Lincoln Anthony Blades explains how even a man who did a horrible thing can be right about the horrors of our prison-industrial system.
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In exactly two weeks, Ray Jasper will be dead*. On Wednesday, March 19, the Texas death row inmate is scheduled to be put to death, but before he is violently taken from this Earth, he wrote an impassioned letter that is 100 percent truth, even though he is 100 percent wrong about his self-perception.
When I read Jasper’s letter, his eloquence and insight on the treatment that people of color receive in the education and penal system was incredibly illuminating. He not only captured the destructive nature of systemic prejudice, but he also accurately explained how our school systems fail our children before they even think of committing their first crime. The parts of his essay that stood out the most were:
-”I know the average person isn’t paying attention to all the laws constantly being passed by state & federal legislation. People are more focused on their jobs, raising kids and trying to find entertainment in between time. The thing is, laws are being changed right and left.”
– “Under the 13th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution all prisoners in America are considered slaves. We look at slavery like its a thing of the past, but you can go to any penitentiary in this nation and you will see slavery. People need to know that when they sit on trial juries and sentence people to prison time that they are sentencing them to slavery.”
– “I think prison sentences have gotten way out of hand. People are getting life sentences for aggravated crimes where no violence had occurred. I know a man who was 24 years old and received 160 years in prison for two aggravated robberies where less that $500 was stole and no violence took place.”
– “The other side of the coin is there are those in the corporate world making money off prisoners, so the longer they’re in prison, the more money is being made. It’s not about crime & punishment, it’s about crime & profit. Prison is a billion dollar industry.”
– “How can those that invest in prisons make money if people have sentences that will allow them to return to free society? If people were being rehabilitated and sent back into the cities, who would work for these corporations?”
Last Sunday, we collectively rejoiced at seeing 12 Years A Slave win Best Picture at The Oscars, believing that our history had finally received the critical mass and vindication it truly deserved. Yet while we were popping champagne, Florida State Attorney Angela Corey has decided to seek to triple Marissa Alexander‘s original prison sentence from 20 to 60 years for firing warning shots at her abusive husband. Alexander is not just facing an unjust system, she is facing a lifetime of forced slavery by a system that has determined she is worth more as a cog in the prison industrial complex, than a free citizen with the agency to live life on her own terms. And it’s sentences like hers that should make Black people extremely concerned about capital punishment. In a country where Blacks are exclusively targeted by the police based on our skin color, given stiffer penalties than other races for the same crimes, and can often be sentenced for crimes we’ve never committed, it’s hard to support killing someone in the name of the same legal system designed to oppress us.
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But here’s the problem with Ray Jasper’s letter: It was written by Ray Jasper.
For those of you who don’t know, the reason Jasper is in jail is because he murdered a studio engineer in what appears to be a cold, calculated, premeditated attack. One night, Jasper set up a recording session in victim David Alejandro’s recording studio. Jasper, who was a teenager at the time, colluded with some other men to set up Alejandro. When Alejandro walked into the studio, Jasper came up behind him and slit his throat. Alejandro was still alive after Jasper cut his throat, so Jasper’s associate finished him off by stabbing him in the gut while Jasper held him down. The men threw a black sheet over Alejandro’s dead body and raided the studio for its estimated $30,000 worth of equipment. Jasper’s defense during the trial was that he shouldn’t receive the death penalty because slitting Alejandro’s throat didn’t cause his death.
This is where the prison industrial debate hits a hard brick wall when minorities attempt to explain its effects to those with white privilege. It’s hard for many people to see the error of the legal system when the spokesman is someone we can all agree deserves to be in prison. The fact that Jasper is locked up is actually a testament to the occasional effectiveness of the justice system, because he brutally slaughtered an innocent man. While Jasper’s letter poetically deconstructs the racism in our legal system, he skillfully maneuvers around a genuine apology. He offers no remorse for the spirit and the family of David Alejandro, yet manages to wistfully reflect on not being able to see his daughter grow.
This is why Jasper is 100 percent right and 100 percent wrong simultaneously. His comments shouldn’t be refuted, yet his position in prison shouldn’t be described as one of the many miscarriages of justice that he mentions in his essay. The real question remains: Should we support the death penalty in a society where real evil exists, just as strongly as real miscarriages of justice, aimed predominantly at people of color?
*This article was first published on March 5,2014 on UPTOWN Magazine
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Lincoln Anthony Blades blogs daily on his site ThisIsYourConscience.com, he’s an author of the book “You’re Not A Victim, You’re A Volunteer” and a weekly contributor for UPTOWN Magazine. He can be reached via Twitter @lincolnablades and on Facebook at This Is Your Conscience.
KILL the KILLERS…if anything PRISON is TOO soft…all these violent offenders…which includes ROBBERY should be put at hard labor…the liberal left did away with that and mental hospitals in the name of progressivism…thats the problem…Stop the nonsense and EXPAND the DP to all states NOW
@DeanO
Go crawl back into your caveman hole already. We’re out of the 40s and 50s. Really, I just can’t wait for older generations to just die from age out so we don’t have to deal with such backwards thinking.
Elephant in the room time again.
Did you know that the disparity between the sentences of white vs blacks is actually much smaller than the dispartiy between men and women.
http://www.sagepub.com/upm-data/27008_4.pdf
I’ve known several individuals who have served time in prison; with 2 million Americans behind bars, 1 in 3 of whom are black men, that’s hardly unbelievable these days. They all seem to suffer, to some degree, denial of responsibility for the poor decisions that led them right into the hands of the judicial system. Of course right-leaning journalism leads you to think Jasper is feigning complete innocence. The significant point is, he’s actually urging American citizens to take a cold, hard look at the reality of how American justice is doled out — inconsistently, unfairly and largely based on… Read more »
This answer is easy. there should be no support for the death penalty because mistakes happen. I refuse to agree that it is acceptable for society to murder(MURDER) 1 innocent person in the effort of killing 99 guilty people. Even one in 1000. When you support the death penalty the blood of the innocent people (who WILL be put to death because the world and especially justice is not perfect) is collectively on the hands of its supporters. Don’t pretend that you haven’t, essentially, stated that you don’t care if innocent people die as long as guilty people do too.… Read more »
“Why not take it further: …two convictions means they get taken to a room attached to the courthouse and are dead within 30 minutes of the second jury verdict.”
uh… because juries/prosecutors/cops/witnesses get shit wrong (or are lazy, or biased, or ignorant). ALL. THE. TIME. there’s no “my bad” once their dead and we discover they weren’t actually guilty of that second felony. seriously. smdh.
Interesting article. Reminds me of the movie Dead Man Walking, although that was about capital punishment specifically, it made you face the guilty prisoner’s humanity. One little thing, though. I do believe that black people face unfair imprisonment and harsh sentencing more than white people (in America, at least). And I do believe the educational system fails blacks more than whites. But, we also do imprison white people, and fail poor white people in education, too. So this is one of those issues, like domestic violence, where people get defensive. In the case of domestic violence, articles are often addressing… Read more »
Yes, absolutely support killing killers. Why not take it further: Give people two chances [except for rape and murder], two felony charges, two convictions means they get taken to a room attached to the courthouse and are dead within 30 minutes of the second jury verdict.
America is a very backward country for continuing to have the death penalty.
Only totally brainless people would support the death penalty.