Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Sometimes Justice Isn't Always Just

The great state of Georgia murdered a man tonight. His name was Troy Davis. He was found guilty of killing a cop. There was little to no physical evidence, the murder weapon wasn't found, and 7 of the initial 9 eyewitnesses recanted their testimonies. Also, one of the eyewitnesses was identified as the real killer. Troy Davis sat in jail on death row for years for what seems to be a crime he did not commit. He was spared from execution 3 times before. That holding pattern did not return tonight. Troy Davis was pronounced dead @ 11:08pm on September 21, 2011.

This is not about wanting to free Troy Davis. There was just too much reasonable doubt for him to be executed. Reasonable doubt has to be a factor in a trial. Too many things were discovered after the trial had ended. This man should have been vindicated of this charge. His life should have been spared. Once I heard that the Supreme Court's decision resided on Justice Thomas, I knew Davis was going to die. Justice Thomas hasn't spoken up to on the SC in years. And for him to make a definitive move involving an imprisoned Black man and a murdered white cop would not happen. He isn't the man for that job. It sucks to write that Davis didn't stand a chance

I have never been a big believer in capital punishment. Not even when murder begin to affect my family heavily. To me, it's like saying ok you killed someone and that was wrong. So we're going to kill you too. Ghandi says "an eye for an eye just makes the whole world blind." I totally agree. I do believe in being sentenced to life without the possibility of parole. Prison needs to be a much harder, rougher place though. No cable tv, or access to the Internet. A killer should not be rewarded for their crimes.

I've always been fascinated by the law. But, I've never been blinded it by it. Our system is seriously flawed. There are too many Black men incarcerated than there are graduating. If Blacks only make up 12% of the population, we shouldn't occupy 36% of the prison population. Those numbers are wrong. I'm not saying that a lot of them don't belong there. There are, however, far too many there that don't belong. The system needs to be shaken up, broken down and built back up to be what it was supposed to be. States should stop shortcutting educational funds and stop building multi million dollar prisons. What sense does that make? Lack of education, skills, and money are all determining factors on what makes a criminal. We need a change.

I watched people debate about Troy Davis on Twitter for days. Some extremely informed, others not as much. Cases like his never seem to garner much media attention until it's too late. It's sad to say but race seems to be the determining factor. It's clear that Casey Anthony killed her baby, yet she's free to procreate and kill again. Just yesterday, a 25 year old white woman gave birth to twin boys and suffocated them to death. She's walking around free. Where is the justice in that? These are the things that totally make me so angry about our legal system. Sometimes justice isn't always so just. I hope the outcry of support for Troy Davis moves people to action. It's well beyond time for my generation to do something.

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