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by Leroy Moore/An Illin n' Chilln' exclusive
Alberto R. Gonzales' War Against the Disabled
Ignored in the post-election clamor, November 13th and
14th marked the fourth annual Convention of Campaign
to End the Death Penalty, (CEDP) held in Chicago,
Illinois. Fitting choice, as Illinois is also same
state that held a Black mentally Disabled young man,
Anthony Porter, on Death Row for eighteen years before
DNA testing and years of advocating led to the
overturn of his wrongful incarceration. Also ironic is
that it came on the heels of George Bush's
announcement of Alberto Gonzales to succeed John
Ashcroft as Attorney General. While as legal counsel,
Gonzales demonstrated an appetite for executing the
disabled.
In Texas, Gonzales was responsible for who would get a
stay, clemency or death on Texas' Death Row. Now Mr.
Gonzales closet is wide open to the public and we get
to see the case of Terry Washington and other mentally
disabled death row inmates that were put to death with
his help. Many advocates and articles have stated
During Bush's six years as governor 152 people were
executed in Texas: a record unmatched by any other
governor in modern American history.
Mr. Gonzales' duties included preparing summaries of
death row cases for Bush but many did not mention the
inmates' mental disabilities. Gonzales went on to
become the Texas Secretary of State and a justice on
the Texas Supreme Court. He continued to guide
Governor Bush into executing Death Row inmates who
were mentally disabled, such as Terry Washington,
Brian Roberson and Oliver David Cruz although there
was a national campaign against execution of the
mentally disabled. Texas ignored the Supreme Court
decision on June 20, 2000 in the Artkin v Virginia.
The decisions ordered that executions of mentally
retarded criminals are "cruel and unusual punishment"
prohibited by the Eighth Amendment.
In the Spring of 2000 with Mr. Gonzales at his side,
Bush voted against a bill that would ban executions of
the mentally disabled. Today, President Bush continues
his state violence against people with disabilities,
people of color and the poor by choosing Alberto R.
Gonzales as the new Attorney General. President Bush
has consistently appointed cabinet members who share
the same attitude against people with disabilities
throughout his first term.
Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge was Governor of
Pennsylvania when another Black disabled man, Michael
Manning, spent years in prison on a clear case of
self-defense but received no assistance from the
ex-Governor at that time. Matter-of-fact Tom Ridge
helped the case against Manning. Just like Anthony
Porter and Earl Washington Jr., Michael Manning also
is a free man today because of the work of families,
advocates, progressive lawyers etc. Unfortunately
there are more wrongful deaths than exoneration of
disabled inmates like Jerome Bowden, Ricky Ray Rector
and Wanda Jean Allen to name a few. There are a few
coalitions, organizations and campaign advocating for
the elimination of the death penalty all together and
a specific campaign to ban execution of the "mentally
retarded." For example, National Coalition to Abolish
the Death Penalty, NCADP, has been the only fully
staffed national organization exclusively devoted to
abolishing capital punishment. NCADP provides
information, advocates for public policy, and
mobilizes and supports individuals and institutions
that share our unconditional rejection of capital
punishment.
The web site of Lost Souls Stop the Killing of the
Mentally Retarded and the Mentally Ill, it reads:
"in Resolution 1989/64, 24 May 1989, The United
Nations Economic and Social Council Recommends that
Member States take steps to implement the safeguards
and strengthen further the protection of the rights of
those facing the death penalty, where applicable, by:
eliminating the death penalty for persons suffering
from mental retardation or extremely limited mental
competence, whether at the stage of sentence or
execution."
This campaign recently got the Supreme Court to order
a ban against execution of the "mentally retarded" and
the mentally ill. And the Campaign to End the Death
Penalty is a national grassroots organization of
activists dedicated to stopping individual executions
and abolishing capital its national convention was
held in Chicago this year. These campaigns and
coalitions protect the rights, lives and voices of
persons on death row.
The Chicago's convention was set against a national
context that is clearly getting worse for anti-death
penalty advocates and people with disabilities.
Chicago was also the home May Molina Ortiz, a disabled
Puerto Rican, who was a co-founder of Families of the
Wrongfully Convicted and a founder of Comite Exigimos
Justicia (We Demand Justice Committee) died early this
year, 2004, in police custody. A local Bay Area
advocate and founder of Idriss Stelley Foundation,
Mesha Irizarry, attended the fourth annual conference
to speak about her son who had mental health
disabilities and was shot in 2002 by San Francisco
Police. The work of activists and organizations i.e.
Kiilu Nyasha, Yuri Kochiyama, Prison Focus, California
Coalition for Women Prisoners and Claude Marks etc is
our only protection against President Bush continuous
state violence againt people with disabilities.
By Leroy Franklin Moore Jr. President of "On the
Outskirts": Race & Disability Consulting
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