Hate and intolerance are not constrained by time, place or pre
suppositions. I
am as intolerant as the next man I need the guidance of just laws equally
and
fairly applied by an educated and informed judiciary coupled with the
certainty that the laws will be equally applied to guide me.
Death penalty advocates say that Judicial Murder is a deterrent to murder,
and maybe it is in some respects. Henry Hays' electrocution was a sad
commentary that in
6 June, 1997 when he was Judicial Murdered for murdering another man,
solely because of the colour of his skin.. It was the first
time a white man had been executed for a crime against an black man in
American since 1913.
George Henry White, the last former slave to serve in the American Congress
and the only black in the American House of Representatives, at the time,
proposed a bill in January, 1901 that would have made lynching of American
citizens a federal crime. He argued that any person participating actively
in or acting as an accessory in a lynching should be convicted of treason.
The bill was defeated with ease.
Stanley mentions the preparations for the 11 September remembrance. We
grieve for the victims of the unspeakable act of 11 September 2001. We
remember the valour and sacrifice of the rescuers. We must be angry and
intolerant with the perpetrators of this foul deed. America suffered a
brutal insane attack as terrorists found that the modern airliner, once
again, is the Achilles heel of open democratic societies. Our anger must be
tempered by respect for the law. Our sorrow should be unbounded but we need
anger now! If we continue to allow iniquity it is because we are not angry
enough. Twelve angry highlanders and a bagpipe make a rebellion.
Our legal history is a record of oscillations. At one time private right is
the chief concern of the citizens at another the prevention of chaos in our
societies. There is a constant threat to all of our rights. Rights such as
freedom of thought and expression, immunity for accused persons, from
arbitrary detention and from cruel and abusive treatment. The
rights are always endangered when "reasons of state" have been thought to
require it. We are in special danger of forgetting men's rights in the face
of dangers. In parts of the world the safeguards of individual rights have
been thrown down out and no one is safe from prosecution secret, arbitrary,
and irresponsible. "Reasons of state" have been argued in the past for just
such abdominal distortions.
We must create a spark before democracy can make a fire and justice is lit,
We must be ready to be consumed by the fire of our own democratic
principals. All men are created equal.All men are entitled to equal
protection of the law. The world is a dangerous place to live, not because
of evil, but because of apathy. Kill apathy kill evil.
Respect democratic principals.
Vote! Complaint! Voice your opinion. To have the most powerful leader in the
world elected by less that 25 % of his own eligible voters and less than
0.01% of the world's population is obscene.
Justice has never been in greater jeopardy from government. We should
clearly see this danger and guard against it. We cannot solve the problem by
using the same kind of thinking we used when we created this danger. Justice
and our rights cannot be maintained and preserved if we are not constantly
on our guard. An appreciation of what rights have meant in the past ought to
give us a clearer apprehension of what they should mean now, and a knowledge
of the kinds of danger that have threatened our rights in earlier times
should show us where to look for present enemies of our welfare and how to
oppose them when found. A page of history may be worth a book of Law.
Justice is essential to liberty, and Justice should be reason and obsession
of the law, it is the law that must be maintained against arbitrary will. It
is indispensable to protect the idea that every man is equal before the law.
Briton, non-Briton, American, non-American black man, white man Christian,
non-Christian, neither terrorism nor equality before law stops at the
arbitrary political border of the modern state. It is tyranny to selectively
apply the law or to decide that the law applies to some but the law's
principals are not equal for all. We must know that national boundaries and
governments cannot dent our unity with other of our species, regardless of
their political persuasions.
Today, in the cathedral of my heart, a candle burns brightly for those who
have suffered and died in the World Trade Centre. The flame of that candle
is fed by the oxygen of belief that America is still that wondrous nation
resolute and strong "under God, with liberty and justice for all."
Sinclair
----- Original Message -----
From: "Stanley St. Clair" <srstclair@alltel.net>
To: <sinclair@quarterman.org>
Sent: Monday, September 09, 2002 12:18 AM
Subject: Re: Sinclair babes shipped as slaves & 9-11
> I tend to agree with Annie on this matter. It is never civil to be cruel.
> Just because it is in one's nature, or just because the attitudes of the
age
> are acceptable toward violence or prejudice does not make it right.
>
[ Excess quotations omitted. ]
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