Hunt commutes death sentence for Marcus Carter

By Brendan Conley

Asheville, Nov. 21— The state-wide movement against the death penalty won a major victory Tuesday as North Carolina Governor Jim Hunt commuted the death sentence for Marcus Carter, hours before his scheduled execution.

According to Stephen Dear, an organizer for People of Faith Against the Death Penalty (PFADP), the group had planned vigils in nine North Carolina cities, including Asheville and Marshall, to protest the execution, which now “are likely to be turned into spontaneous celebrations” to “give thanks for this wonderful, joyful occasion.”

Hunt’s decision came within two hours of a state legislative study commission’s vote to recommend a moratorium on executions.

Hunt said in commuting the sentence that he supports the death penalty, but “we must go the extra mile to assure there is a fair trial.” Carter, an African-American man, was convicted by an all-white jury for the 1989 murder of Amelia Lewis in Goldsboro. Death penalty opponents have charged that Carter was pushed by the court into defending himself after his court-appointed lawyers failed to contact him to discuss his case.

Scott Barber, an organizer for the Western North Carolina chapter of PFADP, said that the governor’s decision was influenced by the increased scrutiny by activists of the state’s execution system. “As more and more of us stand up for justice, we participate in rebuilding its very foundation and frame,” Barber said in a statement today. PFADP held its first annual conference in Asheville November 11 and 12.

On Monday, the Winston-Salem board of aldermen voted 5-3 to pass a resolution supporting a moratorium on executions in North Carolina. Winston-Salem is now the ninth city to pass such a resolution, and according to Barber, “we expect to make Asheville number 10.”

Women’s imagery in advertising creates an “impossible ideal”

By Kendra Sarvadi

Asheville, North Carolina, Nov. 16— Eva Hyatt, PhD, a professor from Appalachian State University in Boone, NC, spoke Thursday night at UNCA on the subject of the use of women’s imagery in the advertising industry. Dr. Hyatt was the guest of two local groups, jane for change and WAIL (Women Acting In Liberation, a campus-based group) which co-sponsored the presentation and the following film screening, Jean Kilbourne’s “Slim Hopes.”

Dr. Hyatt’s presentation began with a slide show of a series of advertisements dating from the 1940’s to the present, which she used to illustrate the ways in which female-geared product promotion has changed overtly while remaining fundamentally the same. The ads she chose focused on weight loss and body manipulation. While the explicit message of most ad text had changed due to the influence of social movements in the US – shifting from the female role of good housewife and mother (who must always be concerned with her appearance) to the “modern” female role of “liberated” woman (who must be just as diligent concerning her appearance) — the basic theme was consistent; the ideal female body type was and is painfully thin, and the use of this “ideal” to sell related products, from diet pills to corsets to the wonderbra, or unrelated products such as alcohol, cars, and handbags, still prevails.

Dr. Hyatt went on to discuss why advertising and the media continue to use these types of images. While noting that there are many ways in which the purported message of an ad may not be the sole idea being promoted therein, she focused on a few of the underlying messages she had found. Dr. Hyatt noted that, according to a poll taken in the US, 80% of fourth grade girls have dieted at one point in their lives. This statistic was intended to indicate the degree to which advertising pervades our consciousness from an early age, and how detrimental it can be to a woman’s development of a strong and positive personal body image, and her resulting perception of self-worth, in that often a woman’s self-worth in our society is dependent upon others’ perception of how she looks (again as dictated in great part by images from advertising, media, the entertainment industry, and the clothing and cosmetics industries). All of the ulterior motives Dr. Hyatt detected within the projection of this “impossible ideal” concerned how women are psychologically affected by it. She pointed out that women who are constantly dieting are going to spend more energy thinking about food — and at the same time have less energy because they aren’t nourishing themselves properly — and will therefore have less personal energy to expend on more productive activities. She also discussed the way body language is influenced, emphasizing that personal power is often demonstrated by taking up physical space; thinner, smaller women take up less space and therefore in terms of body language demand less respect. Dr. Hyatt concluded her presentation with a discussion of other ways the advertising industry manipulates women. She emphasized fear tactics as a common tool, which she demonstrated by showing ads created by the firearm industry, which she said exploited women’s fear of violent assault on themselves or their children to open a new market after they had saturated their present one.

Dr. Hyatt’s discussion was followed by a screening of the film, “Slim Hopes,” written and directed by Jean Kilbourne, who has dealt with the subject of female body imagery in two other documentaries, “Killing Us Softly” and “Still Killing Us Softly.” “Slim Hopes” focused on advertising which presents women as objects used to sell products, a tactic which is most evident in ads which show one part of a woman’s body next to the product being promoted, as well as the continuing trend in fashion for women to be excessively thin. Dr. Hyatt discussed this trend as well, and noted that the current tendency in fashion advertising is for women to look not just emaciated, but to look bruised, beaten, drugged or dead as well. This trend, she said, tells women “not just to be helpless, but to be a victim of the violence in our society.”

Greens protest election system

By Brendan Conley

Asheville, NC, Nov. 17— A dozen Green Party voters gathered at the office of the Buncombe County Board of Elections on Thursday to demand that their write-in votes for Presidential candidate Ralph Nader be counted. The citizens spoke with Board of Elections staff members.

“How can I be told my vote does not count?” asked Clare Hanrahan. “This is reminiscent of the literacy tests in Alabama in 1945.” Hanrahan and others said that there are too many barriers to candidates getting on the ballot.

The Green Party had submitted a petition to get Ralph Nader on the ballot, an effort which failed to garner enough signatures. According to Ben Bryson, System Administrator for the Board of Elections, the Greens never submitted a second petition, which is required for write-in candidates to be recognized and counted. “You’ve got to play by the system’s rules,” he said.

Cicada La Fey submitted a letter asking that write-in votes for Nader be counted. “This state has one of the highest barriers of any state,” he said. “They’re designed to keep out third parties.”

Bryson said that the system is designed to make the process clear to voters. “Too many candidates would be too distracting,” he said.

The elections board staff gave the citizens copies of a letter from the State Board of Elections ordering that no votes for Nader be counted. “Our orders come from the state board,” said Alice Silver, an administrator.

One citizen, Brett Landy, returned on Friday to register his complaint at the meeting of the Board of Elections. “I think it’s dangerous for the ruling party of any country or state to say, ‘You can vote for this person running for President, but not this one,’” he said.