Gregory Kane argues that the recent decison to give life sentences to two Aryans proves that the death penalty is a necessary part of the criminal justice process. Although his logic is flawed and shortsighted, I wanted to offer a different perspective.

(Note: To avoid any ambiguity, I do not support the death penalty under any circumstances)

Think The Death Penalty Is Unfair Black People? Maybe This Will Sway You
By Gregory Kane 

It’s not often those of us who support the death penalty get to show those who oppose it why they are so absolutely, utterly and hopelessly wrong, so I guess in a sick, sordid sort of way I should be thanking Barry Mills and Tyler Bingham.

Mills is known as The Baron. Bingham is called The Hulk. If you think those nicknames make the two sound like a couple of bubbas, you’re right. Mills and Bingham are leaders in the Aryan Brotherhood prison gang. Several news stories say the Aryan Brotherhood was formed in 1964 at California’s San Quentin Maximum Security Prison. George Jackson, the late prison activist, writer and Black Panther, said Aryan Brotherhood members called themselves Hitler’s Helpers.

Mills and Bingham were accused of helping Hitler by ordering their fellow bubbas at a federal prison in Colorado to wage war on black inmates in 1997. Two black inmates were killed in the mini-race war Mills and Bingham ordered.

These two gruppenfuhrers went to trial in California (the Aryan Brotherhood casts its net throughout the land) last month. They were found guilty of racketeering and murder. A federal jury had a chance to give both the death penalty, which would have prevented them from ordering any more hits on black inmates — or inmates of any race, for that matter. But three members of the jury punked out.

Jurors voted 9-3 to give Mills the death penalty. They voted 8-4 to give Bingham life without parole. Now both will get life. Death sentences by jurors have to be unanimous in the federal system.

So, as you read this, Mills and Bingham could very well be ordering another string of fatal attacks on black inmates, courtesy of their Hitler’s Helpers subordinates.

It is at this point that all those black folks moaning about how unfair the death penalty is for black folks should do some serious pondering. It’s time all those black folks who claim the death penalty doesn’t deter murder to reconsider their position.

For the rest of the story, click here.