I voted today. I love the act of going to the polls, filling out my ballot, and putting in the machine, and seeing the words pop up: “Your vote has been counted.” (Full confession, I love getting the sticker, too). But what really matters to me is that I’m doing my part. I’m doing my part even though I cannot control the ultimate outcome. It’s easy to feel like our individual voice doesn’t matter, and sometimes it feels simpler to shrug our shoulders and pretend it’s completely out of our hands.
And yet, we know that apathy is never the answer. Making complaints about a system while refusing to participate in it, or by refusing to offer solutions for change in that system, is the worst kind of hypocrisy.
The criminal justice system, and specifically the use of the death penalty, is no different. I’m aware that I’ve chosen a profession where the deck is almost always stacked against my clients – oftentimes from their moment of conception until their arrest. Believe me, there are days where it feels like I’m just screaming into a void and no one is listening.
However, I know that I must humanize my clients. I must tell their stories. I must fight back against the otherization and dehumanization of them. I have to have hard conversations – with prosecutors, with legislators, with law enforcement, and with murder victims’ family members. I have to find common ground with people who disagree with me. And I have to be at peace with the fact that while I may not have control over the ultimate outcome of any particular case, I do always have control over whether I do my part.
And so I’m asking you to do your part. Get informed about your national, state, and local races and find out where your candidates stand on issues that are important to you. Cast your vote, make your voice heard.
The social/political issue that I am most passionate about is ending the death penalty. I did an interview yesterday with a doctoral student who is writing his thesis on capital punishment and he asked: Why the death penalty, when there are so many other important issues facing our country?
For me, the answer is simple: Until we convince our government to stop intentionally and publicly killing its citizens, we will never achieve equality. We must end the most visible and most violent of punishments, and then we can continue the work as the abolition effects ripple through the system. The cost savings can go directly to our communities, to protecting children, to addressing our mental health crisis, to understanding and treating addiction. These are the ways to reduce violent crime, and to ensure true equal opportunity.
I sound like an idealistic dreamer, don’t I? Guilty as charged. I have many complaints, and I have many solutions. And I’m going to keep doing my part.
Will you do yours?
Onward,
Maria DeLiberato
P.S. Please do yourself a favor and watch Ingrid Delgado, FADP’s Board Co-chair, do her part by telling the powerful truth about Florida’s death penalty at this month’s Culture of Life Conference in Orlando.
And be on the lookout for our year-end fundraising letter – I know you will help us meet our goal!