Friday, Sept. 16th, 2011: We went to a rally/march/protest today in honor of Global Day of Solidarity for Troy Davis. Troy Davis has been sitting on death row since 1991 and has been incarcerated since 1989. He has lived through three different execution dates that were later postponed and is now facing his fourth on Sept. 21st. Troy is most likely innocent for the murder he's been accused of and there is a sizable amount of doubt surrounding his case. Today, I am grateful for people who helped make me hope for a better tomorrow. Being around 200 people who all believed so strongly that the death penalty was wrong and that Troy was convicted under really shady circumstances gave me hope for the abolishment of the capitol punishment all together one day.
(From left to right, my roommate, Colleen, me and a JV in the other DC house, Kelly)
Saturday, Sept. 17th, 2011: Today was a crazy day and Troy's story followed me the entire weekend. He kept popping into my mind and I couldn't get him out of it so I went for a walk. That walk led me all the way down 7th Street, to the National Archives Building and then all the way to the Holocaust Museum. I went in and was a changed woman. I guess the idea of humans hurting and destroying other human beings under ignorant and false pretenses kind of followed me around this weekend. The set up of the museum from the walls, to the floors, to the sound bites they chose to use to the actual artifacts are all part of this huge, breath-sucking exhibit you experience as you walk through the museum. It was phenomenal and I will take any or all of my visitors to this museum.
Sunday, Sept. 18th, 2011: I am grateful for God today. I went to church on Sunday at 12:30pm at St. Augustine's, which I'm liking more and more each time I visit, and I felt God more than I have in a long time. A man got up to the podium and sang a beautiful song about how the Lord is near to all who call upon Him. He had a voice that melted my heart and passion that made my soul leap with life. It was beautiful and it was full of love and life and I just kept thinking about Troy. I just kept coming back to him; to his family; his life; his choices as a 21-year-old so many, many years ago; his thoughts now after sitting on death row for almost 20 years; his dreams; his hopes; his laugh; his cry and his devote faith in God. I prayed that entire Mass for Troy and I will continue to pray for him until my heart feels like all things are OK with the world.
Monday, Sept. 19th, 2011: I woke up this morning with a pit in my stomach because today is the day. Today is the day that Troy's attorneys will go to the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles and defend Troy one last time. Today is the day that the metaphorical "sh*t" will hit the fan. I've felt heavy all day...like something is weighing on my shoulders. I read online today the responses of many pro-capitol punishment people and it just made me sad. It made me mourn for those who are hurting so badly that they can't see love within the pain; they can't see forgiveness within the hurt and they are cowering towards evil and destruction instead of compassion and redemption. I saw pastors posting things about "may the scum be executed soon" and mothers writing, "I hope he gets all that he deserves. The death penalty is for crimes like this. God bless America."
I see a lot of mixed up logic here. Jesus Christ (if you are a Christian) is a prime example of being wrongfully accused for a crime He didn't commit and then being sentenced to death for it. There are 138 men who have been exonerated since 1973 off of death row. 138 people who were innocent and served an average of 9.3 years on death row. In my mind, that is 138 reasons why capitol punishment is a faulty system. Even if only one was later proven to be innocent of a crime that he/she was placed on death row for, that's enough for me to re-examine our system. It is wrong; it is not Godly like these statements above allude to. Thou shall not kill is still one of the Commandments, I believe, and since when do we Christians not believe in redemption? Since when are we looking for justice in any shape or form, regardless of how it looks? We no longer care if blame is placed where blame belongs, we only care for "justice" to be played out in the form of "well, somebody has to pay for this crime, it might as well be this guy." Killing Troy Davis will not bring the deceased back. Killing Troy Davis will not bring you closure. Killing Troy Davis will only inflict more pain onto an already broken world that allows human beings to lawfully kill other human beings. God bless America, but bless us to forgive, to look through pain and to love...to love more deeply than the wounds inflicted onto us.
***Today, I have an open-ended gratitude...I will be grateful when the death penalty is no longer a part of our reality in the U.S.
To learn more about Troy Davis, go to www.justicefortroy.org
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