I Am Troy Davis

I normally refrain from writing about political topics on my blog because of the controversy I know it generates, but tonight something happened that troubles me deeply, and this is all I can think about right now.

This evening, Troy Anthony Davis was executed by the state of Georgia for the 1989 murder of Savannah police officer Mark MacPhail.  Those of you who haven't been following the news lately will probably just say, "Big deal, so another murderer died.  Good riddance!"  However, this is a big deal - a very big deal, indeed - when you look at the circumstances surrounding the case.  There was no physical evidence to link Troy Davis to the crime.  Instead, he was convicted solely on eyewitness testimony, but seven of the nine witnesses against him later recanted their testimony, and an eighth witness was suggested by several of the other seven as the real murderer.

I'm gonna come right out and say that I oppose the death penalty in all circumstances.  I won't go into all the details of why I oppose it, as that's not the point I'm trying to make here tonight.  I can't even say for sure whether Troy Davis was really innocent or guilty, and my heart goes out to the family of Officer MacPhail.  But whether you support the death penalty or not, the death sentence should never have been an option when the case against Davis was as flimsy as this.  The legal principle behind the death penalty is that it should only be used when the accused can be proven guilty beyond all reasonable doubt.  Seven eyewitnesses changing their stories and a lack of physical evidence seems like pretty reasonable doubt to me.  And yet Georgia's state clemency board and the courts on every level of government, from the state court to the U.S. Supreme Court, saw fit to ignore that doubt and allow the state to kill a man who, for all we know, could very well have been innocent.  

What happened tonight in Georgia was more than just a miscarriage of justice.   

What happened tonight was a deliberate abortion of justice in the womb. 

One of campaign slogans used by the thousands of protesters in the weeks, days, and hours leading up to each of the four execution dates that Troy Davis faced consisted of four simple words: "I am Troy Davis."  I never really understood what they meant by that, but in the aftermath of his execution, I'm finally beginning to understand.  Davis' case should serve as a wake-up call to America and the entire world - maybe not necessarily to abolish the death penalty, but just to look more closely at where justice is lacking.  One man in Georgia may have lost his battle for justice tonight, but the fight for justice in the world is far from over.  The moral obligation to work and pray for justice in the world now rests upon the shoulders of each one of us.  In each one of us lies the power to fix the injustices that happen in our world, be it in our own government, in our own country, or beyond our borders.

Troy Davis may be dead, but his quest for truth and justice lives on in each one of us.  We all have a never-ending struggle to make right the wrongs of the world.  That is why I can say, in unison with those hundreds of thousands of men and women who fought for the life of a man on Georgia's death row...

I am Troy Davis.

You are Troy Davis.

We are all Troy Davis.