On the Resurrection of Casey McWhorter

On the Resurrection of Casey McWhorter

Our criminal justice system doesn’t exist for rehabilitation…it doesn’t even exist for punishment…it exists for one purpose…erasure.  When someone goes to prison, the idea is for everyone on the outside to forget that they ever had any relationship at all with the condemned…that they ever even existed.  For the most part, the system is very successful.  Most people in Alabama couldn’t name anybody on death row.  Much less, the next person facing execution.

Casey McWhorter is scheduled to be executed on Thursday…and most of his fellow citizens are absolutely clueless.  The reason is simple.  He doesn’t exist.  Since you can’t execute a ghost, he will need to be revived in the coming days.

For the first time in a long time, McWhorter will actually exist this week.  The news will cover his murder.  The resurrection is a prerequisite for his murder.  Of course, nobody is doing such an exercise out of the goodness of their heart.  The State of Alabama just needs a live body to kill.

One of the strangest consequences of a moment like this is that Casey McWhorter gets to live in the minds of a great many for the first time in a long time.  He gets the opportunity to be of consequence…to matter.  Most people who’d disappeared for so long would simply just hide and die.  I can understand why.

When everyone is loudly calling you a murderer and demanding your blood…who would want to face that?  In fact, hiding and dying doesn’t seem like too bad of an option.  But that’s what makes Casey McWhorter so phenomenally different.

Instead of hiding and dying, McWhorter is more out there than he ever has been.  In interview after interview, he has made his motivation clear…. ”I want people to see that they’re executing a real person.”  There are few more powerful manifestations to behold than watching a human reclaim their humanity.  If McWhorter is executed next Thursday (November 16), he will leave behind a powerful legacy…that of a man who was determined to be seen…as exactly what he is…a real live human being.