the only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing…
attributed to edmund burke

at 2:12 am on june 28th the state of tennessee’s lethal cocktail took its toll on the body of sedley alley while his children april and david held hands and watched him take his last breath…

just moments before the lil’ jesuit dude re-entered our circle to announce that the dogged actions of the attorney general’s office had added to the state’s mounting homicide total, i had “given permission” to people to return home so as to make sure that they took care of themselves and their loved ones(many parents were in attendance who had small children at home with their spouse or partner)…

i stood in circle with the 50 remaining vigilers … only the beautiful minor key strummings of michael kelsh’s guitar cast ripples upon the silence of our witness … and alex’s cracking voice shared with us that april and david’s father had left this earth … and in the paralyzing moments of shock that followed i wondered what will become of this moment, this pointless execution, this misplaced and failed attempt to bring solace to those who were close to suzanne marie collins … and said to myself…

so what will i do today…

what will i do today that i did not yesterday or the day before that will add another brick to the construction of a movement that will end this shameful and futile policy…as the executive director of our state’s anti-death penalty organization what will i do that will make my efforts more efficient and more effective…

and i decided that while i will give myself the space and time to grieve this misstep, this mistake, this missed opportunity to address real needs rather than pander to our primal and fraudulent howls for revenge, i will also rededicate myself to the strategic aim of ending the state’s use of killing human beings as a legitimized policy response to the tragedy of murder…

and in the aftermath people came up to me and later wrote to me asking the same question of themselves…

so what will i do today…what step can i take to show that sedley alley, father to two new survivor’s of a homicide victims, did not die with my consent, did not die as the first domino in a line, did not die in vain…

and so i want to share with you some of the steps you can take, steps that you may not have taken yesterday but are willing, with the fresh taste of empty killing still bitter on your tongue, to take today to end this disgraceful and barren state policy…

so what will i do today…

here are 10 steps that you can take to build the movement to end executions in tennessee…

· send the e-mail addresses and names of 2 people to our office to help tcask build its contact, alert, and information distribution web…
· solicit and obtain an invitation for the lil’jesuit dude to make a presentation to your faith community
· sign up one (your) faith community for the national weekend of faith in action on the death penalty – they will receive a dvd of the documentary the empty chair…
· become a member of tcask by visiting the website and click on the donate to tcask button (a secure paypal site) or e-mailing the office and ask that a membership form be sent to you
· visit the owner of a small business that you patronize … ask that owner to sign a resolution supporting a moratorium and send us the contact information to follow-up
· visit the tcask blog at least 3x/week to keep yourself up-to-date with what tcask is doing, what steps it is taking to build a grassroots power base, and developments in tennessee death row cases
· volunteer to help pass a municipal moratorium resolution in your city no matter the size of your city
· join the tcask board of director’s fundraising and development committee – you can work from home and participate in regular conference calls
· commit to writing a letter to the editor at least once a month and participating annually in the international death penalty abolition day write-a-thon from where you live
· write a letter to your state legislators quarterly using individual cases to demonstrate how they reveal specific problems with the death penalty system and explain, in simple terms, that it is a broken system

as i process what i experienced leading up to sedley alley’s death i’m led back again and again to the idea that each of you should feel empowered to act so that this execution, and any to follow, are not in vain….

so now i’ve taken a step today, in sharing this reflection with you, that i would not have taken prior to june 28th… as you process the feelings that shadow you in the aftermath of sedley alley’s unnecessary death ask yourself a fundamental question…

so what will i do today…

peace out - <3