My mother used to tell me the story of her cousin who made a fresh remark to a White girl in Louisiana in the early 40s only to have a group of nightriders ride to her uncle's place late one night demanding that the young man be released to them. Although she recounted the story to me countless times, I never tired of hearing how her uncle fearlessly and defiantly met the racists with a double barrel shotgun on his porch and steadfastly refused to let them take our relative on a journey of certain death. Those types of horror stories were common in my mother's generation and although those things still happen, e.g. most recently in Jackson, Mississippi this past summer, that style of racist violence and intimidation has been replaced by the much more sophisticated and seemingly more legitimate prison industrial complex. It may seem more legitimate to some because of the naiive belief some people still hold that people in prison are there because they are all guilty of committing crimes. Research groups from Copwatch to Juvenille Justice to Amnesty International all indicate that anywhere from 30% to 60% of the people incarcerated in the U.S. are innocent of the crimes they were convicted of. They're there because of the racist seek and apprehend program of U.S. police departments that target poor people in general and people of color in particular along with those folks having limited economic resources and the inability to find adequate legal representation once arrested and charged with a crime. Consequently, there is ample evidence to suggest Troy Davis, the young man who was murdered by the Georgia State Correctional system last night, was not guilty of killing that police officer in 1989. The facts in that case are there was absolutely no physical evidence tying Mr. Davis to the crime. His reason for being convicted and executed boils down simply to the fact nine people said he did it, in spite of the fact seven of them recanted their claim and admitted to being pressured by police to accuse Mr. Davis. Yes, police do intimidate witnesses to get the result they want. Yes, prosecutors build their careers on convictions. Its as unreasonable to expect prosecutors to admit mistakes as it is to expect car salespeople to say they shouldn't have sold you a car. Since they're careers are built on prosecutions, it makes sense that African men, the most likely to be suspected of committing a crime and the least likely to garner sympathy and support when accused of a crime, would be prosecuted in a system like that like slop is fed to a pig. Meanwhile, another more than likely innocent brother is dead. Malcolm X said it best....."I'm not a student of politics....I'm not a politician......I'm not a republican, nor a democrat, nor an american, and got sense enough to know it!
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