Concern for Texas//Moyers' Journal/Will Campbell

We share our DEEP CONCERN and many prayers for the safety and well-being of so many of our Journey friends across Texas at this time in the midst of this terrible storm! We hope to have a report soon from Dave Atwood or others...! If you are in Texas & reading this, Please send a report to newlease7@yahoo.com with HEADING...

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Bill Moyers

NOTE: We who are about alternatives to the Death Penalty and to violence may want to take note of this last Bill Moyers Journal Excerpt...And may I add that many besides "Hate Radio" need be careful how disrespect for others--from whatever vantage point--may likewise lead to unfortunate results. (Will Campbell speaks to this concern--please see the Postscript at the end of this posting.)

So this from Moyer is a reminder of one way we can all become more aware of possible seeds of violence before it's too late... Connie

EXCERPT from Bill Moyers Journal
Friday, September 12, 2008

BILL MOYERS: America has yet to make "verbicide" a hanging offense. Indeed under the First Amendment guarantee of free speech, pretty much anything goes. There are some limits...

RICK KARR: On a steamy Sunday morning in July a man armed with a twelve-gauge shotgun burst into this church in Knoxville, Tennessee and opened fire. Seconds later, one person lay dead, another mortally wounded, and six injured.

REVEREND CHRIS BUICE: The man who walked into this sanctuary on July 27th was armed with a gun but he was also armed with hatred, he was armed with bitterness, he was armed with resentments, he was armed with indiscriminate anger. He was armed in body and spirit.

RICK KARR: Members of the congregation wrestled a fifty-eight-year-old, unemployed truck driver named Jim David Adkisson to the floor and held him until police came. At first it seemed like just another inexplicable outburst of violence until a police news conference the next day.

POLICE CHIEF STERLING OWEN: It appears that what brought him to this horrible event was his lack of being able to obtain a job, his frustration over that, and his stated hatred for the liberal movement.

RICK KARR: Why did Adkisson hate "the liberal movement"? Police said that he told them "that all liberals should be killed ... because they were ... ruining the country, and that he felt that the Democrats had tied his country's hands in the war on terror and ... ruined every institution in America...." Police said that Adkisson had targeted the Unitarian Universalist Church "because of its liberal teachings." -- According to police, Adkisson said that, "Because he could not get to the leaders of the liberal movement that he would target those that had voted them in to office."In the weeks following the tragedy, the congregation and its pastor, Reverend Chris Buice struggled with what they were learning about Adkisson.

REVEREND CHRIS BUICE: Some have suggested that his spiritual attitudes, his hatred of liberals and gays, was reinforced by the right wing media figures. And it is beyond dispute that there are a plethora of books which have labeled liberals as evil, unpatriotic, godless and treasonous.

RICK KARR: During that recent sermon Buice told his congregation, some of who had risked their own lives to stop the shooting, that he has been reading some of those books.

REVEREND CHRIS BUICE: One of the books has the title "Deliver Us from Evil: Defeating Terrorism, Despotism and Liberalism". If that author was here in this room right now I would introduce him to some good liberals who acted decisively on that Sunday, acted quickly and courageously to stop the terror that came into our church building. I would introduce him to some good liberals who know how to fight terror with more than just their mouths.

RICK KARR: Buice says even with the outpouring of sympathy from around Knoxville and across the country, Adkisson's lethal anger has left him angry and full of questions.

REVEREND CHRIS BUICE:People were killed in my sanctuary of my church which should be the holy place, a safe place. People were injured. A man came in here totally dehumanized us. Members of our church were not human to him. Where did he get that? Where did he get that sense that we were not human?

RICK KARR: Buice admits that no one knows for sure and says that Adkisson alone, is responsible for the shootings. But he keeps thinking about some books that police found in Adkisson's apartment, books by popular right-wing talk-radio personalities who berate and denigrate liberals. One of the books police found in Adkisson's apartment was Michael Savage's "Liberalism is a Mental Disorder". In it, Savage calls liberals "the enemy within our country;" "an enemy more dangerous than Hitler"; "traitors" who are "dangerous to your survival" and who "should be placed in a straightjacket". Like Adkisson, Savage accuses liberals of "[tying] the hands of our military".

Savage isn't just a bestselling author: he also hosts a syndicated radio show.

ANNOUNCER:"And now American's most exciting radio talk show...THE SAVAGE NATION...THE MICHAEL SAVAGE SHOW."

RICK KARR: Savage reaches more than eight and a quarter million listeners a week. And when it comes to demonizing liberals, he's the same on the air as he is in print.

(Hate Radio)MICHAEL SAVAGE:"Liberalism is, in essence, the HIV virus, and it weakens the defense cells of a nation. What are the defense cells of a nation? Well, the church. They've attacked particularly the Catholic Church for 30 straight years. The police, attacked for the last 50 straight years by the ACLU viruses. And the military, attacked for the last 50 years by the Barbara Boxer viruses on our planet."

RICK KARR: Political liberals aren't the only targets of Savage's wrath. Back when he had a cable TV show, he bashed gay men.

(Hate Radio) MICHAEL SAVAGE: "So, you're one of the sodomites. Are you a sodomite?"

CALLER: "Yes, I am."

(Hate Radio) MICHAEL SAVAGE: "Oh, you're one of the sodomites. You should only get AIDS and die, you pig. How's that? Why don't you see if you can sue me, you pig. You got nothing better than to put me down, you piece of garbage. You have got nothing to do today, go eat a sausage and choke on it. Get trichinosis."

RICK KARR: And earlier this year on his radio show, he targeted kids with autism.

(Hate Radio) MICHAEL SAVAGE: "I'll tell you what autism is. In 99 percent of the cases, it's a brat who hasn't been told to cut the act out. That's what autism is. What do you mean they scream and they're silent? They don't have a father around to tell them, 'Don't act like a moron. You'll get nowhere in life. Stop acting like a putz. Straighten up. Act like a man. Don't sit there crying and screaming, idiot.'"...

RICK KARR: That outburst prompted protests by outraged parents, and a few stations dropped Savage's show. So did an advertiser. But Savage hasn't apologized and he's still on the air.

(Hate Radio) MICHAEL SAVAGE: "America is being overrun by an invasion force from Mexico that'll soon take over the country[...]you psychotic liberals don't even know you're digging your own grave and throwing lime in there. All that's missing is the worm from the tequila bottle to go with it."

RICK KARR: Michael Savage isn't the only right-wing talk-radio host who launches blistering, even violent, verbal attacks on people and groups he doesn't like. Glenn Beck, for instance, fantasized about murdering a liberal filmmaker.

(Hate Radio) GLENN BECK:"I'm thinking about killing Michael Moore and I'm wondering if I could kill him myself, or if I would need to hire somebody to do it. No, I think I could. I think he could be looking me in the eye, you know, and I could just be choking the life out of him. Is this wrong?"

RICK KARR: Michael Reagan, son of the former president, suggested that people who claim that "nine-eleven was an inside job," a U.S. government conspiracy, deserve to die.

(Hate Radio) MICHAEL REAGAN: "Take them out and shoot them. They are traitors to this country, and shoot them. But anybody who would do that doesn't deserve to live. You shoot them. You call them traitors, that's what they are, and you shoot them dead. I'll pay for the bullet."

RICK KARR: Neal Boortz went after victims of Hurricane Katrina.

(Hate Radio) NEAL BOORTZ:"That wasn't the cries of the downtrodden. That's the cries of the useless, the worthless. New Orleans was a welfare city, a city of parasites, a city of people who could not, and had no desire to fend for themselves. You have a hurricane descending on them and they sit on their fat asses and wait for somebody else to come rescue them."

RICK KARR: Muslims are some of Boortz's favorite targets. (called them cockroaches for fasting during day during Ramadan.)

REVEREND CHRIS BUICE: If you look at the history of like situations like in Rwanda in 1994, the talk radio was a big part of leading to the conditions that created a genocide. The Hutu radio disc jockeys would call the Tutsi cockroaches. There's the sense that these aren't human beings. You know, they're not human beings with children or grandchildren. These are cockroaches. And when you hear in talk radio that liberals are evil, that they are traitors, that they are godless, that they are on the side of the terrorist. That's hate language. You don't negotiate with evil people. You don't live in community with people you consider to be traitors.

RICK KARR: Millions of Americans tune in to right-wing talk radio every day. Rory O'Connor is a media critic and a liberal himself who's written a book on shock-talkers. He says not all of these broadcasters use violent language. But they do all share a predilection for outrage and, he says, they're all practically addicted to constantly cranking up that outrage.

RORY O'CONNOR: Here's the real problem. When you shock somebody, if you come back the next time and you apply the same stimulus, it's not shocking any longer. It's already happened. So you have to ratchet it up a little bit. So how do you cut through? How do you really shock? I think that in order to continue to outrage, you have to constantly be jacking up the pressure. And ultimately, there's gonna be some deranged person out there in that audience who's gonna say, "You know what? That's a good idea. Let me act on that."

(Hate Radio) GLENN BECK:"The fusion of entertainment and enlightenment."

RICK KARR: Entertainers — that's what a lot of the shock-talkers call themselves. O'Connor says, maybe. But their words can motivate their listeners to act.

RORY O'CONNOR: Now first and foremost, we have to recognize that many of them are employed across multiple platforms. So they may say something on their radio show, but they may repeat it on their television show. They may then repeat it in their newspaper column. They may repackage the ideas into their best-selling books.

RICK KARR: Last year's debate over the immigration reform bill became a case study for Rory O'Connor. As arguments went back and forth, some of the language turned venomous. Hosts amped up their audiences' outrage with attacks on the bill's supporters and verbal assaults on immigrants.

(Hate Radio) BILL O'REILLY: "But do you understand what the NEW YORK TIMES wants? And the far left want? They want to break down the white, Christian male power structure which you are a part and so am I, and they want to bring in millions of foreign nationals to basically break down the structure that we have."

RICK KARR:O'Connor says the result stunned Washington...

RICK KARR: Florida Republican Senator Mel Martinez got a threatening letter at home. North Carolina Republican Richard Burr got a threatening call at his office. South Carolina Republican Lindsey Graham told the NEW YORK TIMES that he and others had received threats, too. The TIMES also reported that a mass email opposing the bill suggested that its supporters needed to be "taken out by ANY MEANS". The bipartisan support collapsed, the bill died and right-wing talk-radio hosts took credit.

RICK KARR: Glenn Beck tried to connect former Vice President Al Gore's efforts against global warming with Nazism.

(Hate Radio): GLENN BECK: "What was the first thing they did to get people to exterminate the Jews? Now, I'm not saying that anybody's going to, you know, Al Gore's not going to be rounding up Jews and exterminating them. It is the same tactic, however[...]you got to have an enemy to fight. And when you have an enemy to fight, then you can unite the entire world behind you, and you seize power. That was Hitler's plan. His enemy: the Jew. Al Gore's enemy, the U.N.'s enemy: global warming."

RICK KARR: During this year's Democratic primaries, Rush Limbaugh urged his listeners to vote for Senator Hillary Clinton to foster division in the Democratic Party in the hope that that would lead to violence in the streets of Denver. He called it "Operation Chaos".

(Hate Radio) RUSH LIMBAUGH:"This is about chaos, this is why it is called Operation Chaos[...]the dream end, if people say what is your exit strategy. The dream end is this keeps up to the convention. And that we have a replay of Chicago 1968, with burning cars, protests, fires, literal riots and all of that. That's the objective here."

RICK KARR: American politics has always been a rough game. But political scientist Jeffrey Feldman, who's written a book on the effects of angry political rhetoric, says this is different.

REVEREND CHRIS BUICE: When you blame all your problems on some minority group then everyone else is exonerated. We exonerate ourselves. We don't have to look at ourselves to see what sort of ways we contribute to the problems of the world. We don't have to examine ourselves, to see what we are doing that is helping to create the problems that we're so concerned about.

RICK KARR: In other words, Buice says, angry talk-radio rhetoric simply sets up scapegoats for society's problems. And ever since Jim David Adkisson walked into his church and opened fire he can't help but wonder whether that might lead to more violence.

REVEREND CHRIS BUICE:I just think a lot of people are hurling insults from the safety of television studios, the safety of radio studio, the safety of cyberspace, which they would not throw if they had to stand right next to a person and look in their face and say the same thing. And so that's a void in our community, the chance to be in the same room and to have these exchanges and remember the humanity of the person on the other side.

BILL MOYERS:We may never know what finally triggered the killer's rage, unless he chooses at his trial or later to tell us. But not for a moment do I think any of the talk show hosts mentioned by the police would have wished it to happen.

We asked several radio hosts to come on this broadcast and talk about the story; they either declined or didn't return our calls. The issue of course is not their right to say anything they want on the air. The First Amendment guarantees their free speech as it does mine. Government shouldn't be the arbiter of what the Bill of Rights leaves to one's own sense of fair play. Watching that report, however, I was reminded of a story from folk lore about the tribal elder telling his grandson about the battle the old man was waging within himself. He said, "My son it is between two wolves. One is an evil wolf: anger, envy, sorrow, greed, self-pity, guilt, resentment, lies, false pride, superiority and ego. The other is the good wolf: joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, generosity, truth, compassion and faith." The boy took this in for a few minutes and then asked, "Which wolf won?" His grandfather answered, "The one I feed." So, too, America's public life. The wolf that wins is the wolf we feed. Media provides the fodder...
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POST SCRIPT: Tonight (September 14, 2008) my family was honored to have with us a couple who have been longtime close friends with Will Campbell who--like Campbell-- have had a strong connection to Mercer University.

Will Campbell

Campbell is one of my favorite southern writers, ministers and speakers. Try his -Brother to a Dragonfly- ! He is quite a unique personality who has cared for the poor of clashing sub-cultures. I realized after company left that Campbell had a lot to say about hate talk NO MATTER WHO does it. So I am posting a "teaser" here...

Will, a prolific writer, is a southern minister worth looking up. He eludes category and political labeling.

While working for the National Council of Churches, Campbell participated in two notable events of the Civil Rights Movement: he was ONE OF FOUR people who escorted the black students who integrated the Little Rock, Arkansas, public schools.

Campbell was THE ONLY white person present at the founding of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference by the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.

His uncompromising theology has led him to insist that "anyone who is not as concerned with the immortal soul of the dispossessor as he is with the suffering of the dispossessed is being something less than Christian" and that "Mr. Jesus died for the bigots as well". These convictions sometimes caused friction between Campbell and other civil rights figures -- for example, when Campbell ministered to members of the Ku Klux Klan.

In 1976, Campbell remarked "It's been a long time since I got a hate letter from the right. NOW THEY COME FROM THE LEFT."

In his book, "The Stem of Jesse', Will profiles Samaria Mitcham Bailey, a young American female of African descent, and her resolve in coping with the racial challenges she faced while matriculating at Mercer University.

While Campbell is best known to many for his paradoxical connection with both civil rights activism as well as his ministry to KKK members including the very poor--he also participated in protests against the Vietnam War and helped draft resisters find sanctuary in Canada.

In the late 1970s he spoke out AGAINST THE DEATH PENALTY, particularly after forming a relationship with JOHN SPENKELINK, whom the state of Florida executed in 1979.

(Much of the information above paraphrased and borrowed from Wikipedia)

Bill Moyers Journal Friday Night 9 ETV : Relationship between hate speech and violence

Dear Friends,

Since we at the JOH are about ALTERNATIVES to violence, perhaps this Moyers show tonight might fit in that catagory?

...support those affected by the tragedy in Knoxville, and to help share their stories with the world.

Tonight at 9 pm (on most PBS affiliates), Rev. Chris Buice and his
Knoxville congregation, Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church
(TVUUC), will be featured on Moyers Journal.

We thought you would be interested in this segment, examining the
relationship between hate speech and violence.

In faith and gratitude,

This message was sent by: Unitarian Universalist Association, 25 Beacon Street, Boston, MA 02108

PEACE on EARTH Film Festival includes JOH film: STEP by STEP

Nick Angotti, Exec Director/ Review-Selection Committee, Peace on Earth Film Festival. (Although this announcement was made in August of this year, we missed putting it on the blog...
seems like right after 9/11 is a great time to announce this. CONGRATULATIONS, Micki!!! We hope to have more about you and from you, maybe some trailers in the months ahead?)

...got the good news STEP BY STEP has made it into another film festival in Chicago called PEACE ON EARTH FILM FESTIVAL...

Micki

From: Nickpeacefilms, Peace on Earth Film Festival

DEAR FILMMAKER, CONGRATULATIONS...

On behalf of the review committee of the 2008 Peace on Earth Film Festival, I am pleased to announce your film has been selected to be a part of our premier festival. Your film is one of the 39 entries selected of a field of 214 submissions. We look forward to the possibility of your attendance, as we will be having filmmaker panel discussions, a Media Gala on Friday evening and a Special Gala to honor all the filmmakers on Saturday...

Clayton Monica, one of our POEFF Directors, and a member of the Review and Selection Committee, will be calling over the next couple of days to congratulate you personally.

Our deepest regard for you, your crew, pre- and post- production people, everyone involved in the creation of your work of art: we hold you all in high esteem. Most importantly the 2008 Peace on Earth Film Festival Committee thanks you for your steadfast dedication to peace, nonviolence, social justice and the art of filmmaking.

NICK

Nick Angotti, Exec Director/ Review-Selection Committee

PEACE ON EARTH FILM FESTIVAL: fostering a new imagination through the art of filmmaking and entertainment--a culture of peace for all humanity.

Micki Dickoff and her JOH film Step by Step

Micki Dickoff is a brilliant filmmaker. This wise and warm woman has dedicated her life and her art - to helping others. Her films on AIDS were among the very first to address that epidemic. While that may seem passe today, one must remember that at one time AIDS was spoken about only in whispers.

Since proving that her friend, Sonia Jacobs had been wrongfully convicted of a crime she absolutely did not commit and thus freeing her from Death Row, Micki has been a tireless advocate for ending the death penalty. Micki brought her friend Sonia to the Indiana Journey of Hope. Micki wanted to do a documentary about ‘Sunny’ and felt the Journey would be the perfect setting to do it. With the film that Micki shot, she was able to produce a documentary for the Journey call “Not in our Name”.

Micki brought a professional film crew to document the 1998 Texas Journey of Hope. With over 100 hours of film taken, Micki began to weave together a masterful film piece, “Step By Step” A Journey of Hope. The film has been shown many times by now.

STEP BY STEP
A Journey of Hope

Synopsis

“If your child was murdered, you’d want the killer executed,” is the argument made by death penalty supporters calculated to stop the debate in its tracks. Step by Step takes viewers on an emotional journey of hope with murder victims’ family members on their 17 day march through the state of Texas trying to change hearts and minds with messages of forgiveness, reconciliation and appropriate alternatives to the death penalty. Their viewpoint, formed out of personal grief and loss, is difficult to dismiss even by the most ardent advocates of execution.

Members of the Journey tell their heart wrenching stories at each stop along the way, in the streets and at rallies, in churches and schools, at vigils and protests outside the death chamber, and in debates with death penalty supporters. The voices of Journey participants compel listeners to reexamine their views about the death penalty at a gut level, faced by people who have suffered the unimaginable and yet believe that killing and vengeance are never the answer. This feature-length documentary provides a provocative look into the heart of the death penalty debate, featuring the stories told by: Bill Pelke, whose grandmother was murdered by a 15-year old girl who became the youngest female on death row; Marietta Jaeger Lane whose seven-year old daughter was kidnapped and murdered; George White who was wrongfully accused of his wife’s murder; SueZann Bosler who was attacked and nearly killed by the man who stabbed her father to death; and, Ron Carlson, whose sister was murdered by Karla Faye Tucker.

The Journey also embraces the families of people on death row and death row survivors who were compelled to become activists: Tina Tafero whose father Jesse was executed for a crime he did not commit; Lois and Ken Robison who tried to get help for their mentally ill son before he killed five people and was executed by the State of Texas; Barbara Lewis whose son is in imminent danger of execution in Delaware; and Randall Dale Adams and Sunny Jacobs, innocent of their crimes, who survived death row to tell their unique stories.

Sister Helen Prejean joins the Journey as spiritual advisor and challenges us to place a greater value on human life than answering killing with more killing. Singer/songwriter Steve Earle, a Texas native, also marches with the Journey as an activist, raising his voice in song that provides an evocative background for the stories being told.

Step by Step: A Journey of Hope takes the death penalty debate to another level, giving us all a different way to look at justice and punishment, forgiveness and retribution and the value of life over death in our search for ways to end the cycle of violence.

A quick note on 9-11

Just a quick note to our readers in the US and around the world about 911 as observed in the US...we at The JOH want to say emphatically that we are about love, reconciliation, non-violent prevention and alternatives to any manner of violence (including by the government) for ALL of humanity. Watch during the coming days for stories and reports that bear this out. One is an announcement about a wonderful award that our own Micki has received for her JOH in Texas film "Step by Step" -- a peace award at that! Watch for more soon...We commend the many groups, people and movements which -- from the first report of the twin towers falling until today-- continue to say: killing in response to killing never works--not for long--not in such a way as to lift up our world and our brothers & sisters across the globe. Add your 9-11 considerations to the Comments and/or send them to us via Connie at newlease7@yahoo.com

Privacy more important than legal ethics?

If you would have to go to court, you would expect the judge to be nonpartisan, impartial and clinical, wouldn't you? And normally, if someone has a sexual affair which is going on for years, this person does have a personal relationship to his partner, doesn't he?

Now if your judge and your proscecutor have an affair, you should get the chance to recuse the judge for bias I would believe... Which on the other hand is a problem if both of them fail to reveal their affair for years. In a case like this, wouldn't you think that you at least deserve a second chance in court?

"A judge and a prosecutor who handled the murder trial of a man sentenced to death here have admitted under oath that they carried on a secret affair for years, lawyers for the condemned man said Tuesday in a letter to Gov. Rick Perry.

On the same day, the highest criminal court in Texas postponed the man’s execution, which had been set for Wednesday evening — not because of the affair, but to reconsider whether the jury instructions were flawed.

In the letter to the governor, lawyers for the inmate, Charles Dean Hood, said the former judge, Verla Sue Holland, and the former prosecutor, Thomas S. O’Connell Jr., testified in depositions given late Monday and Tuesday morning that they had a romantic relationship for years.

“Judge Holland and Mr. O’Connell confirmed that they kept the relationship secret,” Mr. Hood’s lawyer, Gregory W. Wiercioch, wrote to the governor. “She never disclosed it to a single litigant or lawyer who appeared before her, and she never recused herself from hearing a single case because of her affair with the elected district attorney.”

“Similarly, Mr. O’Connell never disclosed the romantic relationship to any of his adversaries nor did he recuse himself or his office from prosecuting a single case because of his affair with Judge Holland,” Mr. Wiercioch added.[...]

For years, rumors had swirled around Collin County, just north of Dallas, about a romantic liaison between Judge Holland, who was a district judge from 1981 to 1997, when she joined the state’s highest court, and Mr. O’Connell, who served as the prosecutor from 1971 until 2002, except for four years in the 1980s.

Hannah Kunkle, the court clerk, said it was impossible to determine how many other cases Mr. O’Connell had prosecuted before Judge Holland.

The affair might have gone unnoticed by history had it not been for the trial of Mr. Hood, who was convicted and sentenced to death for the murder and robbery of a couple in Plano. Mr. O’Connell handled part of the prosecution, while Judge Holland presided.

This June, a former assistant district attorney came forward and signed an affidavit saying the affair was common knowledge in Mr. O’Connell’s office during the time of the trial.

The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals later that month rejected a request to stay the execution based on that information, saying it amounted to hearsay. Mr. Hood’s lawyers sued in civil court to compel Mr. O’Connell and Judge Holland to testify.[...] (NYT, 9/9/08)

"Hood's attorneys said in their letter to the governor that the affair and the failure to inform Hood's lawyers was "a shocking and devastating indictment of the Texas criminal justice system."

Legal ethicists agreed, saying that Holland and O'Connell had a duty to acknowledge the affair before trial, and especially as Hood faced death in June.

"A relationship between a judge and a prosecutor, when a man's life is at stake? I can't understand how anyone could reach the conclusion that there's no bias," said David Zarfes, associate dean of the University of Chicago Law School and a scholar of legal ethics. "It's a no-brainer."

Lawrence Fox, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania Law School and a former chairman of the American Bar Assn.'s ethics panel, said the date that the affair ended was unimportant.

"I don't care when it ended. Because the very nature of a personal relationship like that has such a dramatic effect on people -- positive, negative -- that no litigant should be in a position where they have to worry if the judge will be biased," said Fox, one of 36 legal ethicists who signed a letter to the Texas courts and to Perry saying that such a relationship would be a conflict of interest.

Fox said it was outrageous that Holland and O'Connell had refused to confirm the affair in June, when Hood was facing execution and survived only because of legal fighting.

"This man would be dead," he said. "And these people stood silent."

Supporters of the judge and prosecutor have said that their privacy was an issue.

Fox said too that acknowledgment of the affair likely would lead to challenges by other inmates who were prosecuted by O'Connell in Holland's courtroom.

"They must have handled many cases. And every one of them will be subject to a new trial," Fox said. "Any objective observer would say, 'Oh my God, you can't have that relationship going on.' " (LA Times, 9/10/08)

Introducing the Journey of Hope - Family: GEORGE WHITE

"My personal journey began on February 27, 1985, in the small town of Enterprise, Alabama, when my wife Char was brutally murdered by a masked robber at my place of business.

I too was shot three times and left for dead. I saw my wife lying face down in a pool of blood. I held her in the last moments of her life, I saw her face. I instantly withdraw from the next image that is forevermore seared into my memory. In indescribable agony, I cursed God. For our children, Tom, 12, and Christie, 5, and for myself the nightmare had just begun. Unbelievably, 16 months later, I was charged with the capital murder of my wife. Following a trial that was later characterized as a mockery and a sham. I was convicted of murder of my wife and sentenced to life in prison. Incarcerated for a total of two years, one hundred and three days, I was freed on bond when the conviction was overturned in 1989. I remained in legal limbo for nearly three more years until April, 1992, when the charges against me were dropped after compelling proof of my innocence was uncovered. The nightmare had lasted for more than seven years.

I was broke, unemployed, and probably emotionally bankrupt. Having seen firsthand the insanity and horror of my wife's murder, I was filled with hate for the man that had so brutally taken her life. I could not and cannot conceive of any act so despicable as murder. When people within the justice system failed me, it only served to add to my anger, outrage and bitterness. I wanted him dead. I was caught in a vindictive mindset. Slowly but surely I came to realize the hate was killing me and had no effect on him. I had to find a way to let go of the hatred and start healing. Raised a Christian and deeply troubled by the dark side of my inner struggle, I went to the Bible to find validation for my need for vengeance. After all, didn't it call for an eye for an eye. But I say to you, do not resist anyone who is evil. You have heard it was said, "you shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I say to you. Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your father who is in heaven; for he makes the sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and the unjust."

What I found was a message of redemption and forgiveness. Vengeance and judgment belonged to the same God to whom I had cried out for justice, the same God that in my anger and despair, I had cursed. Was a killing done in the name of justice what I wanted, what I needed? Could I weigh the man who killed my wife and say what he deserved? Was there any man who weigh me and say what I deserved? If there is such a thing as justice could it not be administered only by one who knows the innermost thoughts of the person who is being judged? One who could do that would be wise and with wise and with wisdom comes mercy and forgiveness. There in lies the hope for humanity and the hope for healing.

Justice must take into account an infinite set of circumstances that I as a man cannot begin to understand. I pray to my God, whom I have offended, and beg forgiveness. I cannot be honest with my own life or with myself without realizing that I cannot tell what justice is for someone else, or for me. The more I try, the more responsibility I have to assume; and the more I know that I must cling to mercy as the one thing I am sure must control my own judgment of men; even the man who killed my wife.

I strongly believe that society's laws moot offer relief for a victim's anger and loss and we must be afforded protection from those who have harmed us. Life is sacred and precious, all life. The State, however, does not give life, neither should it take it away. One cannot stop the shedding of blood by causing more blood to be shed. No amount of killing would restore Char to us or take away our loss. What sustained me throughout those years of despair was not hatred; it was love; the love of my children, my family, my friends and the love of GOD.

The path to healing, the journey of hope, transverses many hills and valleys. The way is often torturous. For years I could not get past the last image I had of my wife, that of a murder victim. Today I can look into the faces of our children and smile as I see her reflection. I can choose to remember her as she was, a loving caring person. I know in my heart that her life should be celebrated rather than mourned. What began as a horrible act of violence should not be memorialized by an act of vengeance. Hate is a continuation not an ending. Char loved life. Tom, Christie, and I believe that her love of life should be her legacy. We say to you in a simple, resounding note that not in our name will you kill. Our hearts have bled enough. " (taken from abolition.org)

On February 27, 1985, George and his wife Charlene were shot repeatedly by an armed robber at his place of business in Enterprise, Alabama. George held Charlene in his arms as her life slipped away.

George White is one of the Cofounders of the Journey of Hope, was board member of the Journey of Hope and board member of Murder Victim's Families for Reconciliation for several years. George is the Journey ambassador and is an active speaker against the death penalty.

Justice Matters!: A Rally to Save Troy Davis

Thursday, September 11, 2008, 6-8pm
on the capitol steps Atlanta, GA
Be there!

Time is running out. The prosecutors set Troy's execution date for September 23, 2008. The Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles will conduct a hearing on Troy's clemency petition on September 12.

If we are going to save Troy, the time to act is now! We need everyone who can get to the State Capitol and who cares about Troy Davis' innocence to come out for this rally. We have the power to affect the outcome of this case and to save an innocent man's life! We need to join hands and stand strong in the face of this outrageous injustice. Please be there if you are able. We need you. Troy needs you.



Troy is scheduled to be executed by the state of Georgia on September 23, even though his serious claims of innocence have never been heard in court. You can read more about his case here.

We urgently need to get as many messages as we can to the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles by Thursday, September 11 to stop this travesty of justice.

Take action now! Send a letter to the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles and urge them to commute the death sentence of Troy Davis. Then, forward this action on to your friends!

Forgiveness

Taken from RLP - 7/7/03

Forgiveness is the healing of wounds caused by another. You choose to let go of a past wrong and no longer be hurt by it. Forgiveness is a strong move to make, like turning your shoulders sideways to walk quickly on a crowded sidewalk.

It's your move.

It really doesn't matter if the person who hurt you deserves to be forgiven. Forgiveness is a gift you give yourself. You have things to do and you want to move on.

You can't forget. Forgiving has nothing to do with forgetting. You should remember everything and learn from it. Forgiving is goodness in the middle of remembering.

Above all, forgiveness is a series of choices you make.

You choose not to seek revenge or fantasize about it. You choose not to talk badly about the person who hurt you or wish evil for them.

You choose to let go of your anger and not to feed upon it. Shedding anger takes time and practice, but you choose to move in that direction.

You choose to wish that person well.

If these choices seem impossible to you, you might start by choosing to pray for the person who wronged you. You can pray for someone even if you don't think God exists.

You should be quiet about your forgiveness, except with close friends. If you need to tell the story, you have not arrived. Choose not to tell the story until you no longer want to.

Forgiveness does not always lead to a healed relationship. Some people are not capable of love, and it might be wise to let them go along with your anger. Wish them well, and let them go their way.

Whatever happens, forgiveness is good food for your soul.

Firing squad: Seven minutes to die

The Catholic priest who witnessed the execution of two drug traffickers in Indonesia in June has described how he sang hymns while the men took seven minutes to die.

Father Charlie Burrows was present when firing squads shot the two Nigerians in the middle of the night, in a forest clearing on Nusa Kambangan Island, Central Java.

Samuel Iwachekawu Okoye and Hansen Anthony Nwaoysa (or Antonious) were tied to crosses with their hands behind their backs and hoods over their heads, he told an Australian journalist.

The men prayed and sang hymns with the priest while they were shot, according to the report by Cindy Wockner.

"After they were shot they were hurting," Father Burrows said.

"They were moaning and it takes seven minutes to die, the blood was coming out. So then I tried singing a few hymns when they were dying. So you could say it's torture, shooting people. It's torture.

"It's torture. It's seven minutes to die so the heart is trying to pump the blood to the brain, the brain is still alive and as long as there's blood getting to the brain the brain is not going to die."

The report said the 65 year-old Irish priest, who has worked in Indonesia for 35 years, choked with tears when he recalled the execution and described the noises made by the dying men in those seven minutes.

It said officials and members of the two firing squads "stood stunned and uneasy" while they died.

'Take off my shoes'
Father Burrows said one of the prisoners requested a drink of water, and then asked the priest to take his final possessions for his wife.

"Antonious was thirsty so he asked for a drink of water ... and then for another and the prison guard was probably nervous and said you'll get a pain in your belly from the water and he said: 'The last thing I'm worried about is a pain in my belly, I'm going to be dead in a few minutes'," Father Burrows said.

"He had a handkerchief and a 100,000 Rupiah note and he asked me to take those out of his pocket and give them to his wife.

"Then he said, 'Father, are you still there, would you come forward and take off my shoes'. So I went forward and took off the shoes and he wanted his wife to get the shoes."

taken from the "Asia Death Penalty" Blog

New book: DETOUR TO DEATH ROW

by David Atwood, Founder, Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty

Since 1982, more than 400 executions have taken place in Texas. No other state in the nation executes its citizens like Texas, a state that clearly has a love affair with the death penalty. Detour to Death Row is the story of David Atwood — a retired oil company engineer, committed Christian, student of nonviolence and tireless activist — and his 15-year effort to abolish the death penalty in Texas. It is also the story of the people he met on his journey: men and women on death row, their families, the families of the victims, and fellow death penalty activists across the globe. It is the story of a failed system of retribution and a story of hope that there is a better way of justice.

About the author: David Atwood, a retired oil company engineer, has spent more than 15 years working to abolish the death penalty in Texas. He is the founder of the Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty. David lives in Houston.

Download a free extract of Detour to Death Row.

Some voices about the book:

Advance Praise for Detour to Death Row

"Dave Atwood�s Detour to Death Row is an incredible journey which shows what can happen to a person who allows God to enter his life and lead him on different path. Who would have thought that an engineer working for an oil company would one day be leading the fight to abolish the death penalty in the state which leads the nation in executions? Dave�s story is an inspiration to me, personally, and to anyone who believes in the sanctity of all human life."
Sister Helen Prejean, CSJ, author of Dead Man Walking (Random House, 1993) and The Death of Innocents: An Eyewitness Account of Wrongful Executions (Random House, 2004)
* * * * * * *
"Dave Atwood is a dedicated advocate for human rights who has worked tirelessly against the death penalty for many years. This work is particularly difficult in Texas where officials strongly support capital punishment. Dave�s book is a wonderful description of how he grew into this work and organized efforts in Texas to oppose this inhumane form of punishment. I highly recommend it to anyone who is interested in creating a more civilized society."
Frances (Sissy) Farenthold, Texas legislator, attorney and educator

* * * * * * *
"David Atwood is one of those rare human beings who do their best to be human: never focused on himself, ironic, mild, a believer of human life and human dignity under any circumstance. He walks in the footsteps of Martin Luther King Jr., Dorothy Day and other great American peacemakers to help us discover a humanity without revenge and brutality and to use forgiveness and compassion to heal the wounds of the victims, ourselves and our society. David takes us on a pilgrimage from Hell to Paradise in a small Dante's Comedy, a journey to death row where we hear astonishing stories and meet incredible human beings. Texans — and all of us — must be grateful to this man who never gives up the dream and the hard work of helping a reluctant society reject the old, primitive law of 'an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.'"
Mario Marazziti, spokesperson for the Community of Sant'Egidio and co-founder of the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty

Click here to buy the book.

A very special invitation

You are invited to join us for coffee and a remarkable conversation with two living treasures:

Hank Schwab was 19 and a German Jew when Hitler came to power. He survived Buchenwald concentration camp and made his way to the U.S. He became the Olympian Jesse Owens' business partner and a civil rights activist.

John Boyle was 19 and a sergeant in the U.S. Army when he helped liberate the concentration camp at Dachau in 1945. He became a Presbyterian minister.

For the first time, these men --Holocaust survivor and liberator-- speak together publicly about the experiences that shaped their lives and our history.

Sunday, September 21
2:00 p.m.
at the home of
Jeanne Bishop and Russell Gloyd
832 Cherry Street
Winnetka, IL 60093

R.S.V.P. to 847-446-2240jeanneebishop@ aol.com

An event to benefit Murder Victims Families for Human Rights (www.mvfhr.org), an organization of murder victims families who oppose the death penalty. Voluntary tax-deductible donations in any amount to support the work of MVFHR will be accepted.

Troy Davis scheduled to be executed September 23.

Justice matters, stop the imminent execution of Troy Davis!

Troy Davis is scheduled to be executed by the state of Georgia on September 23, even though his serious claims of innocence have never been heard in court.

Take action right now to stop this execution!

Troy Davis was convicted of murder solely on the basis of witness testimony, and seven of the nine non-police witnesses have since recanted or changed their testimony, several citing police coercion. Others have signed affidavits implicating one of the remaining two witnesses as the actual killer. But due to an increasingly restrictive appeals process, none of this new evidence has ever been heard in court.

Take action and then forward this action to ten friends!

On July 16, 2007, the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles stayed Troy Davis' execution, stating that it would "not allow an execution to proceed in this State unless and until its members are convinced that there is no doubt as to the guilt of the accused" (emphasis added). The failure of courts to hear the compelling evidence of innocence in this case means that massive doubts about Troy Davis' guilt will remain unresolved.

Urge the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles to be true to its words and prevent this execution from proceeding!

In solidarity,

Sue Gunawardena- Vaughn
Director, Death Penalty Abolition Campaign
Amnesty International USA

Take action for Troy Davis. Just go to the LINKS on the right and there are probably several with good links but the easiest may be NCADP Go there and see ACT NOW!
Greg Wright's state killing was just stayed! But you will find TROY DAVIS ACT NOW! and several others. Thanks for doing this!

Update late evening:

News just came that today the Board of Pardons and Paroles granted Troy Davis a new hearing.

The board held a lengthy hearing on the Davis case last summer. Board members said they want to know more about witnesses who have recanted the testimony they gave at trial about the 1989 murder of the off-duty policeman.

Davis’ claims to innocence became known worldwide, and even garnered a request from Pope Benedict XVI that Davis be given a life sentence with no parole, as opposed to a death sentence.

The struggle is not over yet though! Pls. keep writing to the Board urging them to stop the execution

Bohemian Rhapsody

Bohemian Rhapsody - is there anyone who doesn't know this song?

Bohemian Rhapsody, a song which was recorded not only in one studio but in five; a song which was so difficult to record that it took three weeks just for rehearsal; a song which is so difficult to play that even Queen themselves mostly didn't play it completely when being on stage; a song which is so long that nobody (apart from Freddie Mercury himself) believed that it would ever get played on the radio and nevertheless was number one in just about all the charts of this world for weeks; a song which changed the face of popular music with a groundbreaking video and a song which is already more than 30 years old and still everybody knows it.

But have you ever really listened to the song? Do you know the lyrics? Do you know what it's telling us about?

I invite you to play this video and listen to the song. Close your eyes and let the song lead your phantasy and your thoughts....



What did you see? How did you feel? What does it make you think?

This song is a piece of art and as all other pieces of art it's designed to "play" with our mind, to let us discover a new, hidden piece of ourselves. What did you discover?

Queen themselves never revealed what they wanted to say with the song, in fact Freddie Mercury himself disliked analyzing his own material, and preferred listeners to construct their own interpretations. And this is exactly what I invite you to do.

Well, there was one interpretation from Queen, published in a leaflet in Persian but I don't want to spoil your phantasy with this. If you're really curious then look it up in the Wikipedia

Amen Choir at the DNC

Dr.Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite, Professor of Theology at Chicago Theological Seminary, reflects well the experience of so many after hearing Sister Helen Prejean's "sermon" at the DNC (or anywhere for that matter)

...I think nearly everyone who attended this DNC interfaith gathering would agree that it was Sister Helen Prejean, a Catholic nun and the well-known author of Dead Man Walking: An Eyewitness Account of the Death Penalty in the United States, who really preached. Her assigned topic was "Our Sacred Responsibility to Our Nation" and the Sister didn't waste time on interfaith niceties. Instead, she asked, "What do we see by the dawn's early light?" We see the death penalty, she said, applied in a racist, classist fashion to those who are the most vulnerable. And it doesn't make us any safer.

Sister Helen didn't really shout, but you could have heard a pin drop in the large theater when she leaned over the podium and said that what the death penalty reveals about the soul of America is that we have come to believe that violence can solve all our problems. Hence we torture, we make war and we steadily become less safe.

If we actually taught peace instead of war, she argued, and chose negotiation over bombing, and quit executing people in prison "death houses," then, "When we go to China and lecture them about human rights, we could hold our heads up." She was interrupted at that point and several other times in her address by sustained applause.

When she finished, she received a standing ovation that went on and on. As the clapping died down, the middle aged white man in the plaid shirt and string tie sitting next to me said quietly, almost to himself, "That's what I came to hear."

Me, too.

Please follow the link to read the overwelming speach "OUR SACRED RESPONSIBILITY TO OUR NATION" by Sister Helen



God of Compassion
You let your rain fall on the just and the unjust.
Expand and deepen our hearts
so that we may love as You love,
even those among us
who have caused the greatest pain by taking life.
For there is in our land a great cry for vengeance
as we fill up death row and kill the killers
in the name of justice, in the name of peace.
Jesus, our brother,
you suffered execution at the hands of the state
but you did not let hatred overcome you
Help us to reach out to victims of violence
so that our enduring love may help them heal.
Holy Spirit of God,
You strengthen us in the struggle for justice,
Help us to work tirelessly
for the abolition of state-sanctioned death
and to renew our society in its very heart
so that violence will be no more.
Amen.

I dream a world...

About 45 years ago, on August, 28th 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King gave his famous "I have a dream" speach in Washington. Does this speach still have any meaning to us? Is there anything we can still learn from it? Or is it just part of history?


The Religious Organizing Against the Death Penalty Project was created to galvanize and empower the religious community in the United States to work against capital punishment. Coordinated by the American Friends Service Committee's criminal justice program, the Project provides people of faith with the tools and resources they need to become effective advocates for abolition.

"Having lost my father and grandmother to gun violence, I will understand the deep hurt and anger felt by the loved ones of those who have been murdered. Yet I can't accept the judgement that their killers deserve to be executed. This merely perpetuates the tragic, unending cycle of violence that destroys our hope for a decent society."
-Rev. Bernice King

Martin Luther King and the Death Penalty Movement

Most of the world has abolished the immoral and barbaric practice of the death penalty. Yet the United States continues to condemn men and women to death. Nearly all of the people this country executes are poor and/or people of color, and many of them suffer from mental retardation or mental illness.

The use of capital punishment is an example of how we as a nation continue to try to solve social justice issues with use of violence. The religious community has a responsibility to raise the issue of the immorality of the death penalty.

The death penalty is a microcosm of the problems we have with violence in general.

I Dream a World

The Religious Organizing Against the Death Penalty Project is pleased to announce the creation of the I Dream A World campaign. The campaign will focus on how we as a society can envision and create a world based on finding solutions to the problems of violence that don't resort to perpetuation the cycle of violence. One of the greatest models we have for envisioning a different kind of world is provided by the civil rights movement and the example of Dr. Martin Luther King.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. rejected the violence of the death penalty as have many of his family members. As a way to build on his legacy, the Religious Organizing Against the Death Penalty Project will launch the I Dream A World campaign on the January 2002 holiday.

Faith-based Communities

Many religious leaders such as Rev. Bernice King, Rev. James Lawson, Sister Helen Prejean, Arun Gandhi, Rabbi David Sapperstein and Rabbi Beerman called for an end to the death penalty. With voices such as these, ROADP will produce public service announcements to be aired starting with the January 2002 King holiday.

- As a part of the I Dream a World campaign, we are calling on other religious leaders to educate your congregations about the immorality of the death penalty by preaching sermons.

- Sending cards to government officials calling for an end ot capital punishment is another way to be involved.

- We ask people to reach out to correspond and/or visit those on death row.

- We must also remember to provide support to victims of violence.

Youth and Students

- As a part of the I Dream A World campaign, elementary children will be encouraged to submit drawings.

- Junior and senior high school youth will be encouraged to write essays focusing on how Dr. King would be involved in addressing the issue of the death penalty if he were alive today.

- In addition, the essays and drawings will be compiled in booklets that can be delivered to legislators and other key officials to demonstrate the concerns and wishes of youth.

- Youth will be encouraged to think about individuals in their communities who inspire them to create a different world. We will develop a photo project where youth will be photographed with the person that inspires them, with information about why.

- Drawings and essays will be displayed in churches and other public settings.

- We will create a space for people to write collaborative online letters that envision the world people would like to create.

Please also sign the I Dream a World Petition to End the Death Penalty!

In memory of Rachel

Do Not Stand at My Grave and Weep
by Mary Elizabeth Frye

Do not stand at my grave and weep,
I am not there, I do not sleep.

I am a thousand winds that blow.
I am the diamond glint on snow.
I am the sunlight on ripened grain.
I am the gentle autumn rain.

When you wake in the morning hush,
I am the swift, uplifting rush
Of quiet birds in circling flight.
I am the soft starlight at night.

Do not stand at my grave and weep.
I am not there, I do not sleep.
(Do not stand at my grave and cry.
I am not there, I did not die!)

Rachel King (RIP)1963 - 2008

Rachel King wrote about me several times. It is way past time for me to write something about her.

Rachel’s family has requested contributions to the The National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, in lieu of flowers in her memory.

Rachel helped the abolition movement in many ways. Most people have no idea of the extent. To really know and understand Rachel, you need to read her works. It would honor her if you to took the time to read what she wrote. You would see first hand her contribution to the movement.

I got to know Rachel pretty well when she was writing her first, and I think greatest book, Don’t Kill in Our Names: Families of Murder Victims Speak Out Against the Death Penalty. Check out any of these links to know Rachel and her work better:
Preview
Quotes
Family photo album
Review
Purchase

Her next major work was Capital Consequences: Families of the Condemned Tell Their Stories. Check out any of these links to know Rachel better.
About the book
Purchase

Another very important piece by Rachel was NOT IN OUR NAME: Murder Victims Families Speak out Against the Death Penalty. It was a project of Barb Hood and Rachel’s during her stint as the inaugural Director of Alaska Against the Death Penalty...The first printing was in 1997 and has since been updated and reprinted at least 4 times. Barb and Rachel began their project with pictures and interviews that were taken during the Virginia of Hope in 1996.

Rachel used the message of Murder Victim’s Families for Reconciliation as the introduction for their work in photos and personal stories. Her message for this book was MVFR’s message:

“In the aftermath of a murder, we often hear cries for the death penalty. For centuries, killing people to punish them for killing has been a part of our culture. But in recent decades, the justifications that have long sustained the death penalty in the public mind have been largely discredited. For example, studies now show that the death penalty does not deter violent crime, and instead may provoke it; that executions are much more costly than life imprisonment, not less costly; and that police find the death penalty among the least effective crime-fighting measures that many politicians and prosecutors would have us believe.

As reasons for supporting the death penalty grow thin under scrutiny, proponents often fall back on the old stand-by question: Well, what if someone in your family was murdered? Wouldn’t you want their murderer to die? This is meant to disarm us. “Of course,” we are expected to say. After all, our culture has long supported killing for killing. But as people who have experienced first-hand the effects of murder, we are here to say,

“NO—NOT IN OUR NAME.”

We are members of Murder Victims Families for Reconciliation, a national organization of family members who have lost relatives to murder to execution by the State. We oppose the death penalty in all cases, and work instead for alternatives to the death penalty. We promote policies that prevent violent crime and programs that help victims heal and rebuild their lives. We know too well the horrible effects of killing, and how important it is that the cycle of killing in this country be broken. We can’t stop all violence, but we can work to stop the violence carried out by a government that kills in our names.

Murder Victims Families for Reconciliation was founded in 1976 by Marie Deans of Richmond , Virginia , after the murder of her mother-in-law Penny. Since that time the organization has become a leader in the abolition movement, both nationally and internationally. Since 1993, MVFR’s “Journey of Hope…from Violence to Healing” tours have helped spread the message to communities across the U.S. that executions are terrible memorials to people we love.”

If you read the Interview with Rachel on history of NOT IN OUR NAME you really begin to understand her.

Again, Rachel’s family requested that contributions be made to The National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty in lieu of flowers. The NCADP is the leading organization in this country solely dedicated to the abolition of the death penalty. It is an organization that is worth your investment. Rachel invested in this organization and I know she would want you to do likewise.

Rachel King and I were both elected to the NCADP board in 1996. Rachel and I have both had the privilege of serving as past chairpersons on that board. I know she believed strongly in the NCADP and in Executive Director and friend Diann Rust-Tierney. An investment to the NCADP will go far in helping abolish the death penalty.

Rachel contributed the royalties from Don’t Kill in Our Names: Families of Murder Victims Speak Out Against the Death Penalty to support the Journey of Hope … from Violence to Healing and Murder Victim’s Families for Human Rights. As a founding & present, board member of both of those organizations I can say we owe a debt of gratitude to Rachel. She also supported and promoted these additional organizations.

The Journey of Hope blog has been memorializing Rachel King since her death on Monday. I invite you to check out what others have said in her memory.

We have listed many personal comments as well as blog posting of MVFHR, ACLU, NCADP and others. Read how Marshall Dayan, Jack Payden-Travers, Ron Carlson, Phyllis Pautrat, Renny Cushing, Diann Rust-Tierney and others are remembering and honoring Rachel during this time.

The Journey of Hope blog would love for you to add your words of honor in her memory.

I will also be adding some additional posts during the next few days sharing my thoughts and feelings about Rachel. I will share some special moments like the time in 1996 when she shaved her head to join Sam Reese Sheppard in solidarity and fun. This was years before she lost her hair the second time, this time due to chemo.

There is a story about how Don’t Kill in Our Names, caused Common Courage Press to back out of their agreement to publish my book Journey of Hope … from Violence to Healing in early 2003. In spite of that Rachel and I were still able to travel together for an Alaskan book tour sponsored by Alaskans Against the Death Penalty in 2004. We promoted our books and each other.

Rachel kept a journal on her illness and her friends were updated by Journal reports sent out from time to time. I will share some of her thoughts of experiences she encountered as she courageously fought for life. She was a great battler. We can all learn from her. She is a heroine.

She was an angel sent from God.

Young people in the movement have someone to look up and to emulate. Who can fill her giant footprints? Maybe Rachel Lawler, maybe Ashley Kincaid, maybe Will McAuliffe, or maybe you.

With this small glimpse of her life I hope you got to know Rachel King a little better. Show honor by reading her words and spreading them. Show honor to her by supporting her causes.

Her stories and her causes will help bring abolition of the death penalty. It is up to us how long that will take.

Peace,
Bill Pelke

Page for Favorite Rachel King Quotes

This first part is simply an introduction to further quotes from various and sundry places, including personal conversations...

From her great book "Don't Kill in Our Names"

Intro:
Since 1973, King says, 200 death sentences have been handed down to juvenile offenders, at least half of which were in Texas, Florida, and Alabama. She goes on to say that minorities, another vulnerable group, made up two-thirds of the juveniles sentenced to death.

In addition, says King, since 1990, only five countries besides the United States have made it a practice to execute juvenile offenders-Iran, Pakistan, Yemen, Nigeria, and Saudi Arabia. This, she says, puts the United States "in the company of some of the world's most notorious human rights violators."

...King discusses wrongful conviction. She points out that as of 2001, 98 people from 22 states had been released from death row after they were able to establish their innocence through DNA or other evidence. And while death penalty proponents say this proves the criminal justice system does work, King argues that it was not the system that exonerated these prisoners, but rather family members, filmmakers, and journalists. "Most death row inmates are not fortunate enough to have this type of extra-legal help," she says. "One can only speculate on the number of innocent people who have been executed."

As with juvenile offenders, a vast majority of adult death row inmates are from minorities. King quotes the following statistics: 11 of the 13 prisoners executed in Alabama from 1976 to 1997 were African-American; at least 50 percent of inmates on death row in North Carolina, Ohio, Delaware, Mississippi, and Virginia are African-American; more than three out of four persons on death row in military prisons are people of color; and 60 percent of prisoners on death row in California and Texas are either black, Latino, Asian, or Native American.

In the final unit of her book, King addresses one solution for this problem. Restorative justice, King says, is a problem-solving approach to crime that involves the community, the victims' families, and even the offenders' families. King says restorative justice is based on the assumption that crime "originates in social conditions and relationships in the community and that effective crime prevention depends on communities taking some responsibility for remedying the conditions that cause crime."

...King concludes by turning the spotlight on herself, admitting that she has struggled with the idea of forgiveness. After writing her book, however, she has looked to the inspiration of these families' stories to deal with life's daily injustices.

"Each person in this book faced a situation of unbelievable grief, and all not only survived but used it to improve their lives or the lives of people around them," she says. "Perhaps the enduring lesson is that love and forgiveness are more powerful than any amount of hate and revenge."

NCADP Tribute to Rachel King: 1963 - 2008

It is with sadness that we report the passing of our friend and colleague Rachel King, who died on August 25, 2008 after a long and valiant struggle with cancer.

Rachel was first a daughter, friend, wife and step-mother, but her personal and professional lives merged in her advocacy and efforts to make our world a better place. She did so in volunteer and staff capacities with various organizations, including Alaskans Against the Death Penalty, the ACLU Capital Punishment Project and the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, where she served on the board of directors and as its chairperson. Rachel is the author of three books, two of which explore capital punishment from the perspective of the families who suffer the most as a result of the death penalty system.

Read more about Rachel’s history of successful advocacy here and here.

Rachel passed away in Wayne, Maine, where she was raised and later she and her husband, Richard McAlee, built a home together. Her last moments were spent surrounded by family and friends. Those who wish may reach the family by email through her step-daughter Lauren, or by mail through her mother Jill Howes at 282 Narrows Pond Rd., Winthrop, ME 04364. Rachel's family asks those wishing to send a memorial to send donations to the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty in lieu of flowers.

ACLU Tribute to Rachel King

Posted by Jack Payden-Travers, Capital Punishment Project, ACLU at 11:54 am August 27, 2008

In Memory of Rachel King: July 2, 1963 – August 25, 2008

It is with sadness that we report the passing of Rachel King. Rachel was the former State Strategies Coordinator and later the Director of the ACLU Capital Punishment Project.

Rachel passed away in Wayne, Maine, where she was raised and later she and her husband, Richard McAlee, built a vacation home. Her last moments were spent surrounded by family and friends.

Although Rachel was a staunch abolitionist, her career took her in many directions, always where she could be of service to her fellow person. At the time of her death Rachel was on the staff of the U.S. House Committee of the Judiciary where she covered issues of crime, terrorism and homeland security. Rachel also taught at the Howard University School of Law.

Her service to the ACLU was not solely in the Capital Punishment Project. In fact, she served as Legislative Counsel for the ACLU’s Washington Legislative Office and Executive Director of the ACLU of Alaska. Rachel’s dedication to the cause of death penalty abolition could be seen in not only her ACLU work but she was also the Director of Alaskans Against the Death Penalty and Chair of the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty.

Rachel’s public service career started early. Prior to law school she was a human rights monitor in Guatemala with the Sanctuary Movement. An internship during her studies at Northeastern Law School took her to Alaska and upon receiving her Juris Doctor degree she returned to work as counsel for the Alaska Public Defender Agency. She earned a Masters from Temple University School of Law.

She wrote and lectured tirelessly to abolish capital punishment. Her first book, Don’t Kill In Our Names: Families Of Murder Victims Speak Out Against the Death Penalty was published in 2003. The book told the stories of family members of murder victims who believed that revenge through the death penalty was not the way to honor their loved ones. In 2005, Rachel authored one of the first investigations on the experiences of the families of the executed, Capital Consequences: Families of the Condemned Tell Their Stories.

While teaching us all how to live a full life with cancer she wrote her first novel, Tales Of The District: Life In The Nation’s Capital In A Time Of Terror, which was published in late 2007.

Rachel was also the primary author of Broken Justice: The Death Penalty in Virginia (2003), Broken Justice: The Death Penalty in Alabama (2005), Not in Our Name (1997), and The Forgotten Population: A Look at Death Row in the United States Through the Experiences of Women (2004) and many similar publications for organizations such as the ACLU, the American Friends Service Committee and Murder Victims Families for Reconciliation.

Those of us who were privileged to work with Rachel know that she rarely took credit for her endeavors, was patient with those who failed to keep up with her pace, and was an excellent colleague as well as a good friend.

It is typical of Rachel that in lieu of flowers she asked that those wishing to send a memorial please make a donation to the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty. She may be gone but her spirit lives on in all those who continue to advance her work of abolition of the death penalty and social justice. As they say in Guatemala on the passing of a friend, Rachel King, Presenté!

Ron Carlson--Tribute to Rachel King and Recent Article

“We as a society should not be involved in the practice of killing people.”
Ronald W. Carlson Journey Participant: Indiana and Texas

I met Rachel while she was working on "Don't Kill In Our Name: Families of Murder Victims Speak Out Against the Death Penalty" as she spent some time in my home talking to me about my experiences. I recall her zealous attitude and a sparkle in her eye. Her work was important as it has helped to open eyes to the reality that not everyone is for the death penalty. She was a very courageous individual and will be missed by many. Rest In Peace Rachel.
Ronald W. Carlson



Just out yesterday, August 26, 2008 at Death Penalty Information Center--
NEW VOICES: Victim's Brother Says Execution left him with "horror and emptiness"

Ronald Carlson wanted vengeance when his sister was murdered in 1983 in Texas. But when he witnessed the execution in 1998 of the person who committed the murder he changed his mind. In a recent op-ed in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Carlson said he had no opinion on capital punishment before his sister’s death and remembers feeling hatred and “would have killed those responsible with my own hands if given the opportunity.” But he later discovered that, “Watching the execution left me with horror and emptiness, confirming what I had already come to realize: Capital punishment only continues the violence that has a powerful, corrosive effect on society.”

Carlson said he sympathizes with other victims’ families, understanding how they would want to see those who killed their love ones suffer the same fate. But, he said, “[O]ur justice system should not be dictated by vengeance.” He asked, “As a society, shouldn’t we be more civilized than the murderers we condemn?” Carlson has spent over half of his life examining this issue and has come to believe, “We as a society should not be involved in the practice of killing people.”
(R. Carlson, “Time to end the death penalty’s cycle of violence,” Ft. Worth Star-Telegram, August 3, 2008).

Keep watching New Voices and Victims at Death Penalty Information Center

Ronald W. Carlson is the brother of Deborah Thornton, victim of Karla Faye Tucker. There is more information on his tragic experience and courageous stand at Journey of Hope website and also on You Tube. Please see these--I think you will be inspired at how much Ron had to forgive and how his faith helped him. In brief:

"The world is not a better place because the State of Texas executed Karla Faye Tucker. Even though Karla murdered my only sibling -- my sister, Deborah, who had raised me after our mother died -- I stood with her as one of her witnesses when she was executed. I was there to stand up for the Lord, for the strength of his love. Karla and I had both done a lot of wrong in our lives. We had both turned to drugs to heal our pain; we had both hurt a lot of people. But the love of Jesus Christ transformed us. We were able to forgive ourselves and each other. "I love you Ronnie," was one of the last things Karla said. I still carry that love with me".

Ron says that the hardest thing he ever had to do was to forgive Karla Faye Tucker and that she became the strongest believer he ever met. Ron was convinced that if there's anyone in heaven -- it would be her.

Thank you so much, Ron, for your tribute to Rachel and your recent Op Ed! Let us know of any future items you'd like to see on this blog...

For Victims, Against the Death Penalty--In Memoriam: Rachel King

For Victims, Against the Death Penalty

The web log of Murder Victims' Families for Human Rights
Tuesday, August 26, 2008

In Memoriam: Rachel King
We are sad to announce that long-time anti-death penalty activist Rachel King died yesterday after a long battle with cancer. Rachel died far too young but accomplished a great deal in her lifetime. As acting director of Alaskans Against the Death Penalty, Rachel helped to defeat a death penalty reinstatement bill in 1994. As part of that effort, Rachel and her colleague Barbara Hood had invited Marietta Jaeger, whose 7-year-old daughter had been murdered years before, to speak to Alaskan lawmakers about her opposition to the death penalty. Many of those lawmakers later said that listening to Marietta convinced them to change their minds and vote against the death penalty.

Recognizing the power of victims' voices against the death penalty, Rachel and Barbara collaborated to produce the first edition of Not in Our Name: Murder Victims' Families Speak Out Against the Death Penalty, and Rachel subsequently wrote and published the book Don't Kill in Our Names and its companion volume Capital Consequences: Families of the Condemned Tell Their Stories, which was one of the first investigations into the experience of families of the executed.

Rachel worked as a lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union, lobbying on many criminal justice issues including the death penalty, served as chair of the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, and taught law school classes. When she attended Murder Victims' Families for Human Rights' founding ceremony on December 10, 2004, Rachel offered these public remarks:

I first learned about the power of murder victims to talk about this issue when I was working in Alaska back in 1994. The leader of the Senate had a bill to introduce the death penalty. He had the votes to pass it, and it looked like it was a foregone conclusion that Alaska, like a lot of other states, was going to have the death penalty. And then we brought some murder victims' families to Alaska. We brought Marietta Jaeger, whose 7-year-old daughter Susie had been kidnapped and murdered, and she changed people’s hearts and minds. Legislators told us later that she had changed their position on this issue. I’m proud to say that Alaska does not have the death penalty. We fought it back that year, we fought it back two years after that. We kept bringing back the murder victims' family members, and even got one of them, Bill Pelke, to move up there, and now they just don’t have a prayer of bringing the death penalty back. The momentum has totally shifted.

I’m personally interested in Murder Victims' Families for Human Rights because before I went to law school I was a human rights monitor in Guatemala, and I have a lot of feeling for that country and for the people there who suffered greatly. I got involved in going to Guatemala when I met people in the Sanctuary movement here in the U.S. who were fleeing from political persecution in Guatemala. When I was in Guatemala I worked with a woman named Annette de Garcia who had started a group for families and friends of the disappeared. One time I was in her home watching, guarding, her 4-year-old daughter, and I was looking through this closet, and there were volumes of books, literally dozens of them, and they were all photographs of family members who had been disappeared. Now this is another kind of death penalty; it’s not the kind we think about in the U.S. but it’s state-sponsored execution. Really it’s the same issue of the state sponsoring violence, and how we need to move away from that. There really isn’t any other group out there making that kind of linkage between the issues, and I think MVFHR is going to do it. So the ACLU really looks forward to working with you all and I’m really glad to be here.

We remain grateful for all of Rachel's work on behalf of a better world. Our thoughts are with her family and friends.

Renny Cushing, Executive Director
Murder Victims' Families for Human Rights

Rachel King: Large Footsteps Indeed

Dear all,

We surely lost a beloved friend and fearless fighter for justice. Now, I'd like to share a few anecdotes about my friend:

The strong-willed friend:

Rachel was living in Philly when the Virginia Journey of Hope in the mid-nineties took place. (She and I had become friends, after being introduced at one of the first Fast & Vigils at the Supreme Court while she still lived in Alaska). She was just starting her "Don't Kill for Me" project, interviewing and photographing family members of murder victims. We decided to drive down together, and I'd drive my car. Rachel grew up in Maine and lived in Alaska. I'm from South Jersey. The cold didn't bother Rachel. I couldn't stand it. October for me is deep freeze. We "argued" the whole way down about my freezing and her complaining about the heat on in the car. She won almost the entire route, switching off the heat. I was a city person and afraid of spiders. We walked in the dark to the cabin in the woods. She wouldn't let me use the flashlight to check for spiders because it might "bother others". She said I should basically get over it. Of course I ended up not using the flashlight.

The early to bed friend:

She went to sleep early. I like to stay up late. One night we were out with visiting friends in Philly and she invited me to stay at her place in the city instead of driving back to NJ. I wasn't ready to go back to her apartment. She wanted to go to sleep. She said she'd leave the key. She did. She also had turned all the lights out, left me a thin blanket and a thermostat probably set on 45 degrees. I was "afraid" to wake her so I froze all night. That happened a few times... at her apartment in DC too.

The independent-minded friend:

We were traveling with one of the "Journeys of Hope". Rachel watched Sam Shepard shave his head. She thought that was cool. Next thing you know... Rachel had her head shaved to match Sam.

The proud friend:

After her first bouts with chemo, I met Rachel at the NCADP annual conference. We always tried to manage to either sneak away from the conference for lunch, or to sit together at the Saturday night banquet. Rachel and I planned to meet before the banquet so we'd get a seat together. She showed up dressed in the most stunning outfit, once again head bald... no scarf for her. She was beautiful that night, more beautiful maybe than ever.

The forgiving friend:

Over the past few years, I didn't get a chance to see Rachel very often. So many of us allow work to consume our time, and we think our friends will be there with us forever. I emailed and called her, and told her over and over what a lousy friend I was, because I should have been around more when she got ill. She would have none of that. She was forgiving and told me to get rid of the guilt.

Some folks wonder how you could care so much for a friend you saw so little. I've tried to explain how in the abolition/human rights movement, we more often than not, call each other family, because it just feels that way, more than a friendship. We work on tough issues, and develop strong personalities when arguing for justice. But there are some folks, Rachel for sure, that truly have and had become family over the years. We don't have to see each other regularly. Often not more than once each year. We squabble like family members do, sometimes over the issues, sometimes over thermostats in an apartment you only visit on lucky occasions when you get together away from the crowds, and get some time on the road away from jobs, etc. Only those who have experienced those bonds truly know what they mean.

So many of you know. I've seen that in just the past week or hours, in what and how you've written about Rachel.

Rachel will always be part of my human rights family. I wish we had more time. I will miss my friend always. And in the meantime hold you all dear, all the more because I know what I and we just lost. Rachel can rest now. I'll work harder because of her. Large footsteps indeed.

Peace,
Phyl

The Life, Light and Leadership of Rachel King: 1963 - 2008

Bill with Rachel -- 2003 Journey of Hope in Ohio

ONE ONGOING TRIBUTE, a collection of gratitude and remembrances from those who love and have loved Rachel in person and/or through her work. Here's to Rachel's Beautiful Energy and plain hard work that will help sustain us all on the difficult path ahead--expandable space ...

First--a beautiful statement of grief and gratitude from Marshall Dyan, who, as Rachel's longtime friend and colleague in so many ways, has been hit especially hard. Bless you, Marshall! We love you and are holding you in our hearts and in the One Light during this cloudy, shocking time. You speak for many of us. Thank you!

From Marshall:
I want to share remembrances of Rachel, because this loss is a really, really hard one. I first got to know Rachel when she was living and working in Alaska. I met her at a NCADP annual conference. She was wearing the now infamous "Fry Fish, Not People" t-shirt of the Alaskans Against the Death Penalty that has become synonymous with the movement in Alaska. She was smart, and pretty, and funny, with a great smile. She and I served together on the board of the NCADP, and she ultimately became a Chair of that board. We continued to work together while she was at Temple Law School, and also while she was with the ACLU-Capital Punishment Project in D.C.-- Where she found the time to write is beyond me. She worked all the time, and yet made time to write two books. When I succeeded her at the Capital Punishment Project after it relocated to Durham, NC, wherever I went across the country, as I visited state ACLU affiliates, I found that Rachel had already left huge footprints. Indeed, that is a hallmark of her life generally -- she left huge footprints. We should redouble our efforts to ensure that her life's work, abolition of the death penalty, comes to pass, and soon. May the memory of her life and work be a blessing to all. -Marshall Dayan

I go now to light incense and chant for my dear friend Rachel. May all beings fully awaken to their true nature. -Kobutsu

That we are all weeping together in the movement that she helped build and articulate better than most anyone else is appropriate. What an incomparable loss. -Jennifer Bishop Jenkins

Thanks for this very sad news, Bill. Please keep us posted, especially on DC services for Rachel. She will be deeply, deeply missed! love, Stephanie (former Journey of Hope board member, Stephanie Gibson.)

Dear Bill Pelke, Many regards from Holland, Wim Petersen from the city of Delden, member of ACAT Nederland. We will light a candle in our chapel for the late Rachel King. May she rest in peace. -Wim Petersen

Bill,
Thanks for posting that note about Rachel. I was so sorry to hear that she passed away. She was a dedicated abolitionist and good friend to so many.
All the best, Ari (Ari Kohen)

I am at a loss for words. What a remarkable woman.
Rest in peace, Rachel, and thank you for your extraordinary contribution to humanity. -Celeste Fitzgerald

My heart is saddened by the passing of Rachel King. Although I didn’t know her well, I cherish the times I spent with her and will always be inspired about her work. I talked to her a lot when she was writing her book where she included Sunny’s story and my role in helping free her. She will be missed on a personal level and in the abolition movement. -Micki Dickoff


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Other Tributes? Keep them coming and we will post--and/or send as a comment which we can then add to the others as we have a chance. Perhaps,send your items and photos to BOTH Bill Pelke bpelke@gci.net and Connie Nash, newlease7@yahoo.com so we can help make sure this blog is a kind of continuous vigil for 24 hours and beyond...

This Tribute is open-ended and we will also be updating with additions during days ahead...

Rachel King Quote

Rachel King in a relaxed stance a few years ago.

"I have worked within the criminal justice system throughout my legal career and have seen the many ways that it is unfair. The death penalty represents the worst aspects of the criminal justice system. Instead of punishing the people who commit the worst crimes, the death penalty is used against people who are the most vulnerable – the poor, mentally retarded, mentally ill, youths and people of color. Our society has tried to administer the system “fairly” and that experiment has failed. Ending the death penalty will mark an evolutionary change when we acknowledge that government sponsored killing is not the answer to violence. I want to be part of bringing about this change." Rachel King

And Rachel, you certainly have been a strong and beautiful part of this change!

Watch for a Tribute Page sometime soon...add yours and any other photos you love of Rachel...please send these to both Bill Pelke bpelke@gci.net and Connie Nash newlease7@yahoo.com so that we will be sure not to miss these.