MORE VOICES CALL ON CLINTON TO DECLARE  A MORATORIUM ON FEDERAL EXECUTIONS

African American Leaders Join Nationwide Appeal Urging Clinton To Preserve Legacy of Fairness and Justice By Halting Federal Executions In Face of Evidence of Racial and Geographic Disparities

Washington, D.C. December 7, 2000 – Leaders of America’s African American community have added their collective voice to the expanding mobilization of citizens calling on President Clinton to declare a moratorium on federal executions. The U.S. is scheduled to carry out the first federal execution since 1963.

In a letter delivered to the White House yesterday, the Black Leadership Forum (BLF), a confederation of 26 prominent civil rights and service organizations and their leaders, urged President Clinton to act in the face of “the racial disparities that plague the administration of capital punishment across the land and, in particular, the gross racial disparities reflected in the federal death row population.” The BLF, which is chaired by Dr. Joseph E. Lowery, a historic figure in the civil rights movement and an individual to whom the President has often turned to for support, insisted that postponing Juan Garza’s execution would be “a fitting capstone to [his] rich presidential legacy of fairness and equity.” In a related development a full-page New York Times ad signed by prominent civil rights figures also calls on the President to impose a moratorium on federal executions.

The BLF letter is the latest in a series of urgent appeals to the White House from a range of constituencies. The effort was launched on November 20 when Citizens for a Moratorium on Federal Executions, a coalition of prominent individuals in the arts, law, religion, civil rights and public policy, delivered a letter to the President calling for a moratorium. Since that time, over 70 religious leaders, more than 500 professors and virtually all of the nation’s civil rights organizations have added their voices to the call.

On December 4, influential Democratic Senator Patrick Leahy wrote the President, asking him to postpone Mr. Garza’s execution until the Justice Department’s “broader analysis” of the fairness of the federal death penalty is completed and “appropriate remedial action is taken to eliminate the disparities that exist.” Later this week, a significant Congressional delegation is expected to issue an appeal for a moratorium to President Clinton.

On the international front, The European Union has issued a statement urging the President to grant clemency to Juan Garza.  French President Jacques Chirac signed the statement in his capacity as the president of the European Union.  Pope John Paul II, through his Apostolic Nuncio in the U.S., Archbishop Gabriel Montalvo, also sent a letter to President Clinton, asking for clemency for Juan Garza.

For further information call David Lerner at (212) 260-5000 or Caroline Simon at
(202) 637-6835. To view copies of the letters go to the CMFE website at www.federalmoratorium.com.

 
 

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