Is The Death Penalty In Georgia Racist?

Whenever you discuss the death penalty in Georgia, someone is going to say it is racist. This makes sense. There are few things you can discuss without the R word being tossed in. The discussion that follows will change few minds. When you are a hammer, everything looks like a nail.
Chamblee 54 has been writing about the death penalty for five years. Georgia has executed ten men. William Earl Lynd ~ Curtis Osborne ~ William Mark Mize ~ Mark McCain ~ Brandon Rhode ~ Emmanuel Hammond ~ Roy Blankenship ~ Andrew Grant DeYoung ~ Troy Davis ~ Andrew Cook
This discussion is based on these ten men. It does not cover the time before the civil rights movement. It does not consider states other than Georgia. It will not give a direct answer to the question “Is the Death Penalty in Georgia Racist?” People whose minds are made up are not likely to be persuaded by this post.
Of the ten men executed since May 6, 2008, seven are white and three are black. The victims of all seven white men are assumed to be white. This information is not easy to look up, and we don’t want to spend all day working on this. Of the black men executed, two had white victims, and one had black victims. (The black victims are assumed. The 2 white victims were high profile cases, and there in no doubt as to the ethnicity.)
Two of the white men executed did not pull the trigger. William Mark Mize was a white supremacist, who ordered the killing of a subordinate. Roy Blankenship broke into an apartment, and his victim died of a heart attack after he left. Mr. Blankenship was executed thirty three years after his crime. This was the first execution using pentobarbital as a sedative. There were reports that it was not effective, and that Mr. Blankenship was awake for the entire procedure.
The next scheduled execution is Warren Hill, a black man. Mr. Hill is said to be mentally retarded. Brandon Rhode, a white man, was also said to be retarded. His mother was fifteen years old, and drank heavily during her pregnancy. Mr. Rhode attempted suicide a few days before his execution, while under the supervision of armed guards. He was revived after his suicide attempt, so that the state could kill him with an approved method.
The best known execution is Troy Davis. There is little doubt that Mr. Davis was at the crime scene. There is also little doubt that “Redd” Coles, a black man, was at the same crime scene. Many say that Mr. Coles is the killer. Mr. Coles went to the Savannah Police, accompanied by an attorney, the day after the killing. After this meeting, the Savannah Police decided that Mr. Davis committed the crime. There was little further investigation. If anyone benefited by the execution of Troy Davis, it was “Redd” Coles. Pictures are from The Library of Congress.