Demonstrations in hundreds of cities demand clemency

By LeiLani Dowell

Sep 21, 2011

Davis, who was sentenced to death in 1991 for the murder of an off-duty police officer, is scheduled to be executed in Georgia on Sept. 21. However, no direct evidence was brought to convict Davis during his trial, and seven of the nine witnesses who testified that Davis was the shooter have since recanted their testimony, saying they were coerced by police into giving false statements. Davis himself has consistently proclaimed his innocence.

New York Photo: Janet Mayes

Some 1,500-2,000 people marched out from Woodruff Park to Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta on Sept. 16. An International Action Center banner, “Innocence matters — Stop the execution of Troy Davis,” was held high near the front of the march. Banners were also carried by religious groups, students and homeless advocates. The predominant sign at the rally was a picture of Davis’s face, with the words, “Too much doubt to execute.”

The majority Black yet very multinational crowd included lots of youth and students, as well as members of the lesbian, gay, bi, trans and queer communities. Buses came from several Georgia cities, including Savannah and Rome. Carloads and vans came from others.

New York photo: G. Dunkel

Participating organizations included the NAACP, Amnesty International, Workers World Party, the International Socialist Organization and the New Black Panther Party. Bringing up the rear of the march, students from Georgia State drummed and led spirited chants.

Ebenezer Church, with a capacity of 2,200 people, was already partially filled when the marchers arrived for a program on Troy Davis. Inside, speakers included Davis’ sister and his nephew, Larry Cox of Amnesty International, the Rev. Al Sharpton, activist Dick Gregory, some prisoners who had been on death row but were exonerated, NAACP President Ben Jealous and other state and city NAACP representatives, and Katheryn Hammoudah of Georgians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty. Folk rock music duo, Indigo Girls, sang, as did church choirs. The program lasted until 10:30 p.m.

Even with participants squeezed in tight into the church, a good 500 or more people were not able to get in. An impromptu rally was held in an amphitheater adjacent to the church, at a Martin Luther King Jr. historical site. A New Black Panther Party leader with a bullhorn seized the moment. Several exonerated death row prisoners spoke as well as students from Georgia State. The revolutionary politics expressed at this rally received a good response from the mostly young crowd. At about 9 p.m., the students led folks in another march.

Baltimore Photo: Nadrat Siddique

People will be gathering again on Sept. 19 at the offices of the Pardons and Parole Board, which will be having its hearing on Davis’ execution. Activists plan to arrive early in the morning and remain throughout the hearing, which is closed to the public. Davis’ lawyers will present all the recanted witnesses’ affidavits, plus statements by three jurors who say that they no longer believe Davis is guilty.

Houston

Feelings of anger, determination and disgust filled those occupying the sidewalk in front of the criminal courthouse in Houston on Sept. 16. Chants included a call and response of “I am” and then “Troy Davis.” A leader of the Texas Death Penalty Abolition Movement said: “We are here because Houston is the jurisdiction in the U.S. that executes more people than any other. We know firsthand the racism and injustice that permeates the criminal justice system. Just as in the cases of Mumia Abu-Jamal and Shaka Sankofa, racist cops and courts are planning to lynch Troy Davis.”

Kofi Taharka, national chair of the National Black United Front, told the crowd: ”This racist system has declared war on Black men. We must not allow the execution of Troy Davis.” Minister Robert Muhammad, who witnessed the execution of an innocent Shaka Sankofa in 2000, said: ”It is better to be guilty and rich in Texas, than to be innocent and poor. Troy Davis’ execution must be stopped!”

Houston photo: Gloria Rubac

Hundreds of leaflets were handed out to those leaving the courthouse. One African-American man stopped to tell the rally that he had just been disqualified for jury duty in a capital murder trial because he told the court he was opposed to the death penalty. He wished Davis good luck.

Each protester recorded the phone number of the Georgia Board of Pardons in their cell phones. The office had closed early, and their mailbox was full and not taking messages. But the crowd vowed to call early on Sept. 19.

Others supporting the Day of Solidarity were the University of Houston SDS, the Harris County Green Party, the Nation of Islam, the Houston NAACP, Justice for Palestinians, and Pacifica KPFT radio hosts Akua Holt of Pan African Journal, Brother Zin of Sounds of Soul Radio and Minister Muhammad of Connect the Dots. A protest also took place at the Capitol in Austin, Texas, called by the Campaign to End the Death Penalty.

At more than 300 rallies across the country and others around the world, activists, students and community members converged on Sept. 16 to defend Troy Davis from the imminent threat of execution imposed by the racist U.S. “justice” system. The rallies were in response to an international day of action called by several organizations.

New York

An emergency rally held in Times Square as part of the international day of action on Sept. 16 drew 300 to 500 activists. The International Action Center provided the sound and stage and had mobilized intensely for the rally at many events in the days leading to the ­demonstration.

The rally was co-sponsored by Amnesty International USA, the International Action Center, the Campaign to End the Death Penalty, NAACP N.Y., New Yorkers for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, Equal Justice USA, The Brecht Forum, the Answer Coalition, the National Lawyers Guild NYC Chapter and the Theater of the Oppressed Laboratory.

The rally was co-chaired by Thenjiwe McHarris of Amnesty International and former New York state death row prisoner and Black Panther member Lawrence Hayes, representing the Campaign to End the Death Penalty. Larry Holmes spoke for the International Action Center.

Los Angeles

An emergency action was held at the Westwood Federal Building in Los Angeles. The joint call was made by the All African People’s Revolutionary Party, Human Rights Advocates, the Humanitarian Law Project, the Puerto Rican Alliance, Unión del Barrio, the Southern California Immigration Coalition, SiGAw-Gabriela USA, Workers World Party and the International Action Center.

A demonstration was being held at the same location by Los Angeles Jews for Peace regarding the U.N. vote on Palestine, so the two rallies shared the microphone, with all participants chanting, “Free Troy Davis, Free Palestine!” Out of the Sept. 16 rally, another protest for Troy Davis was scheduled for Sept. 20 at Leimert Park in South Central Los Angeles.

Dozens of people gathered in downtown Baltimore at rush hour in front of the federal building to demand no execution of Troy Davis and an end to the racist death penalty. The protest was initiated by the All Peoples Congress and endorsed by a number of groups, including the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, the National Action Network, Jamaat al-Muslimeen, the Johns Hopkins Chapter of Amnesty International and others.

Dozens of activists participated in an emergency demonstration and speakout in downtown Boston on Sept. 16 to stop the execution of Troy Davis. Hundreds of passersby took flyers and stopped to listen as speaker after speaker explained Davis’ innocence and called for clemency and freedom. The rally was kicked off by Myia X of SistaCipher. Speakers included students from Spark, organizing at Tufts, Wheelock College and other campuses. Former Black Panther, Bob Traynham, of the International Action Center chaired.

Traynham introduced a brother who had spent several decades in Massachusetts prisons, who said he went into prison as a Black Panther and came out as a Gray Panther. Former political prisoner and longtime prison rights activist Kazi Toure addressed the gathering. Others included longtime prison rights activist Susan Mortimer; a representative from Amnesty International; Ed Childs, Chief Shop Steward, UNITE HERE Local 26; Steve Kirschbaum of Boston School Bus Drivers, Steelworkers Local 8751; Maureen Skehan of the Women’s Fightback Network; Jason Lyden, minister of the Community Church of Boston; Boston City Council candidate Deshon Porter; and other activists.

Close to 20 people gathered at a busy intersection in Tucson at an emergency protest to stop the execution of Troy Davis. Cleveland had a high-spirited protest for Troy Davis at the so-called Justice Center, part of which is the county jail. Prisoners waved and gave the power fist. The protesters then marched all over downtown Cleveland, chanting and passing out flyers.

Over 100 protesters of many ages lined Woodward Avenue in downtown ­Detroit outside Central United Methodist Church on Sept. 16 at a highly visible after-work rally for Troy Davis co-sponsored by the Michigan Emergency Committee Against War & Injustice and Amnesty International. Passersby on foot, bicycle and in cars and buses honked and waved their support. Hundreds of leaflets with the recent Workers World front-page article on Davis were distributed.

Philadelphia’s progressive workers and students turned out for two demonstrations on Sept. 16, one at City Hall and another at Temple University’s main campus in North Philadelphia. Protesters spoke about the Davis case as being only an especially outrageous example of the inherently racist nature of U.S. capitalist society in general. To illustrate this, protesters drew comparisons to the ongoing case of Philadelphia’s own Mumia Abu-Jamal and the bloodthirsty imperialist assault on the African nation of Libya.

International response

Around the world, groups responded to the call to action for Troy Davis on Sept. 16. In France, six French organizations mobilized for gatherings in Paris and 10 other regions. (http://www.amnesty.fr)

Agence France-Presse reports that about 150 people gathered Friday night in Paris. The demonstrators, most dressed in T-shirts bearing Davis’s portrait, gathered near the Pompidou Center. Participants distributed leaflets and invited passersby to sign a petition against the execution. (Sept. 16)

In Montreal, a demonstration in the form of a “die-in” was held on Sept. 17 in front of the U.S. Consulate (Metro Montreal, Sept. 17), while in Brussels, Belgium, some 40 people protested on the steps of Brussels Palais de Justice, their faces covered with a photo of Davis. (www.rtbf.be, Sept. 16)

Steven Ceci, Sara Flounders, Kris Hamel, Michael Ladson, Dianne Mathieowitz, Frank Neisser, John Parker, Andre Powell and Gloria Rubac con­tributed to this report.

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