wfn.org | Disciples leader responds to King verdict

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

*Disciples News Service

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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