Newspapers / University of North Carolina … / Sept. 28, 2011, edition 1 / Page 14
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14 I The Blue Banner I 92S20U Death penalty should not be the answer Chris Fish cafch@unca.edu Staff Writer I was 10 years old when my uncle was mur dered. It was my sister’s birthday when we received the call from my grandfather. I was home alone and I couldn’t get to the phone in time. The answer ing machine intercepted the call and I heard the sound of a frail man pleading for us to call him back. Then everything changed. I could hear the sounds of a helicopter flying low over my house, shaking the frame as if the entire structure would soon collapse. The man who killed my uncle proceeded to have a shoot-out with the police less than a mile from my home. Looking back on it now, it was all too cinematic. After years of court proce dures, the man who killed my uncle was sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole. At the time, I wanted him 'dead. I wanted him taken off this planet. I wanted him to suffer the same ill-fate my uncle, the father of an 8-year-old, experienced. I thought the only way to get proper justice was for the murderer to be sentenced to death. I remember feeling Jaded by the conviction. I had been blinded by pain. Over the years, I came to realize the death of this man would not change what hap pened. Killing him would not bring back my uncle. Wanting him dead made me no different from him. We are a nation built on emotion. The United States has combated the over-sen tencing and over-population of prisons for years. ; We are the world’s leading Jailer. According to the U.S. Cen sus Bureau, the United States has less than five percent of the world’s population, but we have 23 percent of the world’s prison population. How do you solve an over crowded system? You kill. In Europe, capital punish ment is considered bar baric and something only a primitive society would still institute. Strong believers in the death penalty say lifetime imprison ment would be too expensive. But, according to the California Commission on the Fair Administration of Justice, the annual cost of the prison system with a death penalty is $232.7 million per year versus a system of lifetime incarcera tion, which is $ 11.5 million. Killing is expensive. According to Amnesty USA, since 1973 more than 130 people have been released from death rows throughout the country upon finding evidence of wrongful con victions. In 2003 alone, 10 wrongfully convicted de fendants were released from death row. Killing is erroneous. U.S. Supreme Court Justice Harry Blackmun said, “Twen ty years have passed since this Court declared that the death penalty must be fairly, and, with reasonable consistency, or not at all, and, despite the effort of the states and courts to devise legal formulas and procedural rules to meet this daunting challenge, the death penalty remains fraught with arbitrariness, discrimination, caprice and mistake.” With a bullet, a man ended my uncle’s life. Through the heat of the mo ment and ill conceived think ing, that man will be spending the rest of his life in a cell alone with his thoughts. He will be forever haunted by that bullet. Students found guilty for crime of excercising free speech rights Amarra Ghani aghanis@unca.edu - Staff Writer Last year, Israeli Ambassa dor Michael Oren spoke at the University of California at Irvine. A group of Muslim students, better known as the “Irvine 11,” who attended the event used their voices to address and object to the Israeli occupation of the West Bank border in Gaza, Palestine. Ten of the 11 students went to court last Fri day only to be told their First Amendment right did not matter. What was their crime? Freedom of speech. The students who attended the speech were part of the school’s Muslim Student Union. During Oren’s speech, one-by-one each student of the Irvine 11 stood up to yell out his or her objections against the Ambassador, such as, “Michael Oren, propagating murder is not an expression of free speech!” As a police officer removed the student from the room, another one got up and shouted, “You, sir, are an accomplice to genocide!” This case should have been handled within the university’s border. When I heard the verdict, I honestly thought, “This is a Joke.” This is America, and here in America we have amendments. The very First Amendment reads: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.” Because of this incident, those students will always have to mark ‘yes’ when asked by future employers whether or not they were convicted of a crime. Maybe these students could have orchestrated a challenging question and answer with Oren or stood outside with protest signs, but they didn’t. They chose to speak freely, something the United States advocates, or so our Constitution implies. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict has always been a hot topic. Those who have some knowl edge on the subject know unless you really get out there and say something, no one will hear you, and this was the best way to ensure their voices would be heard. The students had no more than eight seconds to vocalize their opinions before they peacefully left with police officers who were escorting each student out of the room. The university believed the Muslim Student Union conspired the disruptions, thus suspend ing the organization for a quarter and placing it on two years of probation. Mission accom plished. So basically, because the students chose to protest during Oren’s speech, they are being punished. They are being punished for having thoughts and opinions on a very heavy issue surrounding this country and its people. These 11 students gave a damn about politics, showcased leadership skills, portrayed a sense of courage and their reward is potential time in Jail. Rep. Joe Wilson yelled out “You lie!” dur ing Obama’s health care speech and the world didn’t stop. In fact the speech went on. Maybe in the ‘60s I would believe this obscu rity to be true, but this is 2011. If Oren doesn’t want to hear the other side of the story then he shouldn’t hold such a position. We have college students who are caught doing heinous acts, such as underage drinking, hazing and abusing drugs, but that information is disclosed and does not make headlines. Students interrupt a speech about supposedly how “well” the U.S. is working with the conflict between Palestine and Israel by informing the Ambassador some people think his country’s polices are unjust and they become criminals. They may have been rude to Oren, but they did not break any laws. I refuse to believe I live in a country where freedom of speech really means stay silent because it’s more polite. Would the situation have gone this far had the students been non-Muslims speaking against the Israeli Ambassador? It’s a sad day when racism is not combated by the Constitution. If we start throwing every college student in Jail for having an opinion, we are headed towards the opposite direction. Those who have chosen to and have the op portunity to get an education are the next leaders of the world. We are the next generation, the future, and we will not sit back and let injustice be slapped in our faces because the invisible book of manners tells us it’s unacceptable to be loud. I salute the Irvine 11, and respect those who want change and actually do something about it. No voice is too small, and no activism should be unnoticed. their own lives. If the constitution cannot protect the rights of the people, it’s hard to say what will.
University of North Carolina at Asheville Student Newspaper
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Sept. 28, 2011, edition 1
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