Unsung S/heroes Teaspooning to Eradicate the Ultimate Injustice

by Shaker Kathy

[Trigger warning for violence and dehumanization. Thank you, Liss, for giving me the privilege to write this letter to all the Shakers out there!]

Dear Shakers,

Please bear with me. This is going to be a long post.

Today is October 10, World Day Against the Death Penalty.

Imagine being accused of a crime you didn't commit.

Now imagine being condemned to die for a crime you didn't commit.

Here is a stark fact: 139 people have been exonerated from death row since 1973. That is approximately one for every eight executions. How many more were the victims of state-sanctioned murder for crimes they did not commit? We don't know.

Is one innocent person murdered by us, the taxpayers who fund the death penalty, worth it?

I am going to humbly ask you all to do a lot of heavy lifting with your teaspoons today, but I want to introduce you to just a few of my heroes, who tirelessly work teaspooning away the oceans of injustices and privilege in our society that led them to prison and ultimately to death row for crimes they did not commit.

And they were the "lucky" ones. In spite of the unimaginable pain, suffering and injustices committed against them and their families and loved ones (and make no mistake, a death sentence is visited on the entire family, not just the individual), they were ultimately exonerated and released. Some spent close to two decades on death row, almost a whole generation. Some came within hours of being murdered by the State. They left prison not knowing how to use a cell phone, what gel deodorant was, never surfed the internet. Most received no compensation. With a couple of rare exceptions they struggle financially, and all of them will suffer forever the trauma of their experiences.

And yet my heroes chose to dedicate their lives, and re-live their hell on earth every time they publicly speak, to educate all of us – including those progressives against the death penalty, but who usually don't give it too much thought with all the other urgent issues we face today – about why state-sanctioned murder is unacceptable and has no place in the only Western democracy that continues to execute its citizens. (By the way, a 2005 Gallup Poll had 58% of Democrats supporting the death penalty – support for the death penalty is more non-partisan than many progressives think. Roughly 63% of our citizenry still support it, although recent polls suggest more support for a moratorium on executions. Progress of a sort, I guess. Personally, I have very liberal friends who support it, and a few very conservative family friends who are against it. I bet you do, too.)

How do I know all this? These heroes are my bosses.


Image Description: A few of my heroes and bosses (clockwise) – Delbert Tibbs, Gary Drinkard, Shabaka WaQlimi, and Randal Padgett.

I work for them at Witness To Innocence, gently cajoling, bargaining, and otherwise trying to convince my fellow citizens to host them at their colleges, schools, houses of worship, and professional and civic organizations and conferences so that people may hear their powerful, compelling stories of heartache and hope, inequity and injustice, and leave with hearts and minds changed and charged up to take up teaspoons against the death penalty.

Although they shouldn't have to, my heroes are dedicated to illuminating the inhumane logical conclusion of the almost all the intersections we blog incessantly about or demonstrate against, but rarely connect when it comes to the death penalty.

They travel the country and the world to tell us about who gets to live and who is condemned to die and why. Racism, poverty, class, poor legal representation, political cowardice and corruption, torture (one of my heroes, Harold Wilson, served in the same prison where some of the guards eventually wound up torturing prisoners at Abu Ghraib), the shredding of fundamental constitutional rights like due process, abuse of state power, police coercion and brutality, prosecutorial misconduct leading to wrongful convictions in too many cases to count, shoddy forensics, perjury, false identification, our national ethos that believes violence based on vengeance is the solution for all our country's problems both at home and abroad, and on and on and on. In short, our criminal justice system is fundamentally broken because our society is.

Let me briefly tell you about just a few of the men I am privileged to work for. I will link to their longer stories, and I really hope you will honor them and their work with me today by spending sometime with them.


Image Description: Shujaa on the podium with Ron Keine and Curtis McCarty.

Shujaa Graham, the son of sharecroppers in the Jim Crow South, spent much of his youth in juvenile detention centers and wound up in Soledad Prison when he was 18. There he taught himself to read and write, studied world history, and became a leader in the Black Panther Movement in California prisons. He was framed for the murder of a white prison guard, and sent to San Quentin's death row in 1973. The district attorney systematically excluded all African American jurors. He was finally found innocent and released in 1981. Shujaa now travels around the country and around the world speaking about racism, the death penalty, and gang violence. Not surprisingly, one of his favorite audiences is young people. Shujaa and his wonderful wife Phyllis, a long-time activist on social justice issues and nurse, both serve on our Board, as well. I have heard Shujaa speak – he leaves his audiences in tears and transformed, and has hugs for everyone who wants one.

Ron Keine, one of our assistant directors for communications and training, found himself framed for the kidnapping, rape and murder of a University of New Mexico student in 1974, based on a bizarre campaign to coerce testimony from somebody who knew nothing about the crime or Ron. He was finally exonerated in 1976 after the murder weapon was traced to a law enforcement officer who confessed to the crime. Because of the corruption surrounding Ron's case, the assistant prosecutor was disbarred and three sheriff's detectives were fired because of their actions in the case. Ron is a life-long Republican who regularly gets on his Harley and rides hundreds of miles on his own dime to join vigils where executions are taking place, will speak to everybody and anybody about his experiences, politics be damned, and recently wrote this awesome op-ed about his experiences. I hope you will read it.

Then there is Delbert Tibbs, a former seminary student, poet, writer, and Florida death row survivor who was convicted of rape and murder in 1974 by an all-white jury in less than two days, based on the false eyewitness testimony of the 16-year-old rape victim. Delbert was "lucky" – celebrities like Joan Baez, Angela Davis and Pete Seeger – who wrote a ballad, "Ode to Delbert Tibbs" – rallied and raised money for the Delbert Tibbs Defense Committee. He was able to hire better legal representation and get a retrial, but it was 1982 before the district attorney dropped the case. Very cool fact: Delbert and his story have been portrayed on stage and screen by the great actors Delroy Lindo, Danny Glover and Charles Dutton. In spite of advancing age, Delbert still keeps a busy schedule, talking about his extraordinary journey at colleges and churches around the country. He is also one of the biggest-hearted and hopeful persons I have ever met. Delbert works closely with Ron as an assistant director of communications and training, too. Watch "The Exonerated" to hear the story of Delbert and other exonerees.

(That picture is blurry, but made me *blub* - Juan and his mother reunited following his release.) Finally, I want to introduce you to Juan Melendez, who spent almost 18 years on the Sunshine State's death row. His case truly represents the perfect storm of intersectional bigotry at its worst. Juan could not afford an attorney, spoke little English, and his alleged victim was, like in all the other cases, white. The prosecutor deliberately withheld exculpatory evidence. Juan's co-defendant was threatened with electric chair unless he implicated Juan, and only received a sentence of two years probation after testifying against him. Had it not been for the fortuitous discovery of a transcript of the taped confession of the real killer sixteen years after Juan was sentenced to death, he almost certainly would have been executed.

Juan is on the Board of our organization, and has a passion when speaking about his experiences that is breathtaking. Like Shujaa, he loves talking to youth, but will go anywhere and everywhere to speak as a dedicated abolitionist. An internationally acclaimed documentary was made on his case, Juan Melendez 6446. Judi Caruso, Juan's lawyer and partner, has been an indefatigable activist in the anti-death penalty movement, and has worked with Juan to have him speak to audiences around the world and to get his documentary distributed to anyone who is interested. So shoot me an email via our website if you are interested in acquiring a copy at a very low price. It is a great teaching tool.

Very cool fact about Juan: He along with other exonerees met with Gov. Bill Richardson in the campaign to end the death penalty in Juan's current home of New Mexico. Gov. Richardson specifically cited the possibility of executing innocents when New Mexico became the most recent state to outlaw the death penalty in 2009. There is no better example that teaspooning makes a difference!

I am leaving out so many others here, whose stories are just as outrageous and compelling, so I hope you will read about the rest of them at our website. And order from your local library or purchase the books that have been written about the cases of Freddie Lee Pitts (our Board chair), Invitation to a Lynching, or Randy Steidl, Since When Is Murder Too Politically Sensitive?, the horrific story of how the Governor's Office in Illinois was actually involved in framing him for a murder committed by a major campaign contributor. John Grisham couldn't make these stories up.

Now comes my pitch – the biggest teaspoon of all for you to lift is to spread the word far and wide about these and the other exoneree heroes I work for, and hopefully somebody at your college, place of work or worship, civic club, etc. will extend a warm invitation to them to come share their stories. I won't lie – it will cost, as these events help supplement their mostly very meager incomes, and their travel costs are not subsidized – but I guarantee a life-affirming, inspirational experience that will motivate people to become more aware, more educated, more outspoken and more active in ridding the world of the death penalty and the causes behind its existence. My heroes and bosses will go to the four corners of the earth, and I will work with you to make it happen.

Finally, if you can stand ONE FINAL teaspoon on the issue of wrongful convictions, I want Shakers to give a special shout-out to Julie Rea Harper, who is organizing the first-ever conference of wrongfully convicted women, along with activists and academics, in Troy, MI, this November 5-7. Julie was accused of killing her beloved 10-year-old son, Joel, who was actually murdered by serial killer Tommy Lee Sells. The Illinois prosecutor in the very conservative county where she was tried used her ex to turn the jury against her by falsely claiming she wanted an abortion when she was pregnant, I kid you not. It worked, and Julie was sent to prison for 65 years, and served three when she was finally exonerated. She is my new shero.

Justice is a slow moving train, but thanks for hopping on board with us today.

Sincerely,
Kathy