In a recent inter­view with The Washington Post, NAACP pres­i­dent Bruce C. Gordon (pic­tured) spoke about cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment and called for a halt to exe­cu­tions in every state until ques­tions of accu­ra­cy and fair­ness can be addressed. Gordon, who chal­lenged California Governor Arnold Schwarzennegger for refus­ing to com­mute the death sen­tence of Stanley Tookie Williams, not­ed that the death penal­ty will be a key issue for the NAACP:

African Americans rep­re­sent 10 per­cent of the pop­u­la­tion and 42 per­cent of the pop­u­la­tion on death row. That to me illus­trates the inequity of the sys­tem and the appro­pri­ate­ness of a need for a mora­to­ri­um. I do not believe in the death penal­ty. But this posi­tion around the death penal­ty is not new to the NAACP. Until we can be con­vinced that there is no bias, until we can be con­vinced that there is a just and fair appli­ca­tion of the death penal­ty, there needs to be a mora­to­ri­um.

We are going to make our posi­tion and pres­ence known in every state, every time a pris­on­er is set to be exe­cut­ed. We will call gov­er­nors, we will lob­by leg­is­la­tures. I intend to mobi­lize the NAACP around this — we feel strong­ly about it, and we’re going to be stronger about keep­ing it front and cen­ter.

(The Washington Post, January 16, 2006). See New Voices.

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