By Kevin Cooper
May 2007
America and Hypocrisy go hand in hand! They always have, and always will. This historical hypocrisy was pointed out best by Frederick Douglass on July 15 th, 1852 in his speech, "The Meaning Of July Fourth For The Negro."
This excerpt is from that speech:
"There is not a nation on this earth guilty of practices more shocking and bloody than are the people of the United States, at this very hour. Go where you may, search where you will, roam through all the monarchies and despotisms of the old world, travel through South America, search out every abuse, and when you have found the last, lay your facts by the side of the everyday practices of this nation, and you will say with me, that, for revolting barbarity and shameless hypocrisy, America reigns without rival…"
This very same hypocrisy, and even worse, is still alive in this country, especially within the death chambers in America's prisons or the war in Iraq. Hypocrisy is passed down from one generation to the next for those who enter the White House, Court House, State House or any other house where politics and big money rule.
The only house that smells the same as the house of hypocrisy is the Out House. The hypocrites' odor smells just as bad, and at times, worse. This is because these certain people do their damage to others under the guise of the law, mixed with a touch of religion and a great deal of racism and white supremacy. Mixed all together they begin to act like they themselves are the law.
Governor Schwarzenegger showed exactly what kind of hypocrite he is by saying on the one hand that he would follow the law in his elected job as Governor of this state. But there is a real difference between following the law as it is written and making the law on one's own and then lying about it. All of which he did when he and his regime went out on their own and tried to build a new, secret death chamber. This happened even though there was no written law to do so, nor was he ordered to do so by any court or judge.
This is how men like him, with his mindset and agenda, go about doing things when they know that they can get away with it and won't be held personally accountable. When society as a whole lets people like this get away with those types of things, it makes it that much easier for politicians and their supporters to go another step further. Further as in building secret death chambers where poor people or both sexes and all races can be tortured and then murdered in the name of the law.
Tortured and murdered by an entity that claims to be morally superior than the people who are about to be murdered. Whenever people like Bush and Schwarzenegger – just to name a few – get their hands on power, poor people end up dead! This is an historical fact. And the darker their skin, the deader they are, that's another historical fact.
So when we hear and/or see these hypocrites going throughout the world preaching about morals and ethics and democracy, and claiming to be the best in the world at all of these, we know this is a lie used to deflect the reality of this country's historical human rights abuses.
I keep hearing that times have changed, but I can't tell whenever I see what is taking place within America's pride and joy – it's death chambers. I can't tell when I learn of the war crimes committed in Iraq. The main reason I can't tell is because the same kind of people who were doing this when Frederick Douglass was alive are the same type of people who are doing this today. The same kind of people who were being tortured then are the same kind of people who are being tortured today.
Yet, as it was said then, today it is said that America is the best place on earth to live, that its freedoms are envied throughout the world. That America is a country of laws, that it does not torture anyone, let alone its own citizens.
Until this hypocrisy is truly dealt with, this country will continue to live a lie – a lie that everyone knows is a lie – and poor people will continue to die. America and Hypocrisy go hand in hand, and it is about time we shine a light on this connection and force them apart for good.
In Struggle From Death Row
At San Quentin Prison
Kevin Cooper