Newspapers / Winston-Salem Chronicle (Winston-Salem, N.C.) / Sept. 29, 2011, edition 1 / Page 2
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Davis supporters to keep up fight BY TODD LUCK III! CHRONICLE News last week of Troy Davis' execu tion w? received with sorrow and deter mination by local activists who had championed Davis' cause. Davis' death by lethal injection on Weckiesday, Sept. 21 in Georgia hit Darryl Hunt especially hard. Hunt was close to receiving the death penalty him self in the 1980s, after a jury convicted him of a murder he did not commit. Hunt spent nearly 20 years in prison before DNA testing set the stage for his release in 2003. Hunt now leads the Darryl Hunt Project for Freedom and Justice, which advocates on behalf of those who have been wrongfully convicted and helps recently-released former inmates. For years, he had been an advocate for Davis, who was convicted of murdering a police officer based mainly on of eye witness testimony; there was no physical evi dence connecting Davis to the crime. Great doubt was cast on Davis' convic tion when the majority of the witnesses who testified against him recanted their statements, with many of them stating that they were coerced by the police to implicate Davis. The Davis case - like Hunt's more than two decades earlier - had racial over tones. In both cases, the victims were white and the men convicted of the crimes were black. Hunt joined other locals for a march in Atlanta on Friday, Sept. 16. It was a last-ditch effort to save Davis' life. "With so many people praying, and there was so much doubt ... we were looking that they would at least spare his life," said Hunt. But early last week, the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles cfenied Davis clemency. A short time later, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to take up the issue - essentially giving the State of Georgia the go-ahead to proceed with the Davis execution. Hunt was among those who stood vigil outside the prison in Jackson, Ga. where Davis was executed He was pro nounced dead at 1 1 :08 p.m. "Like everyone, we were just at a loss for words." said Hunt, recalling when the news was announced to the crowd outside the prison. "It was like our own life had been taken." Hunt said a t-shirt he saw a child wearing earlier in the day summed up what many are now feeling. On the front of the shirt was a picture of Davis and on the back - the words. "Am I next?' Troy Davis poses with his moth er in this 2002 snapshot taken in a Georgia prison. Those words are particularly poignant to Hunt. He says he would have been executed like Davis had one juror voted the other way. "I thought about that ... in Jackson, Georgia; that could've been me," said Hunt. Hunt had fought for Davis since 2006. when he met Davis' sister. Martina Correia, at a Geoi^ia screening of the HBO documentary 'The Trials of Darryl Hunt." He researched the case and found there were many similarities between his own wrongful conviction and the Davis case. "It's unbelievable when you think about all the innocence cases, if you read them, they all readjust about the same, with the eye witness misidentificalions and police intimidation and coerced state ments and how courts have this straight out tunnel vision when it comes to get ting a conviction," said Hunt. He continues to keep in contact with the Davis family, whom he described as a "very strong and committed, loving fam ily." Hunt said he plans to continue to work with the family on the cause. Davis' last woixt> included a charge to his supporters to continue to fight against injustice. 'They're sad as can be expected, but they're determined to continue to fight for justice for Troy to bring about justice in our justice system," said Hunt, who also plans to attend Davis' funeral this weekend. Mark Rabil. Hunt's former trial lawyer and co-director of the Innocence and Justice Clinic at Wake Forest University, paused a class he was teach ing last Wednesday for five minutes of meditation at 7 p.m. - the time Davis was originally slated to die. Rabil used the Davis case to teach law students affiliated with the Clinic, which focuses primarily on local cases where questions regarding an inmate's inno cence are over whelming. Rabil said the Davis case was typical of a death penalty case, which he said is usually (liven by emotion and tends to have more mis takes than other cases. He said he hopes this case can Hunt be used to teach people about the tlaws oi the system. "We try to take Troy Davis' situation and continue to talk about the death penalty so he dicki't die in vain," said Rabil. Stephen Dear, executive director of Carrboro-based People of Faith Against the Death Penalty, was in jail in Geoi^ia at the time of Davis' execution anddicki't find out about Davis' death until he was released the next morning. He spent a night in jail after walking up to a police officer at the vigil and telling him he was there to stop Davis' execution. He was one of several activists arrested for civil disobedience. Dear believes Georgia killed an innocent man. "It's a new low that the State of Georgia has sunk to," said Dear. "They have ignored the ... legal standard of rea sonable doubt and there's nothing but rea sonable doubt in this case." People of Faith Against the Death Penalty had worked hand on the Davis case. The organization collected the sig natures of 3,500 faith leaders on a peti tion calling for clemency for Davis. Dear hand-delivered the petition to the Georgia Board of Pardons and Parole two weeks ago. Dear said there were boxes of peti tions presented to the Board from groups like Amnesty International and the NAACP. Dear hopes that the millions saddened and angered by Davis' execution will channel that energy to create change. "We want to do our best to help peo ple learn more about the death penalty and understand there were many Troy Davises on death row," said Dear. Suspensions from page A1 As scrutiny of suspension rates has grown, many schools have lowered their rates, but often only in "superficial ways," Langberg said He told the audience that there are better, more produc tive ways to approach disci pline issues, such as peer mediation. In instances ing those oppressed groups easier to control, he said Despite the dismal nature of the facts, Langberg said change can come to North Carolina public schools, but it will require those who care about the outcomes for African Americans and other underrepresented groups to stand together. "Unless we build a move ment of people to transform the entire system, we'll never get there," Langberg told the where students are suspended or expelled, under state law, they have a right to continue receiving "a sound, basic edu cation" under the state constitution, Langberg told the group. Public schools, which Langberg says are "designed to serve Simon audience. "We have no choice but to fight for our kids." Real Men Teach Coordinator Holly Pitts said last week's pres entation was intended not only to educate future educators but also the larger commu capitalism and white suprema cy," are deliberately taigeting minority and economically disadvantaged students through biased practices and policies that are created and implemented to their detri ment, according to his presen tation. Langberg says these practices are longstanding, but have been exacerbated by the No Child Left Behind Act, which brought a sharper focus on test scores as it awarded funding to schools based on those scores. "The easiest way to raise test scores is to get rid of low performing students, and under No Child Left Behind, there's no consequences for using that as a method of rais ing test scores," he told the audience. The tests them selves, which Langberg refers to as "drill and kill" high stakes testing, are designed to discourage students from thinking for themselves, mak nity. Real Men Teach was estab lished in 2007 as a means of encouraging minority males to consider careers in educa tion. The program supports male education majors during their college careers and beyond through mentoring initiatives and other opportu nities designed to increase their success and retention in the classroom. The program currently has 24 student par ticipants, or "protdgds." Real Men Teach Prot6g? Tremon Simon, a junior spe cial education major from South Carolina, introduced the presenters. "...We believe it is our responsibility to at least bring awareness to this issue," he said For more information about Adovocates for Children's Services, visit www.legdaidnc.orgl acs. The Chronicle (USPS 067-910) was established by Ernest H. Pitt and Ndubisi Egemonye in 1974 and is published every Thursday by Winston-Salem Chronicle Publishing Co. Inc., 617 N. Liberty Street. Winston-Salem, N.C. 27101. Periodicals postage paid at Winston-Salem, N.C. Annual subscription price is $30.72. POSTMASTER. Send address changes to: The Chronicle, P.O. Box 1636 Winston-Salem, NC 27102-1636 fjurvntures /WUfwu-w es of DC-FAIR AVENGERS i Enter Ride 60 FROM ORDINARY 10 EXTRAORDINARY. It's one thrill after another at this year's super amazing Dixie Classic Fair. Defy gravity on the Midway. T ry your hand at games of skill. Or put your iron stomach to the test with BBQ, roasted com, pizza and everything deep fried. Plus, don't miss the dynamic line up in the Grandstand nightly. Sept 30 - Demolition Derby Oct I - Figure 8 Racing Oct 2 - Rodeo Oct 3 - Colt Ford Oct 4 - Mark Lowry Nightly Fireworks EVERYONE'S Mat 30 0CT0, ttn dixie classic fair
Winston-Salem Chronicle (Winston-Salem, N.C.)
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