What about this Karla Faye Tucker on death row in Texas? This little lady earned the dubious title "Nicest Lady on Death Row" from Time magazine. (You'd really hate to meet the meanest, since this "nice" woman left a pickax sticking out of two people's bodies, an act which she admits "got her off" sexually.) Before she was a killer, she was a crack whore. She probably scared the heck out of the little 16 year old black boys on the cell row when she first came in, don't you think?
But she can pray. And batting her eyes and her hefty Bible at some of the most powerful conservative men in America has worked
wonders at getting attention for her pending execution. Undeniably guilty of the of the murders for which she was convicted, Tucker is a perfect litmus test for the death penalty itself.
The only quibble is that the same hardliner politicos who posture for tougher sanctions on crime seem to think she is more deserving of mercy than other inmates on Death Row... There are two distinct factors which make her the darling of the right wing, and one very notable unspoken factor. First, she is a woman, and a pretty one in a certain white-trash aesthetic. Second, she is a very-much witnessed "Born-again" Christian. Thus, surely her repentance is sincere (not inspired by fear or by calculation.) Puh-leeze!! Finally, but her defenders don't want us to notice this or say it aloud, she is white.
The people who earnestly believe she is a "new" person, one deserving of a second chance, are the same people who quickly deny young black men the same second chance. I am kind of annoyingly consistent on the issue of the relevance of guilt to punishment, so let's assume that I think she and the black boys who have killed should share the same straps and needles of judgment. But in our society's rush to judge and to kill, the issue of guilt itself is often swept under the rug. Especially in congested Death Rows in the southern states, there are numerous young black men who appeal in vain on factual evidence that they could not have been the perpetrators. The same white conservative fundamentalist types who sigh over Tucker, can't pull the switch fast enough on these young innocents. It's as though capital punishment is such a great deterrent, it should be used to stop potential criminals before they ever kill at all. Unless the killer is (hush, don't say it) "one of us"--wink, wink.
As a feminist, this case angers me. Taking pity on this woman may seem "chivalrous," but that's the problem. It says that she is no more than a child who cannot possibly grasp the enormity of what she did by taking human life. That's bull. Of course, I realize that the issue of her gender says more about her pathetic "white knights" than it does about her. Tell me that any of them, from William Bennett on down the line, doesn't have a Jesus fantasy going on here. Hurry! Magdalene is up against the wall and she needs your help, saviour-guy!
As a non-theist this case bothers me even more. The HUBRIS of some Christians! If Karla Faye Tucker had found inner peace and a way of carrying the mantle of personal responsibility from Buddhist, Islamic, or any other religion's writings, or worse yet, from humanist philosophical writings, this case would never be mentioned at all. There's more than one way to stick a pickax in another woman's chest, but there's only one way to repent. Everyone knows-- only Brand X can get you really clean.
As an American, this case angers me. In the eyes of the law, all defendants, and all convicts, must be treated equally. If we condone the death penalty, then when someone clearly has committed a capital crime, s/he must be put to death. If we have qualms about doing that---and even though I'm basically for capital punishment I still think we damned well better have some qualms about doing it---then we must reconsider the punishment as a whole. We can't justify exceptions on the basis of tearful quoting of Bible scripture.
Finally, the hypocrisy of her defenders appalls me. It's discriminatory. These rightwingers have a sworn duty to defend and protect the unborn. What's all this fuss and energy to help someone who's not only been born, but claims to have been born twice ?? Ah, the stings of iniquity!
