A couple ruminations and an update...

I.  State-sponsored murder is still murder - particularly so, if there's "Too Much Doubt."

I've read many an article on the Troy Davis case but, this Dispatch from Death Row:  Saving Troy Davis With a Family's Love brings a definite ray of sunshine amid all this sadness - his nephew.

(Photo Courtesy Amnesty International)

I can't say whether he's innocent or guilty.  But what I can say is - this case should not only be giving the state of Georgia serious pause, but every, single person in this country (Don't fool yourself, it can surely happen to anyone).

This isn't a civil case, where the standard of proof is satisfied by either,  "a preponderance of the evidence" or, "clear and convincing evidence."  This, is a criminal case, and the standard of proof -seeing as people's freedom and/or their very lives hang in the balance - is "beyond a reasonable doubt."  Given the numerous recantations and the, at least one, alternative suspect, I'd say the "beyond..." part, absent an evidentiary hearing on the new evidence, comes up a little short.

And no, I'm not discounting the fact, that the family of the slain officer is also in pain here.  I just keep asking myself - "They've waited all this time, what difference would the additional time it'd take for an evidentiary hearing make now?"  Certainly, that's preferable to having the state murder an innocent man in their name - right?

Angela Davis said, in this 2003 video - "Capital punishment is a legacy of slavery.  It's a sediment of  slavery."  Others, too, have made that connection:

Troy Davis, victim of judicial lynching, and on a lighter, but still on-point note - U.S. Prison/Industrial Complex - The New Slavery & The Sickness In The American System.

UPDATE - Tomorrow, Georgia Murders Troy Davis

II.  Some more of that - "Change" y'all wanna believe in.

For some time now, I've just been trying to make sense of this world in which we now live.  Believe me when I tell you - it's becoming increasingly difficult.  And just when I thought I'd reached my peak of disgust with the smoke-and-mirrors, "tenth dimensional" chess playing and unquenchable thirst for money and power - I read this last week:  U.S. Appeals to Palestinians to Stall U.N. Vote on Statehood - and just shook my head, yet again.

This, is why people rode and died?  So that - our own lived experience here notwithstanding - people who look like us can impose the same thing on e'erybody else??  Strange, I never thought supremacy was the goal.  Seems I was mistaken:

The Obama administration has initiated a last-ditch diplomatic campaign to avert a confrontation this month over a plan by Palestinians to seek recognition as a state at the United Nations...The administration has circulated a proposal for renewed peace talks with the Israelis in the hopes of persuading the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, to abandon the bid for recognition at the annual gathering of world leaders at the United Nations General Assembly beginning Sept. 20.

The administration has made it clear to Mr. Abbas that it will veto any request presented to the United Nations Security Council to make a Palestinian state a new member outright. (emphasis mine)

This man (that y'all keep conflating with MLK) seems a lit-tle, too, willing, to shed what King believed about freedom and self-determination, in exchange for a fast-track to complicity with that Israeli foot, grinding on the necks of these brown folk, who've for decades now, been cordoned off and treated like interlopers in their own land - no?

Senior officials said the administration wanted to avoid not only a veto but also the more symbolic and potent General Assembly vote that would leave the United States and only a handful of other nations in the opposition. The officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss diplomatic maneuverings, said they feared that in either case a wave of anger could sweep the Palestinian territories and the wider Arab world at a time when the region is already in tumult. President Obama would be put in the position of threatening to veto recognition of the aspirations of most Palestinians or risk alienating Israel and its political supporters in the United States.

Let those emphasized portions sink in for a minute...

Damn that "All in the Game" foolishness!  That is some real WTFery right there.  After his, hat-in-hand to AIPAC on the campaign trail performance, here he is again - actin' like the, "Can I have more, Sir?" puppet-of-an-overseer that he is.  And what's worse (for America)?  Most people know it (except for some, who can't see anything but Israel):

• Obama should support Palestinian statehood
• Israel does not want a Palestinian state. Period.
• Turkey takes over the Arab Spring
• Jack Straw urges MPs to back Palestinian statehood bid
• Saudi prince calls on U.S. to back Palestinian U.N. status (more than that!) 
• Palestine Goes to the UN
• Israel's diplomatic drive to block Palestinian UN bid
• The crime of apartheid 

UPDATE:  I spoke to my friend, Eric after that electioneering visit to CCNV.  As his latest post reveals, the Changeling continues to be, exactly who I thought he was.

DC Homeless living - and dying - at the feet of power

From: Eric Sheptock Sent: Monday, June 08, 2009 5:14 PM To: undisclosed recipients: Subject: Fw: SICK HOMELESS WOMAN DIES IN FRONT OF CCNV ON 6/7A homeless woman who was living with a certain illness died while sitting on a bench in front of the CCNV Shelter on June 7th. DC Government failed to house her, even though she was one of the "most vulnerable". This situation has raised the ire of the homeless community. A memorial service will be held for her this evening from 6 to 7 PM at the corner of 2nd and D streets, NW in front of the sidewalk bench where she died. That is the corner of the CCNV building that is nearest the 3rd Street tunnel. This matter will be brought up at the ICH meeting, which will be held where she often ate at Thrive DC. I hope there is high attendance this evening.

I got this email from my homeless-advocate friend, Eric Sheptock yesterday. During the many times I met with him to talk for the paper I was writing, I've either driven past, or sat in my car talking to Eric outside that bench at the Community for Creative Nonviolence (CCNV). So much so, that other residents at the shelter took to teasing him, calling me his "new girlfriend." That a woman died on that bench, right outside that shelter is not only appalling, but IMHO, very telling - considering the mayor's puported drive to provide Permanent Supportive Housing to DC's "most vulnerable" through the Housing First program.
When I graduated from my small, liberal arts HBCU in 1978, I moved to DC - the first "big city" I'd ever actualy lived in. I fell in love with it - still am. During that time, there was another advocate/activist who reminds me a lot of Eric for his outspokenness. His name was Mitch Snyder. His advocacy, like Eric's, was instrumental in getting help for the many people about whom I can only say, "There but for the grace..." Mr. Snyder has since died but I'm convinced, he is reincarnated in one, Eric Sheptock. NPR aired this piece on my friend today: "A Voice for the Homeless." Like a mother hen, I was there with him and Ms. Fessler during the first part of this interview but missed the follow-ups at The Church of the Epiphany and Thrive DC because I came home on summer break. Eric made sure to call me today though - he wanted to be sure I wouldn't miss it! I'm so very proud of him. While FLOTUS made a much-ballyhooed, one-day visit to Miriam's Kitchen to feed the homeless shortly after moving into the Big House, it'll be interesting to see what kind of sustained influence she can have on the daily lives of the homeless living in the shadows of her shiny, new home. Eric's hopeful - I'm not. As for the Changeling, well, never mind.