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UPDATE: Gary was executed 6/22/00
Poem written after Shaka's State Sanctioned Murder
Shaka Sankofa/Gary Graham's Final Statement
A Case of Mistaken Identity Gary Graham, now known as Shaka Sankofa, has spent 18 years on death row and is scheduled to die on June 22, 2000, for a murder he did not commit. He has exhausted all available avenues of judicial relief, and his fate now rests with the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles and Governor George W. Bush.
Update:Gary Graham/Shaka Sankofa Is Murdered by the State of Texas
On June 22, 2000, the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles refused to stop the scheduled execution of Shaka Sankofa/Gary Graham.
Gary's fate rested with the 18-member board, which could have recommended that Gov. George W. Bush issue a 120-day reprieve, a commutation or a pardon.
The board voted 14-3 against the 120-day reprieve, 12-5 against commutation to a lesser sentence, and 17-0 against a conditional pardon. One member is on administrative leave and did not vote.
Said Gerald Garrett, the board chairman,"The members of the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles are fully aware of the responsibility we have in rendering our votes as part of the clemency review process. I can say, unequivocally, that the board's decision not to recommend clemency was reached after a complete and unbiased review of the petition and evidence submitted."
When word came that The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles denied Graham a reprieve, supporter Ashanti Chimuranga called to the crowd with a bullhorn, "Brothers and sisters, we need to come together for this."
She announced the board's denial, producing shouts of "Murderers! Murderers! Bush is a murderer!'' against a back beat of throbbing drums.
The United States, in addition to being one of the few countries allowing the death penalty, is one of the only countries in the world that does not ban the execution of individuals convicted of crimes committed as a juvenile (under the age of 18).
Gary/Shaka is the 17th such individual executed in the U.S. since 1976, and the 8th since September 1997. Of the 8 individuals executed since 1997 throughout the world for crimes committed as juveniles, 7 have been in the United States and 1 in Iran.
Mike Graczyk from the Associate Press, who witnessed Gary's execution, said it was very obvious from the way he looked that he had put up a struggle. Mr. Graczyk said that Gary made a long, rambling and angry final statement. Gary maintained his innocence to the end, saying "Gary Graham is being murdered today. ... The truth will come out."
Outside the prison about an hour before Gary's execution, around 100 black activists and other opponents of Gary's execution attempted to walk to the other side of the prison and confront about 20 Ku Klux Klansmen demonstrating in favor Gary's of execution. The police separated the groups.
Charles Lee, Grand Dragon of the White Camelia Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, said that after all the years and expense, it was time for this criminal to be executed. He added that Gary was not a good guy.
Lee and another man showed up in full Klan regalia. Others waved Confederate flags.
However, Gary's supporters were by far the most vocal and visible, and are legion because of the condemned killer's active media presence throughout his years on death row.
Prison authorities took no chances, forcing activists on both sides of the issue to opposite ends of the prison.
The crowd marched out of the prison area and into the streets of downtown Huntsville, chanting "Free Shaka Sankofa!"
By early afternoon, black militants arrived. Although they had promised to bring rifles, they came unarmed. Even weaponless, they were able to make their presence known.
In Philadelphia, about 50 demonstrators gathered downtown to protest the state killing of Gary Graham/Shaka Sankofa. The crowd rallied on the sidewalk across from Philadelphia City Hall, within sight of the Philadelphia District Attorney's office, ruled by the iron fist of self-proclaimed "Queen of Capital Punishment" District Attorney Lynn Abraham.
The demonstrators took over 15th Street, blocking all traffic for several minutes, creating a line with a banner reading "Don't kill Shaka Sankofa" stretching the width of the street. As the police drew near, it appeared a there might be a standoff.
Within minutes, however, the Philadelphia police department made the decision to re-route traffic and allow the demonstrators to "keep the street." With bullhorn and microphones, the demonstrators then marched through downtown streets, shouting and chanting.
As another human rights abuse is committed here in the so-called leader of the western world, the state killing of Gary marks another sad night in our long and brutal history, and the loss of morality is mourned.
Sources:
Associated Press
World Socialist WS
AIUSA
6/22/00By Leslie Shaefer (Miss Moses) www.missmoses.com
amerikkkan euphemisms transform
murder into injection
barbaric vengeance into justice
smirking politicians pass
another buck
duck responsibility
in the name of societal utility
it's the courts
it's the board
it's the governor
it's the people
constitutional COP outs
and justification of bloodthirst
wrapped in legal commentary
leaders become led by misinformed opinion pollswhile we dispose of human souls
is a 5-4 supreme court wishy-wash not evidence
of reasonable doubt?
there is nothing reasonable tonight under
Texas skies
infectious lies
inoculated and silenced
in the name of state-sponsored violence
legal homicide
in the most premeditated fashion
now we discuss and mistrust polarized passion
klan called him "boy" on his death gurney
"eyewitness" maintained her mistake
then the endless tease ends with ONE vote of aJUSTICE
lady "justice" may be blind
but she's not deaf
she hears the cries of innocent
and guilty blood
they silenced his final statement mid-sentence
stared truth in the face and boldly spit
potassium bromide cocktails into veins
now they'll sip cocktails and back pat political gainsthey without capital get the punishment
they without red-line capitol hill phones
they without the foresight
of being born white
and even if blessed with melanin deficiency
right to life hinges on one contingency
cash stops electric currents
plugs up IV tubes
renders cyanide tablets inert
breaks limbs and timbers of gallows
makes blank the fire of the squad
and provides the illusion of favor of GodShaka follows behind Cleo, Betty, Ricky, Sean
crying for moratorium
Mumia awaits in the wings
while egos and face-saving keeps them clipped
stifles flight in the natural
feels good to keep the poor man down
keep him hidden away in rural prison towns
Not In My Back YardTRUTH is increasing in volume
whispers and gasps of death chamber lips
echo centuries of shackles and slavemaster whips
raises her voice to her sister who sleepsand arouses revolution while God and I weep.
Final Statement of Shaka Sankofa:I would like to say that I did not kill Bobby Lambert. That I'm an innocent black man that is being murdered. This is a lynching that is happening in America tonight. There's overwhelming and compelling evidence of my defense that has never been heard in any court of America. What is happening here is an outrage for any civilized country to anybody anywhere to look at what's happening here is wrong.
I thank all of the people that have rallied to my cause. They've been standing in support of me. Who have finished with me.
I say to Mr. Lambert's family, I did not kill Bobby Lambert. You are pursuing the execution of an innocent man.
I want to express my sincere thanks to all of y'all. We must continue to move forward and do everything we can to outlaw legal lynching in America. We must continue to stay strong all around the world, and people must come together to stop the systematic killing of poor and innocent black people. We must continue to stand together in unity and to demand a moratorium on all executions. We must not let this murder/lynching be forgotten tonight, my brothers. We must take it to the nation. We must keep our faith. We must go forward.
We recognize that many leaders have died. Malcom X, Martin Luther King, and others who stood up for what was right. They stood up for what was just. We must, you must, brothers. That's why I have called you today. You must carry on that condition. What is here is just a lynching that is taking place. But they're going to keep on lynching us for the next 100 years, if you do not carry on that tradition, and that period of resistance.
We will prevail. We may loose this battle, but we will win the war. This death, this lynching will be avenged. It will be avenged, it must be avenged. The people must avenge this murder. So my brothers, all of y'all stay strong, continue to move forward.
Know that I love all of you. I love the people, I love all of you for your blessing, strength, for your courage, for your dignity, the way you have come here tonight, and the way you have protested and kept this nation together. Keep moving forward, my brothers. Slavery couldn't stop us. The lynching couldn't stop us in the south. This lynching will not stop us tonight. We will go forward. Our destiny in this country is freedom and liberation. We will gain our freedom and liberation by any means necessary. By any means necessary, we keep marching forward.
I love you, Rev. Jackson. Bianca, make sure that the state does not get my body. Make sure that we get my name as Shaka Sankofa. My name is not Gary Graham. Make sure that it is properly presented on my grave: Shaka Sankofa.
I died fighting for what I believe in. I died fighting for what was just and what was right. I did not kill Bobby Lambert, and the truth is going to come out. It will be brought out.
I want you to take this thing off into international court, Min. Robert Mohammed and all y'all. I want you, I want to get my family and take this down to international court and file a law suit. Get all the video tapes of all the beatings. They have beat me up in the back. They have beat me up at the unit over there. Get all the video tapes supporting that law suit. And make the public exposed to the genocide and this brutal world, and let the world see what is really happening here behind closed doors. Let the world see the barbarity and injustice of what is really happening here. You must get those video tapes. You must make it exposed, this injustice, to the world. You must continue to demand a moratorium on all executions. We must move forward, Minister Robert Mohammed.
Ashanti Chimurenga, I love you for standing with me, my sister. You are a strong warrior queen. You will continue to be strong in everything that you do. Believe in yourself, you must hold your head up, in the spirit of Winnie Mandela, in the spirit of Nelson Mandela. Y'all must move forward. We will stop this lynching.
Reverend Al Sharpton, I love you, my brother.
Bianca Jagger, I love all of you. Y'all make sure that we continue to stand together.
Reverend Jesse Jackson, know that this murder, this lynching will not be forgotten. I love you, too, my brother. This is genocide in America. This is what happens to black men when they stand up and protest for what is right and just. We refuse to compromise; we refuse to surrender the dignity for what we know is right. But we will move on, we have been strong in the past. We will continue to be strong as a people. You can kill a revolutionary, but you cannot stop the revolution. The revolution will go on. The people will carry the revolution on. You are the people that must carry that revolution on, in order to liberate our children from this genocide and for what is happening here in America tonight. What has happened for the last 100 or so years in America. This is the part of the genocide, this is part of the African (holocaust [?]), that we as black people have endured in America. But we shall overcome, we will continue with this. We will continue, we will gain our freedom and liberation, by any means necessary. Stay strong. They cannot kill us. We will move forward.
To my son, to my daughter, all of you. I love all of you. You have been wonderful. Keep your heads up. Keep moving forward. Keep united. Maintain the love and unity in the community.
And know that victory is assured. Victory for the people will be assured. We will gain our freedom and liberation in this country. We will gain it and we will do it by any means necessary. We will keep marching. March on black people.
Keep your heads high. March on. All y'all leaders. March on. Take your message to the people. Preach the moratorium for all executions. We're gonna stop, we are going to end the death penalty in this country. We are going to end it all across this world. Push forward people. And know that what y'all are doing is right. What y'all are doing is just. This is nothing more that pure and simple murder. This is what is happening tonight in America. Nothing more than state sanctioned murders, state sanctioned lynching, right here in America, and right here tonight. This is what is happening, my brothers. Nothing less.
They know I'm innocent. They've got the facts to prove it. They know I'm innocent. But they cannot acknowledge my innocence, because to do so would be to publicly admit their guilt. This is something these racist people will never do. We must remember, brothers, this is what we're faced with. You must take this endeavor forward. You must stay strong. You must continue to hold your heads up, and to be there.
And I love you, too, my brother. All of you who are standing with me in solidarity. We will prevail. We will keep marching.
Keep marching Black People. Black Power!
Keep marching Black People. Black power!
Keep marching Black People.
Keep marching Black People.They are killing me tonight.
They are murdering me tonight.
A Case of Mistaken IdentityEdited by Stormy Thoming-Gale
At age 17, Gary Graham was convicted of the murder of Bobby Lambert, which occurred in a Safeway grocery store parking lot on May 13, 1981. Gary was miles away from the grocery store and accompanied by at least four people when the crime took place. Those four alibi witnesses have all taken polygraph tests and passed, stating Gary was with them at the time of the murder.
Mistaken Identification
Eight people, identified as crime scene witnesses, saw the assailant the night of Bobby Lambert's murder. Only one of them, Bernadine Skillern, later identified Mr. Graham as the assailant. None of the others identified Gary Graham.
Of the eight eyewitnesses, Ms. Skillern had one of the poorest views of the assailant. She testified that she had a frontal view of the assailant's face for only two or three seconds, at night, from a distance of 30 to 40 feet.
Bernadine Skillern assisted in the drawing of a composite of the assailant. Three other crime scene witnesses remarked that the composite looked like the man they saw that night. Comparison of the composite and the booking photograph of Gary reveals that Gary does not look like the person in the composite. The person in the composite has a noticeably thinner face than Gary, and markedly different eyebrows, nose and lips.
Nearly two weeks after the crime, Bernadine Skillern could not pick Gary's picture out of a photo lineup. She told the officer that "the photo of Gary Graham looked like the suspect she saw on the night of the offense except the complexion of the suspect [she] saw was darker and his face thinner." She said she could not say that the man in the photo was the suspect.
The day after she saw Gary in a photo array, Ms. Skillern saw Gary again in a live lineup. He was the only person who had been in both a photo array and the lineup, and not surprisingly, she picked out Gary. She candidly admitted to the police that she had seen him in the photo array the night before.
Bernadine Skillern described the assailant's distinguishing features as "no facial hair" and a "short compact Afro." She was shown two photo arrays with five photographs in each. Gary appeared only in the second array.
Of the ten photos, only Gary had both of the distinguishing features of the assailant. Also, of all the photos, which were mug shots, only Gary's was altered by the police, to black out the date of arrest.
One of the eyewitnesses was standing in the supermarket checkout line next to the killer. She undoubtedly had the best look at the person. She emphatically says that Gary is the wrong man. At trial, she was never asked if Gary was the suspect.
Eyewitness Ronald Hubbard saw the same live lineup with Bernadine Skillern and did not see the person he recalled as the assailant in the lineup.
Other than Ms. Skillern, the six living crime scene witnesses all describe the assailant as shorter than Bobby Lambert, who was 5'6". Gary is 5'9".
Ballistics Evidence
Gary was arrested with a .22 caliber pistol a week after the murder. Bobby Lambert was killed with a .22 caliber pistol. The police firearms examiner determined that Gary's weapon could not have fired the fatal bullet. However, that information was withheld from the jury by the prosecutor and only surfaced years later when Gary's new attorney forced the DA's office to release its files on Gary's case.
Another suspect had access to a .22 caliber pistol that was never found. However, this pistol had been used by the suspect's brother to commit another murder just before the murder of Bobby Lambert. The bullet from that murder victim was compared to the bullet that killed Mr. Lambert, and the police firearms examiner concluded that "it is possible the bullets came from the same gun".
There are no fingerprints, ballistics or informant information linking Gary to the murder.
Conclusion
This is a case of mistaken identification. The prosecution has only the word of a single eyewitness with a two-second view of the assailant, at night, from a distance of 30 to 40 feet.
Why did the jury decide to convict?
Poor representation. Gary's trial attorney failed to point out the faulty procedure of the photo lineup and failed to call other eyewitnesses and alibi witnesses. During cross examination by the defense, the witnesses who did not identify Gary's photo were never even asked if Gary was the murderer. The investigator responsible for Gary's trial investigation has signed an affidavit stating that he assumed Gary was guilty, and consequently did not pursue an investigation of the case. Also, one of the trial attorneys has sworn under oath that Gary did not receive competent representation at trial.
For more information on Gary Graham or his case, contact clinical professor Steven Drizin at Northwestern University school of Law B 312-503-6608, s-drizin@nwu.edu or Stephen K. Harper, and adjunct professor at the University of Miami School of Law, at harpsk@aol.com.
Please see Gary's web site at: http://www.ncadp.org/GrahamFacts.html
Please write a letter to Governor George W. Bush protesting this state-sanctioned murder of an innocent man. You may mail your letter or fax it.
Texas Governor George W. Bush
State Capitol
P.O. Box 12428
Austin, TX 78711
Fax: (512) 463-1849
Tel: (512) 463-1762Sources:
NCADP
Houston Chronicle
The Bruderhof
Gary Graham/Shake Sankofa is Murdered by the State of TexasOn June 22, 2000, the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles refused to stop the scheduled execution of Shaka Sankofa/Gary Graham.
Gary's fate rested with the18-member board, which could have recommended that Gov. George W. Bush issue a 120-day reprieve, a commutation or a pardon.
The board voted 14-3 against the 120-day reprieve, 12-5 against commutation to a lesser sentence, and 17-0 against a conditional pardon.One member is on administrative leave and did not vote.
Said Gerald Garrett, the board chairman,"The members of the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles are fully aware of the responsibility we have in rendering our votes as part of the clemency review process, I can say, unequivocally, that the board's decision not to recommend clemency was reached after a complete and unbiased review of the petition and evidence submitted."
When word came that The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles denied Graham a reprieve, supporter Ashanti Chimuranga called the crowd with a bullhorn: "Brothers and sisters, we need to come together for this."
She announced the board's denial, producing shouts of "Murderers! Murderers! Bush is a murderer!'' against a back beat of throbbing drums.
The United States, in addition to being one of the few countries allowing the death penalty, is one of the only countries in the world that does not ban the execution of individuals convicted of crimes committed as a juvenile (under the age of 18).
Gary is the 17th such individual executed in the US since 1976, and the 8th since September 1997. Of the 8 individuals executed since 1997 throughout the world for crimes committed as juveniles, 7 have been in the United States and 1 in Iran.
Mike Graczyk from the Associate Press, who witnessed Gary's execution said, it was very obvious from the way he looked that he had put up a struggle. Mr. Graczyk said that Gary made a long, rambling and angry final statement. Gary maintained his innocence to the end saying "Gary Graham is being murdered today. ... The truth will come out."
Outside the prison about an hour before Gary's execution of, around 100 black activists and other opponents of Gary's execution attempted to walk to the other side of the prison and confront about 20 Ku Klux Klansmen demonstrating in favor Gary's execution. The police separated the groups.
Charles Lee, Grand Dragon of the White Camelia Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, said that after all the years and expense, it's time for this criminal to be executed adding that Gary was not a good guy.
Lee and another man showed up in full Klan regalia. Others waved Confederate flags.
However, Gary's supporters were by far the most vocal and visible, who are legion because of the condemned killer's active media presence throughout his years on death row.
Prison authorities took no chances, forcing activists on both sides of the issue at opposite ends of the prison.
The crowd marched out of the prison area and into the streets of downtown Huntsville, chanting "Free Shaka Sankofa!"
By early afternoon, black militants arrived and though they had promised to bring rifles, they came without. Even weaponless they were able to make their presence known.
In Philidelphia, about 50 demonstrators gathered in downtown to protest the state killing of Gary Graham/Shaka Sankofa. The crowd rallied on the sidewalk across from Philadelphia City Hall, within sight of the Philadelphia District Attorney's office, ruled by the iron fist of self-proclaimed "Queen of Capital Punishment" District Attorney Lynn Abraham.
The demonstrators took over 15th Street, blocking all traffic for several minutes, creating a line with a banner reading "don't kill Shaka Sankofa" stretching the width of the street. As the police drew near it appeared a there might be a standoff.
Within minutes however, the Philadelphia police department made the decision to re-route traffic and allow the demonstrators to "keep the street". The demonstrators then, with bullhorn and microphones, marched through downtown streets shouting and chanting.
With the state killing of Gary, as when all human rights abuses are committed here in the United States, the so-called leader of the western world, another sad night in our long and brutal history is highlighted and the loss of morality is mourned.
Sources:
Associated Press
World Socialist WS
AIUSA
