David A. Love
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David A. Love is the Executive Director of Witness to Innocence, a national nonprofit organization that empowers exonerated death row prisoners and their family members to become effective leaders in the movement to abolish the death penalty. He is also Executive Editor of BlackCommentator.com, and a contributor to the Progressive Media Project, theGrio and McClatchy-Tribune News Service. Love is a writer and human rights advocate based in Philadelphia, and a graduate of Harvard College and the University of Pennsylvania Law School. His blog is davidalove.com.

Blog Entries by David A. Love

The Death Penalty is the Tip of America's Human Rights Iceberg

(5) Comments | Posted May 16, 2012 | 1:46 PM

There's a buzz about the death penalty in America these days. And nearly all of the conversation focuses not on how to maintain the practice, but rather on abolition.

Connecticut just decided to repeal the death penalty, following the lead of Illinois, New Mexico and New Jersey in recent years....

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Lethal Injection As the Death Penalty's Last Stand

(5) Comments | Posted April 16, 2012 | 3:51 PM

Are we witnessing the beginning of the end of the death penalty in America? All of it might come down to a basic issue of supply.

So, what do you do if you are a hangman who runs out of rope? To put it in more conventional terms, suppose you...

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We Are a Nation of Bullies

(59) Comments | Posted March 7, 2012 | 4:30 PM

Rush Limbaugh's years of bullying may have finally caught up with him. His vicious attack on Sandra Fluke, a Georgetown University law student, was over the top even by Limbaugh's standards. Calling the young woman a "slut" and a "prostitute" for supporting health insurance coverage for contraception has cost the...

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Reggie Clemons is Troy Davis

(11) Comments | Posted February 12, 2012 | 10:19 PM

The case of Reggie Clemons represents everything that is wrong with the death penalty and the U.S. criminal justice system.

His case reminds us of Troy Davis, a black man who was executed by the state of Georgia in September, despite strong evidence of innocence, no physical evidence, another...

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Dr. King's Stance Against the Death Penalty

(8) Comments | Posted January 16, 2012 | 7:51 AM

As the U.S. observes the eighty-third birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., this is a perfect time to reflect on the slain civil rights leader, Nobel laureate and death penalty opponent.

Much is known of the Montgomery bus boycott that he led in the 1950s. He fought for economic...

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It's the Old South vs. the New South

(112) Comments | Posted January 5, 2012 | 3:45 PM

The American South can't seem to shake off the Civil War. Or Jim Crow. And yet, that region of the U.S. is undergoing some dramatic changes. How the South responds to these changes will determine how easily it will enter the modern world and usher out the racial demons of...

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China and the U.S.: World Leaders in Executions

(9) Comments | Posted December 22, 2011 | 2:59 PM

They say you're judged by the company you keep. And the countries that execute the most people are members of quite a club.

According to Amnesty International, two-thirds of the nations of the world have abolished the death penalty, including 30 countries over the past decade. Only...

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Bull Connor 2.0: The Police Response To #OccupyWallStreet

(7) Comments | Posted December 5, 2011 | 4:29 PM

Looking at the police response to the Occupy Wall Street movement, Bull Connor would be proud.

What went barely reported recently was that the United Nations has taken an interest in how the United States has dealt with the Occupy folks. Specifically, Frank LaRue, the UN special...

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The Death Penalty and #OccupyWallStreet

(0) Comments | Posted November 9, 2011 | 3:02 PM

Recently I attended the 12th Annual March to Abolish the Death Penalty in Austin, Texas. Participants included death penalty abolitionists, and members of Witness to Innocence -- over two dozen freed death row prisoners who spent years in prison, and once faced certain execution for crimes...

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Why Conservatives Need to Support the #OccupyWallSt Movement

(9) Comments | Posted October 11, 2011 | 11:25 AM

Alright, it is clear that conservatives don't like the Occupy Wall Street movement.

Rep. Eric Cantor (R, Virginia) characterized the protestors as a mob. One Fox News host even called the protestors dirty and useless. Glenn Beck said they are only interested in...

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Blacks and Latinos Will Suffer When the Student Debt Bubble Bursts

(244) Comments | Posted August 28, 2011 | 11:04 PM

When the housing bubble burst, the resulting foreclosure crisis was a disaster for black and Latino families, who lost 53 percent and 66 percent of their median household wealth, respectively, between 2005 and 2009. As a result, the racial wealth gap is widening, with...

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Murdoch's Unraveling Empire and the Need for Civic Engagement

(0) Comments | Posted July 20, 2011 | 10:48 AM

The only thing more remarkable than the news of the Rupert Murdoch hacking-bribery scandal itself is the rate of its unraveling -- and Murdoch's unraveling. For this international kingmaker and media mogul -- who built an empire on yellow journalism and destroying the lives of others -- it seems rather...

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Dr. King Is Needed In China, Though His Work Isn't Done in America

(2) Comments | Posted July 13, 2011 | 12:18 PM

At first glance, Martin Luther King and China don't appear to belong together in the same sentence. For myself -- as a student of Asia, civil rights and international human rights -- the combination makes perfect sense. And if you look more closely, it should become obvious to you as...

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Harmful Policies Are Giving All Americans a Black Experience

(37) Comments | Posted July 1, 2011 | 10:06 AM

Whenever you take a look at a bad law that is on the books, or a policy that the government has put into place, you can bet that someone paid for that. And in this most horrid of political seasons, you'd better believe that attached to each deplorable piece of...

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Balancing The Grief And Joy Of Fatherhood

(6) Comments | Posted June 19, 2011 | 11:39 AM

I thought I would reflect on Father's Day, not with my standard fare of global social and political analysis, but on a personal note for a change.

Father's Day has a special significance to me, in a month filled with life's milestones. After all, my birthday is in June,...

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This Jobs Crisis Is Obama's Kryptonite

(2) Comments | Posted June 8, 2011 | 11:39 AM

Many commentators and observers, including this writer, argued for a far more aggressive and comprehensive strategy from the White House for getting America out of its economic morass. Obama's team chose a half-hearted, half-assed stimulus package, and the result is what we see today. Don't get me wrong, the stimulus...

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On the Question of Palestinian Statehood

(69) Comments | Posted June 1, 2011 | 11:23 AM

Following Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu's speech before the U.S. Congress, it was clear that there will be no peace process between the Israelis and the Palestinians. And maybe that's not such a bad thing, to know where things really stand.

In reality, the die was cast...

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18 Years Later, Will Justice Come for Stephen Lawrence?

(1) Comments | Posted May 24, 2011 | 6:36 PM

A reader recently asked me if I think justice will finally come to Stephen Lawrence. This came after news that two men, David Norris and Gary Dobson, will face trial for his 1993 murder.

Who is Stephen Lawrence, you ask? If you're from the U.S., chances...

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Voter ID Is the GOP's "Block the Vote" Effort for 2012

(366) Comments | Posted May 19, 2011 | 10:37 AM

When Newt Gingrich suggested that America impose a poll test in U.S. history as a requirement for native-born citizens to vote, it was too much even for black Tea Party Congressman Allen West (R-FL). "That's going back to some times that my parents had to contend...

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America's "Shoot 'Em Up, Lock 'Em Up" Mentality Is Its Undoing

(29) Comments | Posted May 11, 2011 | 3:47 PM

Remember all the talk of a peace dividend at the end of the Cold War? Seems like a long time ago, doesn't it? Since that time, U.S. defense spending has ballooned, nearly doubling since 2001.

Now that Osama bin Laden is dead, it will be hard for...

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