Troy Davis: the lynchings have never gone away. But tonight, it's behind a legal face.

The lynchings have never stopped, it is alive and well in the state of Georgia, America.

I have always been against the death penalty; it is wrong all the time, every time. It is the worst form of pre-meditated murder. It is abhorrent for dozens of different reasons; too many to talk about. It's state sponsored revenge of the worst kind and is used disproportionately on people of colour and the poor. And has also been used on the innocent many times.
Troy Davis is one of them. Troy Davis is to be killed, for a crime he is highly likely not to have committed, at midnight tonight, UK time.

Troy Davis was convicted 20 years ago for killing a police man and was sentenced to death.

Of the nine witnesses; seven have now modified or retracted their testimony, three of those have said they were coerced by police to name Davis as the murderer. Four of the witnesses have admitted lying in court. The murder weapon was never found, and there was NO physical evidence; such as DNA, to link Davis to the murder. One of the jurors in the original case has even come forward and said that if he knew what he knew now, he would have found Troy innocent.
The case has nothing to rest on. Nothing. Under a civilised justice system, there is nothing to convict him, nevermind executing him.

I have followed Troy's case for a number of years now and I had a bad feeling this week that the pleas for clemency would be rejected. I was sadly proved right. I wish I wasn't. Troy, his family and thousands upon thousands of supporters world-wide have been campaigning for years. But Georgia just wants this nigger off their back. His family & supporters - as far as Georgia is concerned - will go away once they murder him.

How can any human being sleep at night when they have the power of life or death? That is what the parole board have. How can they say, "This person deserves to die"?......no sorry, it's more like "This innocent person deserves to be tortured for 20 years, than suffer the worst kind of pre-meditated murder."

Yes, it's torture. Being made to wait as your life hangs in the balance at the hands of fucking rednecks IS torture. Being made to wait whilst they decide whether to murder you or not, is torture.

How can President Obama sit and allow this to happen? He is the most powerful man in the world and has the power to stop this. He is a black man, he knows the injustices that happen to people of colour. But he sits by and does nothing. He has blood on his hands, just like the executioner does, like the Georgia parole board has. The same as the real murderer of the policeman has. They are no different, it just has the face of the law behind it.

I think this song and video sums this up. Billie Holiday: Stange Fruit
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4ZyuULy9zs