Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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'JEht ©amtcock Canada CONTINUED FROM PAGE 4 make many raids but can’t seem to figure out why grow houses keep springing up. She also said the reason they don’t arrest people is because they don’t want to bog down the courts. They want to concentrate on getting rid of the houses, eh. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that if no arrests are made, then the problem won’t only continue, but will also get worse. If the Canadians want to stop the “pot problem,” then they have to start cracking down, and that means arresting the growers, eh. Editor’s Note: This isn’t a column aboot my views on marijuana, but aboot how Canadians are stupid, eh. Death penalty targets minorities “To make his wait easier, the sergeant offered him a cigarette. Hladik did not smoke. He accepted the cigarette out of politeness or humility. As he lit it, he saw that his hands shook. The day was clouding over.” — Jorge Luis Borges, “The Secret Miracle” That’s funny. I thought we had gotten rid of lynching. At least outlawed it. So Garza dies and people start getting angry about the disparity of racial issues involved with Ah, the death penalty. It’s a facet of American life that’s as definitive as baseball, bubble gum or the fate of a baby’s life. But who’s really dying here? For a long time, death was practically the instant prediction if you were black man convicted of killing a white man. Of those prisoners who have been executed since 1976, about 55 percent were white and 39 percent were black. But, if you didn’t know, blacks make up only 12 percent of the nation's populations. Under the federal death penalty provisions of the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1988, 89 percent of the defendants selected for capital prosecution have been either African-American or Mexican American. About 75 percent of those convicted of participating in a drug enterprise have been white and only about 24 percent have been black. But, of the people chosen for execution because of wheelin’ and dealin’, it’s almost the exact opposite; 78 percent of the defendants have black skin and only 11 percent have white skin. Why would this apparently biased system remain intact? Aren’t we in a period of anti-racist rhetoric? Don’t I hear all these officials say racial profiling is out the window? Where’s all that chatter about rebel flags and trading the racist, late-inning reliever? This is killing people because of their skin color. Bottom line. If you raise the child a racist, there’s a good chance he or she will be a racist. The old saying was to let the punishment fit the crime. OK, I can deal with that; that’s not my beef. If someone killed my loved one, I’d want him or her rotting in the ground, too. My beef is the imbalance of race on death row. My beef is with the consistency by which U.S. attorneys, in many cities, gain written authorization from the attorney general of the United States for capital prosecution. If it isn’t the local, racist solicitors trying to get their capital punishment, Janet Reno (and I’m sure Ashcroft isn’t far behind) is handing out the “federal needle” to blacks, virtually every time she’s given capital prosecution authorization. I can’t believe Clinton sat back and watched this. I can’t believe Reno was able to sleep at night. Yeah, these are federal cases, but they always start at the local level. If the Greenwood, S.C., solicitor wants the federal trial, you can bet your baseball card collection he’s going to try his damnest to get it. Who’s on death row? I don’t know. Some white guy McVeigh got the stick a couple weeks ago. He was white and on it. That drug kingpin, Garza, “was” on death row, too. Those guys were the first since 1963 to have the federal government pay the electric bill. But on a state and national level, no one cares who’s getting “off’d,” legally. McVeigh and Garza were scumbags, and I’m sure the 12 members of the jury found the others were too, but let’s keep it real. What was the crime? Why did the crime deserve the federal government’s attention? This is what should be coming into question. What the government “expects” is you not giving a shit. They’re convicted criminals who have killed and bombed and raped and smuggled and spied. The government wants you to keep watching baseball and reading Bazooka Joe comics and fighting for “life,” while they fight for “death” and systematically kill minorities, not for what they did but for who they are. Taylor Marshall Green is a featured columnist. He can be reached at gamecockviewpoints ©hotmail.com. the death penalty. Summer's almost over — better make the best of it Don’t look now Gamecock students, but the summer is almost over. We only have about 2 months left. That’s about 8 weeks, roughly 60 days, nearly 1440 hours. That’s almost 86,400 minutes left until this summer is history. . wnere does the time go? Wasn’t it just yesterday that we all were slaving in algebra or english class trying to get just the right grade on the final exam to make a B in the class? And now, what was supposed to be our summer of liberation, has all but turned into a waiting period for yet another hectic semester. God must have rigged the summer months up to the Indy 500 stopwatch, rigging the other months up to “Driving Miss Daisy.” Somehow, someway, the summer months go by just a little bit faster than the “months of oppression” we face during the year. Maybe God almighty did this on purpose. He knew we were going to be engaging in a litany of debaucheries. He knew we would be getting ourselves into whatever sinful acts our sick and twisted minds could devise. So, back when he was creating the heavens and the earth, he decided to make the summer shorter than the school year. This would cut out all the partying, drinking and slothfulness he knew we would be planning. Somewhere along the line, God decided this wasn’t enough. He quickly realized we would still reach for these evil dainties in spite of the shortened break, so he created Saint Summer School, another institution established to keep us from our path of damnation. And, where Saint Summer School failed, Saint Summer Job would pick up the slack. The two work hand-in-hand in keeping us from our wicked ways, taking up every ounce of energy and time we had set aside for bar hopping and television. Now, is it me, or is it a conspiracy? In this case, the conspiracy might, in fact, be a healthy one. But regardless, we evil creatures can still have fun for the remainder of the summer. How/ Well, first we must accept Saint Summer School and Saint Summer Job with open arms because there’s no legal way to get rid of the damned things. If you must take summer school, have fun with it. Make your teachers laugh everyday. After all, they probably don’t want to be there either. Enjoy the peacefulness of the campus. Enjoy the availability of parking spaces. And take every opportunity to enjoy the warm weather in between classes. If you must have a summer job, go to work with a smile onyour face. Make fun of your employer behind his back. Laugh at his receding hairline and his ugly wife. Trust me, it will make you feel a whole lot better. Take every opportunity to relax on company time. And practice your “sick voice” for the days you wish to stay in bed or go to a cool party. Remember, we can’t control how much time we have left this summer or our imminent obligations during this summer, be we still can control how much fun we are able to squeeze out of it. I Darryl Green is a featured columnist and can be reached at gamecockviewpoints @ hotmail.com. Don’t agree with what we’re saying? Send a letter to the editor. E-mail us at gamecockviewpoints@hotmail.com.