TALK TO THE DADDY

Hello. Come on in. The daddy writes about current events, literature, music and, once in a while, drops something on you from back in the day to make you pause and ponder, stop and stare, and begin to wonder. Who knows? You may start to pace the floor, shake your head from side to side, then fall down on bended knees in a praying position and cry, "Lawd, have mercy! What is this world coming to?" Check yourself! But this blog is NOT about the daddy. It's about you: your boos, your fam, your hood, your country...our hopes and dreams of a better tomorrow. So let's make a pact: the daddy will put it on the track if you'll chase it down and hit him back. Together, we can definitely take it to another level. Shall we?"

Sunday, September 21, 2008

Troy Davis and Two Protests in Atlanta

"Most of the world has abolished the immoral and barbaric practice of the death penalty. Yet the United States continues to condemn men and women to death. Nearly all of the people this country executes are poor and/or people of color, and many of them suffer from mental retardation or mental illness...The death penalty is a microcosm of the problems we have with violence in general."

--Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

This morning, the daddy is feeling the protest in
Atlanta,
Georgia about the impending execution
of Troy Davis. Actually, he's feeling two protests.

On Thursday evening, 250 people marched through the streets of Atlanta. They carried signs saying "Innocence Matters." They marched 12 blocks from Woodruff Park in the heart of downtown At
lanta to Ebeneezer Baptist Church, the now famous institution where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. once preached.

But at the park, at the beginning of the march, it was Rev. Timothy McDonald who spoke the words that seemed to resonate and lift the spirits of the marchers. Noting the diversity of the group (old, young, Asian, black and white), he said: "This is what justice looks like" and waded into the crowd, leading them in chants of "justice matters," "innocence matters."

And then there was the protest of Steve Woodall, one committed soul holding a vigil in a chair at Marietta and Fairlie streets. Woodall was fasting to protest Troy Davis' impending execution by lethal injection. He says he will stay until Davis is pardoned, sentence commuted or life taken.

Why is he protesting? Woodall says it's not just because of the death penalty but because Davis is an innocent man.

Woodall wears a T-shirt that reads "I am Troy Davis."

To find out what you can do to protest, go to the Troy Davis website.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yes. Another travesty. Hoping it's not too late...go here to sign petition for amnesty:
http://www.troyanthonydavis.org/call-to-action.html

Mac Daddy Tribute Blog said...

anon: Thanks for the website address. I'll insert into the article so more people can see it.

Kit (Keep It Trill) said...

I googled about this case and discovered: "Witness testimony formed the core of the prosecution’s case because physical evidence was scant: no murder weapon, no fingerprints, no DNA.

The case has attracted worldwide attention, with calls to stop his execution from Pope Benedict XVI, Amnesty International and Nobel Peace Prize-winner Desmond Tutu."

Seems the heart of the matter is an unwillingness of the court to re-examine the evidence, and several witnesses have recanted.

The thing is, if the victim had been an ordinary black man, he'd have been out of jail. Never the case of alleged cop killers.

Mac Daddy Tribute Blog said...

kit: Thanks for the additional info. I agree: If this murdered victim had been a black man, Davis would be free.