Communist
13th June 2009, 18:25
http://www.workers.org/graphics/workersworldsm.gif (http://www.workers.org/)
story at: http://www.workers.org/2009/us/texas_0618 (http://www.anonym.to/?http://www.workers.org/2009/us/texas_0618)
Protests condemn Texas governor’s 200th execution
By Gloria Rubac
Houston
Published Jun 13, 2009 9:31 AM
Chanting, “Perry says death row, we say hell no!” activists gathered in Austin, Huntsville and Houston on June 2 to protest Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s 200th execution since he was elected in December 2001. Perry has surpassed the previous record of 152 executions set by former Governor George W. Bush.
http://www.workers.org/2009/us/KrystalMuhammad_0618.jpg
Illustrating the legacy of slavery,
Sister Krystal Muhmmad holds up a
noose at Houston rally June 2.
WW photo: Gloria Rubac
Activists gather at the site of the Old Hanging Tree in downtown Houston where the county courthouse stood at the end of the 1800s. The historical marker in front of the 400-year-old oak tree reads: “It is rumored that 11 criminals were hung here.” A speaker told the crowd: “Those of us who live in the South know who was hung in the trees outside of the county courthouses or on the town square—it was Black people who were lynched.”
In all the cities, the 200 names of those put to death were read aloud. In European cities, protesters gathered outside U.S. Embassies. In Montreal a large die-in was held by activists dressed in black, wearing white plastic face masks and holding signs with the image of the state of Texas on them.
In Huntsville, where prisoner Terry Hankins was strapped to a gurney and lethally injected at 6 p.m., the Kids Against the Death Penalty chanted, “What do we want?” The crowd responded, “Abolition!” “When do you want it?” “Now!”
http://www.workers.org/2009/us/texas_0618.jpg
Huntsville protest, June 2.
Photo: Terri Benn
Sister Krystal Muhammad with the New Black Panther Party told the Houston crowd, “This execution tonight is nothing but a legal lynching. We know that Blacks and Latinos are the majority on death row, and we know that regardless of color, those on death row are poor. I call on you to each bring five more people with you to the next execution protest. We must stop these lynchings.”
From Montreal, the Amnesty International organizer of that militant protest, Charles Perrouod, told Texas organizers that it was “a vibrant success with even the more ‘popular media,’ the ones never there to cover our events, coming in throngs!! Real strong coverage to say the least.’’
The death penalty in the U.S. is fraught with corrupt DAs, lying cops, faulty crime labs, incompetent court-appointed attorneys and wrongful executions. Perry knows this because 40 people have been exonerated and released from prison after being granted DNA testing. Some of them had served over 25 years for crimes they didn’t commit.
Perry knows that intensive newspaper investigations by the Houston Chronicle and the Chicago Tribune have discovered at least three people put to death in Texas who were found to be innocent—Todd Willingham, Ruben Cantu and Carlos de Luna.
Texas leads the country with 439 executions since the death penalty was reinstated by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1976. (amnesty.org) Over 90 percent of all U.S. executions have taken place in former Confederate states. (“Why is Texas no. 1 in executions?” asked Ned Walpin on pbs.org.) In 2008, 95 percent took place in the South. In 2009, over half of all executions have been carried out in Texas. (deathpenaltyinfo.org)
The struggle, however, to abolish the death penalty is gaining ground. Death sentences are down. Executions are down. Public support for capital punishment is down, even in Texas. And in 2008, Harris County, the leading jurisdiction that sends people to death row in the U.S., not a single person was sentenced to death for the first time in over 30 years.
For more information see www.protest200executions.com (http://www.protest200executions.com).
Articles copyright 1995-2009 Workers World. Verbatim copying and distribution of this entire article is permitted in any medium without royalty provided this notice is preserved.
story at: http://www.workers.org/2009/us/texas_0618 (http://www.anonym.to/?http://www.workers.org/2009/us/texas_0618)
Protests condemn Texas governor’s 200th execution
By Gloria Rubac
Houston
Published Jun 13, 2009 9:31 AM
Chanting, “Perry says death row, we say hell no!” activists gathered in Austin, Huntsville and Houston on June 2 to protest Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s 200th execution since he was elected in December 2001. Perry has surpassed the previous record of 152 executions set by former Governor George W. Bush.
http://www.workers.org/2009/us/KrystalMuhammad_0618.jpg
Illustrating the legacy of slavery,
Sister Krystal Muhmmad holds up a
noose at Houston rally June 2.
WW photo: Gloria Rubac
Activists gather at the site of the Old Hanging Tree in downtown Houston where the county courthouse stood at the end of the 1800s. The historical marker in front of the 400-year-old oak tree reads: “It is rumored that 11 criminals were hung here.” A speaker told the crowd: “Those of us who live in the South know who was hung in the trees outside of the county courthouses or on the town square—it was Black people who were lynched.”
In all the cities, the 200 names of those put to death were read aloud. In European cities, protesters gathered outside U.S. Embassies. In Montreal a large die-in was held by activists dressed in black, wearing white plastic face masks and holding signs with the image of the state of Texas on them.
In Huntsville, where prisoner Terry Hankins was strapped to a gurney and lethally injected at 6 p.m., the Kids Against the Death Penalty chanted, “What do we want?” The crowd responded, “Abolition!” “When do you want it?” “Now!”
http://www.workers.org/2009/us/texas_0618.jpg
Huntsville protest, June 2.
Photo: Terri Benn
Sister Krystal Muhammad with the New Black Panther Party told the Houston crowd, “This execution tonight is nothing but a legal lynching. We know that Blacks and Latinos are the majority on death row, and we know that regardless of color, those on death row are poor. I call on you to each bring five more people with you to the next execution protest. We must stop these lynchings.”
From Montreal, the Amnesty International organizer of that militant protest, Charles Perrouod, told Texas organizers that it was “a vibrant success with even the more ‘popular media,’ the ones never there to cover our events, coming in throngs!! Real strong coverage to say the least.’’
The death penalty in the U.S. is fraught with corrupt DAs, lying cops, faulty crime labs, incompetent court-appointed attorneys and wrongful executions. Perry knows this because 40 people have been exonerated and released from prison after being granted DNA testing. Some of them had served over 25 years for crimes they didn’t commit.
Perry knows that intensive newspaper investigations by the Houston Chronicle and the Chicago Tribune have discovered at least three people put to death in Texas who were found to be innocent—Todd Willingham, Ruben Cantu and Carlos de Luna.
Texas leads the country with 439 executions since the death penalty was reinstated by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1976. (amnesty.org) Over 90 percent of all U.S. executions have taken place in former Confederate states. (“Why is Texas no. 1 in executions?” asked Ned Walpin on pbs.org.) In 2008, 95 percent took place in the South. In 2009, over half of all executions have been carried out in Texas. (deathpenaltyinfo.org)
The struggle, however, to abolish the death penalty is gaining ground. Death sentences are down. Executions are down. Public support for capital punishment is down, even in Texas. And in 2008, Harris County, the leading jurisdiction that sends people to death row in the U.S., not a single person was sentenced to death for the first time in over 30 years.
For more information see www.protest200executions.com (http://www.protest200executions.com).
Articles copyright 1995-2009 Workers World. Verbatim copying and distribution of this entire article is permitted in any medium without royalty provided this notice is preserved.