interview with kevin cooper from death row:
Kevin Cooper's case exemplifies everything that makes my stomach turn about capital punishment: it's racially biased. It punishes the innocent. And every last person is on death row innocent or not because they couldn't afford the representation that would have saved their lives. As the saying goes, "Those without the capital get the punishment." When we actually read and hear the voices of those on the row, it makes it that much harder for executioners like Schwarzenegger to sell the idea that they are somehow less than human and should be put down like dogs.
(...) DZ: Why has sports, in your mind, become such a central part of the Black experience in the United States?
KC: Throughout the history of America, white people have always loved to be entertained by Black people, especially Black men. The masters of certain slaves would put their slaves up against other slaves from another plantation and they would fight, sometimes to the death. Just as dogs or roosters did. This evolved into sports such as boxing and wrestling. As new sports were invented, and more white people wanted to be entertained, more Blacks were either forced to participate against their will, or they joined in because they found some type of respect if they were good at it. The master's prize fighter got good food, access to women, and was respected and treated pretty goodThat is until he lost.
(...) DZ: In New Orleans, when Katrina hit, the only place available for emergency shelter was the stadium, the Superdome. What does that tell us about our world today?
KC: After Hurricane Katrina hit and the poor people of New Orleans found themselves in the Superdome, it showed the world that, in this country, if you are poor then you are shit out of luck. Nobody will help you when and how you need help, and if you can't make it on your own you are in trouble.
(...) KC: Sports and life are both full of contradictions because both have rules and sometimes the rules are broken and ignored. Mistakes are made but not admitted to. Certain people make calls in both, and for the most part it is the ordinary people who suffer because of the calls made by the leaders or owners. It's the people at the bottom who pay for the mistakes made by the people at the top. It's a dog eat dog world, the winner takes all, and too many people are set up to lose from the get-go.