I, Kevin Cooper, a 41-year old African American, am writing this article from
Death Row at San Quentin prison. The reason I am writing this article is
because I am very concerned and disappointed with the lack of involvement by
Black people, as a whole, in this fight to end the death penalty! In the
thirteen plus years that I have been here in San Quentin, on Death Row, I have
noticed the lack of participation by minorities, especially by brothers and
sisters, in this very real fight to end the death penalty!
In this country called America, I want to know why my people aren't more
involved? We African Americans are only 12% of the population, yet we make up
almost half of the death row population! And nowhere do I see any real
movement, or involvement, by African Americans! I very seldom, if ever, see my
brothers and sisters speaking out or getting involved to end this thing called
the death penalty! Despite the fact that we as African Americans have been
under this penalty since we arrived in this country! Have we forgotten this?
Have we become so used to being killed by the system, by the powers that be,
that we no longer care? That we turn a blind eye to what has been, and still
is, a reality in this country?
This penalty is just as racist as California's Prop. 187, just as racists as
the fight to end affirmative action, and just as racist as welfare reform, and
all the other policies that the politicians have put together! And to me, I
think that it is a damn shame that the very people who have been, and are
being, affected by these policies are the very same people who do nothing to
end them! And while you do nothing, my brothers and sisters, your own people
are being killed by the state and the very same type of people who enslaved our
ancestors!! This goes for my Latino brothers and sisters as well!! And any
other people, regardless of color, who stand by and do nothing while human
beings are being legally murdered!
From the time I was arrested until now, I have for the most part dealt with
only white people on both sides of this fight about the death penalty. For
example, when I was arrested, I was given a white Public Defender. I was up in
front of a white judge. There were two white DAs, and a damn near all-white
jury. On my appeal, I was given a white appeal attorney, then another, and now
maybe two more. I had only one Black person to work on my case, my
investigator, and she is now leaving and will be replaced by a white
investigator.
On the other side, when it comes to protesting or marching against the death
penalty, I see very few people of color, especially African Americans, in there
trying to put an end to this madness! It's like on one hand white people, who
for the most part run this country, state, and prison and justice system, are
vying to kill us.and are in fact killing us! And on the other hand white people
are fighting hard as hell to save us.and they are doing a great job at it!!
And in all this I say, "Where are my people?" "Where are my brothers and
sisters?" Are we so divided that we can't come together to stop this legal
killing? The same way we stopped legal lynching!? Or legal slavery!? Or legal
segregation!? Or anything else that was "legal" in this country that vied to
destroy people!? Have we become so Americanized that we have forgotten who we
are as a people and the fact that we are still in this country not because of
America, but in spite of America! Because America for the most part has hurt us
in ways that can never, ever be forgotten!
Do we hate each other so much that we don't feel that it's worth our time, or
effort, or energy to get involved in this fight? Hell, are we still
even "Brothers and Sisters?!" How can we be when the number one killer of Black
men in this country is other Black men?! Those Black men who are killing other
Black men aren't brothers, because brothers don't kill brothers, nor sisters,
sisters! Nor do brothers and sisters stand by and do nothing while our own are
being killed by a system that was built on killing! Especially us!! Even though
I am on Death Row, I know in my heart that I am a brother, I am doing all that
I can under the present circumstances to help put an end to the death penalty!
I am even writing this! But I must admit that this is a hard fight and I do
need your help.
And we both know that you can help, if only you want to! So why aren't you? It
is not enough to straddle the fence these days! Either you are for something,
or you are against it. And that's on this issue! If you are against something
and do nothing, if you sit back and watch is happen even though you are against
it, then you are just as guilty as those who take it upon themselves to play
God and kill! People are dying, and by your lack of concern and actions, you
are helping them to be killed! And all this is because you do nothing! I truly
love people, especially mine, but I must admit that the love I have for my own
is also accompanied by doubt. For the first time in my life I doubt my own
people and their willingness to continue the fight our ancestors started!!
I have no doubt that some of us are doing more than our share, but for the most
part, more of us are doing nothing, and to me that's a damn shame! Because we
are talking about the saving of human life, of humanity, of human rights!! In
humanity it is your duty as a fellow human being to not only get involved, but
to take an active role in putting an end to the death penalty!
This country is now moving to the far right. And those people who are on the
far right want so badly for things to go back to the way they were yesterday!
And we all know that yesterday was a bad day for women, and for all people of
color in this country. Especially Black people! And the only way to stop this
backward trend, in this backward country, is to get up off your butt and get
involved! If in your heart you know that you are truly a "Real Brother or
Sister," then I ask you to please get involved in this very real fight to end
the death penalty, because my life, and the lives of other people, definitely
depend on it. You can make a real difference, if you will only get involved!
My Dad, who is 70+ years old, and who lives in Pittsburgh, PA, never in his
entire life did anything to put an end to the death penalty, even though he
grew up in a time when Black men were lynched on a regular basis. He, like you,
was more concerned and involved with his own life and affairs. That was until
I, his son, received the death penalty. Now my 70-year old Dad is a soldier in
this fight against the death penalty, whether it be on the East Coast, or the
West Coast, or anywhere in the world. If he can do it, so can you! So, if you
are mentally, emotionally, spiritually and physiologically strong brother or
sister, you are needed by me, and other brothers and sisters, who are in my
situation, and I ask you to please get involved because our lives depend on
your help. One person can make all the difference, but you must be for real,
just as for real as the state is about killing!