Two sisters get Clemency in Mississippi after serving 16 years; compliments of the racist US justice system

Jamie and Gladys Scott

The Wall Street Journal editorial mentioned in the earlier blog about the occupants of Guantanamo and how they are killers not playing by the rules of civilized society clearly holds up the US as the example of what civilization should mean. The US is a violent, militaristic and racist regime; it is far from a civilized society.  Look at the two women in Mississippi, barely adults when they were convicted for a crime that killed no one and netted $11.

They got double life sentences from a racist judge and racist jurors and have spent 16 years in prison. Double life sentences for Christ's sake.  The prisons in America are full of examples like these two.  They are receiving clemency on the condition that one of the sisters donates her kidney to the other.  The cost of keeping the sick sister in jail at $200,000 a year doesn't make economic sense obviously so the Republican governor hopes to make some political hay by releasing them.

The rich steal everything that isn't nailed down.  Just tonight on the news here I hear about three people, including a child, die in a fire in a crumbling apartment block owned by a bank.  The woman had lost her job as a home help and was living in shabby unit, "borrowing" electricity from another unit with an extension cord after her power was cut off as she couldn't pay for it.  That's civilization is it? Crooks like Cheney and the execs of Enron and the financial institutions that brought the economy to the verge of collapse go unpunished while working class people languish in US jails for crimes like these two sisters fell prey to.  Young children of 15 are tried as adults and face their entire lives in jail in this country.   The US is tough on crime alright, except when the capitalist class steals.

Crime is connected to poverty and despair.  With more opportunity for a job and a secure and productive life, most workers would not be in jail.  We have a valid excuse for breaking their laws.  The slumlords, employers and speculators whose entire lives are spent violating the human rights of someone somewhere do not go to jail; they are professional criminals, they make a living out of crime; a very successful one.  Laws are written by the ruling class and are written to protect their interests and perpetuate their rule.

As I look at the faces of these two women I get so angry and filled with a healthy class hatred that gives me the energy to continue the struggle to put an end to the system that perpetuates such injustice; these are my people, and only my class fills the jail cells of America.  They are just two of many whose avenues in this so-called civilized society were severely limited.  They have lost an important period of their lives to the US justice system.  I am happy for them that they may be free if all goes well.