Around the World People Rally For Davis

(May 20, 2009) - The countdown has begun for Troy Davis—again.
By Zenitha Prince

The Georgia death row inmate escaped execution three times. But, since his 30-day stay of execution expired Saturday, another appointment with death may be fast approaching.

“I don’t know of anybody who has gone through three execution dates,” said Jared Feuer, southern regional director of Amnesty International, USA, who is affiliated with Davis’ case. “What I think is amazing is he talks about his case being bigger than him. He talks about his faith, his purpose, that his case may be used to stop the death penalty—that has been what has kept him.”

That faith is based on Davis' long-held contention that he is innocent of the crime for which he was convicted, the August 1989 murder of police officer Mark Allen MacPhail at a Burger King in Savannah, Ga.

The fact that no weapon was found and that seven of nine witnesses against Davis have since recanted their testimony—three others also said one of the remaining two is actually the killer—supports Davis’ claim, supporters said.

But the courts have refused to hear the inmate’s arguments for granting habeas corpus—relief from unlawful imprisonment—based on procedural laws.

The 1996 Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act—among other things—limits federal judges from granting relief if, as in Davis’ particular case, motions weren’t filed in the right order or evidence was not introduced at the state level. That those laws would prevent a possibly innocent man from pleading his case, “demonstrates the insanity of this system,” Feuer said.

Davis’ legal saga has prompted an outpouring of public outrage, expressed at more than 150 events in more than 40 U.S. states and 28 countries around the world during a Global Day of Action for Troy Davis campaign on May 19.

In Washington, several anti-death penalty and social justice advocates spoke at the All Souls Unitarian Church before an auditorium of people bearing signs, buttons and T-shirts with the declaration, “I Am Troy Davis.”

Said Amnesty executive Betsy Hawkins of the show of solidarity, “When justice is denied to one of us, it’s denied to all of us.”

And too often, it’s Blacks and other minorities like Davis who are denied justice, NAACP Washington Bureau Chief Hillary Shelton said, calling for an end to the death penalty.

“We’ve got to end the death penalty today. We’ve got to save Troy Davis,” he said. “This is about the cleansing of a process of summarily executing people of color for crimes that other people would not be executed for.”

About 60 percent of all death row inmates are racial and ethnic minorities and most are there for crimes involving White victims, the longtime civil rights activist said, so there are clear disparities. “As much as we’d like to think that lynching was abolished, this rush to execution is really a modern-day lynching,” he added. “That White supremacist approach to the justice system is still alive today.”

Law and justice officials should be even less inclined to speedy execution—or to any form of capital punishment according to some—given the number of death row inmates who have been exonerated, activists say.

Shujaa Graham, a death row exonoree, said while serving three years in a California prison for robbery, he was wrongly charged for the murder of a prison guard and spent more than a decade fighting for his release. “I became politicized in prison… and being an organizer, I became a target. So instead of me serving three years in prison and going home, I spent the next 12 years in prison fighting for my life,” he said with a tremor in his voice and tears running down his face.

The experience affected not only him but also his family, the 58-year-old said. “When my mother would visit, I would say, ‘Mama, how’re you doing?’ And she would say, ‘Very well.’ She’d say, ‘How’re you doing?’ I’d say, ‘Very well.’ Now I understand my momma and I were lying to each other—we weren’t doing well,” he said before adding, “I feel for the Davis family.”

Now Graham is using his experience to fight the death penalty. “I am not a victim, I’m a survivor and I promised myself that if I ever got out, I would fight against capital punishment, racism and fight for social justice,” he said.

But Davis’ case—and the many cases like it—go beyond the death penalty and speak to the accountability and fairness of the justice system, Feuer said. “This system is set up to pass the buck—like a firing squad where no one knows whose bullet actually kills the person,” he said of the continual shifting of the case between the state and federal courts.

Feuer said more of the focus seems to be on solving and issuing punishment for cases instead of ascertaining innocence and guilt. “I think people are confused and sad that we have a justice system in America that’s not focused on right or wrong and innocence and guilt but on finality,” he said of public response to the case.

That rush to judgment is especially evident in cases involving law enforcement, added Brian Davis of the Death Penalty Abolition Campaign. “When a police office is killed there’s a lot of pressure to solve the case,” he said.

Larry Cox, executive director of Amnesty International USA—the lead advocacy group in this campaign—said they are optimistic about a possible resolution. “We’re hopeful he’ll finally have his day in court because once that happens, we know he’ll be fine,” he said.
Amnesty and its partners have met with the Congressional Black Caucus, which has agreed to get behind the case, and are setting up a meeting with Attorney General Eric Holder to seek his support. “We’re reaching the level where everyone is realizing this will be a travesty of justice and a blot on the U.S. human rights record,” he said.

But Cox and others agreed that it is the constant agitation and attention from average Joes and Janes all over the world that has kept Davis alive and will eventually gain his freedom.

Said Feuer, “The death penalty works when executions happen under the cover of darkness. In the light, this case is so egregious that they can’t execute him. … As long as people stay focused on the case, I don’t think they can do it.”