TVSquad

The death penalty, not unlike abortion rights, is a polarizing topic, and advocates on both sides of the death penalty debate have strong feelings about a state's right to end the life of a human being.

In "Race to Execution," which airs on PBS' Independent Lens on March 27 at 10:00 p.m., the question as to whether race plays a role in death penalty convictions is made the center focus. One story deals with Madison Hobley, a Chicago man sentenced to death for allegedly setting a fire that killed seven people, including his wife and young child. The other story deals with Robert Tarver, accused of shooting a white general store owner in Alabama. In the end, one man is executed and the other is exonerated.

The documentary takes the stance that a person's race, and the overall race of the jury, does play a significant role in whether or not a person is sentenced to death. However, the two people behind the film, Rachel Lyon and Jim Lopes, are on both sides of the debate (Lopes supports the death penalty and Lyon does not). No single work can serve as the ultimate Truth on the death penalty, but "Race to Execution" does offer one angle that's worth considering for anyone interested in educating themselves about this issue, no matter what their belief happens to be.

TMZ reports that back in 2005, a drunken Rachael Ray made some ugly remarks about Oprah, the woman who helped launch Ray into the spotlight. Then again, Ray may have done no such thing. That's pretty much the gist of the article. Careful readers will note that none of the sources are named, so I guess that's why it's called celebrity gossip. If Ray did indeed get drunk at an event in Century City and made racist remarks about the portrait of Oprah from Beloved that hangs in Harpo Studios, or referred to Angelina Jolie as a "backdoor c**t," it was muttered before people started filming embarrassing celeb moments with their camera phones. Now all we have is speculation about what someone may or may not have said two years ago.

If it makes Ray feel any better, I once called my little brother a "stupid doody idiot head" when I was five. I've always regretted saying it, and I hope no one was taping me, because I'd really hate for something I said when I was drunk to haunt me years down the road.

I was an alcoholic five year old. I forgot to mention that.

(S01E07)

Mr. Noblet (after showing his class a tape of Martin Luther King, Jr's "I Have A Dream" speech): King's dream was of an America without racism of any kind. The tragedy of course is that all this footage is in black and white. Imagine how powerful it would have been in color.

In this episode, a student spray paints the N-word in the hallway, and all of Flatpoint High is turned upside down as they try to figure out who did it. The easiest humorous route to take would have been to mock those blatantly racist enough to do such a thing, but this episode, like the "Ginger Kids" episode of South Park, cuts much deeper, exposing the varying degrees of prejudice that exist in all of us. Or, as one student says, "The only thing we hate more than a racist is spics."