Nydia M. Velazquez: “I rise in strong support of the Racial Justice Act. Despite the Emancipation Proclamation of a century ago, and the…”

“I rise in strong support of the Racial Justice Act. Despite the Emancipation Proclamation of a century ago, and the enactment of civil rights legislation over the past 3 decades, minorities in this country continue to be shackled by discrimination, violence and bigotry. It is unconscionable that in the United States, the supposed leader of the free world, people of color are still plagued by prejudice, poverty and crime. Conclusive evidence has shown that federal cases involving the death penalty have almost exclusively involved minority defendants. The death penalty provisions under the drug kingpin clause reveal that 89 percent of the defendants selected for capital prosecution have been either African-American or Latino. As legislators, it is our duty to put an end to this blatant pattern of racism. Do not get me wrong--I believe that criminals should be adequately punished for their crimes, but we can not continue to tolerate the unfair persecution of our minority population because of their color, ethnicity or financial status. The Racial Justice Act will bring fairness and cognizance to a flawed and abhorable system of capital punishment.”