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?"

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Fight for what you know is right, fight for Troy Davis

On Supreme Court Justice Stephens being against the death penalty:
"The problems of the unfair imposition of the death penalty, the possibility of error, and the weakness of retribution as a rationale for executions, Stevens writes, now lead him to conclude from his own expereience that the death penalty represents “the pointless and needless extinction of life with only marginal contributions to any discernible social or public purposes. A penalty with such negligible returns to the State [is] patently excessive and cruel and unusual punishment violative of the Eighth Amendment.” (Much of Stevens' formulation is drawn from the late Justice Byron White's concurring opinion in Furman v. Georgia.)
--from The Blog of Legal Times (BLT, April 6 , 2008)

Listen up. On May 19th, The Daddy is joining a number of folks to blog for Troy Davis freedom. But there are other important things to do. To get a better idea, start with Amnesty International, a fine organization that has been keeping this issue alive for some time. They say:

"If you had 30 days left to fight for your life, wouldn't you want to know that you had thousands of people standing in your corner?

Troy Davis' 30-day stay of execution is about to expire. That's why we're asking everybody to come out strong on May 19th – a day marked in human rights calendars across the world as the Global Day of Action for Troy Davis.

That day, every person can help make a difference by participating in any kind of activity, event or creative action that calls attention to Troy Davis' case. Whether you're holding a "Text TROY to 90999" sign on a busy street or organizing your local Amnesty chapter to hold a public demonstration, now is the time to shine a light on this injustice."

Here is a site to go to learn how to send a letter or fax to Georgia Gov. Perdue to commute the sentence of Troy Davis: (http://takeaction.amnestyusa.org/siteapps/advocacy/index.aspx?c=jhKPIXPCIoE&b=2590179&template=x.ascx&action=11448).

For more info about the death penalty, check out the website of Georgians for an alternative to the death penalty (GFADP) at: (http://www.gfadp.org/).

For more detailed information about the death penalty and why it should no longer exist in America, check out The National Coalition Against the Death Penalty at: http://www.ncadp.org/.

The great essayist Ralph Waldo Emerson said, "The object of study is not knowledge but action." Get informed. Fight for justice. Fight for what you know is right. Fight for Troy Davis.
Fight for Troy Davis.

3 comments:

Kentucky Rain said...

I was once a strong supporter of capital punishment, until I witnessed a couple of executions many years ago. It is a barbaric practice. Capital crimes should be punished by life without parole. Prison is no country club.

P.S. I headlined your great comment on torture. I hope you don't mind.

Mac Daddy Tribute Blog said...

MadMike: No problem about headlining my piece on torture. But you got me wondering: can you ever get out of your mind the execution of another human being?

Kentucky Rain said...

The answer to that question is no MacDaddy. I will never forget those two days of my life and the events that occurred.