Dear Friend:This year, Witness to Innocence should havewelcomed TroyDavis into our organization as the country’s newest death row exoneree. But instead, the state of Georgia executedhim for murder, despite strong evidence of his innocence.
2011 has been a year both ofdeep tragedy and great promise for the anti-death penalty movement.
In the Troy Davis era, theissue of innocence is on people’s minds when it comes to the growing oppositionto the death penalty—a barbaric system that is fraught with error, improprietyand racial bias, and discriminates against the poor. And innocent people surely have been put todeath. Since 1973, 139 innocent men andwomen survived death row, despite a system bent on killing them.
As the new executivedirector of WTI, I look forward to 2012 as a watershed year in the abolition ofthis dreaded American institution. Andexonerated former death row prisoners and their families will help lead theway.
Here are some of ouraccomplishments in 2011:
- We forged new partnerships with the United MethodistChurch and progressive evangelicals, recognition of the importance of people offaith in our movement. Plus, WTIparticipated in the National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS) People of ColorConference, with Shujaa Graham and Kathy Spillman conducting a workshopcalled “Using Stories of the Exonerated to Teach Race, Class, and Justice Issues.”
- Witness to Innocence supported death penaltyabolition efforts across the country. Onthe heels of our 2009 abolition victory in New Mexico—in which then-GovernorBill Richardson cited wrongful convictions and executing the innocent as his primaryreasons for repealing the death penalty—WTI exonerees were instrumental in the repealof the death penalty in Illinois.
- WTI wasthe one group that honored Illinois' exonerees for the central role of theirsacrifices in ending the death penalty in that state. “As a state, we cannot tolerate the executionsof innocent people because such actions strike at the very legitimacy of agovernment,” said Illinois Gov. Patrick Quinn last March. “Since 1977, Illinois has seen 20 peopleexonerated from death row. Seven of those were exonerated since the moratoriumwas imposed in 2000. That is a record that should trouble us all. To say thatthis is unacceptable does not even begin to express the profound regret andshame we, as a society, must bear for these failures of justice,” he added.
- Randy Steidl and Nate Fields werefeatured in the press during the Illinois repeal, and Randyalso traveled to Rome to join the Sant'Egidio Community for theceremonial lighting of the Colosseum to celebrate abolition in Illinois.
- WTI member Derrick Jamison gave testimonybefore the Ohio House of Representatives in support of legislation that would replacea death sentence with life without parole as the state’s highest punishment.
- Our exonerated death row survivors took theirpowerful message against the death penalty across TexasFreedom Ride in October. They alsoled the 12th Annual March to Abolishthe Death Penalty at the state capitol in Austin. Voiceof America, AustinAmerican Statesman, CorpusChristi Caller- Times, localaffiliates of the majornetworksand others were there to cover it.
- Joining a chorus of lawmakers, judges andlawyers, 27 Witness to Innocence members wrote a letter to Texas Governor RickPerry urging him to halt the execution of HankSkinner to allow for DNA testing. Anappeals court granted the stay of execution. In September, WTI death row survivors signed a letter to the Georgia StateBoard of Paroles and Pardons on behalf of TroyDavis.
- Recently, Witness to Innocence members havebeen all over the news, domestic and international, wit RayKrone on Anderson Cooper 360, RandySteidl on CNN and the TavisSmiley Show, ShujaaGraham on Al-Jazeera and DeutscheWelle, and Juan Meléndez, Delbert Tibbs, RonaldKeine, David Keaton and others featured in Spain’s ElPaÃs magazine. KirkBloodsworth and I wrote in the HuffingtonPost. And WTI has been featured inthe BBC, Voice of America, and on the NBC News website, theGrio,aswell.
- In November, WTI members Kirk Bloodsworth,Shujaa Graham and Ray Krone were invited to speak at the Washington, DC andPhiladelphia premiere of master filmmaker Werner Herzog’s death penalty documentary,”Into the Abyss.”
- Witness to Innocence is partnering with London-basedfilmmaker Will Francome (“In Prison My Whole Life”) onhis film project “One For Ten,” a series of films featuring ten individuals whohave been freed from death row.
- WTI Compensation Committee members CherylNaill, Larry Yates and Nate Fields met with the Innocence Project and U.S.Department of Justice officials to discuss providing reentry assistance toexonerated prisoners, including death row survivors.
In the new year, WTIwill continue to work closely with state abolition groups to support theirefforts. We will be on the ground instates like California, Georgia, Maryland, Colorado and Florida.
We will continue andstrengthen our already robust outreach to communities of color and the HBCUs,to the faith community and murder victims’ families, and seek to make death rowexonerees whole by advocating for federal compensation.
And our members willcontinue to speak around the country about their experiences and change heartsand minds about the death penalty. Further,as a new member of the Paris-based World Coalition Against the Death Penalty,Witness to Innocence will expand its human rights advocacy on an internationalstage.
I encourage you to contribute to Witness to Innocenceand join a movement of people who are fighting to end capital punishment in theU.S.— because they know the evils of the system firsthand. Your contribution will allow us to further empowerour members to become effective leaders in the anti-death penalty movement; continueto work with abolition campaigns in key battleground states; build our coalitionacross the country, and reach new audiences. Click here to go to our website to makeyour generous tax-deductible donation and help abolish the death penalty. Thank you.
Sincerely,
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