NOTE:    This article appeared in the President's Column of  The Champion, September/October 1999.  The Champion is published by the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers.  www.criminaljustice.org

The Best of Who and What We Are
By William B. Moffitt

In August, in California, a man, perhaps mentally ill, apparently inspired by a world view centered on hate, walked into a Jewish day-care center and began firing a semiautomatic weapon, wounding children. Were this not enough, it appears that Buford O. Furrow then decided that a Filipino postal worker was a target of opportunity merely because he was non-white and thus eligible for summary execution.

Already there are cries for Furrow's execution. Much of the media and many politicians believe that killing Buford will wash away the stain of hate in America. We only need to engage in the ritual execution of Buford and all will be well here. I would also bet that Buford himself thinks his execution is a good idea. After all, it will make him a martyr to his cause. His death at the hands of the government will make him a rallying cry for all those misguided souls who believe as he does. A call, if you will, to go forth creating a climate for the apocalypse.

History has taught us that we cannot kill hate by killing haters. At Nuremberg, the worst Nazis were tried and executed. Yet today, websites glorifying Germany in the 1930s and 1940s and denying the holocaust can be found all over the Internet. No, Buford Furrow and his associates are not a German problem. The trench coat mafia at Columbine High School was not a German problem, either. Their racism and anti-Semitism is home-cooked, American in its origin, and at its heart.

We need to remember that only a few months ago, we were concerned about the Majority Leader of the United States Senate holding membership in an all-white organization, which at least facially espouses some of the same views as those dear to Buford's heart. We need to remind ourselves of all the now nameless and faceless Congressmen who have answered invitations to speak before organizations with similar views. In the 1930s, Nazi propagandists had little problem reminding us of America's hypocrisy on the issue of race. For example, in The Nazi Connection, Stefan Kuhl wrote:

In 1937, the Preussische Zeitung claimed, under the title "the 'cruel German racial theory' and its comparisons abroad," that "liberal circles" that criticized German race laws as an "intervention in human freedom" overlooked the fact that a "state which can be seen as democratic" had its own race laws. The newspaper informed its readers that in thirty states in the United States, marriage between blacks and whites was forbidden. It also referred to the strict segregation between whites and blacks and pointed out that lynching of ethnic minorities was a phenomenon not found in Germany. In a more extensive article, the same author, Wilhelm Jung, claimed that nearly all "misinterpretation, criticism, and attacks" against Nazi Germany referred to its racial measures. Compared to other nations, he viewed the United States as the only other country with extensive race legislation.

 

Why all of this in a President's Column?

Because as you read this, somewhere in California, some lawyer — most likely a public defender — is being called upon to exercise all her skill to make the trial of Buford Furrow more than a simple charade. To teach the lessons of thousands of years of civilization to a society which would rather close its eyes and ears. To place on the line her belief that the death penalty is wrong for the least of us. To hold a mirror up to America's face and show us Buford's reflection. To look at the defense of Buford Furrow not as a chore, but as a privilege.

The public defender will be asked to give all that she can to save a man whose views she finds repulsive and repugnant. And yet day after day, she will be asked to give a little more of herself to this human being. This is the ultimate test for a criminal defense lawyer. Her representation of Buford Furrow will represent the best of who and what we are.

PEACE. Godspeed.