[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 81 (Friday, June 23, 2000)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1096]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   A RUSH TO DEATH IS NEVER NECESSARY

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. MAJOR R. OWENS

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                         Friday, June 23, 2000

  Mr. OWENS. Mr. Speaker, Gary Graham (Shaka Sankofa) was exterminated 
by the State of Texas yesterday, June 22, 2000. He was killed with a 
lethal injection despite that fact that there are many reasons to doubt 
the guilty verdict which placed him on death row. Gary Graham clearly 
deserved more time alive to investigate fully all of the irregularities 
surrounding his trial. Since death is irreversible and human life is 
sacred, time should not have been rushed. The American people and their 
powerful State Governors should fully note recent developments which 
indicate that a large percentage of the people on death row are 
probably not guilty. Gross inadequacies in the criminal justice system 
are generating deadly mistakes. In my opinion there are too many people 
who approve of the death penalty as a just punishment for certain 
crimes. At the same time almost no American citizens approve of the 
execution of innocent victims. Gary Graham was the 222nd person 
executed in Texas since the state resumed capital punishment in 1982. 
He was the 135th person executed during the present Governor's tenure. 
Mr. Speaker, the Rap poem below summarizes this disgracefully sad 
situation.

                        CREDO OF THE EXECUTIONER

     When in doubt
     Just let them die
     Ambitious Governors
     Never cry
     Witness eyes
     Never lie
     Bargain basement lawyers
     Refuse to pry
     Treat the truth
     Like a spy
     Voters yell for blood
     Compassion is swept away
     In a primitive flood
     Savages satisfied
     Delighted that so many
     In great Texas
     Have already died
     When in doubt
     Kill them first
     Then publicly pray
     Moral indignation
     Soon fades away.

     

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