Rep. John Lewis on Imminent Execution of Troy Davis: "Race is Everything in This Case"

By Amy Goodman, Democracy Now!. Posted September 23, 2008.

Amy Goodman: We begin in Georgia, where the struggle to save the life of death row prisoner Troy Davis has come down to its last hours. Davis is scheduled for execution later today. An African American, he was convicted for killing a white police officer, Mark Allen McPhail, in 1991. The case was largely built on witness testimony. But since the trial, seven of the nine non-police witnesses said they were coerced by police and have recanted their testimony. There is no direct physical evidence tying Davis to the crime scene. The murder weapon was never found, and there's no DNA or fingerprint evidence.

Davis's case has attracted international attention, with supporters including former President Jimmy Carter and Pope Benedict XVI.

Davis received two setbacks Monday, when Georgia's State Board of Pardons and Paroles refused to reconsider its decision to deny him clemency. The Georgia Supreme Court also rejected granting a stay of execution, with Justice Robert Benham casting the lone dissent. Davis's fate now rests with the US Supreme Court, which has also been asked to consider a stay of execution.

In a minute, we'll speak to Troy Davis's sister, Martina Correia, who has led the campaign to save her brother's life, as she fights for her own as she deals with cancer. But first I turn to Democratic Congress member John Lewis of Georgia. A veteran civil rights activist, Lewis has been a leading voice for Davis's case. I spoke to Congress member Lewis just before the show.

Rep. John Lewis: This is a very sad and grave day in the state of Georgia, in our nation and in the world. A man that could really be innocent--and all of the evidence tends to dramatize and quantify that this man may go to his death later today as an innocent human being. And when you commit that final decision and later discover that he is truly, truly innocent of the crime that he's been accused of committing, there is not any way to bring him back. I just think it's wrong and it's unfair, and it will be the greatest miscarriage of justice.

The majority of the people that testified in this case have now recanted their testimony and their position. And I don't quite understand how the system of justice in America and in the state of Georgia can come any way close to being fair to this one human being. For the state of Georgia and for our judicial system in America to stand by and see this man executed would be a barbaric act, as far as I'm concerned.

AG: You are a civil rights leader. How does race play in here?

JL: Race is everything in this case. This is a case involving a young African American male and a white--young white male police officer. And the cards are stacked against this young black man. This has a long history. This is not something that just happened in the past few years, but have been a long history in the state of Georgia, and especially in the American South, of being so quick and so apt to electrocute or provide capital punishment for low-income people and for people of color.

AG: The Supreme Court doesn't even meet until next week. How could it intervene?

JL: Well, the Supreme Court, to me--I just don't understand it, and I've been around for a long time. I have fought some battles, and I've been around a long time. The Supreme Court is saying they're not even going to meet, they're not even going to take up the case until the 29th of this month. That's next week. And you're talking about electrocuting the man today.

Justice Thomas, who's from Georgia and from the same city and county where this case originated, could intervene now, today, the next few hours. But I'm not so sure that Justice Thomas, as the designated justice of this circuit, is going to intervene. He doesn't have a history of setting aside cases of this nature.

AG: Is there any other avenue of reprieve?

JL: Well, I think the governor could have and the parole board could have an emergency meeting, but I don't see that happening.

AG: Do you know Troy Davis, Congressman Lewis?

JL: Well, I know of Troy Davis. I've never met him. I know his family, his mother, his wonderful sister, who is a cancer survivor, who's been out there fighting to save her brother but also to save her own life and save the lives of others.

I've testified before the parole board for them to stay, and they did delay the first execution. But he wrote me a very, very long letter thanking me for intervening and trying to help. That's my first and only time testifying before a parole board.

AG: Congressman Lewis, I saw you at Invesco Field in Denver. My question is, here we see the first African American presidential nominee--nominee of a major party, and yet, on the other hand, you have cases like this. On the issue of how far we have come when it comes to racial equality?

JL: Well, as a nation and as a people, we have come a distance. We made progress. When you see a Barack Obama emerging as the likely next president of the United States, it seems like everything is pointing in that direction. But in spite of all of the changes, in spite of all of the progress that we've made as a nation and as a people, we still have so far to go. The scars and stains of racism are still deeply embedded in every corner, in every aspect of the American society, where we see recent polls that are coming out today saying that a large number of people cannot bring themselves, because of racial feelings and beliefs, to vote for an African American.

See more stories tagged with: death penalty, troy davis, john lewis, martina correia

Amy Goodman is the host of the nationally syndicated radio news program, Democracy Now!

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