Hell Can Have
Him Later
BY CLARENCE BARR, II
Next month Dylan Roof, the man responsible for the church massacre in Columbia, S.C., may or may not receive the death penalty. And, personally, I’m hoping that they let him live.
This is mainly because I come from a school of thought that believes executing an individual, at least in some cases, is too easy of a punishment. When someone commits an act that is extraordinarily egregious or horrific, I’m a firm believer in that person being forced to endure the same amount of physical, mental and emotional suffering that he or she placed onto others.
To me, Roof is the perfect example of the kind of miscreant who deserves to spend the remainder of his, hopefully, long life inside of an environment where he’ll live every minute surrounded by people who’ll see it as their mission to make his existence as miserable as possible. As far as I’m concerned that’s a much better option than killing him. An exercise that would, not only, free him from the crippling effects that come with long term exposure to stress and anguish but, could also turn him into a martyr for those who may have viewed his actions as justifiable.
To people who may disagree or believe that taking a murderer’s life is the ultimate form of justice, the truth is, compared to life in the worse state prison imaginable or living 23 hours of the day confined to an underground cell at the Federal ADX in Florence, Colorado, being put to death could, arguably, be considered an act of mercy. And that’s one thing Roof has no business receiving.
This is a man who laughed during court proceedings while describing how he shot and killed church parishioners during a prayer service, a person who admitted to allowing certain people to survive the rampage just so that they could tell the story of what happened and who has yet to show an ounce of remorse for his unfathomable cruelty. Where in the book does it say that humanity should be shown to an individual this inhumane?
This is why it pains me to no end when I hear the families of the victims constantly offering Roof forgiveness. I mean, how do you forgive a person who, not only, doesn’t care about being forgiven but, who’s equally happy that he’s the reason your loved ones are dead?
If I were the sentencing judge the only thing that I’d sentence Dylan Roof to would be 120-minute beat downs every day for the next 85 years, with an extra serving of torture on Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s. That is because the only thing worse than having your life taken is waking up every morning wishing someone would kill you.
Reality On Ice is © by the Florida Sentinel Bulletin Publishing Company. You can TEXT C.B., II, at (+18133080849).
