The Execution of Troy Davis Provides Another "Haunting Reminder of Once Prevalent Southern Lynchings"

John Nichols
The Nation
September 22, 2011.

"I am innocent," said Troy Davis, moments before the the state of Georgia put him to death.

The state-sanctioned slaying, which former President Jammy Carter characterized as "a grave miscarriage of justice," was completed at 11:08 p.m. EST.

Before the execution, the man whose case inspired an international outcry against not just the death penalty but a dysfunctional "justice" system told the witnesses at the Georgia Diagnostic Prison facility: "The incident that night was not my fault. I did not have a gun."

Addressing the family of, Mark MacPhail, the off-duty Savannah police officer he was accused of killing, Davis said he was sorry for their loss. Then, he said: "I did not personally kill your son, father and brother. I am innocent."

To those who battled to save his life, Davis urged continued investigation, inquiry and struggle for justice.

The execution of Davis took place after U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, a Georgia native, led the high court in rejecting a plea that the killing be blocked. There were no dissents from the other justices on the current court.

But it is important to underline the word "current."

Former Justice John Paul Stevens, who left the high court last year, has argued in recent statements and interviews that the death penalty is "unconstitutional."

In particular, he cited the fact that African-Americans who are charged with murder (such as Troy Davis) are dramatically more likely than whites to be executed.

This fact, noted Justice Stevens, "provides a haunting reminder of once prevalent Southern lynchings." © 2011 The Nation

Comment: I absolutely oppose the death penalty under any circumstances.  In this case there was ample reason for a reasonable doubt that Troy Davis' execution should not go forward.

Black men in America still live in racist jeopardy when it comes to rates of incarceration and execution.

Wright and King in an article in Colorlines entitled "The Long, Murderous Arm of the Law Has Killed Troy Davis" describe this jeopardy:

"Davis’s case offers a bracing and depressing illustration of capital punishment’s many problems. In their eagerness to prosecute a black man for murdering a white cop, local officials set in motion a killing machine that, once turned on, is near impossible to halt without executive intervention. Much has already been written about the details of Davis’s case; no reasonable observer can deny there is significant doubt as to his guilt. But our criminal justice system is anything but reasonable. Those who don’t come into contact with it can sit in self-satisfied assurance that our cops and courts measure out blind justice that keeps society well ordered. The evidence simply does not support that fantasy, as Davis’s life and death so dreadfully illustrate. In fact, if we are to judge our criminal justice system by its outcomes, it is built to round up masses of black men, transfer public funds to private companies to warehouse them, and then kill them in cold blood."

There is very little doubt that the criminal justice system is stacked against black men but what would it have taken for Uncle Tom to step in?

Oh yeah I forgot Tom is running for a second term as YTs version of a black appliance.

May the truth stand and Troy Davis rest in peace.  In the end only the Great Spirit has the right to judge.

Onward!