Meh. Another garden variety liberal-statist-progressive who is being propped up because of his identity rather than his solid policy ideas. Just like Obama. Liberals-statists-progressives are obsessed with identity politics.
Pete Buttigieg Calls For Death Penalty To Be Abolished “Capital punishment as seen in America has always been a discriminatory practice,” the 2020 presidential hopeful said.
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By Hayley Miller
POLITICS 04/04/2019
Pete Buttigieg, the mayor of South Bend, Indiana, and a 2020 Democratic presidential hopeful, has called for the abolishment of the death penalty.
Buttigieg, while speaking at the 2019 National Action Network Convention in New York City, outlined his vision for reforming the criminal justice system if elected president, which includes ending capital punishment.
“As we work to end mandatory minimums for nonviolent offenses, as we work to put an end to prolonged solitary confinement, which is a form of torture,” he said, “here too we must be intentional about fixing disparities that have strong and deeply unfair racial consequences.”
He added: “Speaking of sentencing disparities, it is time to face the simple fact that capital punishment as seen in America has always been a discriminatory practice and we would be a fairer and safer country when we join the ranks of modern nations who have abolished the death penalty.”
Buttigieg joins several other high-profile Democrats, including many 2020 candidates, who have called for an end to the death penalty. Sens. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) ― all presidential hopefuls ― applauded California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s decision last month to halt executions in his state.
“The death penalty is immoral, discriminatory, ineffective, and proven to be unequally applied,” Harris tweeted following Newsom’s announcement in March.
The death penalty in the U.S. disproportionately impacts people of color. Black people make up 13 percent of the population, yet 42 percent of death row and 35 percent of those executed, according to the NAACP.
“We insist that being pro-minority and being pro-racial justice not only can but must be compatible with being pro-rule of law,” Buttigieg said Thursday. “[It] should go without saying but in these times must be said clearly and again and again that black lives matter.”
Buttigieg on Thursday joined several other 2020 Democratic hopefuls in declaring his support for restoring the voting rights of ex-felons, calling it “the right thing to do.”
Like Beto O’Rourke on Wednesday, Buttigieg also said if he were president he would sign a bill from Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas) to create a commission to study and develop reparations for the black community.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/pete-buttigieg-death-penalty_n_5ca5feb6e4b0409b0ec4a692
