"If you come to Texas and kill someone we will kill you back.That's our policy."
Posted on 03/06/2014 12:25:31 PM PST by nickcarraway
Ray Jasper, a Death Row inmate in Texas scheduled for execution in two weeks, has written a lengthy letter from prison where he blasts the justice system and the specter of racial disparity. Jasper, who was a young rap artist at the time, was accused of the brutal robbing and killing of a recording studio owner in 1998. Convicted in 2000 and later sentenced to death, Jasper has used a platform provided to him in where he lashes out at the prison system, likening it to slavery.
Gawker Media began a Letters From Death Row series in 2012, in which Jasper previously participated. In his latest letter, Jasper writes a lengthy diatribe where he expresses a variety of thoughts about the industrial nature of prison, the imbalance of justice for African Americans and other thoughts. Also striking is that Jasper, 33, has become an eloquent writer behind bars and uses this letter as his final manifesto.
From Gawker:
Without any questions, you’ve given me a blank canvas. I’ll only address what’s on my heart. Next month, the State of Texas has resolved to kill me like some kind of rabid dog, so indirectly, I guess my intention is to use this as some type of platform because this could be my final statement on earth. I think ‘empathy’ is one of the most powerful words in this world that is expressed in all cultures. This is my underlining theme. I do not own a dictionary, so I can’t give you the Oxford or Webster definition of the word, but in my own words, empathy means ‘putting the shoe on the other foot.’ Jasper’s words are gripping in their frankness and almost somber tone of a man defeated by the weight of his circumstances. One of Jasper’s most scathing lines is his comparison of prisoners being treated like slaves under the U.S. Constitution.
“We look at slavery like its a thing of the past, but you can go to any penitentiary in this nation and you will see slavery,” he writes.
Jasper is scheduled to be put to death on March 19.
What did he expect, the Ritz Carlton?!
Wow, Jasper! You completely changed my mind about crime and punishment!
Not.
Yawn.
You think Prison is bad? Wait’ll you get to Hell.
Slavery there is 24/7. 365 times forever.
Don’t worry, Ray. Your slavery will be over soon when they stick that needle in your arm.
Shouldn’t have committed the crime Jasper. No sympathy for you
"If you come to Texas and kill someone we will kill you back.That's our policy."
I’d rather he compare Prison to the Firing Squad. So much more direct.
Justice will be this crud spending eternity picking bolls and singing “Jump down, turn around, pick a bale of cotton.”
Well he can look forward to Emancipation March 19...
So.....lemme guess.....he was an ‘innocent’ free man just going about his business and grabbed by whitey and held now for what, 12 years maybe, as a slave?
hmmmmm...
Dude should have stayed in the Netherlands.He could have slit the throats of 50 people there and gotten no more than 20 years.
Hey Jasper, if you can’t do the time, don’t do the crime.
Quit yer whining, be a man, and accept responsibility, you dirt-bag!
The inmate probably thinks himself brilliant, but the United States Constitution also compared the two:
13th Amendment, Section 1: Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.
He is still guilty of capital murder, no matter how much he whines about “racial injustice”.
This link is the viewpoint of the brother of his victim.
http://steven-alejandro.kinja.com/a-discussion-of-the-ray-jasper-death-row-issue-from-a-f-1536676452/1536918396/+hamilton_nolan
Well Jasper. Prison IS slavery. The constitution allows it after due process, which you were given, during your court trial. Make your peace.
No comparison. Slaves had to earn their keep. This a-hole merely has exist and he gets three hots and a flop.
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