Justice for Trayvon Martin!

"This is America and the killing of Black people is just not considered a crime.

After 1955, the sweet face of Emmett Till, tortured to death in Mississippi by angry white men, haunted anyone with a conscience. Now we have the face of Trayvon Martin to remember. This is America, and that much has not changed.

And we have to deal with the fact that his killer was not even arrested. Not even arrested....

This is America, and whole sections of people are assumed to be criminal. It is called profiling — but it is really the ingrained standards inherited from slavery, Jim Crow and a whole structure of white supremacy. This is America, and armed white men are presumed to be innocent, justified and not a danger to their community. That too is a racial profiling — that envelops the militant racist like a protecting shield.

This is America. And when Black boys are murdered by angry white men, the authorities treat it as a tragic accident, not a crime."
— Kasama's Mike Ely

"I Am Troy Davis, and I Am Free!"

A message from Troy Davis, an innocent man who is scheduled to be put to death by the racist state of Georgia tonight. His last appeals for clemency seem to have been denied.

"To All:

I want to thank all of you for your efforts and dedication to Human Rights and Human Kindness, in the past year I have experienced such emotion, joy, sadness and never ending faith. It is because of all of you that I am alive today, as I look at my sister Martina I am marveled by the love she has for me and of course I worry about her and her health, but as she tells me she is the eldest and she will not back down from this fight to save my life and prove to the world that I am innocent of this terrible crime.

As I look at my mail from across the globe, from places I have never ever dreamed I would know about and people speaking languages and expressing cultures and religions I could only hope to one day see first hand. I am humbled by the emotion that fills my heart with overwhelming, overflowing Joy. I can’t even explain the insurgence of emotion I feel when I try to express the strength I draw from you all, it compounds my faith and it shows me yet again that this is not a case about the death penalty, this is not a case about Troy Davis, this is a case about Justice and the Human Spirit to see Justice prevail.

I cannot answer all of your letters but I do read them all, I cannot see you all but I can imagine your faces, I cannot hear you speak but your letters take me to the far reaches of the world, I cannot touch you physically but I feel your warmth everyday I exist.

So Thank you and remember I am in a place where execution can only destroy your physical form but because of my faith in God, my family and all of you I have been spiritually free for some time and 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.

I can’t wait to Stand with you, no matter if that is in physical or spiritual form, I will one day be announcing,

“I AM TROY DAVIS, and I AM FREE!”

Never Stop Fighting for Justice and We will Win!

What a tragedy. My heart goes out to Troy Davis's family. Once again, the true nature of justice in America reveals itself.

From Soa-watch, via Kasama

UPDATE: As of 10:20 pm the execution has been temporarily stayed while it is reviewed by the U.S. Supreme Court.

CODA: Alas, my update was just a moment too soon. After the Supreme Court refused to stay the execution, Troy Davis was murdered by the government of Georgia just after 11pm this evening. Rest in peace. Jesus wept.

Terrorists Kill Almost 300 Civilians In Two Days of Targeted Attacks

In two days of targeted attacks, terrorists calling themselves the State of Israel have murdered almost 300 people, mostly civilians, in the walled-off ghetto they control in the Gaza region of Palestine.

Targeting infrastructure of the region's elected government, the terrorist forces -- already engaged in a blockade of the region and in random individual assassinations -- have used the pretext of the Palestinian peoples' self defense as an excuse for the brutal attacks.

Once again the world turns a blinded eye to the murder of innocents and the outrages of the racist settler regime. It is beyond time for this cruel entity to be wiped off the map.

The War on Children.

Literally.

Above, a fatally wounded child removed from a building demolished by a US airstrike in Baghdad. This week.

Below, the "collateral damage" (read: murder) from a US missile strike on an alleged "terrorist" in Somalia. From the BBC:

"We heard a huge explosion and when we ran out of our house we saw balls of smoke and flames coming out of house," Dusamareb resident Nur Geele told the BBC.

"The house was totally destroyed to the ground, also other houses nearby," local elder Ahmed Mumin Jama said.

Dr Ahmed Mahdi at Dusamareb Hospital told the BBC he was treating eight civilians, including women and children, for burns and shrapnel wounds.

"The house that was attacked was a small concrete villa and it has been destroyed," he said. "The adjacent houses which were made from traditional mud were also destroyed. The sight is quite horrific."

One of the women has since died, bringing the death toll so far to 11.

Yessir, proud to be an American. Due process. Right to a fair trial.