Saturday In Savannah

Courtesy of The Church Lady Blogs
Troy Davis' Funeral - New Life Apostolic Temple

If Troy Davis was laid in his grave today in Savannah Georgia, so too, the death penalty.  In a rousing funeral attended by thousands, punctuated by long and winding lines of attendees, determined chanting demonstrators, and international human rights spokespersons, the movement to change this outdated form of "justice" was appropriately enough born again in the South - where the horrific practice of lynching - seems now revealed to millions of global observers in Mr. Davis' case - as never truly abolished - only transformed into a legally sanctioned and "sanitized" version - with disproportionate numbers of African American men, now faced with overcoming impossible barriers within a deaf judicial system  - and going to their end - to the Kafkaesque extent that, even in a case with enormous factual issues and doubt, a man still unerringly heads on, as surely as a piece of machinery on an assembly line.  No human beings left in the process - whether defendant or decision-makers themselves.  Whatever enormity of facts or plea is placed before the authorities, still, the decision makers feel compelled to continue, unquestioningly.

Franz Kafka in 1906

Hey, didn't I read this guy in high school?

At the funeral, Church Lady described a slide show of Mr. Davis' life and family, and speakers who included Davis’ nephew, Antone’ De’Juan Davis-Correia - who visited Mr. Davis every week in prison - and impressed millions of live stream viewers with his dignity and mature-beyond-years composure during press interviews with Democracy Now! host Amy Goodman the grueling night of Mr. Davis' scheduled execution.  Other highlighted speakers at the funeral included N.A.A.C.P. Director Benjamin Jealous, Amnesty International U.S.A. Director Larry Cox, the Rev. Raphael Warnock of Atlanta, a spiritual adviser to Mr. Davis on death row, and civil rights activist, writer, and comedian, Dick Gregory. 

True to form, Mr. Gregory peppered his speech with long appreciated spicy satire and humor - for example, bringing laughter from the audience when he stated that he "stayed in debt" because he "wanted to stay in step - with the rest of America."  Mr. Gregory went on to describe a conversation with bill collectors phoning to tell him they expected payment.  "You can always expect payment," he told them.  "You can expect payment from me every day."  When the collector asked if he was Dick Gregory, he told him that he was Troy Davis.  "He said I'm sorry I made a mistake.  I won't be calling you no more."

Mr. Gregory made a 365 day call for a fast to end Capital Punishment.

"Troy," Benjamin Jealous stated poignantly, "..told us to keep on fighting until his name is finally cleared and Georgia admits what Georgia has done.. Troy's last words were to keep on fighting until the death penalty is abolished and this can never be done to anyone else."

Troy Davis

1968-2011

"You can kill a man, but you can't kill an idea."

- Medgar Evers

Strange Fruit

Monsieur Baudelaire brings us a live performance of the late great Billie Holiday, in one of the first open, anti-racism songs decrying southern lynching.

Memorial

portrait of troy davis, 2011

artist, alex schaefer

courtesy of the grand bastard

Troy Davis' memorial was held in Savannah this evening at New Life Apostolic Temple. 

Jason Ewart, a Washington attorney who spent seven years handling Davis' appeals, fought back tears as he recalled sitting in the second row of witnesses at the execution and watching the life drain from Davis' eyes.

 Ewart recalled many long phone conversations with Davis, never shorter than an hour, in which the men spent twice as much time talking about their families as they did legal strategy. Ewart said his own grandmother had just died, and he pictured her and Davis together at "heaven orientation."

 "She would say, 'Jesus died on the cross not because he was guilty, but because we all were,'" Ewart said.

Media Witness Jon Lewis describes here Mr. Davis' formal last words at an execution community activists have decried as legal lynching or state sanctioned murder.

According to the AP story, many notable civil rights leaders and activists attended.  Rev. Raphael Warnock of Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta recalled to the reporters how Emmett Til's mother insisted on an open casket, hoping people could see the injustice of Jim Crow.   In a similar spirit, Troy Davis' family hopes that opening the funeral to supporters, Saturday October 1st, will help people see the injustice of the death penalty.

Courtesy of The Grio

Former President Jimmy Carter, among the many prominent voices calling for clemency, wrote, "If one of our fellow citizens can be executed with so much doubt surrounding his guilt, then the death penalty system in our country is unjust and outdated. We hope this tragedy will spur us as a nation toward the total rejection of capital punishment."

Poetry

decompositions

back in Denmark

funeral delayed

troy davis’ body

lies

a’molderin’

with the State

across the wide Missouri

“to the saguaro

cactus tree

in the desert"



sung

in absentia

perogatives

seeing is believing 

we shall overcome

- o.s.r.

Back In Denmark

Authorities still haven't released Troy Davis' body to his family, now delaying his funeral. 

Courtesy of Deviant Art

Owl In The Hanging Tree

Artist:  Lauren D'Ambrosia

 

In Absentia

Supreme Court, U.S. Courtroom

Photograph by Harris & Ewing, 1905-1945

We Shall Overcome

Bruce Springsteen and Band singing in the lovely acoustics of Saint Luke in London.

Deaf Ears

If justice is blind, it is also deaf. 

In what John Nichols recalled as retired Justice Steven’s “haunting reminder of once prevalent southern lynchings,” Troy Davis was executed late this evening, dying 11:08 P.M. in Georgia.  Community activists decry his execution as legal murder or lynching by the State.

Courtesy of Feministing
U.S. Demonstrators, "I Am Troy Davis"

The U.S. Supreme Court halted the execution moments before Mr. Davis, strapped into a gurney, was to be lethally injected with poisons at 7;  however, it turned out our hopes for a stay had been falsely raised when, not much later, the Court summarily and unanimously turned down the appeal, without explanation. 

Within the next half hour, Troy Davis was killed.

“I am innocent,” Mr. Davis stated simply, shortly before his death.
 

Courtesy of Community Radio For Northern Colorado
International Demonstration For Troy Davis, France

Mr. Davis’ courageous 19 year effort on death row produced 700,000 signatures on petitions to the Georgia prison authorities, worldwide demonstrations, and appeals for clemency from prominent political and community leaders, including a Nobel laureate, a former U.S. President, the Pope, the European Union, 50 members of Congress, former representatives, and a former director of the F.B.I.  No physical evidence connected Mr. Davis to the crime, 7 out of 9 witnesses recanted, alleging police coercion, and one of the two remaining witnesses reportedly boasted of being the actual murderer.  Even jurors came forward to assert that, if they had known differently, they would not have voted for a conviction, and Mr. Davis would be free.

Courtesy of the Episcopal Diocese of Atlanta

Courtesy of Amnesty International U.S.A.

Yet nine people in Washington on the highest court of American "justice" were so far away from this country and the rest of the world, they couldn't hear a thing. 

Right Versus Just

Back in Denmark, the State continues to insist on "being right," at all costs, rather than being just.  Georgia prison authorities have denied Troy Davis' request to take a lie detector test.  N.A.A.C.P. officials in contact with the Department of Justice hope the federal government will intervene on the basis of civil rights violations and "irregularities in the original investigation and at the trial." 

The New York Times reports:

Edward O. DuBose, president of the Georgia chapter, said the organization had “very reliable information from the board members directly that the board was split 3 to 2 on whether to grant clemency.”

“The fact that that kind of division was in the room is even more of a sign that there is a strong possibility to save Troy’s life,” he said.  

The issues in Mr. Davis' case transcend partisanship and even the death penalty debate.  Many prominent leaders have stepped forward to ask for clemency, including former President Jimmy Carter, 51 members of Congress, former FBI Director William Sessions (under Reagan and Bush Sr.), former Georgia representative and Republican Bob Barr, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, the Pope, and the European Union. 

Benjamin Jealous, head of the N.A.A.C.P., is asking President Obama for a reprieve;  also, The Innocence Project has asked the Chatham County D.A., Larry Chisholm, to pull the execution because there is no DNA evidence linking Mr. Davis to the crime.  (Mr. Chisholm was not the D.A. at the time the case was decided, and stated that he would not have sought the death penalty.)

Meanwhile, protestors continue to gather in Georgia.

Courtesy of The Grio

Courtesy of The Grio

The Grio reports that demonstrations are spreading worldwide with several planned at U.S. Embassies. 

Mr. Davis is scheduled to be executed by lethal injection at 7:00 P.M. in Georgia this evening.  He has repeatedly maintained his innocence.

Mr. Davis is presently with family members and has refused a last meal.  In a recent conversation with an Amnesty International U.S.A. representative, he stated:  “I will not stop fighting until I’ve taken my last breath.  Georgia is prepared to snuff out the life of an innocent man.”

Something Is Rotten In Denmark

Courtesy of Elfinspell

The Castle of Kronborg, Denmark

"Hamlet's Castle"

Photograph by Horace Marryat

Troy Davis is denied clemency in Georgia and is scheduled to be unjustly executed tommorow by lethal injection.  Witnesses have recanted and alleged in written testimony submitted to a Georgia judge that they were coerced by officials to lie.

Please email on behalf of Troy Davis to the White House, your U.S. Senators, and the Georgia D.A. and Pardons Board through Amnesty International's petition.