As I sit here at 11:54PM I can’t help but write out my thoughts about the events of this evening. I would consider myself a bit despondent, and definitely upset about what has happened on September 21, 2011.
In 2008 I wrote my first article about Troy Davis for the Maroon Tiger and I recall being extremely passionate about it–I wasn’t concerned about whether he was innocent or guilty. I was concerned with the fact that the Georgia State Government was about to kill a man because they considered themselves the ultimate judgement on who lived and who died in this state that I live in.
My ultimate concern here is…how did we sit back and let this happen?
With that said, I have never protested, spoke out to my government, written any letters…or anything of the sort disagreeing completely publicly about the punishment that Troy Davis deserves or does not deserve.
Many of you may be thinking….”Randol, if you’re writing this now, why didn’t you say anything earlier?” And the thing is….it’s not my place. I am not the final judgement on who lives and who dies in this so called patriotic “just and fair” country that we live in.
I think the problem lies in the fact that I am far too optimistic when it comes to the expectations of the compassion (or apparently lack there of) of our Supreme Court.
Earlier today I was scheduled to have dinner with a friend of mine at 7PM. When he canceled on me to go to Jackson, GA (where Davis was being executed) I made plans to go watch my friend play basketball at a church down the street from my current residence. I stayed at my house watching every minute of the Troy Davis coverage until 7:10PM (10 minutes after he was scheduled to be executed) only to find out he was granted a reprieve because the Supreme Court was reconsidering whether or not he should be lethally injected tonight.
While at the basketball game, I found myself wondering…”how on earth can these people be going on about their lives like nothing is wrong? People are playing basketball, people are out having dinner, my friends are at work serving customers….and how? How are you not glued to your television waiting to find out what happens?”
I was calling my parents and friends, checking my twitter timeline, and checking my AP News app to find out if he really had been killed.
Secretly, I had hoped, that I would go sleep tonight, Troy Davis would still be alive, and when I woke up in the morning, he would be sitting in his prison cell, granted clemency once again, and I could go about my life as normal.
But I find that difficult to do at the moment.
After the basketball game I met a friend of mine at a bar where I insisted the bartender turn on CNN as soon as I walked in the building just so I could get some type of clarification on the fact that (in my mind) Troy Davis would be happily alive. I found at around 11:15PM that Troy Davis had been killed by lethal injection at 11:08PM.
I was devastated.
Not to sound overly self-important, but I am used to things working out the way I see them in my mind. And at this point, I am personally ashamed to say that I put so much faith in my Justice System that I actually believed in my heart and soul that everything would work out the way I expected it to.
Troy Davis may have very well been guilty of killing Mark MacPhail and God knows who else. On the other hand, he may have been completely innocent (as he stated in his last words)….but how on earth is it any humans place to decide what type of punishment he deserves for his actions?
You can take a man out of jail at any time, but you can never bring him back from the grave.
Where the hell do we as a country get off, killing a man, who (supposedly) killed a man, to show that killing people is unacceptable?
My prayers are with not only the family of Troy Davis, but also the family of Mark MacPhail.
I’ll end with a bible verse.
“Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer…Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice, mourn with those who mourn. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position….Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone. Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: It is mine to avenge, I will repay,’ says the Lord. Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”
Romans 12: 12-21
There’s so much more I want to say, but there’s too many thoughts running through my mind. kBe blessed.
