Letter to the editor, the Springfield, Massachusetts, Union-News, July 5, 2000:

On June 22, an innocent man, Shaka Sankofa, better known to the public as Gary Graham, was a victim of murder in the first degree by Texas Governor George W. Bush.

Does Shaka's death arouse our outrage and sorrow as if he were our son or brother? Do we seek the death penalty for Bush? I certainly do not. Rather, he should receive a life sentence. There is some possibility that time on death row might move him toward change from a power-hungry politician toward becoming an informed and genuinely compassionate human being.

It took far less than 19 years to change Gary Graham from a poor, thoughtless 17-year-old into a mature Shaka Sankofa, devoted to truth and justice for himself and others. But this change was brought about by profound thought, extensive study and communication with others inside and outside of prison—and was based on a native intelligence that seems to be lacking in Bush.

There is a haunting question about the Nazi Holocaust: How much did the German people know about what was happening?

How much do we, the American people, know about our candidate (candidates) for president?

—Margaret G. Holt
Amherst

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