Speaker: Government emulates McVeigh
By Jason Hathaway
Tribune-Star
Speaking Saturday at St. Mary-of-the-Woods College, death penalty opponent Sister Helen Prejean said by executing Timothy McVeigh the government is simply emulating the killer's own barbaric behavior.
Prejean admitted that "in the book of justice" McVeigh deserves execution for killing 168 people in the 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City. But executing McVeigh will only perpetuate a cycle of violence, she said.
"What happens to the United States of America is that we keep engaging in this policy of taking people who have done terrible crimes and basically, in our own behavior, emulate it," she said.
Prejean, author of the anti-death penalty novel "Dead Man Walking," was in town Saturday to speak at the college's 160th commencement, where she received an honorary degree.
At a news conference before the commencement, she shared some of her experiences as a spiritual advisor to death row inmates and spoke out against the death penalty. McVeigh's execution was the main topic of discussion, as it approaches in less than two weeks.
Though McVeigh chose violence as a way of revenge on the U.S. government for its actions at Waco and Ruby Ridge, the federal government is making a poor example by responding to McVeigh with more violence, Prejean said.
McVeigh "made his point through violence and he bombed the Murrah Building," she said. "And now, the government of the United States makes its point through violence of executing Timothy McVeigh. Where are we as people as we keep continuing the cycle of violence?"
Prejean went on to stress that not all the families of Oklahoma City bombing victims are in support of McVeigh's execution.
"Half of the victims' families, six years later, are past the point in their rage and their grief and confusion and loss of asking for the execution," she said. "For all practical purposes, in the victims' lives it makes no practical, appreciable difference if Timothy McVeigh disappears into a prison serving life without parole and they never hear his name again or if the state kills him. They know it has nothing to do with the spiritual journey they have as a survivor or having someone killed by violence."
Prejean noted that the American people are beginning to take notice and that polls have shown not as many support the death penalty when such alternatives as strict life sentences are suggested in its place.
Prejean also said she supports publicly broadcasting executions as a way to make people face the reality of the death penalty.
"We don't see what it means for our sentences and our appeals to be turned into a policy where a human being can be led into a room, strapped hands and feet and killed. I say let the people see it I don't think people who support this want them to see because that brings consciousness and reflection a lot sooner when they see these actions."
Prejean's appearance at the commencement less than two weeks before the McVeigh execution was actually a coincidence.
Because of Prejean's busy schedule, the Sisters of Providence had scheduled her for the appearance as far back as 1998, said Sister Joan Slobig, member of the general council of the Sisters of Providence and death penalty issue spokesperson for the order.
"We have been wanting to have her for a long time," she said. "I would say that, as Sisters of Providence, it's providential that this was the year she came to visit us."
The Sisters of Providence have vocally been taking a stand against the death penalty since 1990, so Prejean's views were warmly welcomed Saturday. Prejean has a knack for getting the anti-death penalty message across and making her listeners really think about it, Slobig said.
"She's so engaging and so credible because of the experiences she's had," she said. "You can't hear her and not be touched by her message."
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