I've written this message in response to an article in today's Boston Globe.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2008/02/27/commutati
on_plea_carries_a_political_risk_for_patrick/?page=3. It merges information
from the article and writing I've recently done on the topic of forgivenss.
Arnie King has served 36 years in prison for a murder he committed when he
was 18. He is a member of the Growing Together group I work with each
month. He's done his own Constellation and regularly serves as a
representative in others, both for prisoners and outside volunteers. I
consider him a friend and someone who deserves freedom.
The Boston Globe ran a front page story today about his petition for
commutation which sits with our newly elected Governor, the first
African-American elected to that office. There has not been a Governor's
commutation in Massachusetts for 11 years, and that was for a case where the
prisoner was shown to be innocent of the charges. It forces the governor to
wade into what has been a political minefield. King's supporters include
the Massachusetts Black Legislative Caucus, academics, ministers, and
community leaders. The victim's family, the Boston Police Commissioner, and
District Attorney oppose King's release.
"He snuffed out a life that was full of promise and hope for no reason
whatsoever," said Stephen Bowen III, a close friend of the victim. "For all
those people who have sympathetic ears to Arnold King, let them have one of
their children killed and call me and tell me they forgive."
<http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2008/02/27/commutat
ion_plea_carries_a_political_risk_for_patrick?page=2>
King, whose five prior commutation requests were denied, said he is sorry
for killing Labanara. "I was young, on drugs and alcohol, it was more that
I was out of control," said King, a high school dropout who was raised in
Portsmouth, N.H., and started drinking and doing drugs by the time he was
13. King said he had difficulty adjusting to prison initially, but changed
after getting educated, joining self-help groups, and founding programs that
involve counseling high school students and other inmates. It is that kind
of counseling work that supporters say is not only proof of his reform, but
would make him a valuable resource in the community.
"I don't believe he's been rehabilitated one bit," said Bowen, Labanara's
friend. "He's just a conman who is . . . trying to get out on the street."
Forgiving is designed to overcome the inevitable errors and injuries that
are ubiquitous in human relationships. When we forgive, we recognize and
respond to offenses against us by interrupting, instead of repeating, cycles
of resentment. Arendt in formulating the necessity of forgiveness also
draws limits around it. She points to acts designated as "radical evil,"
which are so destructive and irreversible that they can be neither punished
nor forgiven.
Committing a criminal act upends the balance in relationship between the
victim and offender. The offender, by virtue of having unrightfully taken
something, incurs a debt, both to the victim and society. To restore
balance, civil societies have legal systems that administer punishment.
Whether through physical pain, incarceration, financial penalty, or exile,
punishment is designed to even the score. After the offenders have "paid
their debt" they are entitled to be free from further obligation and
restored a position of good standing in the community.
Forgiveness for acts of radical evil cannot be achieved with a simple
apology and its acceptance, especially if it elevates the victims to a
superior status or absolves the perpetrators of their guilt. In these
cases, reconciliation comes when the perpetrators maintain their guilt with
strength and dignity, accept the consequences, express remorse, and offer a
reasonable restitution.
Forgiveness that leaves the guilt with the perpetrator frees the descendants
on both sides from being unconsciously drawn towards atonement and/or
vengeance for traumatic events that occurred before they were born. For the
victims, the expression of forgiveness needs to be without airs of
superiority or righteousness. When forgiveness amounts to the 'good one'
absolving the 'bad one,' little of lasting value is accomplished.
For acts, of murder forgiveness is never complete in life. The declaration,
"I forgive," and the plea, "forgive me," are not absolutes; they only gain
currency in the exchange of giving and taking in relationships.
Loyalty to suffering is fueled when loved ones refuse to accept the fate of
those who died. The bereaved might internalize the message, "Because you
suffered and died so tragically, I will avenge the injustice of your death."
This engenders a sense of innocence because it brings the survivor into
closer contact with the deceased.
The evidence accumulated in Constellations in prison consistently answers
that neither vengeance nor sacrifice changes the fate of the living or the
dead for the better. At its core, forgiveness is the acceptance of the
past, an acceptance that acknowledges the existential equality of all people
and the unknowable vastness of life.
.
Dan
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