This is not hard to be angry about. Dog fighting is a violent and disgusting activity to be involved in. Even though hundreds of thousands of people are involved with the “sport” people view it as something that only happens in the backward South with people who are morally bankrupt with no sense of compassion. I saw a local newscaster this morning say that China was going to try and get it in the 2008 Olympics. He was being sarcastic of course, and what better way to make America laugh by not only attacking Vick, but also tossing in a joke about those crazy Chinese. I cannot think of a time when all of America was this outraged about the same issue. So my question about the situation is this: What if America took the same anger it has towards Vick and apply it to when people are being killed?

On August 22, 2007 the state of Texas executed Johnny Ray Connor. Conner was the 400th prisoner to be executed in Texas since the state resumed capital punishment in 1982. In the days that led up to the execution the European Union stepped in and asked Texas to put a moratorium on capital punishment citing "There is no evidence to suggest that the use of the death penalty serves as a deterrent against violent crime and the irreversibility of the punishment means that miscarriages of justice, which are inevitable in all legal systems, cannot be redressed."

The response they got from Robert Black, a spokesman for the governor was “Two hundred and thirty years ago, our forefathers fought a war to throw off the yoke of a European monarch and gain the freedom of self-determination. Texans long ago decided the death penalty is a just and appropriate punishment for the most horrible crimes committed against our citizens. While we respect our friends in Europe ... Texans are doing just fine governing Texas.”

To put it bluntly, don’t mess with Texas!

And if to add salt to the wound, Texas also has executions scheduled for the 29^th and 30^th of this month. One of these executions is to be a man that the state of Texas admits did not kill anyone. So I guess that the quote from Robert Black that the death penalty is reserved for the “most horrible crimes committed against our citizens” isn’t the case after all. Still not outraged? Keep reading.

In 1996 Kenneth Foster Jr. was a getaway driver for Mauriceo Brown who had just committed a robbery. During the robbery Brown shot and killed Michael LaHood Jr., the son of a prominent white lawyer. Foster and Brown both admitted that Foster had no idea that a shooting was going to occur. In fact, Foster was 80 feet away sitting in the car when LaHood was killed, but Foster was tried along with Brown and both were sentenced to death. Brown was executed in 2006 while another defendant in the case, Julius Steen testified for a lesser charge of aggravated robbery and was given a shorter sentence. How can one man who didn’t pull the trigger be charged with aggravated robbery while the other has a date with death in one week’s time? The answer is Texas’ controversial “Law of Parties” which states that just being at the scene makes you responsible for the crime. This looks like it could be one of those “miscarriages of justice, which are inevitable in all legal systems” that cannot be redressed.

Kenneth Foster Jr. hasn’t been silent about his case or the death penalty either. He is a co-founder of the DRIVE (Death Row Inner-communalist Vanguard Engagement) Movement which aims “To push forward and initiate a change in the conditions first, that will then set the conditions that will lead to the abolition of the Death Penalty.” He has also said that he will not acquiesce in his own execution. He will be going on hunger strike on August 23, 2007 along with John Joe Amador who is scheduled to be executed the day before Foster.

In a letter brilliantly written by Foster and Amador titled, “Stand with Us for Human Rights! How We Will Protest Our Executions” they proclaim that they are “committed to a protest of passive non-participation in our executions. Together we have decided to go on a spiritual mission to oppose our systematic executions in the hopes to open the eyes of people that think this horrific process is ok.” They add, “If we are to be unjustly taken then we do not want to go silently. We will not walk to our executions and we will not eat last meals. We will not give this process a humane face.”

Now imagine what would happen if the reporters and sportswriters whipping up the frenzy around the Michael Vick case focused on the case of Kenneth Foster Jr. or any other inmate for that matter. Could you imagine Jim Rome with his designer shades and stylish goatee broadcasting about the heroic final push of resistance in the last moments in the game of life for Kenneth Foster? Or the men on Sports Center comparing it to the final drive in the famous Ice Bowl played between the Green Bay Packers and the Dallas Cowboys? What a show that would be.

If we had that type of support or focus on real issues instead of whatever pop culture issue is making headlines today, we could move mountains. That is why Michael Vick is in the headlines today and Lindsay Lohan will be tomorrow. To give this case the attention that is deserves is to admit that there are flaws in the system. To review this case would lead to the reviews of other cases and then the system of barbarism, racism and injustice currently known as the criminal justice system would be fatally exposed. That is precisely why we need to focus on Kenneth Foster’s case and tell the people in the media now that Vick is going to plead guilty we should “toss him a bone,” and focus on correcting a real injustice.

After all, these men are giving so much so that one day our society will be a more just one. As Kenneth Foster Jr. and John Joe Amador said in their letter, “We are not doing this for ourselves, but for YOU, the people, to demonstrate to you that we do not agree with this process. We do this for YOU, the people, to show that we are new men today and that we must stand down the death penalty.” They continue, “We will not lift a finger to another person. We will only lift our voices and spirits. We will allow YOU, the people, to be the force that must be reckoned with!”

Tags: politics