OPINION/ FORUM
Chronicle
Ernest H. Pitt Pubii-Jier Co-Founder
Elaine Pitt Business Manager
Michael A. Pitt Marketing
T. KEVIN Walker Managing Editor
Pardon for
Joyner's kin just
tip of iceberg
Diann
Rust-Terry
Guest
Columnist
When news came in mid
October that national morn
ing talk show personality
Tom Joyner's great-uncles
were posthumously par
doned in South Carolina for
a murder they didn't com
mit, I was elated and sad
dened all at once - elated
that justice was finally
served* and saddened that
his great-uncles and their
families did not experience
this justice.
Joyner's great-Uncles,
African-American landown
ers Thomas and Meeks
Griffin, died in the electric
chair in 1915, convicted by
a jury for the 1913 murder
of a 73-year-old South
Carolina Confederate Army
veteran. They were only
given three days to prepare
and present their case.
Another man implicated the
Griffins and two other men
to spare his own life, but
later admitted to a detective
that the Griffins and the oth
ers were innocent.
The Griffins' case is all
too similar to what takes
place today in 21st Century
America with respect to
innocent people on death
row. A disproportionate
number of death row prison
ers are people of color and
poor people. Racial bias in
sentencing; inability to
afford effective legal repre
sentation; and prosecutorial
and police misconduct are
among the reasons for their
presence on death row.
Since 1973, 138 people - 71
of whom are African
American - have been exon
erated from death row due to
new information that freed
them. >
In our 2007 report,
"Innocent and Executed,"
the National Coalition to
Abolish the Death Penalty
(NCADP) highlighted the
cases of four such men
whose guilt was in doubt:
Carlos de Luna, Ruben
Cantu, Larry Griffin (no
relation to Joyner's great
uncles), and Cameron Todd
Willingham. The public is
paying considerable atten
tion to the Willingham case,
due to a recent New Yorker
article and a much-criticized
move by the Governor of
Texas to bury an official
report confirming his inno
cence.
Willingham was execut
ed in 2004 for setting the
fire that destroyed his house
and killed his three children.
But a new report by nation
ally renowned fire expert
Craig Beyler, commissioned
by the State of Texas, says
the evidence used to convict
Willingham was worthless,
and the fire was accidental.
The Texas Forensic Science
Tom Joyner
Commission scheduled a
hearing , this September to
review the report, but days
before the hearing,
Governor Rick Perry
removed and replaced four
Commissioners before the
review could take place, and
the hearing has been post
poned indefinitely.
In response, NCADP has
stepped up its new cam
paign, "Shouting from the
Rooftops" to increase public
attention to Willingham's
case and the issue of wrong
ful convictions and execu
tions. We are "Shouting"
because U.S. Supreme Court
Justice Antonin Scalia wrote
in 2006 that there is not "a
single case ... that a person
was executed for a crime he
did not commit. Scalia
challenged advocates, say
ing that if there were such a
case, "we would not have to
hunt for it; the innocent's
name would be shouted
from the rooftops."
\1 71 4-. ' ? ?
wnaiever une s views on
capital punishment are, we
can all agree that executing
innocent people violates our
shared American values. So
1 hope that you join our
"Shouting from the
Rooftops" campaign. Visit
the campaign Web site and
get more information at
http://www.shoutingfromthe
rooftops.org. There, you
can share Willingham's
story with friends, and write
a letter to the editor of your
local newspaper. We are also
urging you to make a short
video, where you shout from
the rooftop about those who
were innocent and
executed.
Although it's too late to
saVe the Griffins and
Willingham, we can all
shout from the rooftops, lit
erally and figuratively, to
abolish the death penalty,
and prevent more such cases
from happening again.
Diann Rust-Tierney is
executive director of the
National Coalition to
Abolish the Death Penalty.
D\0 W
~TV?S
v^nesr
"W3TT
Q=M PV*=*4e^
-vo
c^tt-ceasf5"
kKK
<*?a? ilSty-zfr. fL^
*h++i |-^/0 krt^M <:*+*? ^
Tests were an injustice
Reynita
McMillan
Guest
Columnist
I
This piece is regarding the
state's recent decision to do
away with its controversial
competency test graduation
requirement. Those who were
denied diplomas for failing
the tests, will now be eligible
to receive them.
I am writing this letter to
celebrate with the graduates
who were finally able to claim
their high school diplomas
after one year, 10 years, 20
years, or even 28 years with
out this valuable piece of
paper. I applaud those who
voted to pass the Senate bill
that set these students free
from this bondage. Special
thanks go to all the parents,
students and community lead
ers who met all summer with
families about this issue: Rev.
Dr. John Mendez, Rev. Dr.
Felecia Piggott-Long and the
members of Emmanuel
Baptist Church; Rev. Dr.
Carlton Eversley and the edu
cation group that met at
Dellabrook Presbyterian
Church; Mrs. Lisa Harris of
Guilford County and the other
parent supporters in
Greensboro.
According to recent news
articles in The Chronicle,
some of the students who were
denied a diploma in 2009 had
very good grades. Also, many
of them only needed one or
two points to pass only one of
the competency tests. How
have they managed to survive
these years of injustice?
Fortunately, some students
were able to pass these tests
the first time they took them.
However, if a student did not
pass the test in the eighth
grade, there was very little
help for that student in high
school, because their new
teachers did not have a record
of their strengths and weak
nesses on the tests. What is
more, the high school teachers
have never seen the compe
tency tests. How unfair it was
for these students to be left in
the dark about what they were
doing correctly or incorrectly
on the competency tests,
because there was no technol
ogy that could identify their
strengths and weakness on the
test. Their parents were not
allowed to see their tests, nor
were their teachers allowed to
see them. How could they
improve, except by the luck of
the draw?
1 am sure that many of
these students have had doors
shut in their faces. For exam
ple, they were turned away
from every state university
they applied to, even though
they may have had a 3.5 GPA,
because the students did not
pass one of the state tests. All
the students learned from this
ordeal is low self esteem and
helplessness. Because there
was no way to identify their
strengths and weaknesses, it
was difficult to offer them
focused remediation on the
skills they lacked. All they
could do is study and keep
taking the test over and over
and over, but often having the
same result, or even the exact
same score.
Twenty-eight years is a
lifetime. Some of these stu
dents have been able to find
the job they wanted and have
been unable to accept scholar
ships and admission from the
state universities, even those
who had a 3.5 GPA had to get
a GED and then go onto col
lege. Many of them had taken
rigorous classes and worked
hard to walk across the stage
with honors. Others went to
technical school and trans
ferred to a college later, after
giving up scholarships they
could have had.
The competency tests have
been a horror that has caused
some of the best teachers to
leave the classroom because
of stress, and many of the stu
dents have dropped out rather
than receiving a certificate of
attendance after 1 2 long years
of struggle. They simply lost
hope of making it through.
I'm glad that the Department
of Public Instruction now
offers more information to
students when they take their
tests. They now have technol
ogy that helps to identify stu
dent's strengths and weak
nesses. I am so glad they have
decided to hear the voices of
the children. One member of
my church looked into his
mother's eyes and asked,
"Momma, I could not pass
that test, but do you still love
me?" That broke my heart.
Our children are your future,
and I am so glad that this test
is no longer stopping those
who strive to be the best they
can be.
Reynita Marcia McMillan
is a freshman at Salem
College.
Better Off Than a Year Ago?
Julianne
Malveaux
Guest
Columnist
President Ronald Reagan
had his flaws, but he certainly
could turn a phrase. In the
1980 Presidential campaign,
he asked a question that has
resonated in campaigns ever
since. "Are you better off than
you were four years ago?" the
former California governor
asked in his race against
Democratic President Jimmy
Carter. The people answered
with a resounding "no," and
Ronald Reagan was elected.
The question has been
asked in every election since,
but President Barack Obama
spun it cleverly in the 2008
election, when he said "At the
rate you are going, you will
have to ask, 'Are you better
off than you were four weeks
ago?'" And so, just one year
ago, in a stunning moment of
history, the former Illinois
Senator Barack Obama was
elected the 44th President of
the United States.
i rememoer mat election
night, November 4, 2008, as if
it were yesterday. I remember
the tears trickling down the
cheeks of Rev. Jesse Jackson
at that cold park in Chicago. I
remember the exuberance of
some of the commentators as
the numbers came in. It was
n't even close, really, and all
of us who were afraid to
believe in the possibility of an
African American president
were chastened and excited.
Many of us remain excited at
this Presidency, even as
Obama's ratings drop to
something around 53 percent
in late October (from a high of
62 percent in April). The
White House Photo
President Barack Obama, First Lady Michelle Obama and
First Grandmother Marian Robinson prepare to give out
Halloween treats to school children.
drops are understandable.
President Obama presides
over the worst economic con
ditions in 70 years, with
unemployment rates at all
time highs and consumer con
fidence at all time lows. He
has ambitiously tackled some
of the most tractable policy
challenges, including, credit
reform and health care reform,
even as he has had to manage
military action in Afghanistan
and Iraq and the declining
popularity of our nation in the
world (Nobel Peace Prize
notwithstanding). And. our
President has had to manage
the hostility of the tea party
Republicans, whose disre
spectful and obnoxious behav
ior has changed the tone of
civic discourse and introduced
an acceptable racism into
what might otherwise be rea
sonable criticism about policy
matters.
Challenges notwithstand
ing, there is a question that
must be answered: Are the
American people better off
now than we were a year ago?
The answer is an ambiguous
"Yes." We are better off for
the possibility of health care
reform. We are better off for
the possibility of credit card
and banking reform. We are
better off, thanks to a stimulus
that has saved some jobs and
pumped some money into the
economy. We are better off to
the extent that the federal gov
ernment is attempting to help
with the foreclosure situation.
In terms of the labor mar
ket, we are emphatically not
better off. The unemployment
rate was 8.1 percent when
President Obama was sworn
in on January 20. It is 9.8 per
cent now. African Americans
had official unemployment
rates of 13.4 percent last
January; now. the rate is 15.4,
and those are only the official
rates.
The Bureau of Labor
Statistics says that it estimates
overall unemployment as high
as 17 percent. Using the same
formula, the African American
unemployment rate is 26.7
percent, a Depression-era
rate. If you are a renter who is
also jobless, you probably
have not seen any positive
impact of the public policy
that president Obama is
attempting. Are you better off
than you were a year ago? It
depends on where you stand
on the economic totem pole.
Is it too soon for us to have
this conversation? After all,
President Obama absolutely
inherited an untenable eco
nomic situation. He has
approached it with energy and
vigor, championing stimulus
packages and counting on
stimulus money to trickle
down to workers. My only
criticism is that there are
workers who would like to
have the same priority that
Wall Street and the bankers
do. A federal employment
program would make all the
difference in the world for
people at' the bottom. An
unemployment rate of 9.8 per
cent is all too high, and the
cost of living with it is way
too much.
Indeed, it is not likely that
our economy can recover
without a jobs program.
People won't spend until they ?
feel secure about their eco
nomic futures. We are moving
into the holiday spending sea
son, and what people spend in
the next two months will make
the difference between profits
and losses for millions of
retailers.
Un election night a year
ago, our nation might have
gone in another direction. Are
we better off than we were a
year ago? For sure. But we'd
be even better still if we could
put American back to work.
Julianne Malveaux is pres
ident of Bennett College for
Women.