What is the Takeaway From the Troy Davis Case

As most of you know, Troy Davis was executed at 11:08 PM eastern time on September 21, 2011 in Jackson, GA. I won't rehash the details, as the whole thing has made me physically sick. If you're unfamiliar, a Google search will bring you up to speed. The question now is what do we do, what have we learned from this? Since this type of incident is nothing new, I don't feel that there are any new lessons, but we are reminded of some important facts:

1. We must be vigilant about doing our civic duties. We cannot rightfully complain about how unfair our justice & political systems are if we skip out on jury duty, fail to vote (for someone who actually represents what we believe, not just a party vote), and don't actively get involved with groups/organizations that are trying to make a difference in our government and communities. And it is important that we hold elected officials accountable. Remember the stance they take on important issues, then let it be known whether you support that stance by voting to keep them or boot them out of office.


2. Sometimes, the call for action needs to come sooner. Troy Davis was convicted in 1989. I only heard about the case in the last two weeks. While I'm sure something was being done on the local level from the very beginning (I was only 4 years old at the time so I have no idea), what kind of strides could have been made if more people knew about it sooner? What if more churches, community groups, etc. had been able to spread the word and garner support for him sooner? We can't advocate for things we do not know about (which is why I wanted to knock some sense into those who berated folks on Twitter about "bandwagoning" because they learned about it at the last minute). Given that we have such a widespread and immediate forum via social networking, we shouldn't hesitate to use them.


3. Being in the wrong place at the wrong time with the wrong people could be a death sentence. This is especially true if you're Black in America; doubly true for Black men. We already know the odds are stacked against us and sometimes the only thing you have to be guilty of is being black. Knowing that, we should be conscious of our actions and associations. This doesn't mean that we live in fear; rather, it means being smart enough to survive.

In the end, it boils down to something that I retweeted the night Troy Davis was murdered: They won't give a sh*t about us until we give a sh*t about ourselves.