Troy Davis Meet Lawrence Brewer: A Tale of Two Executions
(Photos: Reuters)
On the surface, the two executions that took place in the United States on Wednesday could not seem more different. Troy Davis was an African American from Georgia. Lawrence Brewer was a white supremacist from Texas. Davis was convicted of the shooting death of white Savannah police officer Mark MacPhail in 1989. Brewer was found guilty of murdering James Byrd, an African American man in Jasper, Texas, in 1998.
The Internet is notably not aflame with sentiment that the racist murderer from Texas should be alive in his cell today rather than nailed up in a cheap coffin.
Davis’s guilt has been called into question. Brewer’s role in dragging Byrd from a pickup truck until the black man’s head detached from his body was never in doubt. Davis’s last words, reportedly, were, “I am innocent.” In his sole interview after being convicted of Byrd’s murder, Brewer said: “I’d do it all over again, to tell you the truth.”
Stark contrasts extended to the victims’ relatives:
“I will never have closure,” said Annelise MacPhail, mother of the slain officer. “But I may have some peace when he [Troy Davis] is executed.”
Ross Byrd, son of hate crime victim James Byrd, hoped the state of Texas would show his father’s killer mercy. “You can’t fight murder with murder,” said Ross.
For all the differences, the unifying principle between the two executions is that the United States reserves the right to end a human being’s life.
If there is an argument justifying the death penalty, that argument is embodied by Lawrence Brewer: a vicious and unrepentant hate criminal. His redeeming qualities are unapparent. The Internet is notably not aflame with sentiment that the racist murderer should be alive in his cell today rather than nailed up in a cheap coffin.
It may seem easy to look at these two cases and pick out the convict who was more deserving of clemency, and which convict makes the planet a better place through his removal. But keep in mind, in reserving the right to kill the monster, the American electorate guarantees that another Troy Davis will go to a state-imposed death. The justice system is a human construct, inherently imperfect. Men and women whose guilt is just as doubtful—at times more so—as Davis’s have been put to death in this country, and will continue to be put to death, for as long as capital punishment exists here.
Either you are for killing other humans, or you are not. Amnesty International has a role for all you naysayers.
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