Fall 2002 Newletter
Organizing
New Chapters
Last November,
the Worcester Chapter of MCADP hosted a day-long statewide conference
entitled Chapter Development: The Death Penalty in Massachusetts and
in the United States: How Can You Be Involved?
Held at the College of the Holy Cross, Worcester, forty people from
around the state attended.
Representatives
from the four existing chapters described the various ways their chapters
were organized and answered questions from the audience.
Following a networking luncheon, a number of powerful speakers addressed
the gathering.
The Anti-death
Penalty
Legislators' View
State Representatives
Harold Naughton, James Leary, and Robert "Bob" Spellane attended
and commented on their support of anti-death penalty efforts. They talked
about importance of constituents and the power of their influence on
legislators.
In introducing Representative Bob Spellane, Ron Madnick noted the good
news that there were five candidates in Bob's race, both republicans
and democrats, ALL of whom were against the death penalty.
Bob Spellane
related a conversation with then candidate and now State Representative
Leary regarding the death penalty. “One day he was caught
at the door with a constituent for about half an hour. The death penalty
issue came up and they went back and forth, the constituent obviously
for the death penalty. At the end of the conversation, I asked Jimmy
(Rep. Leary) what he thought and he said, ‘I think I got the guy's
vote, believe it or not,’ because he told him what he believed
in and why he though it was important, he spoke from his heart.
“Perhaps
Representative James Leary said it best when he said ‘...grass
roots organizing, getting out there and telling people what it's all
about! Get out there and teach your friends, your relatives, your neighbors,
your cousins, whomever and tell them why you are against the death penalty
and why it is important that they should be as well.’
“Letting
people know the ramifications of this issue is important so, if another
horrible killing takes place and public sentiment flares, we will have
at least done our part by educating people and informing them why they
should oppose the death penalty.
“When I went door to door, people would ask ‘Are you for or
against the death penalty?’ I would say I was against it and I
would pose the question ‘why do you support it?’ and almost
90% responded with not wanting to pay $40,000 a year of tax dollars
to house criminals. We then began to inform them of how much it
cost to kill a prisoner.”
The International
Perspective
Robert
Meeropol, one of the sons of Ethel and Julius Rosenberg, who were executed
in the 1950's for spying for the Soviet Union, is an active opponent
of the death penalty. He spoke to the group about his involvement
on the international level and specifically about his attendance, June
20-23, 2001, at the first global conference against the death penalty,
held at the headquarters at the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France.
Over 500 activists from six continents attended with the 25 heads
of legislative bodies from their respective countries. There are
one hundred and ninety five members in the United Nations of those member
countries, one hundred and five have now abolished capital punishment.
Many countries around the globe view the United States as a great
and civilized nation. Consequently, the use of capital punishment in
the US has the potential of undermining this trend by reinforcing the
belief in other countries that the death penalty is not cruel but rather
a civilized form of punishment.
There is
a possibility that the conference could be held in Massachusetts in
2004. If the Commonwealth has an anti-death penalty Governor at the
helm the likelihood of Massachusetts as the site would be much greater.
Murder
Victims' Families for Reconciliation
Tom Lowenstein,
who was involved with the development of chapters in his former position
as Outreach Director of MCADP and is currently an involved member of
Murder Victim's Families for Reconciliation was the final speaker of
the day.
"I am here because I'm against the death penalty. My dad was murdered
when I was little kid and I got involved against the death penalty through
MCADP. In 1997 when Jeffrey Curley was murdered there was a huge
outcry and Jeff Jacoby wrote in the newspaper that ‘if you do not
support the death penalty you do not care about victims or justice’
and that angered me. I did not believe that I was the only one who had
suffered a loss and still opposed the death penalty.
“The
first day I got involved with the death penalty, I was on Beacon Hill
and I remember Mr. Curley walking around with a police escort along
to visit all the state reps asking them "can you deny me justice
for my son?" Then there were 5 or 6 of us who were against
the death penalty (we did not have a police escort, somehow they thought
we would be safe) and we just walked around that building trying to
go in and tell legislators that there are people who are opposed.
“One
can't overstate the impact of local MCADP Chapters. Rev. Susan Lee started
the Bristol County Chapter around 1999. This was a time, as you will
recall, that we were perilously close to having the death penalty return
to the Commonwealth. The folks from the southern part of the State called
to ask if they were a chapter. In my great wisdom, I said ‘Yes,
congratulations, you are the Bristol County Chapter MCADP.’ Shortly
thereafter, they told us that their membership was a core group of three.
It is at this grass roots level that we really have an impact.
“One
of the new representatives who said he was against the death penalty
and won by only eight votes received thirty phone calls telling him
to vote against the death penalty. We know that twenty phone calls in
some districts is seen as a ground swell. Some elections have a small
turnout and every vote matters. This is so true, it boggles my
mind how much impact one or two people can have on the local level.
When you have an MCADP chapter in your geographic area it makes an enormous
difference.
“I
agree with other anti-death penalty proponents that our challenge is
to find out anything we can about a person to get them to change their
mind.
“People
are mistaken in thinking that all victims' families are for the death
penalty. MVFR is a wonderful resource. I would be happy to come anytime
to speak on this topic and l am not the only one at MVFR who feels that
way. So the offer I want to make today is, just ask and I. or another
member of Murder Victims Families will come anywhere and anytime to
talk to people.
“MVFR's
book, NOT IN OUR NAMES, contains pictures of people who are in my spot,
having lost a loved one and opposing the death penalty. There are a
lot of us in Massachusetts.
“Renny
Cushing's father was murdered in his home. Renny is now the executive
director of Murder Victims Families. George White is from Alabama. He
and his wife were shot, she died in his arms. George was arrested, tried,
convicted and sent to death row for her murder only to be released a
few years later when it turned out to be a wrongful conviction.
“We
can't be complacent. We had a thirty-two vote majority last time and
before that it was seven, and before that it was a tie. Who knows how
September 11 will change things.
“When
Governor Cellucci took Representative Naughton on in 1999, I thought
it was the most extraordinary performance I had ever seen. I remember
seeing him after that and I walked over to him and said, "Hello,
I'm the Political Director of the MCADP," and he said, "Hold
on don't hug me yet, I don't know where I stand. And I replied, "
I'll hug you now and if I can I'll hug you in two years." Surprisingly
enough, even with the threat of my hug, Representative Naughton remained
against the death penalty.
“The question is can we make a moral argument against the death
penalty? If someone comes up to me and asks, ‘Do you really not
want to execute Bin Laden?’ ...I don't think it's black and white.
I don't think you're for the death penalty or against it. I know in
my life MVFR has me thinking a lot about reconciliation. Many members
of the group have been able to forgive the killer of their loved one
but I have not. That is not part of who l am. I envy those people because
I wish I could. I try to, but I may never be able to. But that is not
what it's about. It's not about feeling sorry for people on death row.
The bigger issue is ‘What does it do to us?’ That is the question
we need to ask people.
“Rep.
Naughton asked the governor how much money are we going to pour into
the judicial process when the death penalty is not a deterrent and can
potentially kill innocent people?
“I
meet lots of people they tell me that I would be for the death penalty
if the system were perfect. My answer is, 'No, I would not.' I morally
oppose it and do not want to be like the man who killed my father —
a murderer. That is another message that we need to get across in every
town we can.
“The
U.S. Government is federalizing it and every time they execute someone
in this country they're doing it because they think we want them to.
You either stand up and say ‘I'm against what the government is
doing’ or you accept and, as a result, you're apart of it. We need
to challenge people to ask what the death penalty does to us —
as people.
“l
am so tired of talking about the man who killed my father because I
don't give him a name, I don't care about him, I don't know him, and
that is not why I'm here. I'm here because of us and what we do as a
society. I want to get this message across to people. I have found common
ground with people who seemed very different from me. It is so important
to just get people to peek through the door, to consider a different
outlook and then maybe next time they will be a little bit more sensitive
with other issues.
“I
will close with a story. In 1997 when Jeffrey Curley was killed and
his father was up on Beacon Hill in 1999 and the death penalty bill
came up again, Bud Welsh, a member of MVFR, whose daughter Julie was
killed in the Oklahoma City bombing did a TV show with Bob Curley
while he was in Boston. Bud came up to me afterwards saying that Bob
Curley would change his mind and would be against the death penalty
— he was right."
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