Tour Stops in Houston and NY!

FIRST EVER CEDP TOUR STOP IN HOUSTON!

We are proud to have put Houston, located in Harris County - the death penalty capital of the US - on the map by being part of this year’s CEDP tour. Harris County accounts for about 1 percent of the U.S. population but has carried out nearly 10 percent of the country's executions since 1976, when the death penalty was reinstated. This event was co-sponsored by the International Socialist Organization (ISO) as well as a local anti-death penalty group called the Texas Death Penalty Abolition Movement or TDPAM.

A diverse crowd of approximately 30 people came to hear and see a multi-racial panel on April 14th at the University of Houston – Main Campus, located right in the belly of the beast. After a brief welcome and introduction, Lily Hughes, a longstanding anti-death penalty activist from Austin and CEDP board member, kicked off the discussion by giving a brief overview of the history of racism and the death penalty in this country. She was followed by Njeri Shakur, a lead organizer for TDPAM, who was delighted to see so many young people in the crowd and warned that we have to be alert and continue to fight this insane punishment. She also highlighted not only the racist, but also the classist nature of the death penalty, which predominantly targets people of color as well as poor working-class people in general.

Next up was Mark Clements, a recent exoneree from Illinois, who was sentenced to life without parole as a juvenile for a crime he did not commit. His testimony of police torture was shocking and more reminiscent of say the Argentinean and Chilean dictatorships of the 1970s as opposed to a supposedly modern democracy. Even more powerful, however, was his unbroken spirit and his will to fight. He made it clear that he was not going to bow down in front of politicians or any other form of authority if he felt he was misrepresented. He rightly reminded us that the job of these elected officials was to serve us not vice versa. Finally, Marisol Ramirez, wife of Juan Ramirez, a current death row inmate in Texas, took the stage. Juan has been sentenced under the infamous “law of parties”. Part of the law reads as follows: "If, in the attempt to carry out a conspiracy to commit one felony, another felony is committed by one of the conspirators, all conspirators are guilty of the felony actually committed." This basically boils down to: if you hang out with the wrong crowd at the wrong time, you can be sentenced to death. After briefly laying out Juan’s case, Marisol urged us to sign petitions, not only on behalf of Juan, but other death row inmates as well.

The talks were followed by a lively discussion. Lily Hughes came back and wrapped up the event by outlining how folks can get and stay involved in the struggle in the future.

John Jay College/CUNY:

I thought the tour stop was a great success for the CEDP...the room was packed, and I thought that Marvin Reeves was particularly riveting. What a tragic story, but his strength shines through.
Congrats!

Colleen Eren, New Yorkers for Alternatives to the Death Penalty