race

There's been a lot of talk about the Racial Justice Act since the General Assembly went back into session. It's time to separate fact from fiction.

Fiction

The Racial Justice Act was meant to apply only to African-American defendants. (See statement of Halifax District Attorney Melissa Pelfrey.)

Fact

First, it would be unconstitutional to apply a particular criminal penalty only to persons of one race. Racially disproportionate application of the death penalty is the problem the RJA seeks to cure, not to cause.

Second, by its terms, the Racial Justice Act is concerned not only with the race of the defendant, but also with the race of the victim and the composition of the jury.

This is an interesting segment by Jack Cafferty of CNN on "race based" admissions into colleges and universities. This is of particular interest to we North Carolinians because of the recent Wake County resegregation controversy. Race is and will forever be a very controversial subject in America because, for one thing, we are the melting pot of the world when it comes to our populace. Whites have always seemed to have somewhat of an upper hand in not only getting an education but in getting jobs and in jobs promotions as well. Our country has made a huge amount of progress in "equaling the playing field" for minorities, of course, but there is always a question on how far we should go in that effort. Is it okay to deny a more qualified white student admission into a college or university because of a racial quota or in the interest of diversity?

Last night, North Carolina became only the second state in the nation to rise to the challenge posed by the US Supreme Court in McCleskey v. Kemp, in which the Court acknowledged the existence of racial bias in the administration of the death penalty but said that states would have to fix the problem for themselves. Governor Perdue is expected to sign the bill into law.

From the Winston-Salem Journal:

The NC Senate is expected to vote tomorrow on whether to concur with the Racial Justice Act as passed by the House.

The Racial Justice Act would allow a defendant facing the death penalty or an inmate on death row to challenge the decision to seek or impose the death penalty in his or her case if that decision was made on the basis of race.

The version of the bill passed by the House is different than the version passed by the Senate, not least in that the Senate version was amended to include language aimed at restarting executions immediately.

The Senate should vote to concur on the clean House version of the bill, rather than forcing the bill into a joint committee.

Here's what you can do to help.

[Props to Sam Cooke]

The North Carolina Coalition for a Moratorium has the following message:

Thanks to the support of organizations and individuals like you across North Carolina, the NC Racial Justice Act passed Judiciary I committees in both chambers on Tuesday, May 12, 2009.

The bill will now move to the full Senate and House for a vote today! The NC Senate will vote at 10 am and the NC House of Representatives will vote on the bill during their 3 pm session Wednesday.

WE NEED YOUR HELP!

The Racial Justice Act passed the House Judiciary Committee this morning by a vote of 6 to 5. No word yet on progress in the Senate. In the meantime, for your viewing pleasure, a video in support of the RJA featuring NC death row exoneree Edward Chapman.