An American sentence for Troy Davis

Church glimpsed through Spanish moss, Savannah, Ga.

Update: The US Supreme Court issued a stay of execution 90 minutes before Davis was due to die. Read more here.

I've been so preoccupied with the presidential election, I didn't know about this, until my friend Rethabile emailed me today. But being late to learn about Troy Davis's fate doesn't make my sense of outrage and dismay any less.

In the United States, all too often, people - black and white - have been wrongly convicted of crimes because of tainted evidence. So the planned execution in Georgia today seems particularly reprehensible, in lieu of actual evidence and a Georgia Supreme Court justice's dissent.

Rethabile asked me to write an American sentence (17 syllables) about Troy Davis's pending death. Here are two:

Another black man in the South faces death within a flawed system.

Would they be so quick to execute, if the accused black man were white?

I grew up in the American South, where racial prejudice was rife. Civil Rights activist Morris Dees is my hero. I once worked for Amnesty International's National Campaign Office in San Francisco. And I oppose capital punishment. It is my belief that no man has the right to say who lives or dies.

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Scroll down the page for an additional post today.

Comments

[susan]

My first visit to your blog. I wish the occasion for my visit were different. Thanks for the candid, uncluttered truths.

[Colette]

I was relieved when I heard the news last night about the stay. Hope springs eternal. I pray the powers that be do the right thing. And I'm thankful, once again, that we don't have the death penalty here.

[paisley]

i , much like you am morally outraged and personally challenged by this case... i am thankful the stay was enacted, and am waiting anxiously till we find out monday if the supreme court will hear the case, or if the execution will continue... please let true justice prevail and allow all those personally effected by this heinous crime find peace once and for all...

[Relyn]

I know it's a lighter note, but I love this photograph. Don't you just love Savannah? My brother got married there last October and I enjoyed the city so much. One of my (own) favorite pictures ever is of this church.

[tangobaby]

Tara, reading this after the post about John McCain makes me feel like this entire country is in retrograde. Right now we have a talented, charismatic black man running for the highest office in the land, and at the same time, we are so quick to kill another one, because there is no one to stop it.

That dichotomy confounds and scares me.

[Rethabile]

FAX NUMBERS FOR THE GEORGIA STATE BOARD OF PARDONS & PAROLES:

(404) 651-8502
(404) 651-5282
(404) 463-6627

EMAIL ADDRESSES FOR THE FIVE MEMBERS OF THE GEORGIA STATE BOARD OF PARDONS & PAROLES:

Chairperson L.Gale Buckner– gale_buckner@pap.state.ga.us
Garland Hunt– garland_hunt@pap.state.ga.us
Robert Keller– robert_keller@pap.state.ga.us
Milton Nix– milton_nix@pap.state.ga.us
Garfield Hammonds– garfield_hammonds@pap.state.ga.us

The people who fight for liberation and for human rights saved Troy Davis’ life last year. Let’s work hard this week and save Troy Davis’ life and restore his liberty this year. Your letters, when emailed and faxed to the Georgia State Board of Pardons & Paroles, will support a massive national rally against this planned execution. That rally will be in Atlanta on Thursday. The protests will carry over to the board’s hearing on Friday, September 12, 2008. Please join us with your letters and other expressions of support.

Please continue the struggle!

From: http://www.slepton.com/slepton/viewcontent.pl?id=2095

[jeanie]

I couldn't agree more. And with all the support he has received from a diverse group of reps, one would think any judge with brains would at least put things on hold... Sometimes I get very distressed.

[Rethabile]

You came through. And it's not late at all. I posted today, too, because I thought they wouldn't do it. But they're gonna do it...

[Di Overton]

My God this is awful. In the UK we abolished capital punishment ages ago. I am so pissed off with the way things are at the moment I have even done a post about it on my blog. I am feeling guilty about showing pretty things when such ugly things are going on around me. A voice in the wilderness maybe but it's better than nothing :(