In his final days in office, President Donald Trump has permitted five federal executions, four of which are of Black men, before he transitions the White House to President-elect Joe Biden . With the first execution slated for International Human Rights Day on Dec. 10, anti-death penalty activist Sister Helen Prejean said on Monday’s episode of Democracy Now! that Trump’s decision to execute the group is a result of bestowing absolute power to people not fit to make such critical decisions. “It just shows when you give absolute power over life and death to government officials, they can really do what they want,” she said. “And then for this to happen, it’s just—see, I’ve accompanied six people to execution. It’s this absolute power to take a human being who is alive and make these inscrutable decisions all along the way.”
