Massachusetts Citizens Against the Death Penalty |
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Founded
in 1928, MCADP is the oldest active anti-death penalty organization
in the United States.
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Detail of Bartolomeo Vanzetti and Nicola Sacco from the cartoon of a mural by Ben Shahn © Estate of Ben Shahn /Licensed by VAGA, New York, NY |
Fall 2002 Newletter
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| Lou Jones’s book of death row images, Final Exposure, was published in 1996 by Northeastern University press. |
Concerned
citizens from several communities north of Boston had been meeting for
over a year, organizing with an intent of aligning with MCADP. Presently,
active members come from Reading, Wakefield, Melrose, and Beverly, with
people from several other towns expressing new interest in joining the
expanding chapter.
The
Boston North Chapter will be planning several programs during the coming
year, designed to educate public opinion against the death penalty.
Anyone living in towns north of Boston is invited to participate. Those
interested in knowing more about the Boston North Chapter can email
or call Horace Seldon at 781-245-5789.
Hampden
County Chapter
This August
23 marked the 75th anniversary of the executions of Nicola Sacco and
Bartolomeo Vanzetti in the Commonwealth and the 10th annual Sacco Vanzetti
memorial event sponsored by the Hampton County Chapter of MCADP. The
event in Springfield was attended by more than 100 people.
The afternoon
program featured folksinger-activists Charlie King and Karen Brandow,
who conducted a Sacco & Vanzetti workshop at Western New England
College School of Law. The presentation documented Sacco & Vanzetti’s
ordeal by sharing the tragic American experience of these two immigrants
through song, photographs, poetry, and letters.
Later King
& Brandow presented an extended version of the program at Bishop
Marshall Center, entitled Remembering Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti.
Their strong performance was rewarded with a standing ovation.
Our greatest
honor this year was hosting Robert Curley. The violent death of his
young son in 1997 nearly brought the death penalty back to Massachusetts.
Curley, an unassuming man, spoke briefly and simply. After the trial
of his son’s murderers, he met an unthinkable challenge when he
returned to his opposition to the death penalty. He is the picture of
human grace.
Media attention
was heavy this year. Emails, calls and releases garnered much of the
necessary coverage, but some media went the extra mile with one local
TV station staying on for much of the evening, broadcasting live interviews
with organizers on the half hour.
The case
of Sacco & Vanzetti, as members of a despised minority of their
day, stands as a classic example of the injustice inherent in the application
of the death penalty. Their arrest and trial nearly spanned the 1920s,
America’s Red Scare period. In 1920, US Attorney General A. Mitchell
Palmer ordered all foreign radicals rounded up for deportation. Reactionary,
isolationist conditions in America that led to Sacco & Vanzetti’s
executions resonate strongly since the September 11th attacks. Hampden
County members, as well as King & Brandow, discussed the current
erosion of civil liberties, expanded profiling, and new definitions
of what constitutes a threatto national security.
MCADP’s Hampden County Chapter is active year-round and meets the
first Thursday of every month in Springfield; for information call Saul
Finestone at (413) 567-3451 or email him at CAJOWL66@aol.com.
JOIN
A CHAPTER!
(or start one!)
You are
the power that makes us effective. Members help us in electing anti-death
penalty candidates as well as persuading elected officials to vote with
us.
We must keep Massachusetts among the handful of states opposing the
death penalty!
If you’d
like to join a chapter contact:
- Boston
North
Horace Seldon
781-245-5789 - Bristol
County
Rev. Susan Lee
508-678-5118
- Hampton
County
Saul Finestone
413-567-3451
CAJOWL66@aol.com
- Worcester
Ron Madnick
508-752-5363
wcaclum@earthlink.com
or, if you would like to start a chapter in your area we would be pleased to help – please contact us at
617-523-3951 or email mcadp@channel1.com.