As he did so many times as Governor of Texas, President Bush has given the go-ahead to an execution. This time, it will be a court-martialed member of the Army, Ronald Gray, who murdered two people near Fort Bragg in 1988.
I can’t say I was surprised to see that Ronald Gray is black, even less so that the next in line to be executed, Dwight Loving, is also black. Of the eight members of the Army sentenced to death for various crimes, six are black, one is Asian and one is white.
I’m not saying that Gray and Loving don’t deserve the death penalty. That doesn’t even factor into it. The question is instead: Why is the determining factor in getting the death penalty not which defendants have committed the most heinous crimes, but what color the defendant happens to be?
Why does the Army have an even higher ratio of blacks to whites sentenced to death than the civilian courts, which already have such a distorted ratio?
I would challenge anyone to find a statistic that proves that most Army murders are committed by black members of the Army. Why, then, are almost all of the men sentenced to the Army’s death row at Fort Leavenworth black?
So rape and murder are fine as long as the assailant is a black man.
You aren’t a libertarian and as a “girl”, you should rethink your position lest you find yourself mugged by reality.
anon
July 28th, 2008
Anon, the point flew right over your head. Quote: “I’m not saying that Gray and Loving don’t deserve the death penalty.”
I think what she’s getting at is that if there’s a remotely even distribution of races in the convicts of these crimes, then white people are quite obviously spared the death penalty more often. Is that right? Do you really think so?
Nick
July 28th, 2008
That’s simple. There is a disproportionate number of young black men in the army, so statistically speaking one can expect more crimes from black soldiers than from other races. Add to this that also among civilians (for whatever reason) black young men commit relatively more crimes than the rest of the population and you get the beginning of an explanation.
What I find more disturbing is the sudden rush. Not since 1957 has a soldier been executed and now, a few months before the elections, they get Bush to quick-quick sign the orders. Looks like the hot shots in the army are afraid Obama might win the elections?
Michiel
July 29th, 2008
We know statistically that black men commit more crimes than the rest of the population, so why are you surprised that more black men are on death row? I personally think that this execution is way over due, considering the crimes he has committed. The only reason that President Bush has signed the order is to 1) attempt to help his political party’s polls, and 2)get himself in the history books as being tough on crime.
Sabrina
July 29th, 2008
I think black men should stop enlisting in the military and leave the military to lower-class whites. Black men and women should become entrepraneurs and empower themselves.
Anon
July 29th, 2008
Sabrina that’s not what your precious statistics are saying. Statistics show that black men are more convicted of crimes than the other races. And the reason of that is the well-known racial bias of the US justice system. Like libertarian girl I’m not really suprised to read that “Of the eight members of the Army sentenced to death for various crimes, six are black, one is Asian and one is white”. I also won’t be surprised if most of their victims were white. I’m not saying that the army guy doesn’t deserve to die but this just shows once again how determining of a factor race still is in America and I doubt even Obama will be able to change that.
Liv
July 29th, 2008
I agree the guy should die for what he did. Also, there are alot of white military guys who commit the same crimes and get lesser punishment. Lets face it, the fact is, if you are black and you decide to rape & kill someone, better make sure the victim is NOT a white!
Stormforce
July 29th, 2008
The amazing part is that anyone is surprised that someone trained to go out and kill someone based on unquestioned orders received from above is going to be the type who is controlled enough not to rape and murder! I am sure there is a lot of this going on in the military but it is being covered up. I believe in the death penalty only when I am judge, jury and executioner. In other words, I do not want the government who decides who lives and dies. But if someone is attacking me then I can make the decision to defend myself. With our current system, abuses like this take place, and the government decides which countries to bomb and which nationality of men, women, and children to kill. They are bombed into destruction as a result of nothing other than being born in the wrong place. In a truly free society we would not need such a large military presence overseas, we would not have as many aggressors as we would be friends with 95%, and we would not have a huge government run “military” who suffer physical and mentally as a result of the brutal conditions on and off the killing fields.
Milan
July 29th, 2008
Sabrina, I’m with you. It seems that Liv is confusing committing and convicted. There is a disproportionate amount of crime (amount of crime by black males compared yo amount of crime by white males). So, why wouldn’t they expect to see more black males convicted than any other race? Does anyone have stats on black vs white vs other enlistments in the army?
I think that in the end, people are just willing to admit that black males commit far more crimes than anyone else. Maybe it’s just not HOPECHANGE to say so or maybe it’s not YES WE CAN feely feel enough to admit….but it’s true.
DJK
August 1st, 2008
just AREN’T willing… sorry.
DJK
August 1st, 2008
As of 2005, blacks made up 14.5% of Army recruits, higher than their percentage in the overall population.
It’s quite possible that whites could be committing more crimes than blacks and just getting away with it. Statistics for that would be virtually impossible to find, I’m afraid. But, you’re not going to find that someone committed a crime until they’ve been convicted, so we have to deal with the statistics we have.
It’s true that blacks make up the majority of the prison population. However, many of them are there for non-violent drug crimes or other such offenses which, in my opinion, aren’t really crimes at all.
There’s a big difference between violent and non-violent crimes. In this particular case, we’re talking about murders in the Army. When I see news coverage of murders within the Army, it usually involves both white victims and perpetrators– take a look at the pregnant members of the Army killed in North Carolina this year or the people who’ve gone crazy and killed people in Iraq.
I just thought it was interesting that you never hear about black members of the Army committing murders, yet they’re the ones making up almost the Army’s entire death row.
libertariangirl
August 2nd, 2008