Without fail it happens. Regardless of the strides and progressions of the People, America will deliver a less then subtle reminder of exactly where you are. The latest reminder came this past Wednesday night at 11:08 Eastern Standard Time. Well, in truth the reminder was completed at 11:08pm but the feeling was an ongoing sense of awareness to the ills of this nation. In all honesty I didn’t know Troy Davis was still on Death Row. The last time I really heard about this was in 2008 I think. For whatever reason I thought Troy had been taken off Death Row, so I was surprised to hear about situation late Tuesday night. The day was a building of frustrations at a system that seemed to possess a laser sharp focus and determination to kill Troy Davis.
As I watched and monitored things at no point was there an urge to say that Mr. Davis was innocent. I don’t know that and the info of the case really didn’t move me one way of the other. BUT, it didn’t take long to realize that quite a few things didn’t add up to me, so at the very least you would think that a retrial would be in order. This become not just about a man about a system that has maintained through generations to unjustly and unfair convict black men. Capital Punishment doesn’t bother me when the crime fits. Child molesters, Serial Killers, the worse of the worst but for many crimes I really feel that the trigger is too quickly pulled. Especially in the south and especially when it’s a man of color on trial. The number say that the U.S has actually sent more white men to death then black men and truthfully with history of many white men in this nation that doesn’t surprise me. It’s only when we look at another factors do we realize that something is not balance. Since the reinstatement of the death penalty 15 white defendants have been executed for the murder of a black victim but 246 Black people have been executed for killing whites. No matter how you slice that, something is wrong.
What comes with all of this is a personal guessing game. Do we matter? What was ever done to other by Black folk to warrant the treatment we get. You compound this was the daily “Black aint #&$^” commentary that litters the Internets and a guy can develop quite a complex. By the time 11 pm was approaching Wednesday night and Troy’s death was certain I could no longer look at that solemn picture of Troy Davis with the his glasses on. I could only picture a man expressing his innocence to a force on willing to listen. Could any of my loved ones somehow find themselves in a position look that? I don’t know. The whole thing just pains my spirit. As a black man I go about my day trying my best to do right, be positive and yet this world is one where nothing more then my skin tone marks me for death in the eyes of others. I often wonder just how much non black folk understand that.
Troy Davis was no saint. No martyr either but I feel he deserved better then what he got. In the end, over the course of those 20 yrs I hope the man he was and the man that would eventually be executed got right with his family, his friends, his spirit and his god. Change needs to happen if not over the entire nation at least personally, individually within us all.
