Profs Protest Death Penalty

A new anti-death penalty movement featuring prominent scholars and activists will hold its kick-off event at Dudley House early next month.

Leaders in "The Campaign to End the Death Penalty" include Professor of Afro-American Studies and Professor of the Philosophy of Religion Cornel West '74 and Robert H. Meeropol, executive director of the Rosenberg Fund for Children.

Also featured are former Black Panther Lawrence Hayes, who is also a former death row prisoner, Boston University Emeritus History Professor Howard Zinn and Brown University Professor of English William Keach.

All of the leaders will speak at the March 11 kickoff.

This campaign, now independent, was once a branch of the International Socialists Organization (ISO).

"We really want this [movement] to take on a life of its own," said Press Liaison Anthony K. Arnove, a Brown University graduate student and ISO member. "We want a national movement to come out of this."

According to Arnove, the recent state-ordered executions in Utah and the publicity generated by the movie "Dead Man Walking" have spurred a renewed interest in the death penalty.

The speakers for the event were chosen because of their opposition to the death penalty, Arnove said.

Meeropol is the son of Ethel and Julius Rosenberg, who were executed in 1953 for conspiring to steal atomic bomb secrets.

"I am extremely interested in any campaign against the death penalty because it has had an impact on my life," said Meeropol.

Zinn said is opposed to the death penalty because of its disproportionate use on African-Americans and the poor.

Deciding who gets the death penalty is a "spin of the roulette wheel," he said.

"The extension of the death penalty in the crime bill is a sign that the political leaders in our country are barbarians," he said.

Organizers of the new campaign said they are not worried about the name of socialism being tied to this new movement.

"I believe if a cause is good, then you support the cause," said Zinn. "You don't have to subscribe to everything they believe in."

Isaac R. Hodes '99, a member of the Democratic Socialists of America, said he thinks that the death penalty is immoral and may be involved in the new group.

"I think it's immoral," Hodes said. "The fact that we clothe it in all this civilized discourse doesn't make it any less horrible than murder."

The kickoff event will consist of a press conference in the Dudley House common room at 6 p.m. and will be followed by a discussion forum in Emerson Hall 105 at 8 p.m.

The events will also be sponsored by the Progressive Action Network and the Freedom Now coalition.