The Visionary Activist Show, for September 22, 2011 - 2:00pm
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The Visionary Activist Show - Poetic Justice -The Guiding Mythic Equinoctial Dire Beauty NewsDownload this clip (mp3, 10.28 megabytes)
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Caroline welcomes "Crazy Brave" poet, songstress, fellow diviner, Joy Harjo, that we may honor the horrific injustice of Troy Davis' murder by the state, and be guided by his soul, that ours may rock back into balance and this nation be brought to its knees in remorse.
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Wonderful moving show, thank you very much. Please tell me your source for the transcript you read of Troy Anthony Davis' last and very profound words. I am a poet and want to read them before writing my third poem about the horrific state killing of this man. I have searched the net but can't find the part you read of what he said. Where can I find it without having to pay for it? I have listened to your archived show but I want to read the words visually too. Thanks so much.
I heard his statement read on Democracy Now in its entirety, also Democracy Now had an all-day vigil at the prison. It would be around 11:15 PM or so, just after the execution when the witnesses came out to address the media
Fabulous show, thank you Caroline and Joy!!! Could you tell me where to find the writing of Troy's that you read? I've searched on-line, but can't find.
Here's a copy of the Troy Davis letter (in case the link I've put at end doesn't post)
I want to thank all of you for your efforts and dedication to Human Rights and Human Kindness, in the past year I have experienced such emotion, joy, sadness and never ending faith. It is because of all of you that I am alive today, as I look at my sister Martina I am marveled by the love she has for me and of course I worry about her and her health, but as she tells me she is the eldest and she will not back down from this fight to save my life and prove to the world that I am innocent of this terrible crime.
As I look at my mail from across the globe, from places I have never ever dreamed I would know about and people speaking languages and expressing cultures and religions I could only hope to one day see first hand. I am humbled by the emotion that fills my heart with overwhelming, overflowing Joy. I can’t even explain the insurgence of emotion I feel when I try to express the strength I draw from you all, it compounds my faith and it shows me yet again that this is not a case about the death penalty, this is not a case about Troy Davis, this is a case about Justice and the Human Spirit to see Justice prevail.
I cannot answer all of your letters but I do read them all, I cannot see you all but I can imagine your faces, I cannot hear you speak but your letters take me to the far reaches of the world, I cannot touch you physically but I feel your warmth everyday I exist.
So Thank you and remember I am in a place where execution can only destroy your physical form but because of my faith in God, my family and all of you I have been spiritually free for some time and no matter what happens in the days, weeks to come, this Movement to end the death penalty, to seek true justice, to expose a system that fails to protect the innocent must be accelerated. There are so many more Troy Davis’. This fight to end the death penalty is not won or lost through me but through our strength to move forward and save every innocent person in captivity around the globe. We need to dismantle this Unjust system city by city, state by state and country by country.
I can’t wait to Stand with you, no matter if that is in physical or spiritual form, I will one day be announcing,
“I AM TROY DAVIS, and I AM FREE!”
Never Stop Fighting for Justice and We will Win!
http://newsone.com/nation/newsonestaff2/a-message-from-troy-davis/
Being the last caller on the show today and thus up against the clock, I wanted to finish what I was talking about and pose my question to Caroline.
I was talking about the racism inherent in Troy Davis' Georgia state execution. The statistics alone, which I gave, speak for themselves. Plus, when you factor in the chilling reaction of pure vengeance from the widow of the slain officer, this whole case is right out of Richard Wright's *Native Son* novel. Like the case of Bigger Thomas, the white citizens' lynch-mob mentality doesn't care who's really responsible for the crime--they got themselves a goddamned nigger and they're gonna lynch him.
I also had a different take from the previous caller on the timely, or synchronistic, relationship between the white supremacist being put to death for dragging, southern style, a black man behind his pickup truck and the state of Georgia murdering another black man. To clarify, I meant in the Bigger picture/story--both are part of the WHITE SUPREMACIST system of America. (And I think Richard Wright, who knew the barbarism of the American system better than anyone else of his time, would agree with me.) This was the message I got from the synchronicty of events yesterday. So, at the end of the show, I was trying to say that, while many caring Americans feel the individual white supremacist hate crime is the most egregious and grizzly of the two, I would ask them to re-consider that the earlier one was a crime of passion, while the murder carried out by the state yesterday was in a sense more horrific because exceedingly premeditated, while covering up the sheer inhumanity of it with the so-called more humane lethal injection. (The point, I think, Dr. Allen Ault, the former warden, was also making.) So you could say that the white supremacist was at least more open about his hate crime.
I followed Amy Goodman's reportage from the vigil. There were 1000+ supporters of the Davis family and in a church nearby people prayed. I heard the chaos of the false alarm--that Davis had gotten a "stay" of execution--trigged by the cheering crowd at 4:04 pm (PDT). It took about ten minutes to sort it out and get an official word. Meanwhile, Davis' sister (I think) was ecstatic, believing: "It's a miracle!" Of course, everybody's heart sank at the news that it was only a "reprieve." People prayed doubly hard. And Ben Jealous commented: "We either waiting for a miracle or a funeral."
My question to Caroline (or anyone who wishes to respond): Since you have oftentimes cited the power of collective intent and prayer that has altered political outcomes, why, with all those at the vigil and outside listening to it and presumably praying too, --why was there in fact no "miracle"?