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Innocent on death row Earlier this month two North Carolina men who had served 30 years in
prison, one on death row, were exonerated when it was shown they were innocent victims of a broken justice system. In an ironic twist, it turns out that 20 years ago Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia cited the death-row inmate, Henry Lee McCollum, as someone eminently deserving of being executed for his brutal crime—a crime we now know he didn’t commit. McCollum was 19 when he and his half-brother, Leon Brown, who was just 15, were arrested for the 1983 rape and murder of 11-year-old Sabrina Buie, whose body was found in a Robeson County soybean field. The young men, both of whom were intellectually disabled, were convicted and sentenced to death (Brown’s sentence later was commuted to life in prison). There was no physical evidence tying them to the crime. Their convictions were based solely on police-written confessions they signed under duress after five hours of intense interrogation with no lawyer or parent present. McCollum later said he “just wanted to go home.” In fact, police had a legitimate suspect, Roscoe Artis, a man with a long history of assaults who lived just 100 yards from where Buie’s body was found. Police sought to test a fingerprint found at the crime scene against Artis’ prints, but the test never was done, and the defense wasn’t notified of the request. Finally, in 2013, DNA from a cigarette butt found at the scene was tested. It matched Artis’. He meanwhile was serving a life sentence for a crime similar to the killing of Sabrina Buie. Justice Scalia entered the picture in 1994. In response to Justice Harry Blackmun’s announcement that he no longer would support the death penalty, Scalia cited the Buie murder. “How enviable a quiet death by lethal injection compared with that!” he said. Scalia clearly was prepared to order McCollum’s execution. How many other innocents are on death row? Ω
The young men, both of whom were intellectually disabled, were convicted and sentenced to death.
Going beyond a billboard problem with billboard advertising is that it is not a Tas hesubstitute for valid give-and-take discussion. The billboard sales tool is acceptable when the message is uncomplicated
by
Linda Clark-Borre The author, who moved to Chico from Chicago four years ago, teaches at Chico State’s College of Business. She is CEO of Northern California Adaptive Living Center Inc., which provides supportive living services to people with developmental disabilities in Butte and Mendocino counties.
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and when its image is placed in reasonable context. That is not the case with the sign on The Esplanade portraying a suffering child and a behest for immediate sanctions due to Israel’s role in the killing of children. Not all Israelis are Jewish; not all Jewish people support everything the Israeli government does; but any serious student of post-Holocaust ethics will tell you that today most statements about Israelis mean “Jews.” Jewish people today—bound by history, yet as varied in their personal belief systems and opinions as anyone—still suffer the real consequences of blanket assumptions stated in societies that don’t really understand the Middle East cultures and their struggles. Anti-Semitism, anti-you-name-it, still exists in tangible form, as anyone who walks closely with others understands. This is why the billboard is offensive to many. It boils down, really, to this: Some of our community members were hurt by language stated too simply on a board erected high for everyone to see. Believe what you wish, and share what
September 18, 2014
you are convinced is true. Dialogue is preferable, but to any person of peace, it is essential. A context-encouraging discussion—what we might even call “community”—is called for when dealing with matters concerning the well-being of people and societies. Psychological battle tools don’t cut it. Thoughtful people don’t take them seriously, rendering them a waste of effort. The less-thanthoughtful may be spurred to quick assumptions, which virtually ensures our wars will go on forever. Author/educator Parker Palmer reminds us, “It’s easy to be curious. It is difficult to love. But if we want a knowledge to rebind a broken world, we must reach for the deeper passion.” The level of passion that cares less about “Hear what I say from my high moral ground” and manifests more like “What can we do to fix the mess we humans have made, again?” To paraphrase the poet Rumi: Beyond the ideas of what’s wrong and right, there is a field. Unfortunately, there are few able to create fields upon which we can speak, listen and learn about people a world away, or for that matter, in our own community. Certainly there are few takers for the sort of activism Palmer describes, and we are, every one of us, poorer for it. Ω
Shut down Diablo Canyon Is the Diablo Canyon nuclear-power plant safe? That question has been asked
of the facility on the coast near San Luis Obispo since its construction. The plant has always been troubled, mostly because it was built before the full extent of earthquake faults in the area was known. Recently, it has become increasingly clear that these faults are capable of creating ground motion that’s beyond what the reactors are designed to handle. Pacific Gas & Electric, the owner of Diablo Canyon, is currently seeking a 20-year licensing renewal from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Because of the catastrophe at Fukushima—a similar seaside plant near fault lines—the licensing was delayed so the utility could prepare an updated seismic study. Not surprisingly, PG&E’s researchers found that the aging facility could withstand any earthquake the local faults could generate. This is, of course, the same utility that assured customers its naturalgas lines were safe, until one blew up in San Bruno, killing eight people. On Aug. 25, the environmental group Friends of the Earth went public with a report by Dr. Michael Peck, former senior resident inspector at Diablo Canyon for the NRC. Peck asserts that three of the nearby faults are capable of generating quakes stronger than the reactors were designed to withstand. Diablo Canyon should be shut down until PG&E can prove the reactors are safe, he insists. There are a half-million people living within 50 miles of the plant, millions more to the south. The danger is too great. Besides, it’s time to replace nuclear power with safe, sustainable power like solar and wind. Ω