 Howard University students protesting at the White House last night. 13 were arrested.
|
By Debra Sweet
YOUR GOVERNMENT enforces a culture of greed, bigotry, intolerance and ignorance. So says World Can’t Wait’s call to Drive Out the Bush Regime, circulated in 2005.
We could add to it: your government enforces systematic practice of mass incarceration, "stop and frisk" procedures applied to Black and Latino people, and racist application of the death penalty.
We need a vibrant society of people acting in all sorts of ways to stop the crimes of their government. I’m asking you to be a financial sustainer of World Can’t Wait, for that reason, right now.
Twitter was alive with questions last night. Actor Alec Baldwin asked a simple and basic question: "When do Cheney and Rumsfeld go on trial for murder? Will that trial be in Texas? Georgia?"
Thomas Ruffin, one of Troy Davis’ lawyers, was on Democracy Now late last night, as the helicopters hovered over the death row prison where Troy was killed by the state of Georgia.
As the state forced the broadcast to end, a recording of Billie Holiday singing Strange Fruit carried on. The lyrics include "here is a strange and bitter crop." Ruffin called the state’s act a "legal lynching" and said that it "is a threat to all innocent life."
David Swanson, in Troy Davis and Our Pro-Life Government: "Our government now kills, as a rule, rather than taking prisoners. And it kills with unmanned drones. It also kicks in doors at night and disappears people… Our government’s status as pro-life is in grave doubt. Its title as the greatest purveyor of violence in the world remains in place."
Bravo to Howard University students who sat in front of the White House, some arrested last night, in protest of the imminent execution.
Bravo to the hundreds, including rapper Big Boi of Outkast, who protested Troy Davis’ execution outside the prison in Jackson, GA last night.
Bravo to hundreds of people marching last night in Harlem, NYC with Amnesty International, Harlem activists, and Revolution newspaper. Bravo to those who gathered in protest in many other cities around the country.
Bravo to World Can’t Wait in Philadelphia, who is confronting former "Defense" Secretary Robert Gates with a protest when he speaks at the Constitutional Center:
They say: "something is seriously wrong when the state kills troy davis but lets war criminals like Robert gates walk free. Let’s change this!" Protest Robert Gates at the Constitution Center today:
Location: National Constitution Center (center lawn)
Time: 6:00PM Thursday, September 22nd
Two weeks from today is the 10th anniversary of the US bombing and occupation of Afghanistan.
Stop and think: the U.S. government is pre-meditating the killing of civilians with night raids in Afghanistan and drone bombings in Pakistan.
Let’s show the energy displayed in the last 24 hours in a righteous effort to stop the state murder of Troy Davis and expand it to stopping the occupations for empire. None of it should be done in our name!
October anti-war eventst. Add yours! Make your plans. It’s not too late to tweet, message, blog, write and organize. If you tweet, be sure to promote #AfghanistanTuesday on Tuesdays: let’s reach a critical mass on that.
SIGN up to be part of World Can’t Wait’s anti-war presence on October 6 in Washington D.C. in an ongoing occupation of Freedom Plaza.