An Open Letter to the Opponents of Capital Punishment

29 October 1989
Death Row -San Quentin

Dear Abolitionist,

    ON A RECENT VISIT I expressed the feeling that it takes courage ...before I could finish my thought my visitor asked if I was talking about myself ...I said no, that I was talking about the people who oppose the death penalty, the people in the streets who are actively protesting and marching, the people who would be at the gates of San Quentin to protest the resumption of execution in California.
    I do not think it takes much courage to set in a Death Row cell awaiting the outcome of an appeal or writ ...it does take patience and perseverance and I suppose it will take some kind of courage when the time comes that one is to be actually executed ... perhaps we on the Row will look to those at the gates for that essence of courage to bolster our steps to the gas chamber.
    And no doubt we will find it there in your hearts as you stand before the proponents with their taunts and heckles, waving their signs of AN EYE FOR AN EYE, GAS 'EM, etc., etc.... standing there whether for moral, religious or practical reasons ... standing there with commitment.
    Through education and exposure to the facts in this post Furman era we see that only the words have changed and that as California resurrects this relic of the past, the death penalty remains arbitrary, capricious, and racist in its application. It is simply a product of politics.
    You will be publicly attacked and ridiculed by opportunistic politicians and persons too dense to understand or too cynical to care. The work ahead of you will not be easy but your participation is vitally needed and important. It is especially important in the glow of the green light of resumption of executions after a 23-year hiatus.
    Despite the somber history of capital punishment, that very history has taught us that the war against it can be won ...won by your commitment and courage.

Sincerely,

E-Mail    Steven King Ainsworth   Bio/Address
               Death Row - S.Q.    1989

READER COMMENTS:

02/25/01

I found your article as I looked at sites about death row.  I live in Scotland and luckily we don't have the death sentence here - or at least not in prison, because I believe through poverty and government policy there is an unofficial death sentence here - if you live in certain areas you die earlier, if you are working class your life expectancy is less.  having said we are lucky it is still difficult, especially after a child murder to argue that the death penalty is wrong and immoral.  We try.  

Keep going.

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