Journey of Hope Board Member -- Rais Bhuiyan -- Now Speaking to Students

By KATHLEEN MEGAN, kmegan@courant.com

The Hartford Courant10:33 p.m. EST, January 6, 2012 GLASTONBURY

Annie Renaud had a very important question for Rais Bhuiyan during a fourth-period class Friday at Glastonbury High School."Do you think there is any crime that is unforgivable?" Annie, a freshman, asked."Well —" Bhuiyan responded, pausing. "On a regular basis, we ask God, 'Please forgive me.' Why you cannot pass it to others? …There is nothing you can't forgive, if I can forgive my attacker who tried to end my life. It's just a matter of practice."

See Full Story here

Forgiveness key in group’s fight against death penalty

by Brian Anderson
banderson@annistonstar.com Anniston Star
Jan 20, 2012 JACKSONVILLE — There are some images that Bill Pelke can’t erase from his memory.

For years the picture in his head that haunted him was of his beloved “Nana,” Ruth Elizabeth Pelke, a woman who taught Bible classes to local children in her hometown of Gary, Ind. In 1985 she was stabbed 33 times by a group of local teenagers who stole 10 dollars from the 78-year-old woman and let her bleed to death on her living room floor.

It was the image in his head when he sat through the trial of Paula Cooper, the 15-year-old female who ended his grandmother’s life.

“I remember when they asked me how I felt,” Pelke said Thursday at Jacksonville State University, recalling learning that Cooper was to receive the death penalty. “I said, ‘the judge did what he felt he had to do, but it won’t bring my Nana back.’”

Pelke, 64, was the first of three speakers during an anti-death penalty forum called “A Journey of Hope,” sponsored by the campus Ethics Club. More than 30 people at Houston Cole Library listened to Pelke, Callie Greer, and a representative of the Birmingham-based Justice and Mercy group, Brandon Fountain, all present their stance against the death penalty. The event doubled as the first meeting of the semester for the club.

“We’re all about dialogue,” said Scott Beckett, the faculty adviser for the Ethics Club. “Because we’re human, everybody here already has made up their mind, but we’re about dialogue.”

But Pelke hoped his dialogue could possibly persuade death penalty proponents to change their mind — much as he changed his own stance on capital punishment after his grandmother was murdered. Pelke said his Christian upbringing taught him the death penalty was an acceptable form of justice, but began to question that notion in the years that followed Cooper’s sentencing.

Over time, the image of his grandmother, the one he carried with him through the trial of Cooper, was replaced by another image he couldn’t shake — that of Cooper’s grandfather, shouting out “they’re going to kill my baby!” after her sentencing.

Like Pelke, Callie Greer lost a loved one through violence. Her son, Mercury, was murdered in Birmingham, and just like Pelke, sought for forgiveness.

“They kill this boy, give him life sentence or whatever, does that mean Mercury is going to come back?” Greer said. “Are you telling me I should put his family through this to get closure? Now I get closure? Uh-uh, I get nightmares.”

Not all the details of the two stories were the same, though.

“Black on black crime is just treated as another case,” said Greer, explaining her story didn’t “make it to Oprah” like Pelke’s more famous story.

Fountain said Greer’s claims of racial bias in the death penalty process are supported by facts. Fountain, the final speaker, presented a case against death penalty using state statistics.

“There’s not a racial issue in Alabama’s death penalty?” Fountain asked the audience, pointing out that 35 percent of murder victims in Alabama are white, while 80 percent of death row inmates were found guilty of killing a white victim.

“Now how does that work?” he said.

The audience responded with applause, however, to Pelke’s tale about his grandmother, and finding a way to forgive the teenage girl who murdered her more than 20 years ago.

Since his turnaround on the issue of justice and the death penalty, Pelke started his own foundation and talks at forums and events all over the world in opposition to the death penalty. He said he made a promise to God to connect with Cooper and her family, to tell her about his grandmother’s life and do everything he could to save Cooper’s.

And on July 1, 2013, Cooper, whose sentence was reduced thanks to Pelke’s efforts, will be able to walk out of Indiana state prison — where Pelke will be there to greet her.

Now the image he can’t forget is the drive home after meeting Cooper in prison for the first time in 1994.

“The word that coming back to my mind was “wonderful,’” Pelke said. “Because after this terrible thing that happened to Nana, this terrible thing that happened to my family, I had no hate. Only forgiveness.”

Star staff writer Brian Anderson: 256-235-3546

For original publication, Read Forgiveness key in group’s fight against death penalty here

Why does Jim Petro stop short?

Jim Petro questions about death penalty stop short of calling for repeal

It's been a year since former Ohio Attorney General and 2006 gubernatorial candidate Jim Petro laid out his views of the criminal justice system in his book, "False Justice: 8 Myths that Convict the Innocent."

Co-authored by his wife, Nancy, the book, as the title implies, questions the fairness of our justice system and identifies flaws in how police and prosecutors handle evidence, especially in capital cases.

I was recently drawn to the book because capital cases and the procedures we use to put people to death continue to make news here and around the country. While reading the book, I kept wondering what feedback Petro, a moderate Republican who campaigned on strong law-and-order platforms, has received, especially from politicians and law enforcement officials.

Petro, who is now Ohio's higher education chancellor, told me in an interview that he's received little push back and plenty of support and praise for the book, which also examines how DNA evidence has played a critical role in exonerating convicted people and highlights the unreliability of eyewitness testimony.

"I would bet certainly well over half the prosecutors in the country looking at this book would ultimately agree with most of the issues," he says. "There is another half who wouldn't. They will say this is the work of some liberal-leaning lefty. That's not the case. I am as much in favor of punishing the guilty as anybody, but I'm advocating for a greater degree of care on the part of every prosecutor."

Reading the book, I was most intrigued by the question of whether Petro thought society should repeal the death penalty in light of wrongful convictions. Though the book is written in memoir form, he doesn't explicitly offer his opinion.

"Establishing the reliability of the justice system is equally important for advocates of the death penalty," he writes early in the book to neutralize the debate around the death penalty issue.

He touches on the issue again in Chapter 19, describing his support for the death penalty as simple and pragmatic.

"It is all about public safety," he writes.

But I wanted to know what the man, not the politician, thinks about the controversial issue.

Petro, a former Cuyahoga County commissioner from Rocky River, is a politician closer to the issue than many. He had a hand in writing the 1981 law that restored Ohio's death penalty. As a young legislator in the Ohio House in 1981, he was on the Judiciary Committee that reviewed and reworked the legislation started in the Ohio Senate.

In December, Ohio Supreme Court Justice Paul Pfeifer, who also helped write the law that year and supported it, urged lawmakers to repeal it. Pfeifer, a Republican, told an Ohio House of Representatives committee, "The death sentence makes no sense to me at this point when you can have life without possibility of parole. I don't see what society gains from that."

Pfeifer, who was chairman of the Ohio Senate's Judiciary Committee in 1981, was testifying in support of House Bill 160, which would abolish the death penalty in Ohio and resentence death-row inmates to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

The Democratic-sponsored bill has no chance of passing.

When Petro campaigned for the state legislature, he said he believed in the death penalty. And when he supported the 1981 bill, he argued that the government should not bear the expense of incarcerating the most heinous criminals when they deserve to die. In short, he said that he believed the state would save money by adopting the death penalty and that the law would become a deterrent.

"Neither of those things have occurred, so I ask myself, 'Why would I vote for it again?' " Petro tells me. "I don't think I would. I don't think the law has done anything to benefit society and us. It's cheaper and, in my view, sometimes a mistake can be made, so perhaps we are better off with life without parole."

But does he personally believe we should do away with the death penalty?

Unlike Pfeifer, Petro doesn't directly say so.

"We are probably safer, better and smarter to not have a death penalty," he says.

Petro adds that he still believes society has the right to decide.

He remains unequivocal, though, on a different and important point, one sometimes obscured by tough-on-crime politicians: The real responsibility of prosecution is to seek the truth, not just win a trial.

(source: Mark Naymik, The Plain Dealer) Found on Death Penalty News & Updates -- posted by Dr. Rick Halperin

MLK: Encouragement for our visions & dreams

Middle East Peace Quilt**

(quotes below are from a sermon entitled: "Dreams and Possibilities" given Sunday am 15 January 2012)

"Martin Luther King saved my life"

"A life of fear is no life at all."

"A man dies when he refuses to stand up for that which is right...for justice..."

"Without a vision there's no future...only repitition of the past."

"We can evolve only if we know what we're evolving to..."

"It takes no effort to despair."

MLK...had a great imagination.

These are just some of the challenging quotes Mills offered (which included Goethe, Kant, and an expert on Aphasia (used as a metaphor for that which drastically limits imagination).

I highly recommend the link below to this sermon/reflection as one of the most powerful and uplifting on Martin Luther King (or anyone else) ever spoken in my home town. Not only does this personal talk include Martin Luther King's vision for a world minus racism, hate and hopelessness - other poignant quotes from other visionaries are offered as well.

Each of the points made by Mills can be so easily applied TODAY to our nation and world and related to racism of ALL kinds whether to a person's skin, citizenship, religion, nation of origin, gender, struggle, age and so much more. (For example, Mills brings up-to-date a text King used to condemn the careless bombing in Vietnam -- by simply adding the name of our various current wars).

After a needed yet sobering couple of weeks many of us spent exposing our nation's treatment of people detained in Guantanamo -- this visionary speech offers possibilities of change and the needed energy to carry out a better future.

Ernie Mills heard a famous MLK speech in 1973 -- five years after it was first delivered...

To hear how MLK's speech "I Have a Dream" helped transform the life of one young American -- formerly a self-admitted racist -- GO here

Ernie is a longtime friend of mine and as I told him - he's spent years doing the homework which led to this superlative talk.

The opposite of a doomsday talk, at the end Ernie said with conviction, "The possibilities" for change "are infinite."

Civil Rights Memorial Museum Montgomery, Alabama

**quilt above chosen because it's a serene symbol for finding peace among groups of all kinds. I found the photo here

Let us bend our work toward peace...

Memorial Service for Herbert D. Blake

from Kathy Ozzard Chism
Memorial Service for Herbert D. Blake
10:00 AM Saturday, January 14, 2012
Repast following
St Bartholomew Church
5100 E Broadway, Long Beach CA 90803
562/438-3826 or stbarts@sblb.org ♥♥♥

From Bill Pelke
‎Herb Blake's intervied me last summer. RIP Herb Blake
GO here

Kathy Ozzard Chism
From Herb Blake's wife, Diana: "Your outpouring of love and prayers have been so overwhelming. I know he feels the love from each of you. He is passing through the veil we all tremble before and is comforted in the arms of God. I am comforted by his lasting strength and deep love that all will be as it should if we'd just let God light our path. His lust for life and desire to see social justice done continue on in his legacy." ~Diana

Rest in peace, brother-in love Herb. ♥♥♥

See more on Journey FB Wall...

10 Years Too Many: National Day of Action Against Guantanamo:

(This notice is from Amnesty I - USA -- I got the phone call this morning from the leaders and want to be sure to get this out. I'm with several groups at once at heart and in spirit.)

Join us in Washington, DC on January 11, 2012 to close Guantanamo! To mark the 10th anniversary of unlawful counter-terrorism detentions* at Guantanamo and to call for an end to indefinite detention and unfair trials, we will be creating a human chain between the White House and the Capitol. We need 2,700 people – the number of detainees still unlawfully held by the US government at Guantanamo and Bagram. Meet us January 11, 2012 at Lafayette Square (across from the White House) at Noon. Sign up below to pledge to join us!

here

Here's a basic schedule for ALL groups involved in this action:

After meet-ups with various groups --
1PM: Public Witness and Human Chain connection the White House to the Capital.

3PM: Interfaith Service and Reception, sponsored by NRCAT, at the New York Ave Presbyterian Church. Here's more info and a place to lay your cot --

GO here

IF YOU QUESTION the reasons for such a Day of Action, you may want to read the post just below this one on oneheartforpeace (for Sunday, January 8th) or CLICK here.

Besides unlawful detentions, be aware of the despair-induced suicides, illnesses untreated, force-feedings, deaths listed as unknown causes. Some of these deaths under US detention have been considered "extra-judicial executions". Deaths and extreme physical and mental injury due to rights abuses can't be ruled out at Guantanamo and the same goes for US prisons or US "oversight" at various cells hidden and open world-wide.

HOWEVER, this Amnesty Action is one of many others by dozens of national and international human rights groups along with well-known speakers, and writers. What a positive unified action this is for peace, justice and the rights by which we as Americans once were said to have lived. Actions such as this one will help to restore us to the sanity of a true humanity.

Thanx for tuning in.

Connie

Consider Action during MLK Weekend

While the following is addressed to California residents, using theme of MLK weekend could be a good one for human rights and abolition actions across the nation.

"The time is always ripe to do what's right."-Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Join thousands of SAFE volunteers on MLK weekend.

Next Monday is Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, a time set aside to honor Dr. King’s passionate commitment to justice. This year, SAFE California is teaming up with civil rights leaders and grassroots activists to commemorate Dr. King by ending death sentences in California. Please join the Reverend Jesse Jackson, the California NAACP and other civil rights leaders in supporting the SAFE California “Weekend of Action” on January 14-16.

Will you honor Dr. King by helping to end death sentences in California at an event near you?This weekend, communities all across the state will gather in various events to celebrate Dr. King's life and honor his legacy of justice. SAFE California will be there working to end death sentences in California as a tribute to the tireless work Dr. King accomplished himself and inspired in others.Click here for a map of events near you, and volunteer to join us!As a dedicated supporter of the SAFE California Campaign to replace the death penalty, I hope you will join the thousands of volunteers statewide who are ready to commemorate Dr. King's leadership by joining this historic movement over MLK weekend at an event near you.

Despite losing her husband to assassination, Coretta Scott King declared: "I stand firmly and unequivocally opposed to the death penalty." Now is the time to join forces, put the death penalty before the voters and help SAFE California prevail at the November 2012 election.Please join me in making history and ending death sentencing in California this year.

Sincerely,
Natasha MinskerCampaign Manager
SAFE California Campaign

GO here for the origin and website of this action - SEE MLK item under "Get Involved" link.

Again, consider your own action...

Death Penalty on the Wane: Dallas Morning News

*

JANUARY 2, 2012 -- found posted on Dr. Rick Halperin's News & Updates

TEXAS:

Use of the death penalty is losing favor with more and more Americans, and for good reasons, those undeniably being (a) shaken confidence in the system and (b) the alternative of life-without-parole sentencing.

Lethal punishment is also being sought less often by Texas prosecutors and handed out less often by Texas juries, probably for the same reasons.

The year-end snapshot of Death Row, USA, offers more upsides, from the perspective of this newspaper’s opposition to the death penalty.

The number of executions continued to slide nationwide, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. And one more state, Illinois, joined the list of 16 non-death-penalty states and became the fourth to repeal the punishment since 2004.

The number of executions continued to wane in Texas, but this state held on to its position of ignominious prominence: Texas executed, by far, the most people of the 13 states that used the death penalty this year. Thirteen prisoners were put to death in Texas, 30 % of the 43 who died in the nation’s death chambers in 2011.

Texas’ distinction as the No. 1 death-penalty state remains in unseemly juxtaposition to the embarrassing developments throughout our criminal justice system.

For a 2nd straight year, a Texas murder case unraveled in spectacular fashion, this one freeing Michael Morton of Williamson County, who spent almost 25 years in prison of a life sentence for his wife’s bludgeoning murder. The case against Morton ignored evidence that pointed elsewhere and, it appears from DNA tests, allowed the real killer to roam and kill again. Morton’s exoneration produced serious charges of prosecutorial misconduct this month.

The year before — when Texas executed 17 of the 46 nationwide — the Anthony Graves murder case unraveled, freeing a man who was sent to death row in another instance of alleged prosecutorial mischief.

Add to that the continuing parade of DNA exonerations across the state, and it’s evident why people have become squeamish about the death penalty. Supporters attest to the certainty of the court system, with its many steps of review, but it so often has taken volunteer lawyers and university workshops to pry free the truth.

Are there cases where innocent people have slipped through that sieve and gone to their deaths in Texas? None have been proven, but there’s no justification for taking the chance. The justice system will never be foolproof, and, therefore, use of the death penalty is never justified.

That sentiment seems to be taking hold nationally, with a Gallup Poll showing the lowest level of support in almost 40 years, with 61 % in favor. That compares with 80 percent in 1994. A CNN poll found more support for life without parole than death for murderers.

Qualms about how the death penalty is applied caused the governor of Oregon to call a moratorium and the chief justice of the Ohio Supreme Court to convene a study commission.

In Texas, there are ample arguments for both of the above.

A welcome decline

New death sentences and executions in Texas:

2003: 28, 24

2004: 24, 23

2005: 14, 19

2006: 11, 24

2007: 14, 26

2008: 12, 18

2009: 9, 24

2010: 8, 17

2011: 8, 13

NOTE: In 2011, Dallas County sentenced no one to death for the first time in five years. The execution record since resumption in 1982 was 40, in 2000.

[sources: Texas Departments of Criminal Justice, Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty]

(source: Editorial, Dallas Morning News)

======
Images found at http://vonnie622.tripod.com/id5.html or click here

New Year Concerns and Reminders

Here is an item which pertains to all of us in the movement to abolish the Death Penalty and Human Rights Movements at large -- who see the growing and grave need for forgiveness, reconciliation, and peace and justice "for ALL humanity" here

You may also want to see the open letter to Rev. Billy Graham which I have just "reissued" for 1st January 2012 and which includes this quote from Dick Barnett:
'The biblical injunction to love one another does not rest on the idea that people are lovable......love is difficult -- people are hard enough to love one by one and harder still to love by the millions. Yet the injunction is inescapable because creation cannot be sustained without it.'The choice is between love and hate, and hate is death. Hate demands an enemy. The identity hardly matters. Enemies change, but the spirit of enmity and fear remains.'The big lie behind all murder from random street killings, to the efficient ovens of Auschwitz, to the even more efficient hydrogen bomb, is that the victims deserve to die." for the rest, GO here

Last but not least, you may appreciate my post "Heart Food" which may offer a wee bit of nourishment for the days ahead. GO to this topic at the top of the entries for 1 January at oneheartforpeace blog or click here

Dream One World shines a light on our path

"The best things Americans are doing around the world these days is not in dropping bombs from unmanned drones, but in helping school children in places like Uganda, Kenya, and the southern Sudan. Dream One World's current Uganda School Project is one of those. It deserves wide support."
- Pete McCloskey, Jr., 2011: Co-Founder of Earth Day, Former U.S. Congressman, Global Advisor for Dream One World

Readers, you need to see the absolutely gorgeous and cheery DREAM ONE WORLD newsletter just out for November thru December:

I'm only posting a few excerpts and photos here:

The Journey of Hope October 2011 trip to our school in Uganda and beyond was a HUGE success! (The Fantastic Four) Bill Pelke, Bill Babbitt, Charity Lee, and Randy Gardner traveled to visit our school as part of "Journey of Hope... From Violence to Healing," a nonprofit organization founded in 1993 of murder victim family members, death row family members, death row survivors, and other activists for peace and healing.

Each of the four has at least one family member that was murdered, yet they are committed to love, forgiveness, restorative justice, and ending the death penalty in America and throughout the world.

See an adorable video of that day, Facebook connection to 44 photos and JOURNEY OF HOPE VIDEO AT OUR SCHOOL! (Wait till you see the smiles of "our" kids!)

Most of the 150 children had never seen themselves on camera before - ADORABLE! We thank Bill Pelke, Bill Babbitt, Randy Gardner, Charity Lee, and our Assistant Manager of the project, Katongole Ronald, for sending us films and photographs so we could compile this short video.

(end of excerpt)

So, GO READ much more on this UPBEAT newsletter - what a labor of love! HERE

I (Connie on the blog) want to put in a little plug for Edward and his family as well...what commitment, what diligence! My husband and I have two adopted sons from Uganda - so since I met Edward on a Journey in Texas - got to see his resilience and faith close up over lots of miles - I still care deeply about his radiant life and vision, of course...and pray to find a way to do something to reach out during the coming year...

Many prayers for ongoing healing of the effects of the stroke and may you, your family and supporters all feel and receive lots of support in other ways during the coming year...if not sooner.

And as always, support THE JOURNEY -- all the folk mentioned in this post and others behind the scene. May each one know a sense of fulfillment like never before. What a beautiful committed family of love.

May each reader here also experience joy-filled, whole and holy days ahead.

Rais Bhuiyan - who tried to stop attacker's execution - is honored

Texas was the state where Bhuiyan was attacked.

He led hundreds of supporters throughout Texas.

His movement World Without Hate took off September 21, 2011 --
on World Peace Day -- the anniversary of the day when Buiyan
was shot after the effort to stop the execution of Mark Stroman
had been taken to England, Germany and Denmark. While the effort
failed, the World Without Hate movement is alive indeed.

After a number of other speaking engagements and events--
including a number in Texas, Washington, D.C., California,
North Carolina and Italy--California again honored him on December 11...

...The theme of the most recent event was “Awakening the American Spirit: Turning the Tide of Hate into Love.” It was the American Muslim Voices 2011 Peace Convention.

The convention was divided into two sessions. The first session comprised of two parallel events: Conversation with Muslim Scholars and Civil Rights Panel Discussion.

Khalid Saeed, the AMV National President, presented an overview about the AMV achievements since its establishment eight years.2011 AMV Convention KS-9C

He said: “We take pride and comfort in being recognized regionally and nationally as a Muslim peace building and community building organization. We have been active in support of human and immigrant rights; we are unique as a grassroots facilitator of interfaith/intercultural dialogue. The secret of our success is practicing Islam with our actions- not just words- in the main stream among our fellow Americans- responding first to each community’s needs, serving the whole community and nation from the part of us that is rooted in the universal values of love, peace, and justice given to us through Islam.”

He went on to say: AMV campaigns like, “Share the joy of Ramadan and Eid with your fellow Americans,” “Light the night for peace and friendship,”

Rais Bhuiyan, a featured speaker perhaps symbolized the theme of the convention. A victim of post-9/11 shooting spree, Bhuiyan forgave and tried to spare the life of the man who shot him and left him for dead. Rais Bhuiyan shared his courageous story of compassion, love and forgiveness. A white supremacist shot Rais and two other South Asians. The other two innocent victims of hate died while Rais survived. He was blinded in one eye and still carries 35 shotgun pellets embedded in his face.

Just 10 days after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, Rais Bhuiyan was working at a gas station in Dallas when he was shot in the face by a man named Mark Stroman, an avowed white supremacist, who was on a shooting spree, targeting people who appeared to be Muslim or of Middle Eastern descent.

Stroman also shot and killed Waqar Hasan, a Pakistani immigrant in Dallas. Vasudev Patel, an Indian immigrant and gas station owner in Mesquite, TX, was Stroman’s third and final victim. Stroman admitted to the shootings.

The press labeled the murders Texas's first post 9/11 hate crime. Stroman himself claimed that “blinded by rage,” he killed to avenge the United States. The prosecution convinced the jury that robbery was his true motive, (even though he hadn’t taken money from his victims) and he was sentenced to death.

Bhuiyan had mounted an aggressive campaign to convince Texas authorities to commute Stroman's sentence to life in prison without the possibility of parole. He has asked the state board of pardons and paroles to make a positive recommendation for clemency to Gov. Rick Perry, and has asked Texas prison administrators for permission to meet face-to-face with Stroman for a victim-offender reconciliation process. After those efforts were met with no response from Texas officials, Bhuiyan filed a lawsuit against the state, arguing that his rights as a crime victim to meet with his attacker had been unjustly denied.

Bhuiyan’s efforts on behalf of Stroman were motivated by his Muslim faith. He says: The Koran teaches that those who forsake retribution and forgive those who have wronged them become closer to God...

READ more on American Muslim Voices home page by clicking on See AMV Peace Convention 2011 draws large crowd here and on the website World Without Hate here

Plz Keep These Links HANDY - Bookmark perhaps?

GO here

Also for December and perhaps into January?
NC Moratorium Against the Death Penalty (On the Racial Justice Act)
GO here The News on the NC RJA from the NC News & Observer

GO here

For Democracy In Action GO here

And for the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty HOME SITE GO to ncadp.org -- Where you will ALSO see End of Year Report from The Death Penalty Information Center and POLITICO's (sorta) hint at a prediction: Will 2012 be the end of the Death Penalty in USA?

NC Racial Justice Act Saved for Now (Be aware of January 8th)

Also GO here Keep those letters to the editor and other items OUT there in NC~

By Sam Favate (Law Blog on WSJ December 14-16 2011)

We’ve been following the story of whether North Carolina’s Racial Justice Act would stay alive – see here and here for recent Law Blog posts – and the story may have just come to an end.

Governor Bev Perdue vetoed a bill that would have essentially repealed 2009’s Racial Justice Act, which allows death row inmates to argue that racial bias played a role in their cases. The law was passed under a Democratic majority in the state legislature, but when Republicans took control after the 2010 elections, they set about to change the law.

The N.C. House voted to nullify it back in June, and the Senate followed at the end of last month. Perdue’s veto means the law will likely stay intact, as Republicans don’t have a veto-proof majority to override it, and the bill that would have changed the law only passed the House in June along party lines.

In a statement emailed to Law Blog, the ACLU said the veto “ensures that North Carolina will not tolerate discrimination in its capital punishment system,” according to Cassandra Stubbs, staff attorney with the ACLU Capital Punishment Project. The ACLU points out that North Carolina is one of 34 states with the death penalty and has the nation’s sixth largest death row. More than half of the state’s death row prisoners are black.


In a statement yesterday, Gov. Perdue said, “It is simply unacceptable for racial prejudice to play a role in the imposition of the death penalty in North Carolina.” Republicans complained the governor put “politics ahead of policy,” the News & Observer noted.

The North Carolina Conference of District Attorneys said the veto “creates yet another de factor moratorium on the death penalty,” AP reports. As Law Blog pointed out, North Carolina hasn’t executed anyone since 2006, when execution methods were challenged as cruel and unusual. The 2009 Racial Justice Act has also been employed by many death row inmates. Anti-death penalty critics point out that state statistics show a per capita decrease of 25% in the murder rate from 2005 to 2010.

Lawmakers will have to return to Raleigh to consider an override by Jan. 8.

NC Gov. Bev Perdue Vetoes Bill to Repeal Racial Justice Act

8 minutes ago at time of posting:

North Carolina Democratic gubernatorial candidate Bev Purdue, center, gives a thumbs up sign as she arrives for a campaign stop at the cafeteria at the United House of Prayer in Charlotte, N.C. on Monday, Nov. 3, 2008. (AP Photo/Nell Redmond)

By GARY D. ROBERTSON 12/14/11 12:59 PM ET Associated Pres

RALEIGH, N.C. -- North Carolina's governor on Wednesday halted a Republican effort to dismantle a law that gives death row inmates a new way to use racial bias as an argument for appealing their sentences.

Gov. Beverly Perdue vetoed a bill that would have essentially repealed 2009's Racial Justice Act (RJA of NC), which was designed to address concerns that race has played a role in sentencing prisoners to death.

The law says a judge must reduce a death sentence to life in prison without parole if he determines race was a significant factor to impose the penalty. It creates a new kind of court hearing where prisoners can use statistics to make their case to a judge. North Carolina and Kentucky are the only states with laws like it.

The Democratic governor had signed the 2009 bill into law. In a statement Wednesday, she said that "it is simply unacceptable for racial prejudice to play a role in the imposition of the death penalty in North Carolina."

Prosecutors who pushed the repeal said the act is clogging the courts with new appeals and, in effect, halting capital punishment. Nearly all of the 158 prisoners currently on death row – both black and white inmates – have filed papers seeking relief under the Racial Justice Act.

Perdue's veto means she must call lawmakers back to Raleigh to consider an override by Jan. 8. Lawmakers it difficult to override the veto, especially in the House, where it passed in June along party lines. Republicans are a few votes shy of a veto-proof majority in the chamber.

"I am disappointed in yet another decision by Gov. Perdue to put politics ahead of principle," House Speaker Thom Tillis, R-Mecklenburg, said in a prepared statement. He said she's let down families of victims and prosecutors "who need every available resource to crack down on violent criminals."

Perdue rejected arguments from prosecutors that the 2009 law would allow some death-row inmates to be paroled after 20 years in prison if their crimes were committed before October 1994. She also said she supports capital punishment and is committed to keeping it "a viable punishment option in North Carolina in appropriate cases."

The governor's veto came two days after she met with relatives of murder victims. Some of those relatives asked her to keep the 2009 act on the books.

"We applaud her for understanding that racially-biased justice is not justice at all and for reaffirming that she values the lives and the safety of all citizens regardless of race," said a statement from Murder Victims' Families for Reconciliation, a Washington-based group that opposes the death penalty.

RALEIGH, N.C. -- North Carolina's governor on Wednesday halted a Republican effort to dismantle a law that gives death row inmates a new way to use racial bias as an argument for appealing their sentence...

Find more on this issue/original links/and related news On Huffington Post:
[N.C. Racial Justice Act ] GO here

N.C. Racial Justice Act Revised After State Senate Vote
North Carolina Governor Bev Purdue is a signature away from permanently changing the state's Racial Justice Act. On Nov. 28, the state Senate voted to...

N.C. Racial Justice Act Revised After State Senate Vote
[N.C. Racial Justice Act ]

N.C. Racial Justice Act Revised After State Senate Vote
North Carolina Governor Bev Purdue is a signature away from permanently changing the state's Racial Justice Act. On Nov. 28, the state Senate voted to...
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Around the Web:

Round Two for the Racial Justice Act? :: WRAL.com

The case for the Racial Justice Act - Other Views - NewsObserver.com

North Carolina Senate Rewrites Racial Justice Act; Gov Urged To ...

Perdue vetoes Racial Justice Act Repeal

NC Racial Justice Act Revised After State Senate Vote
Filed by Luke Johnson |


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Who knows, one of the most important influences may have been the unity and effort of the Families of Murder Victims who spoke to Gov. Perdue. See Below:

Families of murder victims urge NC governor to veto repeal of Racial Justice Act

Groups push Gov. Perdue on death sentence bill

Families of murder victims urge governor to veto repeal of Racial Justice Act
RALEIGH — An Asheville woman whose father was murdered will be in a group meeting with Gov. Bev Perdue today to urge her to veto a bill that guts a law allowing evidence of racism to be used in overturning death sentences.

The 2009 Racial Justice Act permits death row inmates and defendants facing the death penalty to use statistics and other evidence to show that racial bias played a significant role in either their sentence or in a prosecutor’s decision to pursue the death penalty.

The Republican-controlled General Assembly voted this year to repeal the law. Perdue, who has fewer than three weeks to decide whether to veto the measure, has invited critics and proponents to present their cases as she weighs her decision.
A group of family members of murder victims says it is meeting with the governor in response to lobbying by the N.C. Conference of District Attorneys in favor of repeal.
The group also plans to hold a news conference in Raleigh following its meeting with Perdue.

Asheville resident Megan Smith’s father and stepmother were killed in Pennsylvania in 2001 by her adopted stepbrother and one of his friends, who is now on death row. She planned to attend the meeting.

“The death penalty doesn’t feel like it’s really there for all victims’ families when the system is so economically and racially skewed,” she said. “As a white person, I can’t imagine what it might feel like to be handed a death sentence by an all or mostly black jury.

“Yet, North Carolina has allowed that to happen in reverse, and repealing the Racial Justice Act is sending the message that we don’t care about racial inconsistencies.”
The law says an inmate’s sentence is reduced to life in prison without the possibility of parole if the claim is successful, but prosecutors say some death row inmates could be released because they were sentenced before 1994 when the state allowed life sentences with the possibility of parole after 20 years.

“We’re fearful that, based on case law, 119 death row inmates would be eligible for parole,” Susan Doyle, president of the Conference of District Attorneys, told lawmakers before the Senate voted to send the measure to Perdue.

A study by two law professors at Michigan State University found a defendant in North Carolina is 2.6 times more likely to be sentenced to death if at least one of the victims was white. The study also showed that of the 159 people on death row in the state at the time of the study, 31 had all-white juries and 38 had only one person of color on the jury.

Of the 163 inmates on the North Carolina’s death row, more than half are black. Only 20 percent of the state’s population is African-American.

Find original at Asheville Citizen Times here

Rais Bhuiyan: new story just out (with older items)

Rais Bhuiyan, American

Suddenly the tow truck reappears. The driver guns the engine. He trains a bright halogen light down into Bhuiyan's face and unleashes a fusillade of curses.

GO here

I wanted to add for this site a couple of moving pieces:

June 23, 2011 By Steve Thomgate (Excerpted from personal piece in The Christian Century, online):
The most Christlike behavior I've seen in the news in some time comes from a Muslim victim of a hate crime: Just 10 days afte the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, Rais Bhuiyan was working at a gas station in Dallas when he was shot in the face by a man named Mark Stroman. Stroman was on a shooting spree, targeting people who appeared to be Muslim or of Middle Eastern descent...Bhuiyan, the only survivor of the attacks, is fighting to save (Stroman's) life...

Written June 26, 2011 By Mark Stroman (In a typewritten letter evidently composed and styled authentically like this by Stroman. This was sent to the journalist Timothy Williams who published the same in a larger article on July 18, 2011 -- found in The NYTimes -- shortly before the...execution):
Not only do I have all my friends and supporters trying to Save my Life, but now I have The Islamic Community Joining in...Spearheaded by one Very Remarkable man
Named Rais Bhuiyan, Who is a Survivor of My Hate. His deep Islamic Beliefs Have gave him the strength to Forgive the Unforgiveable...that is truly Inspiring to me, and should be an Example for us all. The Hate, has to stop, we are all in this world together. My jesus Faith & Texas Roots have Deepened My Understanding as well. Its
almost been 10 years since the world stopped Turning, and we as a nation will never be able to forget what we felt that day. I surely wont, but I can tell you what im
feeling Today, and that's very grateful for Rais Bhuiyan's Efforts to save my life
after I tried to end His...

July 19, 2011 (Again excerpted from personal piece by Steve Thomgate in The Christian Century, online):
It's worth noting...Bhuiyan didn't set out to teach Stroman that his beliefs about Muslims were ignorant and hateful. He set out to save Stroman from death at the hands of a justice system that argues...people like him are beyond redemption. It looks like he'll fail at that goal but the fact that he tried helped to effect a remarkable change of heart in Stroman -- who, of course, exists within the reach of grace just like everyone else...

Mark Stroman was killed by the State of Texas Wednesday, July 20, 2011.

Rais Bhuiyan's work of compassion goes on. You can find out more on his website:
World Without Hate here

Bloodsworth: An Innocent Man (The Project)

Sister Helen Prejean, possibly back from a whirlwind of speaking engagements all over the country wants to get out the word about this man and the film project.
To read more and to find out about this amazing piece of portrait art -- GO here

Update Added: Desmond Tutu Urges Abu-Jamal's Freedom

Also see this BBC article found at Rick Halperin's News and Updates Saturday, Dec. 10, 2011 here


See the video at Democacy Now!
Go here

In a video statement released to coincide with the 30th anniversary of Mumia Abu-Jamal’s incarceration, the former South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu urges Abu-Jamal’s immediate freedom. Mumia "has faced years of prosecutorial and police misconduct and judicial bias," Tutu says. "Now that it is clear that Mumia should never have been on death row, justice will not be served by relegating him to prison for the rest of his life—yet another form of death sentence. Based on even a minimal following of international human rights standards, Mumia should be released." [includes rush transcript]

Former WARDEN is Executive Director of Death Pen Focus!

Here's an interesting email newsletter from Mike Farrell with information you may not know (as I did not.) How amazing that a former warden of San Quentin State Prison who went through the pain of overseeing four executions is the executive director of Death Penalty Focus! Maybe this move will lead the way to more such experienced leaders within our movement?

From Mike (to his Friends in the Abolition Movement):

"Our Secret Weapon"

2011 has been a year of tremendous achievements, heartbreaking losses and, at last, real hope for change in California.

In March, Illinois followed New York, New Jersey and New Mexico and abolished the death penalty. Two months later, we at Death Penalty Focus were thrilled to honor Illinois Governor Pat Quinn at our Annual Awards Dinner. Governor Quinn, who had long supported the death penalty, spent two months deliberating on his decision. At our event he spoke eloquently about his change of heart. "If the system can't be guaranteed 100% error-free, then we shouldn't have the system," Quinn said. "It cannot stand."

April brought the incredible Jeanne Woodford to Death Penalty Focus as our new Executive Director. For those of you who have not yet had the pleasure of meeting Jeanne, please hear me when I say that she is our secret weapon for ending the death penalty in California - and beyond. As the warden of San Quentin State Prison, Jeanne experienced the pain of overseeing four executions. After leaving San Quentin, she was appointed to head the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. Today, the more people Jeanne has the opportunity to meet and talk with, the more support we gain for ending the death penalty. It’s almost that simple. Put Jeanne in front of a group of death penalty supporters and before long their support begins to evaporate. We are thrilled to have her on board.

I am also thrilled that, last week, Governor John Kitzhaber of Oregon halted executions in his state. In a simple but uncompromising statement, he echoed the growing distaste for capital punishment being heard in many of our courts, our legislatures, churches, and homes. "I am convinced,” he wrote, “we can find a better solution that keeps society safe, supports the victims of crime and their families and reflects Oregon values. I refuse to be a part of this compromised and inequitable system any longer; and I will not allow further executions while I am Governor." Bravo Governor Kitzhaber!

September brought the heartbreaking execution of Troy Davis. Yet, even on that most awful day, Mr. Davis himself understood that his death would galvanize support for ending this barbaric practice. On his last day he said, "There are so many more Troy Davis’. This fight to end the death penalty is not won or lost through me but through our strength to move forward and save every innocent person in captivity around the globe. We need to dismantle this unjust system city by city, state by state and country by country…Never stop fighting for justice and we will win!"

I wholeheartedly agree with Troy Davis. We will win. In fact, next November California voters have the chance to replace the death penalty with life without parole.
End

For more plz click OFTEN on Death Penalty Focus - see RIGHT column

The Video about Mpagi Edward Edmary and Dream One World

GO here

Here is the comment under this YouTube video about Edward who is beloved by Journey folk:

Mpagi Edward Edmary was held on Death Row under Idi Amin for nearly two decades - for a crime he did not commit. When released, he forgave his captors and concentrated on helping the children in his area orphaned by death row, AIDS, etc.

He connected with Kathy Ozzard Chism at the all-volunteer nonprofit Dream One World, and together they are building a school compound for 150 of these orphans in Uganda, with the help of volunteer workers and donors from around the world. In this video, nonprofit "Journey of Hope...From Violence to Healing" members Bill Pelke, (President and Co-Founder), Bill Babbitt, Randy Gardner, and Charity Lee visit Edward, our orphan children, and our school during their trip through Africa to help end the death penalty worldwide. Turn your volume UP, and enjoy - then... JOIN US! :) "The answer is love and compassion for all of humanity." - Bill Pelke

Here's the nice comment sent to me/thejourney blog:
@newlease7 Thank YOU for watching it! Yes, Edward is SO special... you may find more info about him and this project on our website and Facebook page, too. With Love and Gratitude, ALL of US