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"Missouri’s GOP Governor, Mike Parsons, and Republican Attorney General, Andrew Bailey, just presided over a modern day lynching. The extremist conservative majority on the Supreme Court gave them extra rope at the last second just for good measure in a 6-3 decision rejecting his request to delay the execution. So much for being pro-life."

~ Wajaat Ali

#ProLife #Republicans #Missouri #CapitalPunishment #DeathPenalty #MarcellusWilliams
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https://thelefthook.substack.com/p/a-modern-day-lynching-in-missouri

Mark Mansour hits the nail on the head:

"Racism has been part of the national identity since the beginning

Marcellus Williams was executed yesterday despite the pleas of millions. Personally, I believe he would not have been executed if all the facts were the same, save that he was a white man."

#MarcellusWilliams #ProLife #Republicans #Missouri #CapitalPunishment #DeathPenalty #racism
/4

https://mmansour.substack.com/p/americas-curse

@Beachbum For sure.

@the5thColumnist I understand and share your outrage. I'm not sure a scattershot approach condemning everyone in a large, diverse nation is helpful. I don't say that every Canadian is responsible for the horrors inflicted in First Nations children in boarding schools. That would be radically unfair and, frankly, unhelpful. That said, the US has miles and miles to do in confronting its history of toxic racism — and a lot of us know that and work to that end.

@wdlindsy

There are some things we do share a collective responsibility for, even if we do not bear a personal responsibility.

@the5thColumnist I don't in the least deny collective responsibility, the burden of history. What I'm saying is that it seems unhelpful to me — though I understand the outrage and feel it myself — to lambast an entire nation in that way. I know many people who risk much to work against what just happened in Missouri, including my friend Wendell Berry, who, as a pastor, took part in a protest against the death penalty and then got censured by my state's Supreme Court for doing so as a judge.

@wdlindsy

I think the case being so obviously wrong with so little room to say it was an honest mistake makes people question how it could happen, how does the country let a system that allows this to continue.

And it seems to come down to we know it's wrong but it doesn't affect us so we don't care enough to change it.

And I recognize there are many individuals doing everything they can to try do do that.

@the5thColumnist I agree, obviously. I grew up in and still live in the US South, with all the baggage, heritage-wise, of most white Southerners — a history of slaveholding ancestors, e.g. I have seen atrocious miscarriage of justice all my life when Black citizens are targeted. The problem is obviously knowing what to do, when one feels (and is, in fact) relatively powerless. Giving up and giving in is not an option. Fighting in whatever way possible is obviously imperative.

/1

@the5thColumnist I suspect I'm far from the only person who has had these experiences — and I speak from a position of white male privilege, whereas I know people and have long observed people who are right in the center of the target. So it's imperative I learn from them and how they handle longstanding oppression and violence. My sense is that at the current moment, it's really important for many different types of people working for justice stand together and not succumb to angry cynicism. /2

@fmhilton Yes, sounds right to me.