Cory Maye Prohibition Victim

by Liberty and Power

Over at Cliopatria Ralph Luker has penned a very powerful open letter to Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour on behalf of Cory Maye.

I have often argued that the war on people who use certain kinds of drugs is the most racist institution existing in modern day America. Does anyone seriously think that if the facts of this case (see Gene Healy's post below) were identical but Cory Maye was white that he would still be facing the possibility of execution by the state?

comments powered by Disqus

More Comments:

Keith Halderman - 12/17/2005

If it were not for prohibition, the whole situation would not exist in the first place. But, because the institution is racist it was very much more likely that a person put in Maye's position would be Black. You may or may not be right about the "blueline", however, to tell we would have to a white test case and there seems to be a dearth of those.

Jonathan Dresner - 12/16/2005

I'm not saying there isn't racism, everywhere and in Mississippi, and the relationship between race and penalty severity is a tough one.

But this is a case in which it appears that the police decided to get revenge for the loss of one of their own by framing the person who accidentally killed them, and I'm not sure, frankly, that race matters once the "blue line" is breached.