The shame of it all
By Brandon Astor Jones
"Who cares if the bullet that killed the police officer was of a different caliber than Jamal's gun? So what if an NABJ luminary is snuffed out without a fair trial? The NABJ has more important business to attend to." — James Ledbetter, for the Village Voice.
From time to time I plan to share with you in this column other writings that have had a profound effect on me. As an African-American, under a sentence of death in the United States, the disunity I see among some — thankfully not all — African-Americans really disturbs me. The following from the Village Voice, July 11, 1995, by James Ledbetter, really highlights the pain and shame I feel regarding the death penalty. Ledbetter's piece is poignant:
"Say what you will about the National Association of Black Journalists, but do not accuse the organization of excessive loyalty. Last week, the NABJ executive board voted to take no action on the pending execution of Mumia Abu-Jamal. Jamal, an author and Peabody Award-winning radio journalist, headed NABJ's Philadelphia chapter in the early '80s. Although there is strong evidence that he did not commit the murder that landed him on death row, Jamal is scheduled to be electrocuted on August 17. The State of Pennsylvania no doubt has independent reasons for the execution's timing, but the date happens to fall in the middle of the annual NABJ convention, being held this year in Jamal's home town, the city of brotherly love.
"According to two NABJ sources, the organization's president, Washington Post correspondent Dorothy Butler Gilliam, wanted the NABJ to protest the execution, but was voted down by the 17 other officers, almost all working journalists. (Gilliam did not return three calls for comment.) Shelia Stainback, the former WPIX-TV anchor who now hosts a program on CNBC, is an NABJ vice president. She told me she was not present for the vote about Jamal, but explained, 'The question came to us four years ago. The issues then are the same as the issues now: This is not a journalistic discussion.' She said that NABJ does 'not jump on the band wagon' of every criminal case involving a black journalist, noting that NABJ has also taken no position on O.J. Simpson's case, even though he is a prominent black sports journalist. Of course, Simpson is not a few weeks away from death, and also did not head an NABJ chapter, but those factors evidently do not interfere with NABJ's consistency.
"NABJ vice president Jackie Jones of the Philadelphia Daily News, who did not vote, said that Jamal's predicament 'didn't come under the umbrella of what we do, which is to advocate for black journalists in situations that affect their jobs.' (If it's just your life that's affected, you're on your own.) Stainback suggested that other journalistic organizations should be pressured to take up Jamal's case — an excellent point, but the sad reality is that if the group where Jamal was a chapter president does not stand behind him, others are unlikely to follow. Privately, NABJ sources say that Jamal alienated many in the Philly chapter during his initial trial, resisting offers of support and relying exclusively on the radical folks from MOVE. That is regrettable, but hardly a reason to let him fry without comment. Jones said, 'We didn't want to take a position on the death penalty without consulting the membership. There are a lot of people with diverse opinions.' But then she admitted that the board never considered simply issuing a call for a stay of execution or a new trial. What a stirring message that sends to the nation's journalists, black, white, or whatever ..."
To all those readers of this column, especially those who pick it up on the Internet in Australia and England, who have so often asked, "Brandon, how come there are so few African-Americans involved in the struggle against the death penalty in America?", I hope this answers at least some of your very reasonable questions. It isn't as if we are not all aware that there is a decidedly racist aspect to it all.
[The writer is a prisoner on death row in the United States. He is happy to receive letters commenting on his columns. He can be written to at: Brandon Astor Jones, EF-122216, G2-51, GD&CC, PO Box 3877, Jackson, GA 30233, USA.]