|
The
Michigan Socialist | Opinion | Commentary
A personal affront
 |
Martin
Schreader
Editor, the Michigan
Socialist |
LAST MONTH, a federal jury in Michigan was
given a horrific charge; they were asked to consider giving
the death penalty to John Bass, a convicted murderer and drug
dealer.
Bass was the leader of the underground
capitalist corporation (known as a "street gang") that went by
the name, "Dawg Pound." He was convicted of importing and
selling cocaine, and killing a security guard (known as a "hit
man") for another underground capitalist entity that had
killed Bass' half brother in 1996.
While the crimes associated with Bass'
conviction are bad enough, it is the fate he possibly faced
that was a bigger affront to the decency of all residents of
Michigan.
The State of Michigan has an historical
distinction of which it should be proud: it was the first
modern government in the world, and the first state in the
Union, to abolish the death penalty in all cases except
treason.
When Michigan became a state in 1837, its
initial constitution had allowed for capital punishment. In
1843, Michigan sentenced its first convicted criminal to
death. After he was executed, it was discovered that he was
innocent.
The citizens of the state were shocked and
outraged. They remembered Thomas Jefferson's dictum: better to
let a thousand guilty men go free than execute an innocent
man. Michigan reacted by amending the state constitution in
1846, forever outlawing the death penalty.
Since then, only two people have been
sentenced to death in Michigan; federal juries sentenced both
of them. The last person to be executed in Michigan was
Anthony Chebatoris, who was hanged in 1938 for killing a truck
driver.
But Bass' conviction is not the only one to
happen recently, and it will not be the last. In 2002, a
federal jury in Grand Rapids sentenced Marvin Gabrion to death
for killing a woman in the Manistee National Forest.
In addition, three more members of the "Dawg
Pound" corporation await trial on federal charges that can
bring the death penalty.
This relative flurry of death penalty cases in
Michigan is a result of the federal Attorney General, John
Ashcroft, demanding "consistent" application of the death
penalty, including in the 12 states that have outlawed it.
Previous attorneys general of the United
States shied away from applying it in these states, respecting
the wishes of its citizens.
But Ashcroft, who is known for his support of
fascist organizations like the League of the South/Southern
Party, Council of Conservative Citizens and the "Christian
Reconstruction" movement, has no interest in respecting the
rights of the people of Michigan.
Indeed, this is the man who has been the
biggest proponent of expanding the powers given to him in the
Nazi-esque "USA-PATRIOT Act."
And, yes, the two issues are linked. Ashcroft
and his bosses occupying the White House want to roll back all
socially progressive change that has happened in this country
since the Civil War.
Civil rights (including voting rights and
affirmative action), abolition of the death penalty, the
rights of the accused and social security (unemployment
insurance, old age pension, etc.) -- the Bush regime wants to
abridge, curtail and/or eliminate all of these.
Opposition to the drive to eliminate these
basic reforms should be the cause of all progressive-minded
people, not just Socialists.
Every citizen of Michigan, especially the
millions of working people in the state, need to organize and
express their opposition to this attack on our rights through
mass meetings, protests in front of the federal building and,
given the upcoming election season, putting in office as many
Socialist and radical candidates as
possible. | 
