Local News
Letter to the Editor: Expose Social Injustice
Published: October 16, 2008
To the Editor:
The political views represented in two letters and Lorraine Murray’s book review (The Georgia Bulletin, Oct. 2), the letters focusing exclusively on abortion and Murray’s predominantly, are grossly one-sided. As Murray mentions the courage in the New Orleans archbishop’s support of desegregation, I recall that Louisiana has the highest incarceration rate, nearly quadruple that of New Hampshire, in our country, the nation with the highest incarceration rates in the world: 1 in 100 adults is in prison, one in 15 black adults, as is one in nine black men between the ages of 20 and 34. These figures and the moral peril of exclusively focusing on abortion are horrific.
It is inaccurate for one reader to present a list of Republicans, headed by President Bush, as pro-life supporters while they favor the death penalty. The president was not pro-life when he signed off on 152 executions as governor, not granting reprieves in 131 consecutive cases. A Chicago Tribune study shows that, in one-third of the Texas cases, lawyers representing the defendants were either subsequently disbarred or sanctioned. In 40 cases, the defense lawyers presented no evidence at all or only one witness in the sentencing.
The two letters cite the pro-life stand of Sen. McCain, yet he favors extending the death penalty and opposes the use of racial statistics in death penalty cases showing that the executed are disproportionately black.
Please have the courage to expose the social injustice in the country and the moral hazard of ignoring the issues other than abortion.
George Stewart, Roswell
