
          The Cold Hard Truth
          By 
            Chestnut, J.L., Jr.J.L. Chestnut, Jr.
          Vol. 11, No. 5, 1989, pp. 24, 23
          
          I spoke recently in Pittsburgh at an annual NAACP
banquet. Ordinarily, NAACP types are leery of me because they often
naively believe every societal problem in the world can be settled in
the courts. That is one of the reasons many of them don't march or
walk picket lines.
          For three decades I have preached about the severe limitations on
the law as a tool for positive social change. So, why was I asked to
come and speak at a NAACP banquet in Pittsburgh? Good question.
          The very conservative Republican majority on the U.S. Supreme_Court
recently acknowledged the racism surrounding and undermining the death
penalty in America but sanctioned it anyway. I didn't have to say, "I
told you so." The court said it for me and in a most eloquent
manner.
          In addition, the so-called pro-lifers recently won a stunning
victory against abortions in the Pennsylvania legislature. The
conservative Republican Attorney_General of the United_States, Richard
Thornburg, was U.S. Attorney in Pittsburgh before he became governor
and is a major pro-lifer.
          The general is also a loud advocate of the federal death
penalty. Many black Pennsylvanians are beginning to question his
sincerity as he preaches the pro-life gospel on one hand and the death
penalty on the other.
          The Pittsburgh NAACP groups raised the same questions when
Thornburg nominated Bill Lucas to head the civil_rights division at
Justice. Several black Pennsylvania politicians, close to Thornburg,
were in Detroit trying to drum up support for Lucas. They failed.
          These Pennsylvania politicians were singularly ineffective. First,
they were unaware Thornburg had taken a stand on the federal death
penalty. Second, they were not knowledgeable about the civil_rights
connection with capital punishment and knew next to nothing about the
death_penalty generally.
          A few days ago in Birmingham I discussed capital punishment in
Alabama before an audience of blacks and whites. Only the blacks were
uncomfortable. Shades of Detroit!
          I recited the following facts in Birmingham.
          There are 106 people under sentence of death in Alabama. Fifty-one
percent of Alabama death row inmates are black, though we comprise
only a fifth of the-population. Eighty percent of death row sentences
were imposed in cases with white victims. Alabama has never executed a
white person for a crime against a black; regardless of how outrageous
or brutal the crime. Seventeen death row prisoners received the death
sentence from a circuit judge who overruled a jury recommendation of
life without parole.
          Alabama has five women on death row, the largest number in the
nation per capita. Two juveniles are under sentence of death. At
present there are approximately 126 people charged with capital murder
awaiting trial or sentencing in Alabama. Ten people have been
sentenced to death in the last six months.
          Since Alabama resumed executions, six people have 

been put to death
at Holman Prison. The pace of executions has escalated in recent
months; there have been three executions since May of 1989. Arthur
Julius is currently scheduled for execution on November 17, a few days
away.
          If the foregoing facts make you nervous, don't blame me. Blame the
truth.
          I am often amused by certain blacks with certain jobs--in Alabama,
Pennsylvania and elsewhere--who will blame me for reciting or
publishing the foregoing facts but will voice no opinion on the
process that produced those facts. My critics are often classic
frauds.
          The western Pennsylvania NAACP membership was hardly unanimous in
approving my visit or anticipated speech; otherwise the visit wouldn't
have been worth the trip.
          Peace.
          
            J. L. Chestnut is an Alabama trial lawyer and
writer.
          
        
