Read. Think. Act.

Catherine Read

  • Home
  • About
  • Creative Read
  • Blog
  • TV Shows
  • Books
  • About Me
  • Contact
  • Making Change Radio
  • Archives

by Catherine Read

Railroaded – Dale Brumfield

Railroaded - Dale Brumfield author (Sept. 2020) This book is an excellent work of research, scholarship and storytelling. Dale Brumfield, a native Virginian, historian, author and cultural archaeologist continues to write about the untold history of this Commonwealth that we never learned in school.

Railroaded is a window into the history and culture of the Commonwealth of Virginia through a very specific lens of capital punishment. To understand how so many young black men were put to death, we must first acknowledge that Virginia is ground zero of the slave trading of captured Africans that began in 1619. Those sales of Black Africans to White landowners established human beings as property, not people, and slavery as an important economic engine of Southern prosperity.

While this book is dedicated to telling the stories of the first 100 people put to death in the newly introduced electric chair from 1908 to 1920, the subtext of these stories is one of white rage, resentment and institutional racism in Virginia that is present to this very day.

There are so many layers to this book. The first that struck me was that the names of the victims and the names of the accused look so very similar. They are the same old Virginia family names that used to fill pages of local phonebooks. I recognize these family names because I have lived in Virginia all of my life and these are the names of my schoolmates, neighbors and leading citizens of the communities where I have lived from Southwest Virginia to Northern Virginia.

That is a reminder that many Black Virginians bear the surnames of the people who owned their ancestors. They do not have a family history of their own with an ancestry separate from those who enslaved them. Their identity was stolen when they were abducted from their own communities on another continent and sold as property to White people who chose what they would be called and whose mark was left on their children, and their children’s children for all of their days.

Reducing Black people to less than human is the foundation upon which this country’s culture and our system of justice and punishment has been built. Virginia’s legislature and our law enforcement created a two-tiered system that was both codified and legitimized in the law.

For many years a Black person was not allowed by law to testify against a White criminal defendant, so crimes such as the rape of a Black woman by a White man were rarely prosecuted, and never resulted in a death sentence since the victim could not testify against her attacker.

As a carryover effect, there was not one White-on-Black capital crime punished by execution – and unbelievably, Virginia did not execute a White for killing a Black person until 1997, when Thomas Beavers was executed for the murder of Marguerite Lowery.

Another startling layer to this book is the long and detailed history of violence against women. Rape and assault, along with husbands killing wives, and men stalking and killing the objects of their obsession. Women have not fared well here in the Commonwealth. It took until 2020 for legislation to pass in our current legislature that allows the Courts, through due process, to issue Risk Orders removing guns from the hands of people who are a risk to themselves or others. It’s hard to imagine how many women could have been spared murder while fleeing domestic violence if only we had the political will to protect them.

This book is an important part of Virginia’s history. I think it’s difficult for many people to understand how unarmed Black people can be killed with impunity and no one held accountable. It has ever been thus. It is hardwired into our culture and carried forward generation after generation. The history of law enforcement, the judicial process, mass incarceration and capital punishment present the blueprint to how we got here in 2020. More books like Railroaded need to be researched, written and widely read so that the next generation perhaps makes the intentional choice not to carry these terrible precedents forward.

Listen to my interview with author Dale Brumfield here: https://youtu.be/z0c36–BJWA

Filed Under: Making Change Radio, Virginia Tagged With: Capital Punishment, criminal justice, Dale Brumfield, Death Penalty, Execution, racism, VDAP, Virginia

by Rachel Simon

Virginians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty

(Sept. 3, 2018) Catherine Read sits down with Dale Brumfield, Field Director for Virginians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty (VADP). Dale took over this position last year, after authoring a book about the Virginia State Penitentiary System, and penning several opinion pieces on the topic for a variety of Virginia based news publications. As field director for VADP, he seeks to engage a variety of grass roots constituent groups, from progressive to conservative to libertarian to evangelical and beyond.

The death penalty has early roots in Virginia’s history. The first man to be put to death in the New World was Cpt. George Kendall, killed by firing squad in 1608 for treason. Later in 1632, the colony put the first woman to death for the crime of concealing childbirth. Since then, the death penalty has been used far and wide in the commonwealth, where over 1300 people have been executed in its 400+ year history. The practice gained popularity in the 1800’s, born from an unreliable prison system that was unable to secure its residents.  Many things have changed since then, and Brumfield argues that death sentences should no longer used. However, 31 states still bring capital punishment cases to trial.

Brumfield makes the case that in addition to being morally wrong (the Old Testament clearly states “Thou shall not kill” in the ten commandments), the use of the death penalty is a waste of both time and money. It costs 4-10x as much to bring a capital punishment case to trial versus a non-death penalty case. This does not even take into account the appeals process, which adds many more hundreds of thousands of dollars to the cost.

Dale Brumfield VADPWhen speaking with those who support the practice, one the of biggest complaints that Brumfield hears is that people do not want their tax dollars to have to pay for someone to sit in jail. They would rather have the guilty defendant put to death. In reality this is a false argument, because it actually winds up costing the state much more to bring a death penalty case to trial. Additionally, there is the cost of having the convicted felon sit on death row for what often amounts to decades. For example, in California they have had over 700 people on death row, but the state rarely executes anyone. Since 1978, when the death penalty was reinstated, the state has spent 14 billion dollars in death row costs but has only put 13 people to death.

Attitudes toward the death penalty have changed significantly over the past 20 years. In 1999, 75% of those surveyed supported the use of capital punishment.  Today, that number has dropped to 54%, up slightly from an all-time low of 49% in 2016, according to a Pew research study.  Since 2011 there has not been one death sentence issued by a jury in Virginia, and there are currently 3 people awaiting execution. Compared to 1999 when there were 60 people on death row, Brumfield points out that the Virginia is making great strides in reducing the number of people being sent to death row.

One of the main reasons that there has been such a drastic reduction in capital punishment cases can be tied to the establishment in 2004 of the Capital Defense offices. Four regional offices were opened, staffed with highly competent defense attorneys who would take on these high profile cases. In the past, many of the defendants who were poor and minority could not afford their own counsel. The court would appoint an attorney, but often times these lawyers were not equipped to handle such complex cases. The prosecution would run circles around the ill equipped court appointed attorneys, and many more death sentences were given. The establishment of these offices helped to even the playing field, causing prosecutors to drastically reduce the number of capital punishment cases that they brought to trial.

Blumfield also points out that the death penalty is biased along racial lines. A research study done in Virginia showed that a person is three times as likely to be sentenced to death when the victim is white vs. when the victim is black (VJLRC study, 2000). Additionally, while African Americans represent only 13% of the overall population, they make up 42% of those on death row, and 35% of those executed.

Dale Brumfield VADP ConfFrom a legislative perspective, Brumfield is working with the Virginia General Assembly on two main initiatives. The SMI bill (Severe Mental Illness) is designed to make sure that no person with an IQ of 70 or less is executed. Recently, a young man with an IQ of 56 admitted to a crime he did not commit and was given the death penalty. He was proven innocent through DNA testing, but he came within 7 days of being put to death before he was exonerated. This year, Brumfield will also be working on a bill addressing drug secrecy of the injection cocktail used for executions in Virginia. There has been quite a bit of controversy over this practice, and this bill is designed to shine a spotlight on the ingredients being used for these cases.

VADP is holding a luncheon in Reston to raise funds to support their work. Joe Giarratano, a man who served 38 years for a crime he did not commit, will be an honored guest. Actor Mike Farrell (better known as B.J. Hunnicutt on MASH) will be the keynote speaker. For over 30 years he has been working in California to abolish the death penalty. Details and signup information can be found on their website.

Filed Under: Inside Scoop, TV Shows, Virginia Tagged With: Capital Defense Offices, Dale Brumfield, Death Penalty, Execution, George Kendall, Joe Giarratano, Mike Farrell, Severe Mental Illness Bill, SMI bill, VADP, Virginians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty

by Catherine Read

Virginians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty – Inside Scoop

(Dec. 26, 2016) Catherine Read is joined by three members of the Board of Directors of Virginians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty: Paul O’Shea, attorney Kristina Leslie, and Nicholas Cote. The impending execution of death row inmate Ricky Gray on January 18, 2017, has brought the issue of capital punishment back into the headlines in Virginia.

VADP is a non-profit that has been working to abolish the death penalty in Virginia since 1991. With over 140 death row exonerations in recent years, there is no doubt that innocent people have been both wrongly convicted and wrongly executed by state governments.

Some states have abolished use of the death penalty legislatively and others have found ways to avoid executions through commuting death sentences to life without parole. In December 2016, the Delaware Supreme Court ruled that everyone currently on death row in that state will be re-sentenced to life without parole. That ruling stems from their August decision which found the death penalty law is unconstitutional.

Recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions have weighed in on the issue of capital punishment as it is applied to juveniles and those who are intellectually disabled. There is still great disparity in how each of the 50 states has structured laws around who may be put to death and how.

Most recently, there has been controversy over the method of execution that uses injectable drugs. There have been issues with the performance of these drugs that have prolonged the actual termination of life and that is being challenged as a cruel and unusual punishment.

Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe could commute the sentence of Ricky Gray prior to his execution date on January 18, but there has been no indication that he is considering such a move. Virginia in third in the nation for the number of people executed since 1976. The Death Penalty Information Center has charted those number in the U.S. here.

You can find more information on the work of Virginians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty at http://vadp.org

Filed Under: Blogging, Inside Scoop, Political, TV Shows, Virginia Tagged With: Capital Punishment, Courts, Death Penalty, Execution, Ricky Gray, Supreme Court, Terry McAuliffe, Virginia

Catherine S. Read
I believe in the power of community and the ability of one person to make a difference.

Read more…

Get the Latest

I will not spam you. Read my privacy policy.

Recent Posts

Railroaded – Dale Brumfield

His Other Life – Melanie McCabe

The Art of Gathering – Priya Parker

Faithful Servant Awards on Your Need to Know

Laura Jane Cohen on Your Need to Know

Elaine Tholen on Your Need To Know

Dar Al-Hijrah Islamic Center

Delegate Kathleen Murphy on Your Need to Know

Search

Archives

Archives

  • Facebook
  • Flickr
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Read. Think. Act.

Copyright © 2021 Catherine S. Read · All Rights Reserved · Privacy Policy