Title: Disciples leader responds to King verdict
Date: March 10, 1999
Disciples News Service
Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)
Contact: news@cm.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."
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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