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Last revised: February 22, 1999

The powers-that-be have anointed Jaturun "Jay" Siripongs with the rhetorical snake oil of the self-righteous so that he can be strapped down and ritualistically murdered on the sacrificial altar of California's infamous execution chamber February 9, 1999. Born and raised in Thailand, Jaturun's family and home are far away.

With his tiny, erect frame standing at about five feet tall, Jaturun is known fondly by his friends as a thoughtful soul with a big heart. I've lived, worked, played, cried, laughed and learned with him on San Quentin's Death Row for more than fifteen years now, yet I still find it difficult to understand his delightfully accented English when he gets excited and speaks too fast. Although Jaturun is a Buddhist monk, a masterful artist, and has a reputation for being a "model inmate", he is much more than that. He is a "model human being" whose open and honest demeanor instantly reveals to your heart that you are in the presence of an extremely gentle, intelligent and loving spirit. Jaturun possesses a rare artistic approach to life, in that he truly lives in the moment and sees all life as sacred.

In spite of the barbaric nature of San Quentin's inhumane, vengeance-oriented mission, the self disciplined contemplative life of a Buddhist monk has taught Jaturun to treat all prison guards and prison inmates as compassionate human beings--equally deserving of understanding and charity. Contrary to the code of prison culture, Jaturun is just as apt to extend a kind, reassuring hand to a prison guard suffering from personal problems as he is to give comfort and aid to a fellow Death Row inmate. His tireless compassion and understanding has earned Jaturun the respect and affection of guards and prisoners alike.

There are two tragic murder victims in Jaturun's case; in both instances the spouses have provided the Governor's office with written declarations that they are adamantly against his execution. Although there is strong evidence showing that he was only an unwitting accomplice who risked his own life by trying to save the victims, the imperial powers of California's judicial system are determined to take Jaturun's life. As difficult as it may be for our Roman-based, Judaeo-Christian culture to comprehend, Jaturun's Buddhist beliefs prevent him from acting as a witness against the actual perpetrator of the murders. That is from a Buddhist perceptive if Jaturun cooperated as a witness for the state he would be morally responsible for the perpetrator's suffering and death, should he be imprisoned and executed.

Moreover, to illustrate the depth of Buddhism's tradition of compassion toward oppressors, the Dalai Lama stated that "since China's invasion of Tibet in 1949-50, more than 1.2 million Tibetans, one-fifth of the country's population, has lost their lives due to massacre, execution, starvation, and suicide. Yet for more than four decades we have struggled to keep our cause alive and preserve our Buddhist culture of nonviolence and compassion. It would be easy to become angry at these tragic events and atrocities. Labeling the Chinese as our enemies, we could self-righteously condemn them for their brutality and dismiss them as unworthy of further thought or consideration. But that is not the Buddhist way." (Simon Wiesenthal's The Sunflower. 1997. Pg. 130) Rather than violate his most fundamental religious beliefs on the sacredness of all life, Jaturun is willing to lose his freedom--even his life--to prevent the suffering and death of the man who actually committed the killings.

In other words, Jaturun is not condemned for being a "killer", instead the state is murdering him for refusing to cooperate with their vengeance-oriented judicial system. For example, just as Jaturun was the accomplice in his case, so there was an accomplice in my case. However, court records show that my accomplice was much more culpable for the tragic deaths than Jaturun was in his case. But unlike Jaturun, he never spent a single moment behind bars for his culpability because he wasn't inhibited by any moral code and told the prosecution what they wanted to hear after he was "coached" and granted immunity for perjury.

Indeed, after intimately observing Jaturun's behavior for more than fifteen years, I am absolutely convinced that his courageous religious convictions are totally consistent with his impeccable moral character. Unfortunately, our psyche has been brutalized and desensitized by the consumer-oriented, Romanesque values of our capitalist culture, which nurtures bottom line profits and corporate greed at the expense of human need. More specifically, corporate sponsored spin-doctors have conditioned us to parrot the politically correct toxic myth that vengeance is an admirable emotion with magical powers and can heal and comfort the afflicted. In contrast, Buddhism recognizes the seductive promise of vengeance is an emotionally induced illusion totally devoid of love or joy. Buddhists know that vengeance is a false God and has no power to heal or comfort with a mystical sense of "closure".

Therefore, I am appalled to realize that I was raised in a country whose justice system is capable of deliberately killing someone of Jaturun's rare caliber. This realization leaves me wondering how many more human beings must the ruling elite be allowed to sacrifice to appease the bloodthirsty God of Vengeance? Will we the people realize we've been sold a vial of snake oil by the Religious Right, who routinely promote human sacrifices in the ritualistic worship of a God of Vengeance? How much blood must be spilt before the working classes of our society wake up and logically conclude that no one can be comforted or healed by an emotion that inflicts pain and suffering on others?

You may write comments to:
Douglas Scott Mickey
C-73900
San Quentin Prison
U.S.A.

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