Transcripts For CSPAN2 Book Discussion On I Am Troy Davis 20131111

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, god. Followed by another. Thank you, god. This time a little louder. He did something he regularly did, he prayed. Then he did something he almost never did, he began to cry. Two guards led to troy from the death row house back to his cell block. Fellow inmates line that on the doors of their cells extending there arms through the iron bars to grasp that his hands as he walked down the road. Praise god, brother. One man called out with tears in his eyes, maybe, at least one of us will survive this place. Another cheered. His friends showed items through the bars for him to take back, items that he had be squeezed to them the previous days, shampoo, extra stamps, cue envelopes had high and a new spring in his step he walked into his cell hearing the familiar clegg of the door locked behind him. But at that moment he was not focused on his surroundings. He was focused on his life. Georgia has been intended to take his life in less than 24 hours. He and his family, a score of supporters had fought and prevailed. [applause] [applause] she did not think he was still ready to know yet what that meant to be on death row so she had not yet gotten around to tell him that part yet. His dog egypt did not run to the gate to greet martina as usual door did she respond when martina called her. Where was the dog . Martina finally spotted egypt from the hedges and ran to her side. Egypt covered in blood turned her head to look at martina her eyes pleading for help. What on earth happened to you . Egypt struggled to her feet was dragging one leg behind her head would lay down again. It looks like she was hit by a car. The vet told martina that her leg was broken in three places. She needs surgery. She will lead pins in her leg and physical therapy. Upwards of 10,000 otherwise you will have to put her to sleep. Martina nearly choked. Where richie get to a thousand dollars . Akin innkeeper comfortable for the night get back to me in the morning. They got in the car to drive home. How could she possibly come up with 10,000 . Who had that kind of money . In trying not to see how upset she was, dejon finally spoke will you put my dog to sleep like they tried to put it uncle troy to sleep . She turned sharply to look at her son and found dejon looking at her steadily. She battled her own tears. All that agonizing powell and wind to tell him and he already knew. And not only was he aware the state was trying to kill his uncle but understood lethal injection that would be the same method to put down the dog. I promise you. Egypt will be just fine. Martina wilpon the car or take a second mortgage on the home but she could not put egypt to sleep for further traumatize her child. The next morning martina found of that to treat for a more reasonable some. Said the firm replaced the scar and then it could be scarcely seen. Martina was more worried about the invisible scars her child may be carrying. [applause] lawrence will read a passage when troy was newly on death row arrested 1989 his death conviction in 1991 this passage takes place in 1993 so it is one of the first executions on death row that troy was forced to endure. Troy never intended to make friends on death row but there was something about chris. Chris was tall, trim and had a tough demeanor but he showed warmth and affection to his friends. He sketched pitifully in his mother to him he was devoted. He was older than troy but there was something childlike about him stemming from his history of childhood abuse. Chris was only 17 years old when he participated in the murder. With his execution date set december 7, 1983, he confessed to try how frightened he was. Trace of the guards operating in front of the other death row inmates on the evening of december 7th. And then punched over on his bet waiting for the horrifying moment. Indicating a mixture of highvoltage current with closer his body. Every man on death row with in the flickering began. Troy would grips the steel frame of his bet. Only later did he learn that his last words were an apology to anyone he had ever heard in the plea for forgiveness. One of the guards who had be rated chris be against the bars of treys sell. Davis . Troy looked up how would you like to have some prize with your burger . Torrey resolved never to become quite so close to anyone again. [applause] carrying these words out of the mouth and the voices i can not to use the impact it has on me. After martina was diagnosed stage for aggressive cancer march 28 when she was diagnosed her prognosis was six months or less she got injured diagnosis by a full decade plus. But t2 will read up passage when it was just a few months into the six months that martina had been given. And other bad night of vomiting, retching and diarrhea. Curled up in bet in the morning listening to the sounds of getting dejon ready and everyone leaving the house. In another few weeks or 77 years old then her brother would have spent 10 years on death row. Martina scratched her head coming away with a clump of hair. She stared at it for a long moment before pushing back the blanket to slowly set up pushing feat into her slippers. She had a child to raise and a brother to get off death row. It was time to get up. She open the front door took a step and then another making it as far as the bill box feeling the warm georgia sun. Are you all right . It was her neighbor. I am all right. She let the sun warmer she might to be dying but she was not dying today. She made her way back into the house then she found herself in the bathroom rug being there on to her head. Then dejon came home martina was waiting for him wearing her dress and her head wrapped with their favorite stars. As he approached hershey pulled off the scarf to unveil her shiny bald head. Dejon jumped then he wrapped his arms around her and said it does not look bad. You look really pretty today. She got the next day and walked a few steps further. Lets walk down the street. Her neighbors adjusted the day after that. Of martina to occur hand and made the way to the corner. When she went to keep go she was wearing jewelry. I might have cancer that cancer does not have me. [applause] has every new strings lasted she decided not only was she not dying today but also not dying tomorrow. Not next week or next month. She could take a deep breath in live her life perhaps her eldest was the way to tell her that i need your attention there is more i need you to do in more abundantly. If she was not dying today since she was going to live today. [applause] the final passage will reread by ebony which is the prelude to the book but chronologically it takes place october 7, 2011. One week after troys funeral and it is part of the moment when martina and i would go into high gear to work on the book. Childhood photos on her lap the second grade school pitcher smiling. School pictures taken after lunch and then he would stake his entire lip into the cup. Us couldnt somebody like his mouth before taking his photo she would say when he proudly presented the picture. That was one blessing. During those to wonder what he was feeling he spoke his final words than with peacefully the light streaming from his eyes. As if god help to with the transition. He would not lie to her by how could she be sure that her brother did not feel any pain . She traces the edges of an even older photo. Of martina assessment three years old she was dressed with a white sleeveless dress and lacy white leggings. And he had on a three piece suit as theyve both looked into the camera. Martina fought to prove troy pays innocency and kept him alive even when she was weakened by cancer and chemotherapy. What more could she have done . It is too painful to stare at photos any longer. End there during the time of struggle. Letters from try and messages they asked him to relay. Keep her faith is strong and keep your house she pulled the open letter from the bottom of the bank as she has since its arrival. September 21st, the name and address with almost childlike cursive destroy in Anthony Davis so he always wrote the term mr. For careful not to rip she gently pulls out the paper smoothing the creases her eyes fall the final letter make sure you finish reading your book. [applause] so now we transition into the second half of the program with a very important question in which is what do we do know . Is somewhat you have not met yet, cheryl. And want to have this conversation with someone who taught me what it is like to be a leader and like martina we have a job to do to put an end to the Death Penalty to every state that continues to execute in our lifetime. I mean that. How we abolish the Death Penalty in our lifetime . Cheryl has worked on two successful campaigns in connecticut and maryland and i will ask cheryl now. First, a thinking row for allowing me to be year. I was a student at North Carolina when i organized the troy Davis Campaign and i always said that not only am i troy davis i have a brother and uncle maybe one day i will have a son in they will also be black men and soul thank you for this base. From here we go to our community and our churches and legislators and politicians to tell them this is a broken system that cannot be fixed when the margin of error is innocent lives. A few state campaigns under way right now. Nebraska, kansas, new hampshire, delaware. You can find out to get involved on our web site. And we need to have an honest discussion about what our communities really need. There is not a Silver Bullet to answer the failing policies United States has around public safety. That we do need to have a coalition of Family Members criminaljustice reform organizations to take up a space with the system that over exaggerates punitive destructive a policy and we need to talk about preventive manager measures offer preventive measures to. What do we need to be as organizers . Where do we have to go to wind . Cavelike to think of personnel has been very modest two nights because this book is here because of hard work to emotionally and physically and mentally by jen marlowe. [applause] i know she is listed as the coauthor but she did an amazing job of partnering with troy and sent martina to bring their story to us and to really extends the story that we were privileged to be a part of so i want to thank her for that heroic effort she made to bring this story to life and to document the movement a few of not seeing the beautiful photographs a few google him you can see some of the photographs that shows the magic of the movement and the i have two points where do we go from here . We have to do the boring sometimes when i think of the richard a. I was on in that connection with you in the room is pure magic i try not to be choked up so i can be coherent but we did not get here overnight. Martina worked with me and others for a very long time for when the everybody knew who troy davis was after decades of nobody knowing or paying attention to the Death Penalty. We had meetings. Lots of meetings to build structures we were going to the state legislature that is hard work to do especially in the state of georgia to talk about the Death Penalty. And troys case opened up something new with an opportunity to bring those horrible reality of the Death Penalty to popular consciousness we could not have done it had we not been preparing amazingly talented people to cultivate skills and to give so generously. Fact is what we did and gen said what can i do . So many of you i would get myself in trouble if i tried to name you all because i would miss people but there was a generous outpouring of talents and efforts so there was a visionary sparked in troy davis became the face of the Death Penalty issue. We have the support of the organizations Amnesty International is who work for 15 years. It is important to support organizations like the naacp and amnesty and the campaign there is some in the organizations we need a combination of those to make the effort and those who try to build organizations to conserve movements i was honored to work under larry cox because he understood if it was to be anything great it would be to surf the human rights movement. We have to be of how working in the boring times so it is not always a conversation and that is something that helps us to talk to people who were clueless. My grandmother who was not into politics was interested she was puzzled but many people gave stories of people that were not to do into human rights wanted to know what was going on with this story so telling the story to keep us the memory of live to put it into other visionary movements. I think that was long winded. [applause] i want to bring lawrence into the conversation because he experienced it and in talking about the Death Penalty machine played with racial bias or the injustice that is so profound the cannot articulate what is in front of us want to we need to overcome who do we need to be to win . First of all, this was a hard story for me to read. I take you to the very end when the guards said the you want fries with your burger . Because chris was just executed that mentality we need to work on that type of sadistic in a humane approach type of thinking some of them are is in our household cement you have to confront it where it is that. That type of mentality with regards to the overall issue of the Death Penalty for the south is a rock bet a and we need to put a lot of focus on the south but the issue of the Death Penalty is tied to the issue of humidity for all of us. How that sense of appreciation and respect for life. It is fortunately or unfortunately the church church, religion and that are the harbors of life, of gods creation. And we need to go into every church, everywhere to raise the moral issues through the church fete the Death Penalty must be abolished it [applause] is the tip of inhumanity to man. [applause] i will pose the same question to yusef salaam. Years ago when i was released from prison in, i was released with my mind in a fog. I used to have this burning question i would always ask of how could Something Like this happen to us . I met a comrade in discussing the case with her to understand the greater issues at the end that i began to understand i basically had removed i had to go on with life and i had to let it go. And i was reminded of this man who calls for the reinstatement of the Death Penalty specifically for our case. People wanted us to be hanging from trees in central park. The same blood thirsty attitude that i began to connect with to understand had this then the 50s or the 40s, the earlier part of the 60s, they would have broken our doors town, a drug test from our homes and we would have become those that were turned into postcards and it was a picnic that of black and brown folks berndt at the stake and many had been honed. And i understood how devious this system is that were fighting. This is not just about to say some people are criminals this is about how the central park five plays a part of the history of injustice that has gone on in that continues to go. If we dont do anything over time. This is about to us and dismantling despite the wheels of justice of the hill of which we climb. There is a whole bunch of things that need to have been. I looked for a round the room. I am in a room full of comrades. I knew of lot of people in this room. Sis system is rotten to the core. If there is no conforming conforming, no logistics logistics, we need to demolish the whole system. Because the way things have been going. [applause] ice said on the board of the campaign to end the Death Penalty. Losing troy davis was hard iceboat touche way. I will never forget. I was in chicago when martina said troy is on the phone. I felt a little nervous speaking with him but i spoke to him. I had so much hope but like the feeling was like he will be one that escapes. But then we got the word. And it became clear we are fighting the same system of injustice that pled black and brown folks of the postcard and sent them out as it ever having a picnic. [applause] join me to thank our panel. [applause] i think that is how we win if you hear the words of those who just spoke we win when we find deep within the us the belief that we can. We have enough power in this room to win. V0 it to troy davis, martina , his family and us. Todays the day litus we can so please join me to thank the panelist. [applause] one member of the davis family that wanted to be with us but he couldnt he had his First College cesium is a this morning dejon is a freshman at morehouse. [applause] talking about the dismantling system we need to do that and killed each other up and support each other to support young men like dejon to have a vision and not only what we need to break down but build up to replace and dejon is an extraordinary young man and activist and this is an opportunity to come together to support education for anybody that wants to do that the tshirt i am wearing all proceeds go to support dejon Education Fund if you want to make a direct contribution you can if not tonight but later please email troy in Anthony Davis at yahoo . Com we can let you know, about this incredible family that will continue to go on and and to save the world. [applause] fate you. I want to have a moment of silence before i do our call to action for troy ended martina end of their mom virginia to bring their energy here with us. Can we do that . We have the power. The power is all ours. We demanded justice. We will get justice. Today is the day. We do it for martina and for troy and every troy we will never know. Today we choose to debris choose justice. Is ours. No more dead bodies. No more lives stolen. No more injustice. Injustice to one is the injustice to all and we have into word the injustice. We are heartbroken. We have cried and we have a warrant and we are in pain. Youre hurting. I am printing. The folks on this panel are hurting. We will beep and we will cry but we will fight. We will do what no wing that we do not see and alone Troy Anthony Davis is in this room martina is in this room virginia is in this room and we will tell them when we abolish the Death Penalty and every single stage in this nation we will do with screaming i am troy davis. I do want us to close with him. With his words. What we are about to hear is his last words before the state of georgia decided to inject him with a lethal cocktail to take his life. And we want to give you and he wanted to give you hope. First of all, i would like to address the family to let you know, this but the situation and i know that you are convinced i am the person that killed your father and son and brother, i am innocent. The incident that happened that night is not my fault. I did do not have a gun that night. I did not shoot. I am so sorry for your loss. I really am. But although i can ask is that you look deeper into this case until you finally find the truth. And to my family and friends , i continue to fight the fight. To those that are about to take my life god have mercy on your souls. God bless you all. We are a movement. Right to family . Are we a movement . Family, are we going to win . I dont believe you. Will leave with . Are you ready to get she anting . Whenever i ask people to cheat i say it is not about screaming or yelling but let your soul speak for you so i ask you to stand up and be will be lead as we close in the chant by troy davis neece, who will help to the best. She is a bit nervous. Can you have applause for her . [applause] i am troy davis. I am troy davis. I am troy davis. I am troy davis. I am troy davis. We are troy davis. We are troy davis. We are troy davis. I wanted the building to shake. Ready