Last night, Troy Davis was executed. Despite the lack of physical evidence, despite the recantations by seven of nine eyewitnesses, and despite a global campaign by more than a million people insisting there was simply too much doubt, Georgia put this man to death.
But in this moment of sadness and anger, it's up to all of us to make sure that Davis' struggle does not die with him. That the fight to fix a criminal justice system riven by racial and class disparities, and to stop our country from executing the innocent, is made stronger because of his example.
As Davis wrote in a letter when he was facing execution in 2008:
"... no matter what happens in the days, weeks to come, this Movement to end the death penalty, to seek true justice, to expose a system that fails to protect the innocent must be accelerated. There are so many more Troy Davis'. This fight to end the death penalty is not won or lost through me but through our strength to move forward and save every innocent person in captivity around the globe. We need to dismantle this Unjust system city by city, state by state and country by country."
Though President Obama was reluctant to weigh in on the controversial execution of Troy Davis on Wednesday, his predecessor Jimmy Carter wasn’t so shy. Carter issued a statement partly reading, “If one of our fellow citizens can be executed with so much doubt surrounding his guilt, then the death penalty system in our country is unjust and outdated. We hope this tragedy will spur us as a nation toward the total rejection of capital punishment.” Davis was executed in Georgia, which is Carter’s home state. The former president pledged to redouble his efforts to fight capital punishment
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