20 YEARS
WE'VE BEEN IN OPERATION.
BECAUSE YOU CANNOT TALK ABOUT 
THE AMERICAN DEATH PENALTY 
WITHOUT TALKING ABOUT RACE.
THESE TWO CONCEPTS ARE 
INEXTRICABLY LINKED
IN THE HISTORY OF OUR NATION AND
IN THE PRESENT-DAY OPERATION OF 
THE DEATH PENALTY.
IT'S TRUE ENOUGH THAT THE 
COLONISTS BROUGHT CAPITAL 
PUNISHMENT
FROM ENGLAND, BUT THE DEATH 
PENALTY GAINED A WHOLE
NEW MEANING IN THE COLONIES
AND FORWARD BECAUSE OF SLAVERY.
SO TO GIVE YOU JUST ONE EXAMPLE,
IN THE
COLONY OF VIRGINIA, THERE WAS 
ONLY ONE CRIME,
MURDER, FOR WHICH A WHITE PERSON
COULD BE EXECUTED
, BUT THERE WERE 66 OFFENSES FOR
WHICH A SLAVE COULD BE PUT TO 
DEATH.
AND AFTER THE END OF THE CIVIL 
WAR AND AFTER THE BRIEF PERIOD 
OF RECONSTRUCTION DURING WHICH 
AFRICAN
AMERICAN MEN IN PARTICULAR MADE 
SOME GAINS TOWARDS
CITIZENSHIP, WE ENTERED A
PERIOD WHERE THE NORTH WITHDRAW 
FROM WHATEVER SUPERVISION IT
OF LYNCHINGS IN
CALIFORNIA, MANY OF THEM OF 
PEOPLE OF MEXICAN DESCENT.
SO THE DEATH PENALTY IS A
DIRECT DESCENDANT OF LYNCHING
AS LYNCHINGS DECLINED, THEY WERE
REPLACED BY ACCELERATED TRIALS 
FOLLOWED BY  COURT-ORDERED
EXECUTIONS, SO THAT BY 1915, 
THERE WERE MORE COURT SANCTION 
EXECUTIONS THAN THERE WERE 
LYNCHINGS.
ONE OF THE STRONGEST PREDICTORS 
OF A STATE'S PROPENSITY TO CARRY
OUT
EXECUTIONS TODAY IS ITS HISTORY 
OF LYNCHINGS
, WHICH IS WHY WE MAY SEE A 
DISCONNECT BETWEEN
THE NUMBER OF LYNCHINGS IN THE 
SOUTHERN STATES WHICH ACCOUNT 
FOR
MORE THAN 1200 OF THE MORE THAN 
1500
EXECUTIONS THAT HAVE OCCURRED 
SINCE THE
DEATH PENALTY, SINCE WHAT WE 
CALL 
EUPHEMISTICALLY THE MODERN ERA 
OF THE DEATH PENALTY WHICH BEGAN
IN 1976.
SO THIS CONNECTION BETWEEN 
RACIAL TERROR IN THE SOUTH AND 
LIFE IN THE
NORTH FOR THE SIX MILLION 
AFRICAN AMERICANS WHO
FLED THAT RACIAL