Number of states with the death penalty? It’s worse than you think.
Just to clarify – I misstated. I gave them too much credit. My mistake.
Looks like a hospital bed. But you don't get out of this one alive.
In this morning’s blog I stated that 37 States had abolished the death penalty. Wrong! Very wrong! Where I found that fact, it was referring to “37 jurisdictions” – whatever the hell that means? Other than it sounds better for the rabble who think the death penalty is a good thing.
In fact, ONLY 16 state governments, plus DC, are enlightened enough to have abolished the death penalty. Do you fecken’ believe it (DYFBI)? On the flip side, 34 States, plus the US Government and military, still have NOT abolished it. See list.
BTW, Michigan abolished its death penalty in 1846; Wisconsin in 1853, Maine in 1887 – what the hell is wrong with the other imbecile states? Talk about being behind the times and out of touch with reality. How long does it take to get smarter than a fifth grader? Of the 16 “smart states,” only two – two – border on being southern states: West Virginia and New Mexico. The rest of the “South” still doesn’t get it. Shameful!
I shall ask for the abolition of the death penalty until I have the infallibility of human judgment demonstrated to me. – The Marquis de Lafayette (1757-1834)
Long before the US Constitution was written some leaders understood the fundamental human flaw of having a death penalty in a civilized society. Where was the Marquis de Lafayette when they were writing the constitution?
“People are the worst”
Coming 2026
My personal history is the stuff they write books about. And that's what I am doing. The working title, "Chains of My Father: Marry White."
"The ghostly image of the tragic mulatto trapped between two worlds." - Barack Obama
This perspicacious line from the Prologue of Barack Obama's "Dream from My Father" wrenched my aspiration into action. I started writing, furiously. Unlike Obama's perspective, my pain had been for the opposite reason: I was not seen by whites as a "tragic mulatto," rather I lived every day of my childhood hoping whites were not "searching my eyes for some telltale sign" that I WAS mulatto. This is my story.
It's historical fiction because I cannot find enough records to substantiate all facets of the story. I've combed the genealogy, traveled to my father and grandmothers' birthplace, walked the graveyards, searched the churches and ... well, all the facts aren't there. I have written three books based on the genealogy of other families but my ancestors emerged from a journey that left too few records – slavery.
My paternal, great grandmother was a "freed slave." My grandmother, Amelia, was born to a mixed race slave named Mary (we do not know her last name) and a white, French plantation owner, the Count de Poullain, in Grenada, West Indies. Amelia was raised in the "Big House" and in adulthood, in an attempt to escape her black heritage disowned her mother, telling her, "Get out and never come back." Amelia, as a mother of twelve children, enshrined into the family commandments, "Marry white." Many did, including my father. My mother was a lovely, white, Anglo-Saxon protestant born in England. They met in Canada where my dad studied and became a doctor.
It has taken five generations for the descendants of Mary to free themselves from the stigma of their black heritage but today my children embrace it. Unfortunately, the past 250 years have been a wasteland of bigotry, racism and bullying. But, on closer look, we see not only the brutality, fear, violence, and murder but also the self-respect, dignity, love, kindness, perseverance and indomitable spirit.
As of the spring of 2025, the depth of historic perspective and the sweeping inspiration of oppressed people has created a two-volume duology of which I have only arrived at the middle of the 19th century. 1840 is the year my great grandfather was born, the beginning of Volume II, and he's pushing me to make sure our story is published by the summer of 2026.
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