I have some thoughts on the Troy Davis case that I want to share. I won't lie, part of the reason I write this is to try to express somethings from my soul so that I (and hopefully others) will get some rest tonight.
That a man, a Black man, in 2011 can be killed/murdered/executed by a state/the state comes of no surprise to many of us in the United States. I would even go far as to say that there will be several more men, Black or Brown men, who for reasons more or less compelling than Davis who will die at the hands of this state this year, next year, and the year after. So I don't think, I can't imagine, that speaking against this particular case will stop the brutal force with which the penal system destroys lives and communities. I don't know if anyone in prison justice movements can think that holistic change is possible of this system. At least to me it seems that so long as prisons can be used as a covert form of social engineering that is morally invested in by the majority of a society--the damages that they inflict will continue to occur. So it is to me the only way is to respond with a focus on the mircro, on the individual. Perhaps at some point it will have an aggregated effect but I don't know that we can necessarily be invested in that. Too often I feel people are dissuaded by prison justice struggling because they see know way to slay the dragon. It is too large, too dangerous, and worse far too scary. Hmmm...I don't think the dragon metaphor will bear out in the way that I would want so I'll just be blunt. We have to work at the individual/micro level because it is probably the only way to maintain hope in this struggle.
This case has weighed on my heart both because of the particularities but also because of how it sits among so many cases like it in recent and long past time here, in the United States, and all around the world. It evokes for me the frighting numbers of Black and Brown women who are currently incarcerated in the United States. It reminds me that this number grows exponentially every year. That most men and women in Black and Brown communities can expect at some point in their lives to be touched by the brutality of prison either by experiencing incarceration themselves or the incarceration of someone they know and love. It reminds me of the young men I know/knew personally who are now doing time.
I'm not really knowledgeable about Davis's political affiliation but this case,as well as the ever rising public outcry, reminds me of all the Black and Brown women and men killed/murdered/executed or sentenced to virtual deaths by the United States for political crimes, real or imagined, violent and nonviolent.
I don't know how we can call ourselves a moral and just society and still believe in the death penalty. I am even more dismayed that in the face of consistent proof at the failures of the so-called justice system that we can continue to support so brutal a measure of justice. I am not a pacifist but there is a certain point where I cannot, with good conscience, stand behind the state-sanctioned termination of life.
To be less grandiose...I am sad. I have been, in the recesses of my mind where I won't let people touch, deeply saddened for the approach of September 21st. I will, saving a miracle that I can't bring myself to believe will occur, even sadder to wake up September 22nd.
So tonight I'm going to go in search for some peace. I hope if you're reading this, and you're upset/hurt/challenged/dismayed by this case you find some too. I'm praying Troy Davis finds some peace, better in life than in death, but whatever, ultimately, it can be found.
That a man, a Black man, in 2011 can be killed/murdered/executed by a state/the state comes of no surprise to many of us in the United States. I would even go far as to say that there will be several more men, Black or Brown men, who for reasons more or less compelling than Davis who will die at the hands of this state this year, next year, and the year after. So I don't think, I can't imagine, that speaking against this particular case will stop the brutal force with which the penal system destroys lives and communities. I don't know if anyone in prison justice movements can think that holistic change is possible of this system. At least to me it seems that so long as prisons can be used as a covert form of social engineering that is morally invested in by the majority of a society--the damages that they inflict will continue to occur. So it is to me the only way is to respond with a focus on the mircro, on the individual. Perhaps at some point it will have an aggregated effect but I don't know that we can necessarily be invested in that. Too often I feel people are dissuaded by prison justice struggling because they see know way to slay the dragon. It is too large, too dangerous, and worse far too scary. Hmmm...I don't think the dragon metaphor will bear out in the way that I would want so I'll just be blunt. We have to work at the individual/micro level because it is probably the only way to maintain hope in this struggle.
This case has weighed on my heart both because of the particularities but also because of how it sits among so many cases like it in recent and long past time here, in the United States, and all around the world. It evokes for me the frighting numbers of Black and Brown women who are currently incarcerated in the United States. It reminds me that this number grows exponentially every year. That most men and women in Black and Brown communities can expect at some point in their lives to be touched by the brutality of prison either by experiencing incarceration themselves or the incarceration of someone they know and love. It reminds me of the young men I know/knew personally who are now doing time.
I'm not really knowledgeable about Davis's political affiliation but this case,as well as the ever rising public outcry, reminds me of all the Black and Brown women and men killed/murdered/executed or sentenced to virtual deaths by the United States for political crimes, real or imagined, violent and nonviolent.
I don't know how we can call ourselves a moral and just society and still believe in the death penalty. I am even more dismayed that in the face of consistent proof at the failures of the so-called justice system that we can continue to support so brutal a measure of justice. I am not a pacifist but there is a certain point where I cannot, with good conscience, stand behind the state-sanctioned termination of life.
To be less grandiose...I am sad. I have been, in the recesses of my mind where I won't let people touch, deeply saddened for the approach of September 21st. I will, saving a miracle that I can't bring myself to believe will occur, even sadder to wake up September 22nd.
So tonight I'm going to go in search for some peace. I hope if you're reading this, and you're upset/hurt/challenged/dismayed by this case you find some too. I'm praying Troy Davis finds some peace, better in life than in death, but whatever, ultimately, it can be found.
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