My Brother

When you have someone in the prison system it’s almost like having a family member out of town. At least that’s how I look at it in my mind so reality won’t actually set in.

When this all happened to my family it was like a dream. Never in a million years did I think it would happen with us. My brother and I have always been close regardless of our circumstances. We both grew up in the system in different cities, but we remained close. After high school I moved back to Gadsden to be closer to him and his older daughter Makayla. Then I moved to TX and he was still there. My go to person to call on, if I had a question about cooking etc. When I came back to have my oldest son he was there making fun of me because I was so big etc.

I can’t speak for my family, I can only speak for myself. Losing my brother to the prison system has broken me down in so many ways. I’m still in denial of the whole situation. My brother would never do something on this level. That’s why I know that he just snapped, almost like blacking out. I push things out my mind. But I do miss him being there for me. I have a good paying job but I also have 5 people including myself to take care of. But I still manage to do for him, cause I know he’d do it for me. We can always count on each other no matter what.

So the question is what is it like to have a family member on death row? That’s one I can’t answer cause I refuse to look at it that way. I love my brother with all my heart an I will never condemn him cause I know the real person that he is. At the end of the day he’s still my brother and my best friend.

Jessie Phillip’s Sister

On December 16th, 2016 I opened my „On Wings of Hope“ newsletter that I helped put together for the first time. I read “My Christmas Present” by Esther, turned the page and there it was! The last letter from Ronald B. Smith Jr., Editor on Wings of Hope and chairman of PHADP.

Yes, there will be another editor and chairman, and I will put together other newsletters but not with him. On December 8^th, 2016 our monster, the State of Alabama murdered another one of their slaves.

I guess Alabama and the rest of the death penalty states see nothing wrong with murdering their slaves. I also guess that you, the people see nothing wrong with the murder of a slave, or that there was a slave to murder.

This is the second slave that I knew that has been murdered by our master. Both were in my book club, and both will be missed by everybody that knew them, even me. If you knew me at all, that’s saying a lot.

It scares the hell out of me as a black man that the United States Constitution abolished slavery and involuntary servitude with the 13^th amendment, except as a punishment for a crime.

I’m scared because no one cores that slavery still exists, because of the amendment that was supposed to abolish it.

I’m scared because it’s 2017 and I am a slave. I am 37 years old, and the legal property of the Department of Corrections.

I am scared because Ronald B. Smith Jr. was a white man, a slave and also the legal property of the Department of Corrections.

I’m scared for you too, white, black or brown, citizen or non-citizen, all religions. Because you don’t see how easily the 13^th amendment can make you a slave, put you in involuntary servitude. Put you on a table with a needle in your arm like Ronald B. Smith Jr.

You don’t think it can happen to you but it can. Once you are charged with a crime, you are a slave. Keep thinking it’s a game, you can see just like I can. Keep sitting around letting these death penalty states murder their slaves and you, the people not saying anything about it.

They’re doing it in your name! Will you ever stand up and say “Stop it!”? If you stay quiet it’s like you are ok with states murdering people. When will you say something when someone in your family is on a table with a needle in their arm?

Jessie M.D.A. Phillips

As politicians play politics and judges play to the masses, and both get payed to vote one way or the other. We, sit here knowing someone we know is going to die because, no one will do the right thing. How hard is it not to kill for killing?

In the U.S. you can buy a vote in any part of the government, like you can buy a coke at any store. I’m sure it’s like that all over the world.

I just don’t understand how you can play with somebody’s life like this. With all that’s going on in the world, all the killing, you would think somebody would like to stop some of it. I’m starting to think, somebody is getting off on all this killing! Keeping us in here going 2 yrs without killing anybody, then start up again, then stop.

Maybe, one day we U.S. people will stop killing each other like this, or maybe this is just the beginning. A way to see how much they can get away with.

Jessie Phillips

To live in the world without becoming aware of the meaning of the world is like wandering about in a great library without touching the books.

Just think about that for a minute. That’s how most of y’all go about the world when it comes to the law. You know there are laws. You even know some of them. But, the ones you should know, you don’t know!

Let me point something out to you real quick about what went down in Texas. The police sent a robot into a building with a bomb and killed a man. They did not arrest him, put him on trial with a judge and jury; they just killed him.

Do you remember when they dropped a bomb on that guy in the Middle East, or maybe it was in Europe? Americans where mad because he did not get a trial. “Every American should get a trial, even if they are abroad”, they said. “You can’t just kill a U.S. citizen without a trial”, they said.

Well, they do it all the time. They just did it in Texas and y’all missed it. They didn’t even have to justify it! Where is the justice in that?

So, y’all keep wandering about in the great library without touching the books and see what it will get you.

Hell, I’ve been aware for years; I would never ever wander about a library without touching a book. I was still raped by a justice system that evidently was not made for anybody of color.

So, stop being submissive. We need y’all to wake up so we can all survive.

Jessie Phillips

In the days long past, mankind was barbaric. There was no law, and we had little love for each other. It was more about survival.

As time moved forward, mankind became more civilized. Laws put in place so we would not look so barbaric. We came to see that there was more to life than eating and having babies.

We started creating things to make each other happy, and better as people. They even put books together to govern us … those are the laws I spoke of.

History however, is a crazy thing. Things happened that some people say happened, and some people say they didn’t. All I know is, the more civilized we as a society claim to be, the more barbaric we are!!

Jessie Phillips

~ Time ~

When I’m alone I think of you.

When I talk to the people around me I think of you.

The older I get the more I think of you.

My sweet love time.

You belong to no one, but everybody wants more of you.

Time flows one way for everyone.

We may wish to slow you down, but to time we are nothing.

So, remember the next time you look at our watch, time is running out on all of us.

Jessie M.D.Y. Phillips

– Since when is following the laws news? –

– This year, Texans live without imposing new death sentences –

Ina case where Gabriel Armandariz murdered his kids, hung one up in the closet, took pictures, ans sent them to the children’s mother, everyone was crying because he did not get the death penalty. It was supposed to be an “automatic” death penalty case. What is an automatic death penalty case? how does one look at a case and say, “Let’s kill him/her, like they are an animal.”?

Well, it is Texas after all … or, at one time we could say that. Since Armandariz there has been more cases where people have been given life without parole. Where said defendants will spend the rest of their lives in prison, having to think about what he/she did, not leaving the families all alone with those memories.

Are Texans becoming more like the rest of the country, in slowly seeing that killing people for killing people is wrong??? Are Texans wanting to become known for more than the bodies of it’s victims that are being stream lined through its death house??

It has been said that, Texans should join the 19 other states and abolish the death penalty. Well, I don’t see that happening anytime soon, NOT IN TEXAS. They will probably kill less, but with the way the world is going, Texas will be the last to live without the death penalty.

Jessie MDY Phillips

~ Question ~

The question is, why is former Texas prosecutor Tim Coles just now coming out against the death penalty? The same problems that exist now with the death penalty, existed then, when he was still a practicing, death penalty seeking prosecutor.

The no-holds-barred lawman said, a lot of interesting, and enlightening things recently, that he should have known back when he was prosecuting people, in life or death cases. However, now that he is no longer in office, he wants to see the light. I know, I should be commending him on such growth, and I do, but it still upsets me when former prosecutors, police, and judges come out against the death penalty after so many years of supporting something they knew was unjust from the very beginning.

How many innocent men/women did he send to death row? How many were executed, although they were innocent? How many have been exonerated?

Cole said, “If you could show me a perfect system, I’ll give you the death penalty.” He’s talking about the same system he was a part of, that he helped to create, when he was a prosecutor. Did he think the system was perfect then, or did he just not care?!

I’ve never understood why prosecutors and other lawmen come out against the death penalty after they are out of office. Finally coming out against the injustice of the “justice” system. Like all the wrongs they have done will just go away. I guess, some do it because they finally just want to do the right thing, and others do it because they’re working for the other side now, and need to keep their money happy! It’s a sad thing when money out weighs morals, and human decency.

Jessie MDY Phillips

Animal

Okay, so they call us animals but don’t treat us like animals. If we are animals can I be a cat? Hey, a cat has more rights than me! More people are trying to save cats, why can’t I be one!?

If, a man can be a woman and a white person can be a black person, can I be a cat? I promise, I’ll try to be good this time. I won’t ask again, just this one time.

Well, will you help me like I’m a cat? Will you fight for my life like you would if I was truly an animal? I just need a lil help, as much time as you can let me get. I will be happy with that, or just your voice. Now, that would really help.

Jessie MDY Phillips

~ DANGER ~

I am not angry, I am anger.

I am not dangerous, I am danger.

I am abominable stress, eliotic, relentless.

I’m a breath of vengeance. I’m a death sentence.

I’m forsaken repentance, to the beast in his henchmen.

Armed forces, and policemen that survived of oils and prisons, until their cup runnith over with lost souls.

That wear over sized caps, like blind folds.

Shiny necklaces, like lassos.

Dragging them into black holes … and I may have to holla at Fidel Castro, to get my other brothers outta Guantanamo. And, the innocent on death row is probably in the same proportion as the criminals in black robes, that smack gavels that smash homes, that smack gavels that crack domes.

Justice is, somewhere between reading sad poems, and 40 ounces of gasoline crashing through windows. Justice is, somewhere between plans, and action. Between writing letters to congressmen, and clapping the captain. Between raising legal defense funds, and putting a gun on the bailiff and taking the judge captive. It is between prayer, and fasting. Between burning and blasting.

Freedom is, somewhere between the mind and the soul. It is between the lock and the load. Between the zeal of the young and the patience of the old.

Freedom is, between the finger and the trigger. It is between the page and the pen. Between the grenade and the pin. Between righteous anger, and keeping one in the chamber. I am an inmate, short shackled to the C.O. earlobe to earlobe. Cut short, case closed. Now what! We must pray, fast live, dream, fight, kill, and die free.

By: Amir Sulaiman
(Shared by: Jessie MDY Phillips)

Freedom is something we will never see. I know it sounds like I have no hope. I have all the hope in the world, but just because I have hope doesn’t mean that I will ever be free. Even if I was released today, I would not be free.

My people will never be free. How can you free a people that you fear? And, have you noticed when they do free the innocent they are old and have been in prison for over 20 years.

Forgive me if I think that we are citizens and that the justice system should work for us like it works for our by-product.

It’s like we are being erased from history. We are locked up young, let go old or killed in prison. I don’t understand how a victim of injustice can sit on death row and the D. A. knows he did not do it, but still tries to kill said inmate.

The racial empathy gap helps explain disparities in the criminal justice system. But, the problem, isn’t just that people disregard the injustice of black people. It’s somehow even worse. The problem is, that the injustice isn’t even noticed. Even when innocent a black person is never truly innocent.

The seal, and the constitution reflect the thinking of the founding fathers, that this was to be a nation by white people, and for white people. Blacks, native Americans and all other non-white people were to be the burden bearers for the real citizens of this nation.

And that is why we “black men” will never get justice.

Jessie MDY Phillips

You have to know what was said to know why they kill us, as if we are not even human.

N.C. State President of A.N.N.A.I.S. in the 1900’s. When a knock is heard at the door (a white woman) shudders with nameless horror. The black brute is lurking in the dark, a monstrous beast, crazed with lust. His ferocity is almost demoniacal. A mad bull or a tiger could scarcely be more brutal … Since the abolition of slavery and the growing up of a new generation of Negroes, crimes that are too hideous to describe have been committed every month, every week frequently every day, against the helpless women and children of the white race, crimes that were unknown in slavery.

The Cop in Ferguson 2015 (“said”)

And then, after he did that, he looked up at me and had the most intense aggressive face. The only way I can describe it, it looks like a demon, that’s how angry he looked. At this point, it looked like he won almost bulking up to run through the shots, like it was making him mad that I was shooting at him.

The racial empathy gap helps explain disparities in everything from pain management to the clinical justice system. But the problem isn’t just that people disregard the pain of black people. It’s somehow even more. The problem is, that the pain isn’t even felt for the black people by white people. It’s like they think we have no pain. Starting around 7 years of age, white American children believe that black children feel less pain than their white counterparts.

Even as kids, we are looked at as criminals. We even do it to one another. White people teach us ‘cause kids that the black man will lose, that he is nothing but a criminal, that before he dies he will be in the justice system. They showed us how in the “good ole days” we were killed, that the justice system is where we get what is coming to us. Then, it was lynching and it’s the death penalty now. They can kill and torture us in the name of justice and/or the victim family. They want vengeance/revenge from their died loved one … It’s not about justice!!

Being in prison is punishment, but not enough for some people. We all feel pain! We are not animals! The by-product of the past is, that “even when white men did most of the killing”, they labeled “black people” as demons, monstrous beast, and the lowest of the low. Until a massive shift in white public opinion we as a race will always be a victim to injustice.

Jessie MDY Phillips

I finally understand why black people here in America can be put to death and no one cares. Even the man that “set us free” knew what it would be like one day.

Abraham Lincoln said: “I will say then that I am not, nor ever have been in favor of being about in anyway the social and political equality of the white and black races – That I am not nor ever have been in favor of making voters or jurors of negroes, nor of qualifying them to hold office, nor to intermarry with white people. And, in as much as they cannot so live, while they do remain together there must be the position of superior and inferior, and I a s much as many other man am in favor or having the superior position assigned to the white race.”

That was in the 1800’s. In 1957, Chief Justice Roger B Taney said: “Being of an inferior order, and altogether unfit to associate with the white race either in social or political relations, and so for inferior that they had no rights which the white man was bound to respect.”

It’s 2015, we have a “black” president and the white race is still the superior race or in the superior position. I have some to see that when a black man or woman is in a position of power, it’s worse for black people. The justice system has no love for black people.

If a white person kills a black person the black man had to have been in the wrong because everybody knows white is right. Killing a black person is a victimless crime. To torture black people is like torturing a book, no one cares. Hell, look at all the black men in the system now. It’s slavery with a new name “JUSTICE”.

Do you really think the death penalty is going to go away??? Then, what would they do with the black men that really get out of hand!? The ones that would dare to kill a white person?! Taking their freedom is too small of a punishment. Now, torture and death, that’s where it’s at. Oooh, it’s not cruel, it’s “JUSTICE”, and that’s what the victim’s families want.

Jessie M.D.Y. Phillips

The Eighth Amendment prohibits the imposition of cruel, and unusual punishment by the state.

Seems, it’s not cruel to let someone sit in a 8 by 6 (bathroom) cell for 90 % of the day. On top of that, we know someone is trying to kill us … and some of us even know the date and time.

It’s not cruel or unusual to let death row inmates hear about botched executions, or hear our government talk about we’re being tortured to death, but doing nothing about it. And, what does the government do about the torture of its own citizens … they start a war with some other country, about that country’s citizens.

Death row inmates are being terrorized, not punished by the states that’ s’pose to be all about justice, and freedom … not revenge, or vengeance!

The death penalty is s’pose to be for the worse of the worse, not for just killing someone!! The death penalty will not stop someone from killing someone, like so many claim. Murder happens under emotions,, and no form of punishment could ever quail emotions. Especially, not a murder for a murder!

The government, by their attitudes are only showing that, they think they are above the law … with their s’posed justice.

Jessie MDY Phillips

Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one who gets burned.

“You can’t fix stupid.” That’s what they are trying to do with the death penalty. And, that’s what it is stupid, you kill somebody because they kill somebody. The sad part about it is that’s what we teach kids here. An eye for an eye, and that’s not right!

I like what a Kansas Republican said, “Any time you give the government a power that can be abused, it will o may be abused in the future”, Thomas said. “And, taking a citizen’s life is kind of the ultimate power the government can have.”

In 10 yrs, the U.S. has executed about 480 of its citizens. Well, 5 or 6 wasn’t citizens of the U.S., but Texas said “Hey they’re here in the U.S. so we can kill them if we want to, who will stop us.” “Don’t ya just love Texas.”

“You can’t fix stupid.” You have to be stupid to try to execute one of your citizens and do it wrong and then say, it’s not cruel. But it’s not justice, it’s torture. “Yeah, I like that word for what they do. TORTURE”

The U.S.A. TORTURES their citizens when they don’t act right. I guess it’s a by-product the government has from all the terrorism in the world. “Worse part is, we are the terrorists of our own citizens and the world.”

Jessie MDY Phillips

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate.
Dr. Martin Luther King jr.

That’s one American that was killed for the things he said and did. The things he said was only to help his people.

Woods suffered 2 hours, should have been 3. Joseph Woods, who was executed Wednesday (June 23, 2014) in Florence, took 2 lives. He took everything these 2 victims were and everything they would be. Upon his execution, he suffered for 2 hours. I wish he would have suffered for 3.
Where are the protesters, the news media, the Arizona republic in support of the victims? You have columnists like E.J. Montini crying about the “savage event”.
Joseph Woods made the decision to murder, he was convicted, he paid the price for that decision.
Ernie Enyle, Gilbert

Sen. John McCain, a republican from Arizona, says the execution of Joseph Woods, which took nearly 2 hours, amounted to torture. This is a man “Sen. McCain” who was tortured in the Vietnam War so he has a good idea of what torture is. The U.S. is “against” torture unless you’re a terrorist or a death row inmate.
Sen. McCain said, I believe in the death penalty for “certain” crimes, but that is not an acceptable way of carrying it out. And, people who were responsible should be held responsible.
Darkness cannot drive out darkness, that’s something people need to understand. How can someone say the person who kills someone should be tortured? What kind of person is that? Vengeance is mine, said the Lord.
America is good at killing and doing things that are unconstitutional in the name of the victim, that’s died. I’m not being cruel when I say that, I’m being real, because we are talking about justice and the constitution. You go by what’s in the law books, not what the victim family thinks should happen. There’s no justice in a victim family. There’s only vengeance. Kill him, cause he killed someone I loved, and that’s wrong. They are driven by emotions, not bound by laws!

Jessie MDY Phillips

If your friend is murdered and you find the murderer and kill him, we consider your action to also be murder. However, we accept killing a murderer as a moral act as long as it is brought about through the justice system, because this is a decision sanctioned by the whole.
Without community sanction then, putting to death a murderer is also murder!

Jessie MDY Phillips

I keep reading articles, letters, etc. about (and in favor of) capital punishment. As someone who has lost a relative to murder I should be in favor of the death penalty. I am against it. The man who killed my wife’s brother was executed (over her objections as a Christian) only causing her more grief and no “closure”. The death penalty is a huge waste of our resources and definitely does not make us safer. It is a major distraction from correcting numerous problems which really do affect the well-being of all of us.

Raphael Schweri, Kentucky

When I see something like this it really lets me know that everybody has a lil’ killer in them

Jessie MDY Phillips

Let’s Execute the Monsters

Let’s be honest. There are, in fact, real, live monsters that we live with every day. Sometimes the monsters motivate us to come together, they make us better people. Sometimes monsters even seem to help us come up with ideas that allow us all to live better lives.
But, in the end, the monsters have to go. We all know that the world is a better place without them. That is why we have the death penalty. Not to empower us, but to soothe us.
My main question I ask myself is, why is it that we don’t use the same drugs to kill convicted murderers that we use to kill our pets? Let’s not candy coat it.
If it’s humane enough for my best friend, who has always been by my side, wagged his tail when I came through the door, unconditionally loved me when I was having a bad day and guarded over me while I was sleep, I think that I would be able to sleep at night if the same method were used on someone who murdered an innocent person, right?
Some of the anti-death penalty proponents will refer to cost. This is simply more of a “stall” method than reality. When my BFF was euthanized, it cost me $ 100, and I got to keep the collar.
I would never have a discussion of a dog vs. a human life. The fact is, my bff that I had to have put down last year never murdered a little girl, never killed a retired old couple who worked hard all of their lives, and he never once searched on craigslist for a lonely person he/she could kill on a date.
The bible tells us that one day we will all be held accountable. I don’t know if it’s true or not, but I can tell you that if it is true, for the most part, most are doomed in the end. All I know for sure is that it’s our job as stewards of our most precious resources to make sure that, in the end, monsters don’t prevail. No matter how hard some people deny that, there are in fact, monsters among us, it is someone’s job to protect the innocent. Closing our eyes really hard and wishing the monsters are gone when we open them doesn’t always work. Sad but true.
Joey Snider lives in MO; Republic letter to the editor

Now, let’s execute the monsters, but what is a monster. Yes, let’s be honest, anyone can be a monster. Look at the person who wrote this letter, is he a monster? A monster is a morally deformed person. That’s one of four definitions.
I keep hearing that the people on death row all of us kill kids and old retired couples. But that’s not true. I can say that, cause I did not do that and I can name 10 other people who didn’t but no one knows that and some just don’t care.
We as people can fight for cats and dog, trees and gross but we don’t fight for each other. This man is talking about killing a man like he’s a dog. And he would never have a discussion of a dog vs. a human life.
In the U.S. we don’t care about the people here we care about money. Here you’re not a person, you’re a $ sign. We punish others for being inhumane when we do it more than others. I’ve said it once, and I will keep saying it, NO ONE can punish the U.S. of A.! No one has the power. But, we have the power to punish the world. We are the killers, you should envy us cause we have the power to keep everyone from being cruel to their people when we kill and torture who we want to. Because, y’all can’t stop us. We are the terrors of the world so stay sleep and hope we don’t put our eyes on you.

Jessie MDY Phillips

Tell me, what’s it like to wake
and not know that, someone wants to kill you!?
What’s it like to sleep at night, and
not have 10 people talk you out of your sleep?
To sleep on a bed that’s not steel (there
is a mat, but it’s like an egg crate)?!
What is it like to eat something, and
know what it is!?
These things I use to know, but the
more time I spend here the less I remember
and the more I long for it.
I think, These are some of the things
that makes the death penalty cruel!!
China, Iran, Iraq or Saudi Arabia has
nothing on the United States, when
it comes to being cruel to their own people.
But, the true question is, is the death penalty
needed?

Jessie MDY Phillips

The U.S. ranks 5th on Amnesty International’s 2013 list of countries with the highest number of executions. We execute more prisoners than any country in the world. Although we often champion our commitment to human rights and condemn the right abuse that occur in these countries Saudi Arabia, China, Iran and Iraq, We do all this, with an ineffective system of capital punishment, within our very own backyard.

You can understand why the system here is like it is, if you look at some of the people working in that system. Look at what former warden Randall Workman of Oklahoma’s state penitentiary said about Lockett’s execution. Workman said, it wasn’t botched as many have claimed. It worked, “He died”! the bottom line is, the drugs did what they were supposed to do, they killed him.

The system here is broken and no matter what, you can’t fix something broken. You could fix it, but when you have prosecutor, police and the coroner’s offices withholding exculpatory or impeachable evidence that, would prove someone’s innocence, how can you fix that?

We have to face the truth. Kill someone to show that killing is wrong, makes sense in this country. 2 wrongs do make a right. In this country the death penalty is right. It helps the cycle of violence stop. No one cares or cries when a killer is killed. It doesn’t matter how they die as long as they die.

We have the right in this country to kill when, who, and how we want. It’s you and your country that don’t have that right. That’s why the U.N., and every other country on the planet will say nothing about what we do here in the U.S., ‘cause they know you get down with us, or you shut-the-fuck-up. And, you see what they do! But, what will you do, that’s the ???

Jessie MDY Phillips

What a Waste 

Why do states waste money as they do? Urban Institute, found that for capitally prosecuted cases in Maryland from 1978 to 1999 the cost to taxpayers was 186 million. Over those 22 years, Maryland only executed five people. If you do the math, that’s 37.2 million per execution. The average cost of reaching a single death sentence was 3 million or 1.9 million more than a non-death penalty case! And they can’t find money for teacher raises!

Wasting money like that doesn’t make sense to me, it’s like that in just about every state that has the death!!

In New Hampshire, the death chamber cost estimated 1.7 million dollars. Hell, prosecution alone cost the state 2.3 million in trials for death penalty cases and that was just 2 or 3!

Jessie Phillips

Cruel and Unusual Punishment

What is cruel and unusual punishment??? Is it a firing squad, where one person out of fire pats a bullet in your heart to kill you? Or, is it hanging?! Yes, it’s cruel, but it’s not unusual, that’s been around for centuries. The gas chamber, is like hanging, it’s cruel, but not unusual. Remember, Jews were put in gas chambers. Then, there’s electrocution, cruel but not unusual. Well, it is unusual to a point. It’s used in times of war, for torture to get information, or to put someone in a lot of pain before death.

Lethal injection, I don’t know what to say about that, because if it’s done right, it’s not cruel or unusual. That is how they kill dogs, and a dog’s life is more important than a person on death row.

But really, the way they kill you isn’t cruel and usual punishment, it’s everything leading up to your death that’s cruel and unusual, that’s torture! Think about it, you’re told they’re going to kill you, and at some time give you a date years down the road, and tell you ….. just sit there we’ll get you!

Then, you sit in a cell all day trying to get a death sentence off your back! And, the state cheats to make sure they get to kill you. They have all the cards, they want to execute you, like we’re at war.

But, I guess when you’re black in a white man’s world, torture is ok! This is a war, and we are the enemy, and in war times, anything goes when it happens mostly to black people. I guess, when it comes to cruel and unusual punishment, nothing is cruel and unusual, it you do it to the right race. Hell, whites have been killing blacks, and doing cruel and unusual things to them for centuries … Why stop now!!!

Jessie Phillips

Murder 

13A-b-2-(2)

Under circumstances manifesting extreme indifference to human life, he/she recklessly engages in conduct which creates a grave risk of death of a person other than himself, and thereby causes the death of another person.

Criminal Law of Alabama

This is what the state would like to do to us. But, as you can see it is against the law in Alabama. Do you thing for a minute that, Alabama cares about the law. Because, as you can see, they have broken the law countless times. 

From start to finish of a trial they break their own law. When you come around on appeal, they do everything in their power so you stay in jail, ad have a better chance to kill us! If, the state of Alabama would just go by their own law it wouldn’t be a death penalty! 

What is it about death that calls to us. Not the act of us killing, but death itself? I’m talking about the need to see it, in this day and time death is all around us, we see it, and it’s okay to us! 

In the last three years in the U.S. there has been 105 executions. Most states are out of drugs so they’re looking for new ways to kill us.  

In Tennessee, they’re going back to electrocution. Next will be Georgia, then Alabama! Texas will never run out of drugs. If they do, they’ll just make some on their own. 

When the death penalty is repealed in Alabama, and everywhere else in the U.S., give it five years and it will be back. That’s just the truth! 

Jessie Phillips

The global trend away from the use of the death penalty offers a glimmer of hope. Governments that still execute are on the wrong side of history. It is high time that, the remaining executioners in the Middle East and North Africa, along with China, the U.S. and all other countries that continue to cling to this form of punishment, recognize this, and abolish the practice once and for all.

Because, the death penalty helps no one, all it does is make more victims, and how is that justice. Fair justice isn’t s’pose to be one sided.

But, the U.S. loves blood so much that we can’t help, but kill each other. That’s all we know! Look at our history, and all you see is blood! And, a by-product of all that blood is the death penalty. Killing is what we do!!!

Jessie Phillips

Vengeance is mine, said the Lord.

I am sorry that, someone you loved was taken from you. Oh yes, someone should be punished for it. But, you do know that, killing them won’t bring them back. 

I find it barbaric that, you want someone to die, because of what they did. Are we not s’pose to forgive someone who wronged us. But, at the same time, no one wronged you. It is God we wronged. When we kill, we take something from God, that’s why vengeance is His, and not meant for us! 

With an eye for an eye, that is saying you get to kill the person that killed the one you love, but you’re not God, vengeance is His! 

So, how are we monsters for killing, when you’re not for wishing us dead!

Jessie Phillips

Alabama 

Alabama executed the 6^th most prisoners since 1977, that’s 56 people. Alabama leads all of our neighbors, save Florida and we know that Texas leads the nation. “I think Texas would execute someone in a coma if they could.” Texas is followed by Oklahoma, Virginia, Florida, Missouri and then Alabama.

Alabama Department of Corrections currently lists 197 inmates on death row. That’s 193 men and 4 women, average age is 31, youngest born in 1992. Meanwhile, 22 of those 197 have been on death row since 1992. And now Alabama has no drugs for executions, yet they still want to execute people, why?

Researchers find large gaps in attitudes by race and religion. White Protestants are far more likely to support the death penalty than black Protestants. Catholics and Hispanics fall between.

There are small differences by age, and by education level, but a large divide along party lines. In the United States, 71 % of Republicans favor the death penalty compared to 45 % of Democrats.

So why does Alabama still want to execute people, “I” guess cause this is the Bible belt, and most people in it, are Republicans. 

Jessie Phillips

>> Is it better to outmonster the monster or to be quietly devoured? <<

Nietzsche

That’s something I ask myself every day. Can I outmonster the monster, or should I even try to outmonster the monster.

To me the monster is the so called justice system, and once you’re in that monster, it’s hard to outmonster it. You would think, in America, justice would be about justice, it’s not, it’s about revenge! For us on the row to be quietly devoured is death. Some people are willing to go quietly, but the rest of us, refuse to be silent. If we are silent, we die!

We live in a country that’s s’posed to be civilized, yet we still have the death penalty. Just think, the U. S. is like Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Iran and Maldives, we all like to kill people for GP.

Jessie Phillips

A Little More Clarity 

People are starting to understand what the death penalty is all about. Like committee chairman Rep. Laura Pantelakos said, she always believed the death penalty was an insurance blanket over police officers, but recently two people were convicted of capital murder, a white man who was sentenced to life in prison and a black man who sits on death row.

So, is the death penalty a black and white thing, or is it like she said, an insurance blanket for the police? Because, if you kill a police officer you get the death penalty, but if you kill John Doe, you get 10 to 20.

Pantelakos said, she has a grandson who will graduate from the police academy, and one with an engineering degree, and she wants to know why is a police officer’s life more valuable than an engineer’s.

The way I see it, if a white man killed one or the other he would get a life sentence, but if a black man did it, it’s the death sentence.

It’s been said, by the ones in power, if we can’t kill them with HIV or AIDS, let’s put them in prison. If they’re in prison, we can make money off them. Who do you think they’re talking about? Black or white people? 

Jessie Phillips

How can America criticize Italy, for convicting Amanda Knox with no evidence, when they/we do it here all the time? Here, it doesn’t matter what the evidence is, it’s all about how good your lawyer is, because if the D.A. wants you convicted, you will be. The criminal justice system here is a joke. And just think, we are the ones who police the world. We “as in America”, tell you “as in the UK (hell, everybody), how their justice system should ran, and the one we have is broken! It’s like no one will call us on our b.s. Look at what we do here.

Some of the people like Beverly Margollis Kurtin, who said, when people gave former President Bush a standing ovation for murdering more people than any other governor, I felt sick to my stomach, he deliberately put to death at least one man who was  not guilty. He knew it yet with that smirk of his he said “Well, the jury found him guilty.”

I know a jury is supposed to be right, but when they see on the news that you’re guilty, then you’re guilty. I just don’t see justice in the justice system we have. It could just be me, but I don’t think so.

Jessie Phillips

If I was a dog or cat would I get more love.

If I was a dog or cat would you want to save me.

If I was a dog or cat would my life be worth more than it is at the present time.

I sit in my cell an see 5 or 6 ads to save a cat or dog and I think where are the ones to save us. Yes, we did something wrong but we are still human. Why is it that a cat has a right to live and I don’t. They have commercials for dogs that will make you cry. All we get is the UN-fair Justice Act. And yes, I’m jealous of an animal, because from what I see, they have a right to live and I don’t.

Save the whales, but to hell with me.

Jessie Phillips

Tumult and peace, the darkness and the light – were all like working of one mind, the features of the same face, blossoms upon one tree, characters of the great apocalypse. The types and symbols of eternity. Of first and last and midst and without end.

 William Wordsworth; The Prelude: Bookle

Let’s talk about money for a minute. Study considered it cost over $ 2 million per person from pre-trial, trial, automatic appeals, state habeas corpus petitions, federal habeas corpus appeals and costs of incarceration on death row. And that’s per person. I know, you can say let’s just shorten the appeals and we can save money. But if you shorten the appeals an innocent person could be executed. Just ask Texas about that, and Alabama is on the way doing the same as Texas.

Alabama’s governor said in his state of the state that Alabama doesn’t have the money to continue with the way the prison system I in the state.

So, you have about 3,114 people on death row in America. Rmember it cost over $ 2 million to convict and kill each one of us. Some people (the ones who want revenge) look at that and say the money was put to good use. Even if the children in the States are getting dumber and it cost about $1,1 million less if you sentence someone to life in prison.

It’s the tax payer’s money, tax dollars that could go on education. Because it’s not ustice or closure that put tax dollars to use to kill people, it’s revenge. Because if you wanted justice or closure life in prison would be a better punishment.

Jessie Phillips

Ok, you have 32 states in the USA with the death penalty and 18 without it. Of the 18 states without the death penalty 3 of those states still have inmates that remain on death row. And in the 32 states with the death penalty you have some of the poorest in the USA most are also in the South.

In the South it looks like the death penalty is racially charged. Or you can say that the US of A is killing off the races they don’t want here. Over 75% of the murder victims in cases resulting in an execution were white, even though nationally only 50% of murder victims generally are white.

Legal scholars from there universities recently surveyed studies of racial disparities in the use of capital punishment and observed: “The most consistent and robust finding in this literature is that even after controlling for dozens and sometimes hundreds of case-related variables, Americans who murder Whites are more likely to receive a death sentence then those who murder Blacks.”

It’s like they’re saying “Niggers kill Niggers is what we want. But when they fxxx up and kill one us that’s a dead Nigger cause if we don’t then there’s no justice.”

In a study of 445 jury-eligible people across 6 states which most actively impose the death penalty, these researchers found jurors associate white life with “worth” or “value” and black lives with “worthless” or “expendable”. That ought to be a wake-up call for anyone interested in the fairness of our judicial system.

Jessie L. Phillips