Sundry Items

September 21, 2011

I’m going to try not to, but executions make me cry.
And I remember the first time I posted something about Troy Davis. It was on myspace. That’s right. MYSPACE. It was a petition to grant him a new trial.
What will likely happen tonight is the most egregious type of injustice I can think of. The state of Georgia (YES, the state of Georgia) will murder a man because 12 people didn’t hear all the evidence. Because 10 witnesses fucked up his entire life. Because our criminal justice system and particularly our capital punishment system are rife with errors and racism and prejudice against the poor, the Black, the mentally ill, and the unwanted members of society. Because once 12 people decide that someone is guilty, most of this country blindly believes that it must be so. Because once some shitty public defender with 160 cases per year does little to nothing to represent his client, that’s enough justice for us.
For all of these reasons, the blood (even though technically, there shouldn’t be any as we don’t want to see a “messy” or “unpleasant” execution) will be on all of our hands. This injustice is entrenched in a history of racism and oppression that goes back so far, we can no longer see the beginning, and as of now, we can’t see the end.
You may believe that if Troy Davis committed this crime, then he deserves to die. I don’t, and I don’t see any reason how you can. I’ve mentioned before how tired I am of explaining the failure of our system on EVERY IMAGINABLE LEVEL when it comes to the death penalty. And I am exhausted. I have been running my mouth about this for approximately 16 years, to no apparent avail. I have worked with inmates on death row. I have worked in an office that represented a man who was tortured to death in Florida when the machinery of death didn’t work.
There is only so much one person can handle. I am not strong enough to handle what happened in Florida. I know that now. I once believed I was. I once believed I could do SOMETHING to stop this heinous punishment that does absolutely NOTHING to provide closure to victims, that does NOTHING to stop other people from murdering, that does NOTHING to save money for state governments. And I think people are tired of listening. I have a hard time believing that I (or any other person) can do anything about any of this.
Every execution that happens in the United States is a fucking mockery. A travesty. A sham. Whatever you want to call it. It is NOT JUSTICE. It will never be justice.
When you put the ability to decide who lives and who dies in the hands of ordinary people and elected officials, including jurors, prosecutors, governors and judges, you will get human error. Every single time. Make no fucking mistake about that.

(via tehblackbirdisrunning-deactivat)

2:51pm | URL: https://tmblr.co/ZbBMFy9nC40h

(Notes: 31)