Maid in Georgia
By Keith Boykin, in politics
Tuesday, August 16 2005, 12:08AM
Here's a story to make you question the death penalty. The only woman ever executed in Georgia's electric chair is being granted a posthumous pardon, 60 years after she was executed! And you guessed it, she was black. The woman, a maid named Lena Baker, was put to death in 1945 for killing a white man who she said held her in slavery and threatened her life. Sixty years later, the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles has decided to pardon her, after discovering what they called a "grievous error." Her final words while she sat in the electric chair were, "I am ready to meet my God."
Comments conceal
michaeliv
August 16 2005, 8:17AM
"Culture of Life" "Right to Life"... with the exception of the death penalty, war and abortion doctors.
They have a message that life is precious and sacred. It appears they were only talking about people in a vegatative state, unborn babies and frozen embryos.
Regan DuCasse
August 16 2005, 9:08AM
A Jim Crow era execution of a black woman in the deep south is NOT a case for abolishing the death penalty!!!
I work for the LAPD as a forensic photographer and we must get over this politically correct attitude about modern day criminals and old cases from a different era, not only when scientific evidence gathering, video surveillance were not invented, a more informed public were not avaliable.
We have many tools at our disposal from crime solving. But make no mistake, criminals don't stop being dangerous because they are behind bars.
Considering how savage so many anti gay killings are, you really want such killers to have a life behind bars, where they have the option of correspondence with the outside and even marriage?
Didn't a newly married couple just kill a prison guard so the wife could break her husband out?
The incarcerated are highly motivated to commit more violence, not less.
There are some VERY BAD evil people out there.
Black on black violence has casualties in this country commisserate with any given conflict we're engaged in around the world.
Even this case sounds more like a self defense, battered woman syndrome, than the fact that she didn't commit the murder at all.
In any case, anything prior to 1980 might be suspect, but anytime after those who are in prison deserve to be there and some who are in prison deserve to die.
How many cases have we heard of lately of sex offenders, getting out to re-offend, only this time they murder.
How many people have gone missing, most often you can trace the disappearances to a newly released criminal.
We don't punish ENOUGH. We don't execute ENOUGH.
A good deal of crime is committed over and over by the same people.
The racial, sexual orientation or gender biases in the system should be dealt with on that basis and the law reflect equal punishments for the same crimes.
After what happened in the Michael Jackson and Robert Blake cases, I also think there should be a moritorium on the quality of jurors.
In many recent cases, jurors were incredibly corrupted or just plain stupid.
Terrible people and terrible crimes go unpunished for these reasons too.
Not, and least of all...because someone innocent was accused.
Keith Boykin
August 16 2005, 10:02AM
You're exactly right Regan. This was a battered woman syndrome and she did murder the man, but apparently it was in self-defense because the man enslaved her.
As for the death penalty, the problem is not just that humans are imperfect, which we are, and which leads to the execution of innocent people. And the problem is not just that the death penalty is racially unjust, which it is, according to numerous studies dating back to the 1987 McClesky v. Kemp case. And the problem is not just that the death penalty is not a deterrent, which everyone now understands.
The real problem is that capital punishment is morally wrong. It amounts to killing people who kill people to show that killing people is wrong. The death penalty should be abolished in America, as it is in most of the world.
alicia
August 16 2005, 1:01PM
and as all warriors
she did indeed meet god!...
thanks keith
this article made my day!
love
ab
mr
August 16 2005, 3:14PM
"In any case, anything prior to 1980 might be suspect, but anytime after those who are in prison deserve to be there and some who are in prison deserve to die.
How many cases have we heard of lately of sex offenders, getting out to re-offend, only this time they murder."
The "Central Park Rapists" were just released for a crime comitted in 1989 which further investigation and new evidence has shown that they did not commit. Suspect DNA was ignored because the police used questionable methods to get teenagers to confess to a crime they didn't commit. Under your reasoning these teenagers should have been executed.
The problem with the death penalty and even evidence is that it really is only as good as the flawed people who evaluate it. As long as people are not perfect and are driven by our own motivations, justice for all will always be just a lofty concept
Antwoine Williams
August 16 2005, 6:28PM
Better late than never! But in this case, it should never had been in the first place! My question to the state of GA will be are you now determine to investigate the men and women on death row in 2005, who maybe innocent of the crime they have been convicted of? I don't believe much has changed and the "justice system" isn't perfect but it can work. If we the public become more active and use the power we have to put pressure on the city officers and those in law in enforcement to make sure "justice" is served, rather than discrimination, homophobia or hate.
Thank you Kieth for informing us as you always do. It's a joy to come to your site and read up on the news. I go to many other sites, and nobody reports the news like you to do. Continue on, although I know it must be a hassle at times. Also, I am enjoying your lastest book and I am finding it really useful as I try to understand the "culture" that I am apart of. Although, most of the time, I feel like I am in exile, even from the Black Gay and Lesbian Community. Sometimes, I just do "get" us. But, this website and your book is such a blessing. I will continue to pray for you and your continued success.
Oh! I like it more, when you report on positive Gay and Lesbain people of Color, whether it's in the workplace, community, church,health field but also when you report about Gay Black Couples and Gay Black Love. We need more role models and we need to read about Black Gay Couples (esp. men2men) living what we call the "American Dream". I personally love things of that nature.
Be blessed!
cmoney
August 16 2005, 11:01PM
Oops! Sometimes sorry just won't cut it.