The Milwaukee Friends Meeting endorses the following statement from the Friends Council on National Legislation. While the public aspect of the December 3rd execution is currently canceled, we find broadcasting that intent to be an egregious and traumatizing event in and of itself. We stand with the ongoing relevance of this message in its entirety.
FCNL STATEMENT:
“We are deeply disturbed and sickened by the U.S. military’s plans to broadcast a public execution. As a Quaker organization, our opposition to the death penalty is rooted in our belief in the inherent dignity of all people. Carrying out a public execution as if for entertainment would inflict a terrible and shameful wound on the moral soul of our nation.
Our faith teaches us that violence harms all those who partake in it, and we are dismayed by all the ways that life is cheapened and discarded by state violence carried out in all of our names — from police killings of Black people, to lawless ICE violence in our streets, to the endless wars our government inflicts on people abroad.
We call on members of Congress to strongly oppose this execution, and to act to abolish the death penalty for good.”
