CNN: Why Dylann Roof Shouldn’t Be Killed for Killing
Ike Bailey '95, a 2014 Harvard University Nieman Fellow and longtime newspaper journalist from South Carolina, wrote an opinion piece for CNN about the death penalty and Dylann Roof.
"The death penalty is wrong," Bailey wrote. "Using it to punish Dylann Roof may make some of us feel good in the short term but will only make it harder to uproot a system that's more likely to harm people who look more like Roof's victims than Roof himself."
Bailey juxtaposed an interview with the sister of a woman killed in Charleston's Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church with his own life experience.
"Her faith helped guide her through, allowing her to embrace forgiveness when bitterness seemed like the logical option.
"My experience has led me to the same place. I'm the brother of a black man who killed a white man. I know what it feels like to be on the other side of awful headlines."