inhumane

Death Toll Rises While Outrage Boils Over Conditions at Mississippi’s Parchman Prison

Stacy M. Brown, NNPA Newswire Senior CorrespondentFebruary 21, 2020

For some time, concerns about Parchman have rankled inmates, family members, and others, including hip-hop superstar Jay-Z who is suing the state demanding better conditions at the prison. Jay-Z, whose real name is Shawn Carter, and others, have lobbied for officials to shut down the controversial prison. The conditions at Parchman, which once was a plantation that contained hundreds of slaves, were highlighted in January when cell phone video made its way to the internet displaying a cache of problems.

Why I’m Visiting the Border

Derrick Johnson, NAACP President and CEOAugust 16, 2019

“I shook hands with a 13 year-old-boy whose mother told him to make eye contact and shake hands firmly. Even in the midst of horrific living conditions and imprisonment, children at the facility are still being taught to treat people with respect, while being treated less than human…”

Julianne Malveaux Opinion

James Byrd’s Killer Didn’t Deserve the Death Penalty

Julianne Malveaux, NNPA Newswire ContributorMay 2, 2019

Killing is wrong. Killing Black people because they are Black is even more wrong. Lynching Black people is exponentially wrong. So why was I opposed to the state-imposed killing of John William King, the despicable murderer of James Byrd, Jr.? I happen to think that there are worse things that can happen to you than death. The now 44-year old King could have gotten a sentence of life in prison and lived miserably there for the rest of his life. In some ways, death is salvation for him. Imagine being relatively healthy with nothing to look forward to? Just sitting there, in jail, surrounded by the Black people your white supremacist self purports to hate. That might be torture worse than death.