[IMC-DC] Life or Death situation for TROY DAVIS!!! YOU can help!!!

[Naji Mujahid]

*Statement Read by Naji Mujahid at the 11th Annual Black L.U.V. Fest in
Washington, DC 9-21-08:*

I would like everyone's attention. I have a very important announcement.
What I am about to tell you is literally a matter of life and death!  This
is an emergency that requires all of our attention.

In the Confederate State of Georgia, on  death row, an innocent black man
named Troy Anthony Davis is scheduled to be executed this coming Tuesday
September 23 at 7:00 p.m.----- 48hrs from now! This will be nothing less
than a legalized lynching! Troy Davis has lived on death row for seventeen
years for a murder he did not commit. The Georgia courts know that Troy
Davis is innocent but his appeals are exhausted and the Georgia State Board
of Pardons & Paroles have, up to this point, refused to grant clemency in
his case. Georgia does not care whether it executes an innocent man,
especially an innocent black man. In other words, Georgia will kill Troy
Davis -- unless we stop them. Unless we join thousands of others to stop
this murder from taking place!

Now, let me tell you the facts in this case so that you will be clear about
why we should save Troy's life.

Way back in 1989, a white policeman was murdered for no good reason in a
dark parking lot at the Greyhound Bus Station in Savannah, Georgia. A few
days later, after the police received a tip from an informant, the police
wanted a nineteen-year-old Troy Davis for the murder. White police officers
started a vicious manhunt for Troy Davis. They threatened Troy Davis'
friends with prosecution and terrorized his neighborhood. When Mr. Davis
learned about the manhunt, he turned himself in. That's right! He turned
himself in because he knew that he was innocent. However, two years later,
at his trial, a mostly white jury found Troy Anthony Davis guilty and
sentenced him to death despite not having any physical evidence and relying
solely on witness testimony.

After the trial, seven of the nine government witnesses filed sworn
affidavits recanting what they testified to at trial. Some of the witnesses
confessed to perjury. Others confessed to gross mistakes in their testimony.
In all of the cases, the witnesses said that Troy Davis was, in fact,
innocent and that they were coerced by the police to lie on Troy Davis. On
top of that, the police never found a murder weapon. No fingerprints could
be traced to Troy, and he always claimed to be innocent. In addition to the
seven witness recantations, five new eyewitnesses came forward and
identified the police informant that had implicated Troy as the person who
murdered the white police officer.

Now, this is where the racism becomes clear, because even though the seven
witnesses recanted and and even though the five new witnesses came forward,
the Georgia courts and the police are still determined to execute Troy
Davis. So, the courts set the execution for this Tuesday, September 23, at
7:00 p.m. And of course this would not be the first time the government
murdered an innocent black man or woman. And this won't be the last
legalized lynching if we don't stop them!

So, this is what you can do. Please get out a pen and paper and write this
down.  (1) First, remember that this could have happened to you, to your
brother, to your son, to your husband, to your boyfriend, to your father,
and to any other innocent black man or woman whom you love as a friend or as
a relative.

(2) Second, and this is very important, Troy Davis needs you to call the
U.S. Supreme Court and demand that they stop the execution and give him a
new trial. If the Supreme Court does not stop the execution, Troy Davis will
be dead Tuesday night. So call the Supreme Court at *(202) 479-3011
ext. 0*and tell the clerk that you want the Supreme Court to stop Troy
Davis'
execution and to give him a new trial. That's simple. Get your cell phones
out and put this number in your cell phones. Call the Supreme Court at *(202)
479-3011 ext. 0* and tell them to stop Troy Davis' execution and to give him
a new trial. That number is again *(202) 479-3011 ext. 0*. Do that tomorrow,
once in the morning and again in the afternoon.

(3) Third thing, at 12:00 noon tomorrow, a large rally will be held for Troy
Davis at the Supreme Court building at First Street & Maryland Avenue, N.E.,
across the street from the U.S. Capitol. Go there and show your strong
support. Troy Davis has two days to stop this execution!

(4) Now, for the last thing you can do. Call the Georgia State Board of
Pardons & Paroles at the following telephone number. Put it in your cell
phones. Write it down. Then, tomorrow morning, call the board at *(404)
656-5651* and call their legal office at *404-651-6671*. This is very
important. Tell the Georgia State Board of Pardons & Paroles to grant full
clemency to Troy Davis on the basis of innocence. Stop the execution and set
him free. Call the board at *(404) 656-5651* and call their legal office at
*404-651-6671* and tell the board to grant a full pardon to this innocent
man, Troy Anthony Davis. The Supreme Court can order a new trial but the
Georgia State Board of Pardons & Paroles can grant a full pardon and free
Troy Davis right now on the basis of innocence. That would be the end of it!
So we have to cover both bases: one at the Supreme Court and the other at
the pardons board.

You can also get more info on Troy at www.troyanthonydavis.org.

So, for the sake of Black L.U.V., do what I asked you. Free Troy Davis! Free
Troy Davis! And do it before it's too late.

Thank you.

Naji Mujahid, Black August Planning Organization
Thomas Ruffin, The Nat Turner Rebellion


-- 
"I would like to leave behind me the conviction that if we maintain a
certain amount of caution and organization we deserve victory... You cannot
carry out fundamental change without a certain amount of madness. In this
case, it comes from nonconformity, the courage to turn your back on the old
formulas, the courage to invent the future. It took the madmen of yesterday
for us to be able to act with extreme clarity today. I want to be one of
those madmen. We must dare to invent the future."

Thomas Sankara, 1985
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