Despite the many voices in opposition, Troy Davis was executed by the State of Georgia last night just after 11 P.M., after the Supreme court issued a single sentence order denying a stay. Lawrence Brewer was executed in Texas, though not too many people noticed.
Twitter was abuzz in advance of Davis’ execution because of the doubt surrounding his guilt. Davis’ life ended with as much dignity as he could muster. More dignity than the State of Georgia deserved.
Some have taken note of Troy Davis’ case over the years. Others stumbled upon it yesterday, first learning that he existed and there was an issue with his execution. Some have expressed anger and dismay about the late bloomers, coming to a sudden epiphany that bad things happen in the American criminal justice system. Some twitted their outrage at America’s sudden realization that the death penalty existed.
I begrudge no one for not having dwelled on the system as much as others. If it doesn’t affect you, well, there are other issues on the front burner demanding your attention. We are never at a shortage of fires in need of smothering. At least people had the good sense to refocus on this huge fire burning in front of them, if only momentarily. Better late than never. Better at all than not at all.
What does offend me, and offends me horribly, is the voice that never once uttered a squeak over the many years that Troy Davis’ case was pending, or even on the day of his execution, in protest. And yet after the body is cold, suddenly was heard joining in the choir of weepers and hand-wringers as if he was there all along.
Someone who might see the execution of Troy Davis as an opportunity to shore up his bona fides as the friend to the friendless, the hero of the underdog, the savior of the downtrodden, but never found it worthy of mention before because there was no self-promotion to be gained of it. Now that the world is focused on Troy Davis, it’s exploitation value is huge. Suddenly, the body dead and cold, it’s time to speak out?
I am disgusted by the reality that my countrymen still adore the death penalty. I am disgusted that we can put to death a man about whom doubt exists. I am disgusted that there are lawyers who will exploit Troy Davis’ body for their own benefit.
And I am disgusted that most of you don’t care about any of this. To those who do care, who lifted a finger even if it didn’t help, even if was late, even if it changed nothing, at least you tried to matter. The rest of you either don’t matter or worse.
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You, yourself, explained why 8 days ago:
“There is a groundswell of support by other cops, others who are part of the law enforcement machinery, that demands a perpetrator be found and, once determined, receive the harshest penalty possible. It can be called overly demanding, simplistic, or blind, but someone must pay. “
It’s not only cop-killers who bring out the torches and pitchforks. The case against Bruno Hauptmann was less than airtight.
It was necessary that Mark MacPhail be avenged. And he was. No one seems to care that a likelier suspect (one of the snitches) will continue to breathe free air.
It takes much better men than most of us are to eschew vengeance. It’s good to be able to read the work of one of the few. Thank you, Scott.
I have been thinking about the fact that the man who murdered James Byrd was put to death on the same day, with less fanfare. What do we call that? Irony? Poetic Justice? A teachable moment? I don’t know — I oppose the death sentence in both cases. The point is that if we want to execute people like Lawrence Brewer, we will have casualties like Troy Davis. Are supporters of capital punishment willing to accept that calculus? It’s never as easy as an eye for an eye, and I’m hoping that at a minimum, people are thinking about the issue more. Anyway, thanks for the post.
This is beautifully put. As someone who comes from a state that doesn’t have the death penalty, I never thought about it in much depth. My sister-in-law has been covering the Troy Davis case since 2008. Even so, I hadn’t read much of the coverage. It wasn’t until I had a conversation with my brother (who knew Troy Davis and considered him a friend) and he told me how incredibly unjust what was happening was, that I actually started to become involved. I feel like a failure at life for not engaging sooner. I did what I could once I knew…signed petitions, went to a rally, read everything I could find… Too little, too late for Troy. The olny good that I can see may come of this tragedy is that hopefully others like myself will now be fired up to work hard to abolish the death penalty in the future.
That’s the spectacular failure of the argument for the death penalty, that it can never be limited to those who we absolutely, positively, conclusively, beyond any doubt whatsoever, know to be guilty. And even the most horrible person in our society, even the most guilty person, is more than just this one horrible deed.
Thanks, Arti. The mere fact that this surfaced on so many radars at all is helpful. If Americans come to the realization that we can’t control and limit the death penalty the way so many believe, maybe they will lose faith in it, or tire of it, or just concede that it can’t happen the way its supporters fantasize. If the people lose their lust to kill, the politicians will follow.
Truth is merely what we believe, not what is right. We often cannot discover what is right, but we act without regard to consequence. In America, like much of the world, innocence is not a bar to a finding of guilt, and reasonable doubt is not a bar to a sentence of death. The results of cases like Troy Davis’s should sicken every reasonable American.
Not for nothing, but your comment might be more meaningful if you tried for substance.
Agreed.
Is spending the rest of your life in a prison cell not punishment enough for the pro-death penalty crowd? I’d bet that if you threw most of them in a prison and told them they’d spend the rest of their lives there, after about a week or so they’d be begging for an executioner to stick a needle in their arm. Lawrence Brewer said in a news article last week that, basically, he’s glad to have this over with. Sounds like he’d think a life sentence would be a worse punishment.
Gamso makes the persuasive point that both the death penalty and LWOP are death sentences. One just takes longer.
And LWOP actually costs less.
Link?
Gamso notes that while the MacPhail family was in “Troy Davis must die” mode, James Byrd’s family says they’ve forgiven Brewer and don’t think he deserves to die.
Anyways, the difference is that if Georgia decides tomorrow that Troy Davis is innocent, he could be released if he’s doing LWOP. Of course, LWOP sentences tend not to be contested as vigorously. The crowds of protestors show up when the state wants to kill an innocent man, but not so much if the state lets an innocent man rot in prison for 50 years.
This one time, I’ll do it for you, but from now on, you should be able to find it on your own. Remember, there was a whole big internet before you showed up, and some of us old guys were writing stuff back then too.
Ah, okay. I was under the misimpression this was something he had posted recently. Thanks.
This post reminds me of the one last month where some self-styled branding expert complained about bloggers using his friend’s death to drive traffic to their sites. I will bookmark it for later use.
I echo your comments. I am a true Troy Davis supporter and an opposer of the death penalty. I’m also a proud and strong Black Woman. I was as equally saddened at the execution of the white supremist. God doesn’t measure life , we are ALL important to him.
I happened to stumble upon this site. I am one of those “Johnny come lately” people. I wasn’t aware of anything that was going on until one of my FB friends posted it. I then looked up and read any and everything that I could about the case. I signed petitions, looked for rallies and remained glued to my computer awaiting a miracle. I grew up opposing the death penalty. I was then exposed to the evils of this world and I waxed and waned on my stance. After digging through the muck and grime that remained after living through societies evil deeds and experiencing some personally, I had to figure out just who I am and what I believed. After being exposed to Troy Davis’ case, I have come to realize that I am AGAINST the death penalty. I would rather 1000 guilty men live behind bars than one innocent man be put to death. I am ready for the fight. I am on a mission to help and find ways to take a stand. Feel free to suggest ways or lead me to places and or sites.
Carla
Funny, I thought about that too and wondered if I was being disingenuous. I gave it a lot of thought, and realized that while it bore superficial similarities, it wasn’t the same at all.