Ajamu Baraka in CommonDreams.org

On Crime: Worked to abolish death penalty as human rights activist

Ajamu Baraka, a human rights activist who has worked to abolish the death penalty for 15 years, will receive the Abolitionist of the Year Award this weekend from the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty. Baraka directed AIUSA's [Amnesty International] National Program to Abolish the Death Penalty over the past 12 months, at a time when intense international attention was focused on capital punishment in the United States. Baraka is now the Director of AIUSA's Southern Regional Office in Atlanta.

"We are honoring Ajamu for his longtime service and remarkable dedication to the abolition of the death penalty," said the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty's Executive Director. "As Southern Regional Director of Amnesty International, Ajamu has traveled extensively throughout the South, highlighting not just the death penalty cases that receive tremendous media attention, but each and every case, regardless of the level of publicity."

Source: CommonDreams.org, "Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty" Oct 19, 2001

On Crime: Abolition follows examining death penalty in a moral context

Baraka noted that tremendous progress has been made in the past two years toward educating the public about the cycle of violence perpetuated by the death penalty. He is optimistic about building on that progress.

"We have an abolition unity plan among organizations at the national level, growing doubt about the death penalty system, significant momentum with the moratorium in Illinois, and a lot more scrutiny of the system as a reward for our hard work," Baraka said. "As the public continues to examine the death penalty in a moral context, I believe that support for abolition of the death penalty will grow." He emphasized that this award is for all of the people who have worked to abolish the death penalty in the United States. Baraka calls on activists "to stay the course and victory will follow."

Source: CommonDreams.org, "Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty" Oct 19, 2001

On War & Peace: Killing Saddam & Kaddafi were arrogant white supremacism

The public slaughter of Kaddafi and the hanging of Saddam Hussein are two sides of the same arrogant, white supremacist coin. In both cases it is the imperialist West, using the power of the military & with the full support of a majority of the people, that bombed cities; murdered and imprisoned government officials; tortured prisoners to death--in order to bring to those people the benefits of living in "free societies" like those of the West. And now, as the US slinks out of Iraq, we are being told that all that was done was for the good of the Iraqi people and that it is up to the Iraqis to protect the gift of freedom that the US has bestowed upon them.

What is more sad than the fact that this line is being fed to the people in the US to cover their defeat (and that it is being accepted), is the knowledge that until we undermine forever the false assumptions and prerogatives of white supremacist ideology, more blood will be shed and more nations destroyed--all in the name of a monstrous lie.

Source: CommonDreams.org, "Iraq and White Supremacy" Dec 21, 2011

The above quotations are from CommonDreams.org political reporting and commentary. Click here for other excerpts from CommonDreams.org political reporting and commentary. Click here for other excerpts by Ajamu Baraka. Click here for a profile of Ajamu Baraka.
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Page last updated: Jul 21, 2024