Strange fruit

Southern trees bear strange fruit,
Blood on the leaves and blood at the root,
Black bodies swinging in the southern breeze,
Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees.

Pastoral scene of the gallant south,
The bulging eyes and the twisted mouth,
Scent of magnolias, sweet and fresh,
Then the sudden smell of burning flesh.

Here is fruit for the crows to pluck,
For the rain to gather, for the wind to suck,
For the sun to rot, for the trees to drop,
Here is a strange and bitter crop.

Strange Fruit - Billie Holliday

Thanks for all those great ideas for improving our lives and the lives of those around us in the coming year. If I could add one more:

I was reminded of the words above by an article in this months "New Internationalist" magazine (Issue 408) by Brandon Astor Jones, a prisoner on death row in Georgia facing execution sooner rather than later. His very honest and personal article makes the point that, as well as being unjust (the vast majority - if not all - death row prisoners are poor and cannot afford competant legal council), the death penalty is simply a more socially acceptible form of lynch mob "deeply rooted in the desire to terrorize and enrage not only its victims, but also the compassionless citizen-mob that helps to carry it out."

Similar arguments are made in the immediately proceeding article from a very different position. Jean Baptiste Kayigamba is a Rwandan survivor of the 1994 genocide during which his "dad Gabriel, mum Domitila, brothers Gerard, Benoit, Alphonse and Amabilis, 15-year-old sister Esperance and nephew Aimable were brutally murdered - not to mention scores of aunts, uncles, cousins, friends and former classmates" and colleagues. His article praises the recent decision of the Rwandan government to abolish the death penalty, and he feels this way for a very similar reason to Brandon: "despite the agony and trauma, putting to death those who murdered my parents and relatives would not bring them back. The Government cannot put to death thousands and thousands of people. By doing so, it woud be carrying out the same barbarity that characterized previous regies, which trivialized the lives of the people".

I hope you need know convincing that the death penalty is wrong and needs worldwide abolishion but, if you do, I hope the opinions of these two people, victim and accused alike, will help you. Jesus gave us an example where forgiveness and God's justice does more to heal the pain of the victim, and more to provoke remorse in the perpetrator than any form of revenge and retribution. Unless we follow that example we cheapen not only ourselves but also his sacrifice for us.

I'd ask you to consider writing to both those facing torture or execution, and those who hold them. Amnesty International's website is a good place to start for both of these. Letters can give immense encouragement to those who are suffering and put immense pressure on those who perpetrate injustice.

Also, don't cease to pray for those who are suffering.

Simon