Transcripts For CSPAN2 Book Discussion On I Am Troy Davis 20

The woman who if you do know her, you know that this particular case, george davis case was not just work for. The people involved her family. I want to introduce you to win the. Hmm. [applause] as i was mulling what to say, one of the most quoted phrase is sprang loud and clear. Pardon my voice. One phrase rang loud and clear. He who had saved a life have saved the world. I cannot think of a family that has done more to save the world than the davis family. [applause] for some 20 years they fought relentlessly to prevent troys execution, and for 20 years they succeed, but they did far more than that. They called on unheard of attention to that cruel and arbitrary nature of the bed Death Penalty. They demonstrated just how easily someone can get wrapped up in a system that is racist and im just. There commitment and considerable sacrifice will undoubtedly mean fewer death sentences, sparing men and 92 different ventura. He has saved a life have saved the world. It is impossible to talk about troy without mentioning his older sister, martina, devoted to her brother, she was the face of the campaign to save him and as many people know here today, she was a force of nature. Martina was my partner in crime, taking try on a call with reporters that resulted in his first stay of execution. After that she became one of my closest friends, and she became a mentor, showing me the true meaning of family. The davises faith in god, and their loyalty to each other, unsurpassed. They have endured more than any people have ever met, and yet throughout their monumental struggle, i watched them but their own burdens decide to bring into the fold their friends and fellow activist, making many of us honor remembers of the family along the way. There selflessness has had an indelible impact upon me. In some small sense, it can be said that the davis family saved me and countless other abolitionists, human rights advocates, and Close Friends to learn critical life lessons from them now in turn it is our collective duty to make sure that troys death was not in vain. We must do our part to save the world by continuing this fight to abolish the Death Penalty statebystate and execution by execution. Nobody is better placed than they to say why it this is so critical, so i am humbled, proud and honored to introduce troys Middle Sister Kimberly Davis and his and his sister ebony and her daughter, kristin, whom you will hear from later this evening. Please join me in welcoming cam. [applause] [applause] good evening. I wanted thank you all for coming out on this great event because, as you know, tomorrow will mark the 2year anniversary of my brothers execution. It has been a long battle, long struggle, but you all have stood by us. I want to thank larry with in the international. Terrell brown, equal justice u. S. A. , the naacp. , ms. Jen marlowe. We also have cooper with amnesty uk. Can you please stand . As windy mentioned to, when we first started out, it was in the davis family, it was my sister, martina who was persistent in getting my Brothers Story out. Through the struggle, like she said, you know, they have come to be extended family. We have larry, my nephew, kim, the duchess, on decamp, when the is onto windy. On to laura. And it jen is our baby sister. But you know, got has actually kept us together. We have so many supporters, so many very dear friends that are here. I dont want to miss anything, but we have gloria, roseanne. I just want to thank all of you that are here. We are here tonight on one occasion, and that is to celebrate the life and the legacy of troy. Some of his last words were to his friends and supporters to continue to fight in the Death Penalty, and that is a were going to do. My sister was the voice of tory demands she always told people that she was our brothers keeper. She was a. When tri was executed today that he was executed he gave each and every Family Member and each and every person that came and visited them on death row that day, he gave all of us a charge. He told us, do not cry. Do not hold your head down. You dont have anything to be ashamed of. He said he wanted to thank us for standing by him, thanked us for holding up his name, thank us for fighting for justice, and he wanted us to continue that fight. He said, whenever we do, it was not going to end with him. He said it did not begin with him, and it would not end with him. There are many more troy daviss that came before him and many will come after. Talking to someone last night, and we were actually talking about tries life in prison. For 17 and a half years they had it won oregon. When troy went before the parole board this warm wrote letters to the parole board asking them not to execute. We had a very flawed justice system. We saw that firsthand in this city of savannah, the state of georgia. After the 17 and a half years, the new warning that came to that prison, warren humphries, dont think any of you know what i am ready to say. On that first days that he came to the present he told the jury, your celebrity days are over. I will make her last days on earth the living hell. Troy could not understand why the new warden that came into the prison had this to say to him. Troy said he continued to give him respect. That wording, they had recreation, arts and crafts. Crochet different things. We had everyone had a bookmark. He did all kinds of things that he crocheted. Warden took away the crochet. After he took that away, he went to take away their visitation, the contact visits for the inmates. They had contact visits. Before troy was even at that prison. He took away the contact visits. With the death row inmates there were able to get specs out of the vending machine from a Family Members and friends to heat up during visitation. The warden stopped snacks for the inmates. Then he put them on a 23hour lock down. They had one hour to come out to eat. He had a decision to have used to take a shower, go out on the right guard and make 115minute phone call to a Family Member. Through it all he continued to keep his faith in god, continue to pray, and our families still continues to go and visit him every other weekend. We went four hours from savannah georgia, we went to georgias death row every saturday for 17 and a half years. And ventura told us, you know, he wanted us to go on with our lives, but we told him that was our life, he was our life, and if he was in prison serving on death row, we were all in prison then we started going every other weekend. But when the wharton put him on the 23hour lock down and the day that my brother was executed , warden humphries actually came to mr. Benjamin and was bragging. Do you know who i am . And he said, yes, you why they warden have the prison. No, do you really know who i am . In the asked, who are you . He stayed with a smirk on his face that he was actually a Police Officer on the streets of savannah in 1989 when the officer was killed. Before troy got his last execution date the warden came to a troy two weeks before and told him that he had had another execution date scheduled. Troy told us in a frantic panic. My sister called his attorney. The attorney said that they did not have an execution date scheduled. The warden was just trying to get an arousal and out of you. Lo and behold two weeks later we got notification that troy did have another execution date. We were grateful that the Supreme Court actually gave as an evidentiary hearing. The devonshire hearing was actually brought back to the 11th circuit, which was the same court that actually convicted troy. We could not have a fair trial in the 11th circuit. It was many of you that were there during the hearing with the 11th circuit, we had judge william more who was actually supposed to be a judge for justice on the stand when we had the witnesses that recanted their testimony coming to testify to tell the truth, we had the judge sitting on the stand asleep. But the case did not matter to him. It was this city of savannah one of the lead detectives said that he can remember the 70s, the 90s, but he really cannot remember anything about the 80s. He was one of the lead detectives believe the district attorney, under his rent, you had three other people that he sentenced to death that the death sentences were overturned because of prosecutorial misconduct in their cases. This system in savannah, georgia, was a very flawed system. This system in the state of georgia was a very flawed system when we know that something is wrong, we need to stand up for what is right and make our voices heard. We know that the Death Penalty is wrong. It is okay for us to come and sit here in the church to honor my brother, but to honor him will be to get out and make your voice is heard. Join one of these organizations, get out and speak against the Death Penalty. Our elected officials are just that, elected officials. We put them in their job. They are not doing a job that we want them to do, if theyre not doing what is right we need to get their behinds out there and get someone in that can do what is right. We are going to stand together and end the Death Penalty. His last words were for us to continue to fight to end the Death Penalty, and that is what we will do. Still wanted to c. S. Enraged. You can make a difference by your voice. Let your voice be heard. Stand up and let your voice be heard. I am troy davis. Thank you. [applause] [applause] can we get another applause for kim and the family. [applause] i am going to bring up the women the woman that is the coauthor of the book that you have all heard about. I am troy davis, coauthored the book with martina davis. In the book as well are the words of troy. Want you to help me welcome by applause. [applause] it is just an unbelievable honor and privilege to be here with all of you to mark this point in what has been really an incredible journey that i have been on and then i have been on with the davis family and with so many of you. There are a lot of people to think. I will try to mention a few that have not already been mentioned. You know, talk about this in a moment. The idea really came from try and martina, but if it was not for ruth is she here . Yes. We probably would not be sitting here, at least with the book tonight. So thank you. She not only worked as the editor of the book, it but she believed in the books on my say she knew it had to find the right home and knew that that right home would be market books sitting here, and there could not be a better partner anywhere to bring this story. Thank you so much. Doreen shapiro, it has been a year. All three of my books. Totally pro bono just out of love has read it draft after draft correcting me medical errors i am ashamed to admit i may, but so appreciative, and so many friends and supporters and people that i have gone to know and called family over the course of these last five years since i first met the davis family, and i first met them because i saw martinez beat on democracy now. I had never heard of the case before, and this was that day after he survived his first execution date by about 23 hours. I heard her speaking on democracy now, and i think wendy said it best. This woman is a force of nature. I wanted to learn more about the brother she was so determined to save and his innocence she believed in so strongly in started doing some research on the internet and came across the Amnesty International report which laid out all of the specifics of his case, their recommendations, the botched investigation, the lack of any kind of meaningful physical evidence linking try to the murder of a Police Officer who was killed. I realized what a travesty of justice it was. I wrote a letter to troy just a note of solidarity. He wrote back and we began corresponding. Think that is true for some many of us. It started with driving a car and not realizing that troy was determined to right back. That is how we created that web of hundreds of hundreds of Close Friendships. In one of those letters he just said, oh, you should make a film about martina. That is a story of love and love and tribulation and determination. Remember seeing that it was right. The struggle was the most powerful window into the larger story of the human impact of the Death Penalty and the injustice of the Death Penalty and what it does to innocent families all over the country. When i finally met martina about a year later and she mentioned off hand, people keep telling me i should write a book and i would really like to, but i dont have time to write a book. Out there saving the world. Hard to find the time. I need someone to work with me on it and pretty much right away i said would you like me to be that person . Would be honored. That is how we began working on it. The basis of the book is from extensive years worth of interviews, also with other Family Members, kimberly, with their mother, Virginia Davis passed away a few months before try was executed, and troy himself. We devised a way for him to participate in the book, letters that we wrote. He would contribute stories and anecdotes, phone conversations. I would say that the bulk of the book, most of it happened after the execution, most of the work because martinez called me one week after the funeral when she had gotten a letter. It was postmarked the day of his execution, in which she told a to make sure that she finished writing a book. She called me with that letter still in her lap and said, this is now my highest priority, and we go right then into what was to be the last two months of martinas life. I remember saying, you know, because we were talking about some painful things, starting with when the u. S. Supreme court denied his final appeal which paved the way for the execution. Martina and troy and kimberly and his mother passing two weeks after that of a broken heart, not being able to endure a fourth execution date, the whole summer waiting for it to be set. I said, dont you want to wait until a little more time has passed . We dont have to dive into that leap of the pain. We can wait with their usual grit and determination she said, no, lets do it now while the memories are still fresh. Had she not have that courage, again, we would not be sitting here together right now to launch her book and troys book and the davis family story. I would like to have just a moment where we celebrate and appreciate martina. [applause] and virginia and martina and try and kimberly and ebony, Virginia Davis to was a civil rights activist yourself and raised five children to be fighters for justice, warriors for justice for Virginia Davis. We have several passages from the book that we want to share for you tonight, but rather than rereading them we have a panel of readers that we would like to ask to come up. If you could stand just on the front row there in order please from one to five, five short passages. You and i are going to introduce the readers of the group said that you know who is reading and why they were selected to read. And then before each reading i will very briefly tell you the context of what part of the book that comes from. [silence] hello. This is on . Yes. Very good. So, i am going to introduce to of your readers. The first is a man that i have come to know since 2009 working on the case of troy davis right here in new york, a man who many of you may know his name again is yusef salaam. [applause] this man, when he was 15 years old, was convicted of a crime that he did not commit and a very, very wellknown man went on television and said, we need to bring back the Death Penalty in the state of new york so that we can execute this man and the other four people that were part of the central park five. What is here today. Fourteen years of the time. The next speaker will introduce is lawrence hayes, a man who knows all too well what it means. He sat on death row for two and a half years. More than that, lawrence is a warrior, a leader for justice. He campaigned for years, since i cant remember when, on behalf of Troy Anthony Davis but countless other men and women who sit on death row. So i want to introduce lawrence haze. [applause] sandwich to in between is laura more i. I first met her break here in 2009. Actually we first of the working of the book. Her position was campaign director. Act like she spearheaded the campaign. That is just a position, just the title, it says nothing about the partnership with. [applause] and on the other side, a lot of you probably know of her as an activist, a Tony Award Winning playwright. A Global Movement to end violence against women and girls worldwide. Have been talking for years, talking about martina. I wanted them to meet, sought a connection between them. A lot of reason for this connection, and one of them was because in 2010 he was diagnosed with advanced stages during cancer. And clean now, but the way that she approached her battle with cancer, her struggle, the courage, love, the determination to live not just for self but to be able to continue to fight for a better world for all people, so much the heart and soul of martina. That is what i saw connecting them and it was such a pleasure to be able to bring each year today. [applause] and next we have the and resistor of the troy davis, ebony davis, the youngest of the five davys siblings. Of what set read what she wrote on facebook last year on his birthday because this is more than i can say in better words that i can say them. Happy birthday to the greatest brother the world is still talking about. That means job well done. I am proud to be your baby sister. The First Reading is from a passage in the book which was 2007. There had been an execution date set. It was july 16th. Just met, the execution was set for the next day. July 17th at 7 00 p. M. July 16th, 2007, just then mama cell phone rang. Virginia punched through the numbers as quickly as she could say she could hear the voice of troy. Hi, mom. How did the hearing go . The viejo put herself, speaker so that troy could hear martina who was still dancing and shouting. You hear that the money . The south on to your the reaction. For a moment there was silence. It almost an audibly, thank you,