wfn.org | Disciples leader responds to King verdict

["Curt Miller"<wshuffit@oc.disciples.org>]

Date:  March 10, 1999
Disciples News Service
Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)
Contact: Clifford L. Willis
Email: CWillis@oc.disciples.org
on the Web: http://www.disciples.org

99b-14

INDIANAPOLIS (DNS) -- The leader of the Christian Church
(Disciples of Christ) today (March 10) said life 
imprisonment
might be a more appropriate punishment for the killer of 
Jasper,
Texas, resident James Byrd, Jr. General Minister and 
President
Richard L. Hamm also offered sympathy to the Byrd family. 

John William King was sentenced to death for the June 7 
slaying.
Two co-defendants also will be tried for the crime.

"First, my prayers are offered on behalf of the family of 
James
Byrd, Jr. who have suffered so much . . . especially in the 
face of
the revelation that James was actually alive during much of 
the
torturous dragging behind John William King's pickup 
truck.

"As much as I detest the murder of James Byrd, Jr., I 
remain
opposed to the death penalty," said the Disciples leader. 
For one
reason, capital punishment "is not administered in a 
perfectly just
way. A disproportionate number of those who receive the 
death
penalty are African American." (King is reportedly the 
first white
Texan sentenced to die for killing a black person in modern 
times.)

Hamm also cited the victimization of innocent persons by 
capital
punishment, calling it "a tragedy which can never be 
undone." 
  
While condemning the torturous attack on Byrd, the general
minister and president said life imprisonment without 
parole is
more suitable. Life without parole "forces one who 
perpetrates
such a horrible crime to face a lifetime of guilt and 
remorse . . . a
fate worse than death," he said. Life in prison also "holds 
out the
possibility of a murderer someday coming to repentance." 

Besides offering sympathies to the Byrd family, the 
Disciples
leader had comforting words for Ronald King, father of the
convicted killer. "My prayers are offered on behalf of 
King's
father, who appears to have been a loving parent who 
cannot
understand how his son became so filled with hate and rage 
and
who has reached out to Byrd's family in sorrow and shame."

The entire tragedy, Hamm said, is an opportunity for all 
U.S.
citizens to "reflect on the very real presence of racism in 
our
culture and within ourselves. By doing this, we would bring 
some
measure of redemption to James Byrd's death."    

                  -- end --

Reflections on the King verdict by General Minister and
President Richard L. Hamm:

First, my prayers are offered on behalf of the family of 
James Byrd,
Jr. who have suffered so much . . . especially in the face 
of the
revelation that James was actually alive during much of the 

torturous dragging behind John William King's pickup 
truck.

Second, my prayers are offered on behalf of King's father, 
who
appears to have been a loving parent who cannot understand 
how
his son became so filled with hate and rage and who has 
reached
out to Byrd's family in sorrow and shame.

Third, as much as I detest the murder of James Byrd, Jr., I 
remain
opposed to the death penalty. Why? In part, because as 
Supreme
Court Justice (Harry) Blackmun said many years ago in his
opposition to capital punishment, the death penalty is not
administered in a perfectly just way. A disproportionate 
number of
those who receive the death penalty are African-American 
(it is
worth noting that King is the first white Texan to be 
sentenced to
die for killing a black person). In addition, many innocent 
people
have been put to death . . . a tragedy which can never be 
undone.  I
believe that life in prison without parole is a suitable 
punishment
because it holds out the possibility of a murderer someday 
coming
to repentance. 

In my less charitable moments, I also believe in "life 
without
parole" because it forces one who perpetrates such a 
horrible crime
to face a lifetime of guilt and remorse . . . a  fate worse 
than 
death.

While it is easy for white Americans to vigorously condemn 
King's
outrageous actions, we must be careful that we do not do so 
in an
attempt merely to minimize or deny our own bigotry and our 
own
participation in the racist structures of our society. May 
this tragedy
instead be an occasion for all Americans to reflect on the 
very real
presence of racism in our culture and within ourselves. By 
doing
this, we would bring some measure of redemption to James 
Byrd's
death.

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