courts affirmed the significance of a study that showed white jurors are dismissed from jury pools at over twice the rate of their black counterparts, if 31 of the defendants on death row were convicted by all black juries and another 38 with only one white person on the jury and if the research showed wealthy people were more likely than poor people to receive the death penalty, where would the ultra right extreme leadership stand then?

We must note that not one African American legislator supported this legislative trickery. Every African American legislator supported the Racial Justice Act in its current form. Every legislator who voted for the repeal bill, which removes tools needed by the courts to root out racial disparity, is white. This alone should cause the legislators voting to repeal the Racial Justice Act to pause and rethink their vote.

The governor should veto this bill and the five Democratic legislators should sustain their Governor's veto and respect the many African Americans and other North Carolinians of good will who supported them.

And even if they override the veto, we will work with our attorneys in the NAACP and in our coalition to make sure all the provisions in our current law are provided to all death row defendants based on the principles of equal protection under the law.

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