in our position as staff we occasionally wonder if in fact our analysis of the issue and political climate is accurately reflected in our strategy and the configuration of our organization, that is, will we be successful???

in fact, one had better occasionally conduct such an inventory and adjust course as necessary based on new developments...

still, one wonders...and thirsts for feedback regarding this meditation...

recently a group was asked to complete an organizational analysis of tcask ... below is my favorite...

"I believe that TCASK is bound for success and that one day Tennessee and the rest of the country will abolish the death penalty. The group is so well run, with such smart, motivated, and politically wise people that TCASK will eventually succeed in its efforts, and it will be a good thing when it does. The group has almost everything going for it including the best argument for change that is almost impossible to argue against, and will do nothing but good things in the future."

granted, it's not an "objective" evaluation but never underestimate the utility of occasionally getting positive feedback...it does wonders for sustaining one's confidence and results, i think, in better leadership...

now that's what i'm talkin' about...

peace out - <3

and some days the bear eats you ... it's a nice album by ian matthews and it's a true as it gets metaphor for low-budget, single-issue organizing...

damn bear has been eatin' on my carcass for bout near a week now...

ya see it's microsoft - again ... i left work one day and our e-mail program was sleek and powerful, yeah, like a bear ... and the next day i come in and booooom! ... the windows address book is corrupted and won't open...

now i'm a computer idiot so i spent 2 days on the internet trying to fix it myself (okay, fine, i'm just an idiot) ... no good ...

finally yesterday i get someone competent in here and, well, at least we've recovered the data ... only one problem, we recovered 10,000 records but i only have about 2000 e-mail addresses!!!

- seems that you can recover addresses you deleted 4 years ago ... and we have ....

so rather than organizing, i'm plodding through 10,000 e-mail addresses trying to figure our which ones to keep and which ones to, um, "delete," ...

but i'm still hopeful that one of you kind readers will be able to restore my windows address book to its original glory --- please???

so call me, e-mail me, heck - write me a letter ... i'm not going anywhere anytime soon...

peace out - <3

posted by the tennessee dude Permalink    0 Comments

thing is we don't do much executin' here in tennessee, but we got us one scheduled for may 17th - sedley alley ...

here's the deal, according to the state's documentation it doesn't appear that sedley alley could have killed suzanne collins, i said appears, that is, there's very reasonable doubt...

but there's dna evidence available that could clear it up - exclude or point the finger at sedley alley -- but it's never been tested and the state won't allow it to be tested!!!

it ain't right i tell ya and it ain't american ... here, you read about it and you be the judge...

test the dna and remove the doubt...

after a protracted campaign the tennessee legislature passed a bill in 2003 authorizing a lottery corporation to run what is a legal numbers racket for the state ... this legalized gambling as a method to raise scholarships funds to encourage tennessee's high school graduates to stay in state to attend college...

there is lots that could be said socio-politically regarding this phenomenon but this is not the lottery i find most interesting ... nope, it's the lottery that precedes each execution date set by the tennessee supreme court ... a lottery run by the tennessee department of corrections to select media representatives to witness an upcoming execution...

sedley alley currently faces an execution date on may 17th...

now i can understand people buying tickets for powerball, i mean while there are stories of people who have been ruined by winning a big lottery payoff most people would like the opportunity to see how they handle such a burden as becoming an instant multi-millionaire -- i mean i could fund a lot of topflight state death penalty abolition campaigns with $150 million doncha' know...

but who puts their name in a drawing to watch a homicide, to see someone poisoned to death in a highly ritualized "ceremony", to report to the general public how both sets of victim's families (murder victim and the executed) react to a theatrical event that makes the premeditated taking of a human life seem so banal???

now i know a reporter, anchor who witnessed robert coe's execution in april 2000 ... scott couch was a weekend anchor and reporter at newschannel5 for years and covered the political beat ... but scott was, based on the conversation i had with him about the event, disturbed by the
memory of what he witnessed ... i did not know scott beyond our cordial professional relationship but i could tell that he did not care to cover the death penalty anymore...

its as if we seem content to spread the collateral damage of murder to as many people as possible .... from the murder victim's family members, to the family of the person convicted of the murder, to the people who staff death row and get to know the condemned as a human being, to reporters who reduce the spectacle to a digestible mcmoment on local news broadcasts ...

given the options i'll buy a powerball ticket - at least if i win i'm supporting the education of someone who may one day help turn around this culture of revenge and retribution that we have so masterfully constructed for ourselves...

peace out - <3

I've written a couple times about our frame for discussing the death penalty with communities of faith, and just since the new year I've spoken at over 20 different faith communities using basically the frame of innocence, protection of society, Chirst's concern for the poor, and the denomination's own statement against capital punishment. But last night was something special for me, because it was my first talk at a Baptist church since arriving here in Tennessee nine months ago (is that all? It feels like so long ago).


You see, the Baptists are one of the few Christian denominations that do not oppose the death penalty and, in fact, support it. Though, to be sure, many Baptists do oppose the death penalty. Reverend Will Campbell (one of the most well known Baptists in the country) is outspoken in his condemnation of executions and, in fact, has called the Southern Baptist Convention hypocrites for their support. So the general message that, Christians who follow Christ's message of love and forgiveness, is not quite as effective, so how do we connect?

Well, I had a chance to explore this question in a very practical sense last night. You see, sometimes talking about capital punishment, there is a contradiction in Christian theology, in that we worship a God of mercy but also a God of justice, and sometimes, odd as it seems, we end up pitting these Gods against eachother when we debate capital punishment. But the good news is that I think that we can bridge this gap and use it to our advantage and here's how.

1.) Recognize that there is this conflict - our respect for life may call us to respond to the taking of life by taking another, otherwise we de-value the first life.

2.) Acknowledge the Bible's call for justice.

3.) Test the death penalty against the justice paradigm. Would a just God support a system that sentences innocents to death? Only executes the poor? Targets the mentally ill?

4.) Posit that, in the case of our current capital punishment system, there really is no conflict, the paradigms of both mercy and justice call us to call a time out on this system and see if it can be fixed.

And that's what I did last night, and, would ya believe it, it actually went pretty well. I'm not saying that I've hit the magic formula (I'll need some more field testing), and it may not get us past moratorium, but I think at least we've got a quick sketch for our journey through the buckle of the Bible belt.

While the majority of folks in the state probably weren't aware of it, there has been a serious threat to the abolitionist cause lurking in the general assembly this year. The threat: House Bill 2924 which expands the use of the death penalty. This bill would raise the rape of a child (which is already a class A felony with a possible sentence of life without parole) to a capital offense. That's right, more people to execute.

Now obviously, this is a bad bill to have to fight, for us or for a legislator. I mean no one wants to be seen as defending child rapists, and I'll admit it, the thought of such a crime turns my stomach. But I also know that the death penalty remains an immoral public policy, that the state should not ever take the life of one of its citizens no matter what the crime. I know that the death penalty is prone to error (and that in the case of child rape, a trial might be even more emotional) and that it targets the poor, racial minorities, and the mentally ill. And I know expanding such a system is unconscionable. In a later post we should all discuss one of the dangers of having a death penalty even if it isn't used, i.e. the pressure to use it and expand it.



But I thought that this bill also allowed us to challenge two very important problems focused around myths about the death penalty. The problems: the retributive rather than restorative focus and the costs associated with capital punishment.

And fortunately, on at least the second point, I had the state to back me up this time. You see, any time a bill is introduced, a fiscal note is attached - basically saying what the bill will cost the state if it's enacted. The fiscal note for HB2924 revealed that the bill would cost Tennessee around $15,000,000.00! It also revealed that only an estimated 3 people a year would receive the death penalty under this statute. And that they would wait on death row at least 20 years before such a sentence was carried out. And this isn't me saying all this remember; this is the state's own fiscal board.

And that brings us to problem and myth number one: the focus on hurting the offender instead of healing the victim. Apparently, the authors and supporters of this bill, with 15 million dollars at their disposal, could think of no better way to help children victimized by rape than to execute three people a year, probably not beginning the actual execution process for 20 years! Imagine what $15 million could provide in terms of counseling, support, and compensation for victimized children. But no! the death penalty is not about victims, it's about punishment.

And that is exactly the message that we brought to the judiciary committee. We contacted some constituents in the members' districts and asked them to write letters and contact their representatives to carry exactly that message and they responded with flying colors! I spent a good amount of time up on the hill in the last few weeks and yesterday, all our hard work was rewarded. House Bill 2924 failed yesterday because it couldn't get a seconded on the motion to move it! They couldn't even find 2 members of the 11 member committee to attempt to move it! Because, having heard from their constituents, the representatives realized that there were better ways to spend our money than on this failed public policy! Congratulations to everyone who participated. You got 'er done!

it struck me square between the eyes last friday how disturbing it must be to witness, literally, someone you love being executed...

i took my blind, deaf, and disoriented 16 year old eskimo spitz to be euthanized ... i cried uncontrollably and in the form of HUGE alligator tears in a way that i hadn't since i "put down" my 13 year old german shepherd on july 8, 2000 ...

it hurt so bad, particularly when sinbad yelped, three times, in all that was left of his capacity to talk/bark near the end ... they botched the "procedure" and as the poison coursed through his heart and lungs he was stricken in agony - i know his sounds and clearly the little guy, as he lay there in my arms, was hurting ...

when it was finally over and his tongue hung lifelessly on the cold, steel tabletop, i breathed a sigh of relief, but as of this meditation i continue to be racked by the pain he suffered in those final moments ...

i am in NO WAY comparing my loss to that of someone who loses a father, mother, son, daughter, or other close kin to homicide at the hands of the state, but being empathetic as a human i was deeply struck by how profound such a loss might be ...

and i can truly say with compassion, for i do know too many people personally who have lost a treasured loved one to murder at the hands of an individual (or group of individuals), that the grief of their tragedy can only be similarly deep and profound ...

who knows what people feel when we execute them -- when the sodium thiopental is injected (is it enough??? are they anesthetized??? don't even professionals in hospital surgery rooms make mistakes???); and the pancuronium bromide courses through the veins (if they're muscularly paralyzed how would we ever know that they may not be anesthetized???); and finally as the potassium chloride stops the heart (would they yelp in surprise, fear, and pain as little sinbad did three times last friday) ...

is lethal injection painful??? - prolly'...

is execution by any method cruel and inhumane??? - absolutely ...

we can't bring back murder victims...
we can't legislate closure for victim's families...
let's prevent those killings we know are scheduled to take place...
let's not create more victims as a matter of public policy...
enough pre-meditated, policy-based violence...
join me and let's abolish this damned thing...

in loving memory of sinbad who came to me at age 12, one day short of death at the humane association where he had been dropped 4 months earlier by his previous "owners," and spent four more pretty damn good years in a loving house with 5 or 6 other doggies...

peace out - <3

I hope that it is clear to everyone that TCASK is not a religious organization, and that we have a lot of members who are not "religious" and certainly not Christian. Still, I'm here as a Jesuit Volunteer, and I know that a large part of the abolition movement is motivated by a religious (and often Christian) faith tradition, and Easter provides a great time to reflect on why that is.

Many people forget that during the Easter season, and on Good Friday in particular, we are remembering an execution. Christ was executed for challenging the ruling class in his society. Christ was poor, with little connection to the wealthy and powerful. He was from an oppressed ethnicity (in the Roman empire), so in a lot of ways, very few things have changed in the pattern of executions over the last 2,000 years.

But I think that the Easter season lets us look beyond all of this to what is, for many people, the core belief and understanding that leads to abolition. Christ's execution reminds us of the fact that all people, even criminals, are people. Christian traditions across the country fall into the "pro-life" camp. This pro-life belief stems from an understanding that all human life is endowed with an inviolable dignity, a touch of Godliness. It is understanding that all human life is sacred to God, so sacred that Christ was sent to die so the rest of us, all sinners, could live, that leads so many Christians and Christian denominations to oppose the use of the death penalty.


I spent some of my Easter weekend re-reading Sister Helen Prejean's book Death of Innocents, a terrific read that everyone should peruse if they haven't already. In it, Prejean speaks of two men that she accompanied to their deaths who were, in her belief and to basic common sense judgment, innocent. But she also dwells on the Catholic church's slow progress (for which she deserves much of the credit) to its current stance calling for outright abolition.

Former Pope John Paul II finally moved the Catholic position to full abolition calling on all Catholics to be "unconditionally pro-life" a view which excludes the taking of human life, even the life of those guilty of horrible crimes. Such an act cannot be reconciled with the will of a loving God.

it could be said that the incubation of the modern anti-death penalty movement in our state occurred during the tennessee journey of hope - from violence to healing in 1999 ...

what is the journey???

according to their web site ... the journey of hope...from violence to healing is an organization that is led by murder victim family members that conducts public education speaking tours and addresses alternatives to the death penalty...

journey "storytellers" come from all walks of life and represent the full spectrum and diversity of faith, color and economic situation...they are real people who know first hand the aftermath of the insanity and horror of murder...they recount their tragedies and their struggles to heal as a way of opening dialogue on the death penalty in schools, colleges, churches and other venues...

in 1999 they spent 17 days criss-crossing tennessee speaking to thousands about their particular message that forgiveness is about the victim's family members - not perpetrators - and it leads to healing...

it is through the journey that i met one of my favorite people-characters in the world, george white ... i treasure seeing george at ncadp conferences and often share things in my presentations that george has unselfishly shared with all of us ...

that 1999 journey included a concert at the ryman organized by steve earle and included, jackson browne, emmylou harris, the indigo girls, and dixie chick natalie maines ...

this year's journey will tour virginia from october 13-29 and we hope will spend a couple of days in eastern tennessee ... sister helen prejean will once again join the journey for a few days oct. 21,22 and leave the 23rd...

the lil' jesuit dude is being encouraged to spend at least a week traveling with the journey which will lead into the 2006 ncadp conference in virginia (at a site outside of washington dc to be named shortly)...

tcask has a 10 minute video of 1999 tennessee journey footage that is available for use in presentations and discussions ... drop us a line at tcask@tcask.org or call us at 615-463-0070 ...

peace out - <3

I won't deny that, if you read us regularly, you probably get the impression that being an abolitionist organizer is a lot of work. Ok, I admit it, it is. Randy and I probably work about 70 hours a week on average. I personally aim to take a day off every two weeks. But we have fun too.


Case in point: Yesterday I was on the road fairly early heading off, once again, to Bethel College, to do presentations to 3 classes as well as a meeting or two and a conference call squeezed in. Now I gave three hour-long talks, at 10:00, 1:00, and 2:00. But after getting out of the 2:00 talk and a long and very rewarding discussion about what constitutes healing and forgiveness with a few students, I had to get right back on the road, but not before I went on a 4-D extravaganza. See Bethel had a ride set up where your wore funny 3-D glasses sat on a platform that rocked and were sprayed with water all while the screen in front of you gave the illusion of movement.

OK, it may sound cheesy, but it was fun and a great way to spend five minutes to decompress after angry listeners and hostile audiences, where it took me a while to win over some (and certainly not all) of the participants, by talking about who actually ends up on death row (i.e. the poor, racial minorities, and the mentally ill). So:

Take a few minutes and have some fun;
It'll help you to git 'er done.

All work and no play, remember.

it's rather easy when you start out organizing on this issue, to remain objective - distant, that is ...

in fact for some of us it's downright necessary and that "us" includes me ... i have toured death row in tennessee but i purposefully don't visit anyone on "the row" - i need the emotional distance or i know i will burn out, that is, not last for the long run (i.e. abolition) ...

in the beginning you know few people in "the business" and you maintain some private space apart from "the work," but the nature of grassroots organizing makes that difficult to maintain ...

why's that???

because organizing is all about relationships and successful organizing is all about establishing, building, and deepening those relationships so that a level of trust, faith, and compassion become a shared foundation that replaces ephemerality with the basis of socio-political success (e.g. we win!) ...

so no matter how hard you try the very thing you need to develop like a tree grows roots - relationships - keep eating away at your personal space ...

and so it is today and leads me to the point of this entry - reggie clemmons ...

now i have never met and i don't know reggie clemons - but i know his mother vera thomas ... you see i'm in the 2nd year of my second term on the board of the ncadp and i served with reggie's mother, vera thomas, during my first term ...

she's an older woman (relative to my 48 yrs), short (like my grandmother, g_d bless her soul), a little shy, and a person you want to get to know because she's a nice lady ...

and her son reggie (whose case is described as one of reasonable doubt) is now a month (2 months???) away from being killed by the state of missouri which brings me back to how it keeps gettin' personal...

to execute someone (i.e. commit homicide in the name of all us citizens) the state must paint the individual as a "monster" rather than identifying the crime (their act) as monstrous - these are two separate things entirely... and hell, we know that sometimes the state convicts and sentences the wrong person (Kirk Bloodsworth, Juan Melendez, Ray Krone to name only 3), yet the state maintains, sometimes even after an exoneration, that these innocent human beings are "monsters," or "scum of the earth" who don't deserve to live ...

and what the state never talks about, the most well kept secret of capital punishment's seemingly bottomless bag of dirty secrets is that these people on death row, guilty or innocent, have mothers, like vera thomas who suffer deeply and unimaginably for a crime they surely did not commit (and all too often their child on death row did not commit either) …

so when I receive the news from vera that one of her son’s co-defendant’s has been executed I know she must be apanic inside, more so than ever, and that I must tell you why it keeps getting’ personal and ask you to take action to try and stop vera’s son from being killed by the state of, in this case, missouri …

so visit reggie clemons website or write his mother vera thomas and ask how what you can do to help save her son’s life…

peace out - <3

well, just 13 days ago he was with some 60 other tennesseans lobbying on behalf of hr 3895, a moratorium and study bill...and we were all asmile because it was a bellwether day for those working on the death penalty in tennessee...

and now he's back on the hill this morning but a little grimmer due to the reason for his unexpected return ... hb 2924 (sb 2490) which would expand the death penalty to include those convicted of child rape ...

now all things being equal the emotion behind such a bill is understandable, nearly every human is horrified by the even the idea of a sexual predator attacking a child ... but all things are not equal ...

more than 120 people have been exonerated from the nation's death rows since 1976 and over half of all death sentences are overturned on appeal due to serious constitutional error ...

the death penalty system is unfair, inaccurate, ineffective, and costly ... expanding such a system, when we should be examining it, is irresponsible; it's like fighting fire with gasoline...

so on friday, after the house bill PASSED OUT OF SUBCOMMITTEE UNANIMOUSLY the lil' dude devised a mobilization plan targeting 4 key members of the house judiciary committee and they received letters and calls immediately pointing out the problem and asking them to help STOP the bill in the judiciary ...

the $15 million price tag alone should derail the bill and besides, if we have that kind of $$$ (which we don't), it should go into treatment and compensation funds for the victims, and not be wasted in pursuit of wrathful revenge ... we should ALWAYS be thinking about the healing of the victim of a crime as our first priority...

we'll update the story with a comment later today when our fearless jesuit volunteer returns ... until then ponder this, the senate sponsor raymond finney -- is a former president of blount county right to life and a member of tennessee right to life ...

peace out - <3

So it has now been almost two weeks since our momentous Justice Day on the Hill, and the reverberations are finally calming. A lot of people have asked, if you aren't going to pass legislation this year, when the session is ending, what is the point of having a lobby day? Well it's time that we addressed that question.

The most obvious answer, and the one that we've given previously is that it takes time to start educating legislators about the need for a moratorium and the problems with the death penalty system. And this is true. Most legislators, like most people generally, simply don't know all the facts: that we have innocent people on death row, that we target the poor and the mentally ill, that there is no deterrent effect etc. And that's certainly true. We need to start the education process early to help those who aren't with us yet learn, and to bolster up the spirits of those who are with us but may have been afraid to say so.



There is another, less obvious, reason, however. And that is simply getting noticed. Tennessee is a big state and a lot goes on here (despite what I may have complained to my friends back home), so it's hard to get people to notice the death penalty except when someone's getting executed. So getting mass media to pay attention to us isn't easy.

Justice Day on the hill has brought a ton of attention to the call for a moratorium. Check out previous posts, but you can see that our day brought an article in the Shelbyville Times-Gazette, an editorial in the Nashville Scene, and a story on News Channel 2. All from one day on the hill!

See media people want news and they want things that concern the decision makers and elites of our society. By bringing the issue right to them, we automatically provide a hook for the media. They are able (like mike browning did in the Channel 2 piece) to get contrasting legislative views and therefore have conflict and some drama in the piece. So going to the legislators can provide the angle that news reporters need to do a piece, and can get us noticed, bringing a little more information to a public that is pretty uninformed about the realities of the death penalty. So everyone go hit the state house!

so early, early up on saturday after a night of more, worst ever tornadic action in tennessee and into the office to train 2 people in moratorium resolution gathering from small businesses ...

this is a follow-up to a very successful march 1st letter-writing event and our first ever justice day on the hill (lobby day) on march 29th ... both of which are tools used to build and demonstrate political muscle that can carve out political space for elected officials to support your legislation ...

the resolutions (in this case from small businesses) are used to demonstrate support from employers who generate revenue for the local tax base inside the legislative district where they are located (other resolutions come from faith communities and various types of organizations) ...

we put together a small flip-page notebook to supplement a short, tight pitch script to use when talking with small business owners ... it's a n easy training that pummels away at the innocence issue ... these trainings are less than an hour long and empower volunteers to carry out an easy action with a pretty solid success rate ... we even heard about a likely volunteer recruit for this type of work who is a stay-at-home mom, loves to chat, and can take her child in a stroller into small business settings - that's SWEET!!!

the whole moratorium approach came up in discussion and i got folksy in this words, "you don't propose to a future spouse on your first date and you don't seek outright abolition in a southern legislative body in 2006..."

k' - i'm off to do other things, perhaps even a private moment or 2 ...

peace out - <3

posted by the tennessee dude Permalink    0 Comments

Well, here we are on the tube! Below check out the link to the story on the moratorium that aired last night. It's a good piece.

Click here to view TV News Story on Moratorium/Study Legislation

One thing that the story does not address is the difference between a moratorium and abolition and the fact that a number of groups that are not abolition groups are working for a moratorium, the most prominent being the NAACP, NAMI, and the ABA. Still, as an organizer, you've got to love that we are getting the issue aired publicly. Now that is gittin 'er done!

"Death Penalty Opponents Call For Moratorium"

Opponents of the death penalty are calling for Tennessee to delay executions. They contend there's enough evidence to show that Tennessee’s system is inaccurate and unfair.

At the very least, opponents said, a moratorium should be imposed until a study is conducted. There are 109 men and women on Tennessee's death row, 14 of them have more than one sentence.

Democratic State Representative Beverly Marrero of Memphis is sponsoring legislation to delay executions in Tennessee. Marrero is convinced life without parole is less expensive than execution. New Jersey enacted a moratorium this year after finding it had spent $253 million above the cost of life without parole.

Death penalty opponents are calling for a comprehensive study of whether Tennessee’s policy is effective and fair, but lawmakers like Republican State Senator Jim Tracy said while they're willing to study the issue, they're opposed to a suspension.

"I just feel you got to think of the families in this kind of situation, that's why I don't believe in a moratorium,” said Tracy.

Senator Tracy said he doesn't think supporters of a moratorium can get a sponsor to carry the controversial legislation in the Senate, but Representative Marrero said that won't stop her.

Illinois and New Jersey have imposed moratoriums on the death penalty. National organizations calling for moratoriums include the American Bar Association, the National Alliance on Mental Illness and the NAACP.

About two weeks ago, I had the pleasure of speaking at Belmont University with Hector Black (the cool dude in the over-alls above) and we had a very nice article written about the talk for the Freedom Forum. You can read the story below:
http://www.freedomforum.org/templates/document.asp?documentID=18063

Also, the call for a moratorium has received some terrific press this week. In a previous post (http://tcask.blogspot.com/2006/04/moratorium-in-news.html) you can read the article in Shelbyville Times-Gazette. Below is an editorial from the Nashville Scene about the need for a moratorium:
http://www.nashvillescene.com/Stories/Columns/2006/04/06/Stop_Killing_Start_Listening/index.shtml

Finally, either today or tomorrow on News Channel 2 between 4:00 and 6:00, there should be a story regarding the moratorium including interviews with yours truly and the sponsor of the moratorium bill, the wonderful Beverly Marrero. Check it out if you get a chance!

All this press is, of itself, good, but I think what's better is that it calls attention to the fact that our work is serious. More and more people are realizing that our system is simply broken and needs to be seriously examined. So congratulations to everyone who has been involved, because your work is having an effect. Even the press is noticing!

a rather cheeky reference by l. mann and h. glover (originally recorded by the swallows -1951 - also recorded by freddie king, southside johnny, and maria muldaur among others) that, in a blue way, tells us that it's quality not quantity that makes the difference ...


and so it was last night at the fuuc in nashville as juan melendez shared his story with 11 people in the beautiful sanctuary inside the church ... it was clear that the intimate setting made the impact of the story deeper than it may be tonight in the larger venue at vanderbilt university's sarratt cinema ...

the unitarian faith is deeply embedded in social justice action and deepening the involvement of this particular community would greatly help the development of an indigenous nashville chapter of tcask that is autonomous from but in union with the state office also located in nashville ... this is a community of actors as well as thinkers...

i met the chair of their social action committee, got hooked up with a member who used to be active on the issue and wants to reconnect, and, saw again someone who is passionate about the issue but for complicated reasons has not been able to work with tcask for many years ...

"the motion" in this instance may be to find a way to re-involve this person, that is, to facilitate a healing that will touch the faith community in such a way that they will take a more leadership based role with tcask here in nashville...

all obstacles are actually opportunities (paraphrasing a john lennon song ... among others) ... let's see how this one gets navigated because as the lil' jesuit dude might say, we gotta "git 'er done..."

This Spring, Texas Students Against the Death Penalty did their first ever alternative spring break to end the death penalty. There's an mtv video about it that everyone can check out here:
http://texasdeathpenalty.blogspot.com/

TCASK is in the process of forming a student caucus of TCASK for both high school and college students, kicked off at a state-wide student conference at MTSU in the fall and then (hopefully) an alternative spring break which we hope will include a tour of death row, a day on the hill visiting legislators, a rally, meetings with death row exonerees, victims' family members, and death row family members, and a day of grass roots moratorium resolution gathering. To win this fight, and soon, we need to energy and passion that students bring. We hope that the student caucus is a way to bring all of that energy together. Anyone who's interested or who has ideas should contact Alex Wiesendanger at alex@tcask.org or call the state office. The kids know how to git 'er done!

We've had fights at TCASK over the moratorium as a goal. Some people have thought that it's a cop out to not fight for pure abolition, but we've consistently maintained that a moratorium allows us to build bridges and have discussions with people who feel that they are death penalty supporters or (especially) politicians who don't feel that they can come out "against" the death penalty. Well, now we've got even more proof that this is true.

On Justice Day on the Hill last week, I had a meeting (along with a constituent) with a fairly moderate representative from a fairly moderate district. The constituent had stopped by earlier and dropped off information and asked when to stop back. So that afternoon, there we were, and we were ushered into the reps office.

He said, "Man! When I looked at the information you left me, I was thinking, 'Oh no, the death penalty, all this controversy!' But then I read the material and this isn't really about being for or against the death penalty, is it?"

Flabbergasted (first of all that he had read the material at all) I responded that no, this was about fairness and accuracy. And the rep, who is famous for being non-committal, just started talking about how he and his wife were really concerned about wrongful conviction, especially when we are talking about the death penalty. Final line (remembering that this legislation isn't going to pass until next year): "Come back and see me again next year, I certainly do agree with you." (Italics added)
Now, if we'd walked into that representative's office talking about abolition, we would have gotten nowhere, but everyone, EVERYONE, is concerned with fairness. Even harshly conservative reps support the idea of a study. So we can start talking to them and educating them about the issues of innocence, racism, cost, etc.

The Shelbyville Times-Gazette ran a story on our great efforts during Justice Day on the Hill, particularly the work of the Rutherford County and MTSU groups. Congratulations to them all. Read the article below:
http://www.t-g.com/story/1146749.html

Also, this article should remind us again of why we need a moratorium along with the study. It is unfair to ask policy-makers and commission members to make a rational decision about a public policy within the context of a specific case. We can see this even in this article talking about the recent date set for Sedley Alley (see the post below) here in Tennessee. Debating the merits of the death penalty system as a whole while at the same time considering executing any particular individual is simply unfair, and it is unrealistic to think that we could do so in a rational manner.

Antoinette Bosco (herself a murder victim's family member) wrote a terrific piece recently on Father McGivney, the founder of the Knights of Columbus and his views on the death penalty. I think that it's worth a read for everyone:

Father McGivney and the Death Penalty

By Antoinette Bosco Catholic News Service

This column is part of the CNS columns package.

A new book has been getting enormous coverage in ads and reviews, and rightly so. It is called "Parish Priest, Father Michael McGivney and American Catholicism" (Morrow). The book is the story of the young Connecticut priest who founded the Knights of Columbus and whose canonization cause has now been introduced.

Moved by seeing the pain of severe poverty and the deaths of too many overworked fathers who died too young, Father McGivney struggled to develop practical ways to ensure financial assistance to families should a breadwinner die. The Knights of Columbus was formed in 1882 to help such families. The Knights now report an international membership of l.7 million men.

I long have been intrigued by the amazing story of this priest, who died Aug. 14, 1890, at age 38. The reason for this lies partly in the fact that I live in Connecticut, not too far from the parishes where Father McGivney served.

Now that I have read Father McGivney's story, I will pray ever harder for his canonization because I truly believe in his sainthood. There was a surprise in the book that underscored that for me. In an era in America when the death penalty was in full force, Father McGivney tried to save a young man from being executed.

The killing by the young man was a headliner. An unemployed 21-year old named James "Chip" Smith, drinking and carousing one late December night, showing off by shooting a pistol near a saloon, was apprehended by a policeman named Dan Hayes. When the officer, also holding a gun, tried to get Smith's gun away from him, one of the guns went off, hitting the officer, who died a few hours later.

At trial in 1881, Smith was convicted of murder in the first degree and sentenced to be executed. Father McGivney, a regular visitor to the jail in New Haven who offered spiritual support to the prisoners, began to visit and counsel Smith often.

There were appeals on the grounds that this was not a "premeditated" shooting, but since it was a policeman who had lost his life, judges threw these appeals out.

On the Sunday before the execution, Father McGivney, "broken with emotion," as a reporter put it, celebrated a Mass for Smith. The priest told his people, "I trust that all of you will offer up fervent prayer to the throne of grace that God will strengthen and prepare us to perform that awful duty which we shall be called upon to perform before this time next Sunday.

"To me this duty comes with almost a crushing weight. If I could consistently with my duty be far away from here next Friday, I should escape perhaps the most trying ordeal of my life, but this sad duty is placed my way by providence and must be fulfilled. If we receive your prayers, Mr. Smith and I shall be sustained by the supreme power in the hour of our great trial."
Our Catholic bishops have put out a very strong statement calling for the end of the death penalty, asking "the Catholic community to bring about an end to the use of the death penalty in our land." I find myself praying to Father McGivney in heaven to help us all in this so important respect-life action.

I can only agree.

For anyone interested, Ms. Bosco will be speaking at the meeting of the Diocesan Council of Catholic Women April 21-22.

it seems that even while we were in the midst of conducting a hugely successful first-ever justice day on the hill that attorney general paul summers, was successfully seeking another execution date here in the volunteer state...

the tennessee supreme court, per curiam with justice adolpho birch not joining the other justices, set may 17th as an execution date for sedley alley ... alley was convicted of killing nineteen-year old lance corporal suzanne marie collins while she was jogging near millington naval base in millington, tennessee on july 11, 1985

given that the federal judge who issued a stay in this case in 2004 will not reinstate the stay even though the legal issues surrounding the stay have not been adjudicated and clarified, this date looks pretty serious...

alley's case is not one that tcask can easily utilize as an example of the failures of the death penalty system - mental illness and innocence claims aside, the crime itself was brutal by any measure and the victim was a young, female marine ... arlington national cemetary has a website for suzanne collins and advocates for sedley alley's execution on it ... ms. collins father appears deeply wedded to the idea that alley's execution will deliver some form of justice (it is not clear what he believes he will obtain through this act of violence) ... finally, the murder of suzanne collins is covered in the book journey into darkness, in fact the account of collins' murder is considered the best written part of the book...

it has been 19 years of pain for the collins' and perhaps the most cogent argument is one that collins' parents might consider for the future family members of homicide victims - accept life without parole and begin the healing process ... sedley alley has, guilty or innocent, controlled the lives of jack and trudy collins for far too long ... they could help keep future survivors' of homicide victims from traveling down the same torturous path that they have journeyed by opposing the death penalty...

there are some people who oppose the death penalty (in tennessee) who actually support the push for a thorough study of the state's death penalty system but oppose the moratorium on executions (which aligns them with many deeply conservative republican legislators) ... one need only see this execution date come up to see the most serious rationale for the moratorium ... we will oppose this execution but we will have to tread very carefully and select our messengers extremely well ...