STOP THE EXECUTION OF FRANCES NEWTON - Frances Newton Died for Bush's Sins
The 40-year-old black woman, executed by the death-obsessed state of Texas last night following a rejection by the US Supreme Court of her attorneys' last-ditch appeal, and after the state's craven and bloodthirsty "pardons and parole" board refused to recommend a stay to Gov. Rick Perry, hardly merited mention in the nation's media.
http://www.counterpunch.org/lindorff09152005.html
From Information Clearing House
--------
This is an atrocity!...What is happening in Texas!....MOST of the time they don't even get a fair trial!
Please take the time to sign this letter that goes out to MANY Congresspeople..(They made it REAL EASY to DO!).....and STOP the killing in Texas!
THANK YOU ALL!
Annie
FREE Frances Newton! She is Innocent!
*EMERGENCY: STOP THE TEXAS EXECUTION OF FRANCES NEWTON ON SEPTEMBER 14! *
*FRANCES IS THE FIRST AFRICAN AMERICAN WOMAN SCHEDULED TO BE EXECUTED BY TEXAS IN MODERN HISTORY. *
*NEW EVIDENCE AFFIRMS HER INNOCENCE.*
Please join the online campaign to *STOP THE EXECUTION OF FRANCES NEWTON!* She is scheduled to be executed by the state of Texas on September 14.
*YOUR EMERGENCY ACTION IS NEEDED NOW!* Send emails to Texas Governor Rick Perry, Attorney General Greg Abbott, President Bush, Congressional leaders and Senators and Representatives from Texas and the Texas State Legislature, the Mayor of Houston and Houston City Councilors, The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles, U.N. Secy General Kofi Anan and your senators and representative, DEMANDING that Frances' execution be stopped IMMEDIATELY!
Go to
http://www.iacenter.org/francesnewtoncampaign.shtml for the following letter to be sent in your name:
Sample Text (you will be able to edit it on the website):
Governor Perry, Attorney General Abbott, President Bush, Senators and Representatives, Houston Mayor White, Houston City Councilors, and Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles:
On September 14, 2005, Frances Newton, AN INNOCENT WOMAN, is scheduled to be executed by the state of Texas. If the jury had known the facts that are presently known, they would not have found Frances guilty nor given her the death sentence. The dubious motive, unrealistic timeline, the police's refusal to follow important leads, and most of all, her incompetent counsel, all point to the compelling evidence that proves Frances Newton is innocent. She has been on death row for 18 years, and you have already granted her a 120- day stay. But on the basis of new evidence, Frances needs to finally have her day in court. We plead to you in good conscience to STOP THE EXECUTION OF FRANCES NEWTON.
Sincerely,
For more information and to order DVD's of Frances or postcards to the Texas Governor, go to http://www.freefrances.org
STOP THE EXECUTION OF FRANCES NEWTON CAMPAIGN
International Action Center
39 West 14th Street, Room 206 New York, NY 10011
1-212-633-6646
email: francesnewtoncampaign@iacenter.org
http://www.iacenter.org
Informant: smilingmoon14
--------
EMERGENCY: 4 DAYS LEFT TO STOP THE TEXAS EXECUTION OF FRANCES NEWTON ON SEPTEMBER 14!
JOIN WITH FORMER ATTY. GEN. RAMSEY CLARK, THE PRESIDENT OF THE AMERICAN BAR ASSN. AND AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL SEND A FINAL APPEAL TO DEMAND THE EXECUTION BE STOPPED!
FRANCES IS THE FIRST AFRICAN AMERICAN WOMAN SCHEDULED TO BE EXECUTED BY TEXAS IN MODERN HISTORY.
NEW EVIDENCE AFFIRMS HER INNOCENCE.
Go to http://www.iacenter.org/francesnewtoncampaign.shtml for an updated urgent letter to be sent in your name. you will be able to review and modify the text to put in your own final appeal for Frances, even if you have already sent the original letter. (The updated appeal letter text appears HERE lower down in this message).
4 days remain before the scheduled execution of Frances Newton, an innocent African American woman, by the state of Texas. Thousands of people have taken up the appeal, sending over 200,000 email messages and thousands of letters and postcards and faxes and phone calls to Texas Governor Rick Perry, President Bush, legislators and the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles urging the execution be stopped. WE MUST INTENSIFY THE PRESSURE!
Former Attorney General Ramsey Clark has written to the President, the Governor and the Pardon Board. Here is what he wrote:
"Every element of law, morality, human dignity and reverence for life compel commutation of the death sentence of Frances Newton scheduled to be executed in Texas on September 14, 2005.
Evidence not presented at trial, but now known to have existed, would have caused an acquittal. Her trial attorney was not competent and can no longer appear in death cases, but too late for her. A person of financial means would never have been convicted and probably never even tried in such a case.
At 22, Frances Newton lost her husband and two children and, most cruelly, has been condemned as their murderer. Her mother and father-in-law, the parents of her dead husband and grandparents of her dead children, could have testified in her behalf at her trial, but no one called them. They pray everyday that her life be spared.
Frances Newton, a poor African-American woman unable to defend herself, who lost her family to violent death, has now spent seventeen years in prison on a conviction unsupportable in law and fact. Surely if there was ever time, now in the wake of Katrina with its devastating exposure of the fate of poor Americans caught in calamity, American officials can find the understanding, courage and compassion to commute this damnable death sentence. I ask you to use all your authority and persuasion to see that happens.
Sincerely, Ramsey Clark"
And Michael Greco, President of the American Bar Association, wrote in part:
"..significant and and compelling new evidence .. has not yet been evaluated by the Texas courts. .. This evidence was not discovered earlier because of the negligence of her appointed lawyer.. He did no investigation whatsoever, and therefore, did not place before the jury the evidence that now casts doubt on Ms. Newton's involvement in this crime. .. We believe that carrying out the execution of Frances Newton without a full review of this new evidence is inconsistent with principles of fundamental fairness and due process. Because reasonable doubt exists, we urge you to vacate her execution date so that the newly discovered evidence can be tested and properly evaluated by Texas courts."
Please join the online campaign to STOP THE EXECUTION OF FRANCES NEWTON! YOUR EMERGENCY FINAL URGENT APPEAL IS NEEDED NOW! Send emails to Texas Governor Rick Perry, Attorney General Greg Abbott, President Bush, Congressional leaders and Senators and Representatives from Texas and the Texas State Legislature, the Mayor of Houston and Houston City Councilors, The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles, U.N. Secy General Kofi Anan and your senators and representative, DEMANDING that Frances' execution be stopped IMMEDIATELY!
If you have already sent an email, do it again! The letter (see below) has been updated to refer to the two letters just mentioned, and you can modify it to put in your personal appeal with all the urgency required by the execution date this Wednesday.
Go to http://www.iacenter.org/francesnewtoncampaign.shtml for the following letter to be sent in your name:
Sample Text (you will be able to edit it on the website):
Governor Perry, Attorney General Abbott, President Bush, Senators and Representatives, Houston Mayor White, Houston City Councilors, and Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles:
IN A MATTER OF DAYS, on September 14, 2005, Frances Newton, AN INNOCENT WOMAN, is scheduled to be executed by the state of Texas. If the jury had known the facts that are presently known, they would not have found Frances guilty nor given her the death sentence. The dubious motive, unrealistic timeline, the police's refusal to follow important leads, and most of all, her incompetent counsel, all point to the compelling evidence that proves Frances Newton is innocent.
Former Attorney General Ramsey Clark has written to President Bush and Goveror Perry that "evidence not presented at trial, but now known to have existed, would have caused an acquittal." And Michael Greco, President of the American Bar Association, also wrote to the President, Governor and Pardons Board that because "significant and compelling new evidence has not yet been evaluated by Texas courts, we urge you to vacate her execution date." She has been on death row for 18 years, and you have already granted her a 120-day stay. But on the basis of new evidence, Frances needs to finally have her day in court. We plead to you in good conscience to ACT IMMEDIATELY TO STOP THE EXECUTION OF FRANCES NEWTON.
Sincerely,
For more information and to order DVD's of Frances, go to http://www.freefrances.org
STOP THE EXECUTION OF FRANCES NEWTON CAMPAIGN
International Action Center
39 West 14th Street, Room 206 New York, NY 10011
1-212-633-6646
email: francesnewtoncampaign@iacenter.org http://www.iacenter.org
From Action Center
--------
From: Christina Kraich-Rogers
[NOTE: adding the URL that tells about Frances Newton's situation]
fwd:
STOP THE EXECUTION OF FRANCIS NEWTON!
TOMORROW, SEPT. 14, THE GOVERNMENT IS GOING TO KILL ANOTHER BLACK WOMAN IN THE POISON FLOOD WATERS OF NEW ORLEANS'
http://72.14.207.104/search?q=cache:Pg2awGDF6PAJ:www.prisontalk.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-143786.html+Francis+Newton&hl=en&client=firefox-a
Francis Newton, is about to become the FIRST Black woman legally lynched in Texas since the Civil War. She is scheduled to be executed tomorrow in the Huntsville, Texas death house. The poison that the state will inject into Francis might just have well be drawn from the flood waters that killed and tortured so many Black people in New Orleans.
In Francis's case the levee didn't break because it was never there to begin with. Like so many others, Francis is about to be drown in the systemic flood of racism that permeates and defines the courts in the U.S. and overpopulates its prisons and death rows with poor Black people, people of color, and increasingly, more women.
It's not enough to point out for the 10,000 thousandth time that Francis Newton did not have a fair trial. Of course she didn't. Race and class, just as in New Orleans, determines who gets rescued, and who gets lethal injections. Executions, especially executions of people of color have absolutely nothing to do with the truth, facts, and justice; they are political acts.
And so in the Texas death house tomorrow, the master will once again hold his ceremony of terror, a ritual designed to send a signal to the have nots that state sanctioned murder remains a weapon in the hands of the powerful, wielded to keep the powerless and exploited in place.
The only reason why more Black women aren't executed, is because some in the government are fearful that outrage over multiplying these murders will generate a political backlash. The executioners know that they can pretty much kill men of color at will, but they're eager to get to the women. And so tomorrow in Texas is another test to see if they can get away with it.
The bottom line? It's not just Francis Newton that they plan to do harm to tomorrow, it's all Black women, and all poor and working people of color.
For the executioners to conduct this racist test in the wake of Katrina-cide, is tantamount to them spitting on the corpses of Black people floating in the streets of New Orleans, and the mocking all of us.
The execution of Francis Newton amounts to racist insult on top of injury, and once more it's dangerous. We better do everything we can think of over the next hours to stop this crime.
And especially now, if the "movement establishment" people in the upper strata of the political arena are either too blind, too busy, too self-absorbed, too scared, or just too plain class biased to get what this execution means and do something about it, it's a big time reminder that we are going to have to start the revolution without them.
STOP THE EXECUTION OF FRANCIS NEWTON!
Larry Holmes
Gloria Rubac
"Without struggle, there can be no progress." Frederick Douglass
Informant: Martin Greenhut
--------
Huntsville: THE CITY OF DEATH http://www.cityofdeath.org is housing around 1,000 displaced persons from N.O. Many are housed in the Baptist Church that is directly across from the "Walls" and the "Death House" where the State of Texas conducts its murders.
GW Bush was almost o... when he sanctioned and promoted the killing of Carla Fae Tucker. His pathetic crony, Rick Perry is also a b... t... m...
It would seem appropriate to me to inform the N.O. storm victims residing in Huntsville about the forthcoming murder of Francis Newman since they are located just a couple of hundred feet away from the pre-meditated murder scene.
They should be amongst the first to protest the killing. Tragically, the majority of the Baptists of Huntsville condone murder, in direct defiance of the words of the Jesus that they hypocritically claim to worship.
George H. Russell
Bishop The Universal Ethician Church
http://www.cityofdeath.org
P.S. Please forward to any lists that you belong to.
THE STATE SANCTIONED MURDER OF INNOCENT AMERICANS MUST STOP!!!!
International Action Center - LA wrote:
TOMORROW, SEPT. 14, THE GOVERNMENT IS GOING TO KILL ANOTHER BLACK WOMAN IN THE POISON FLOOD WATERS OF NEW ORLEANS
JOIN WITH FORMER ATTY. GEN. RAMSEY CLARK, THE PRESIDENT OF THE AMERICAN BAR ASSN. AND AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL
SEND A FINAL APPEAL TO DEMAND THE EXECUTION BE STOPPED!
NEW EVIDENCE AFFIRMS HER INNOCENCE.
Go to http://www.iacenter.org/francesnewtoncampaign.shtml for an updated urgent letter to be sent in your name. you will be able to review and modify the text to put in your own final appeal for Frances, even if you have already sent the original letter. (The updated appeal letter text appears HERE lower down in this message).
Following is a statement and call to action from the International Action Center.
This execution is about Katrina!
STOP THE EXECUTION OF FRANCIS NEWTON!
Francis Newton, is about to become the FIRST Black woman legally lynched in Texas since the Civil War. She is scheduled to be executed tomorrow in the Huntsville, Texas death house. The poison that the state will inject into Francis might just have well be drawn from the flood waters that killed and tortured so many Black people in New Orleans. In Francis's case the levee didn't break because it was never there to begin with. Like so many others, Francis is about to be drown in the systemic flood of racism that permeates and defines the courts in the U.S. and overpopulates its prisons and death rows with poor Black people, people of color, and increasingly, more women.
It's not enough to point out for the 10,000th time that Francis Newton did not have a fair trial. Of course she didn't. Race and class, just as in New Orleans, determines who gets rescued, and who gets lethal injections. Executions, especially executions of people of color have absolutely nothing to do with the truth, facts, and justice; they are political acts. And so in the Texas death house tomorrow, the master will once again hold his ceremony of terror, a ritual designed to send a signal to the have nots that state sanctioned murder remains a weapon in the hands of the powerful, wielded to keep the powerless and exploited in place.
The only reason why more Black women aren't executed, is because some in the government are fearful that outrage over multiplying these murders will generate a political backlash. The executioners know that they can pretty much kill men of color at will, but they're eager to get to the women. And so tomorrow in Texas is another test to see if they can get away with it.
The bottom line? It's not just Francis Newton that they plan to do harm to tomorrow, it's all Black women, and all poor and working people of color.
For the executioners to conduct this racist test in the wake of Katrina-cide, is tantamount to them spitting on the corpses of Black people floating in the streets of New Orleans, and the mocking all of us. The execution of Francis Newton amounts to racist insult on top of injury, and once more it's dangerous. We better do everything we can think of over the next hours to stop this crime.
And especially now, if the "movement establishment" people in the upper strata of the political arena are either too blind, too busy, too self-absorbed, too scared, or just too plain class biased to get what this execution means and do something about it, it's a big time reminder that we are going to have to start the revolution without them.
STOP THE EXECUTION OF FRANCIS NEWTON!
http://www.counterpunch.org/lindorff09152005.html
From Information Clearing House
--------
This is an atrocity!...What is happening in Texas!....MOST of the time they don't even get a fair trial!
Please take the time to sign this letter that goes out to MANY Congresspeople..(They made it REAL EASY to DO!).....and STOP the killing in Texas!
THANK YOU ALL!
Annie
FREE Frances Newton! She is Innocent!
*EMERGENCY: STOP THE TEXAS EXECUTION OF FRANCES NEWTON ON SEPTEMBER 14! *
*FRANCES IS THE FIRST AFRICAN AMERICAN WOMAN SCHEDULED TO BE EXECUTED BY TEXAS IN MODERN HISTORY. *
*NEW EVIDENCE AFFIRMS HER INNOCENCE.*
Please join the online campaign to *STOP THE EXECUTION OF FRANCES NEWTON!* She is scheduled to be executed by the state of Texas on September 14.
*YOUR EMERGENCY ACTION IS NEEDED NOW!* Send emails to Texas Governor Rick Perry, Attorney General Greg Abbott, President Bush, Congressional leaders and Senators and Representatives from Texas and the Texas State Legislature, the Mayor of Houston and Houston City Councilors, The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles, U.N. Secy General Kofi Anan and your senators and representative, DEMANDING that Frances' execution be stopped IMMEDIATELY!
Go to
http://www.iacenter.org/francesnewtoncampaign.shtml for the following letter to be sent in your name:
Sample Text (you will be able to edit it on the website):
Governor Perry, Attorney General Abbott, President Bush, Senators and Representatives, Houston Mayor White, Houston City Councilors, and Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles:
On September 14, 2005, Frances Newton, AN INNOCENT WOMAN, is scheduled to be executed by the state of Texas. If the jury had known the facts that are presently known, they would not have found Frances guilty nor given her the death sentence. The dubious motive, unrealistic timeline, the police's refusal to follow important leads, and most of all, her incompetent counsel, all point to the compelling evidence that proves Frances Newton is innocent. She has been on death row for 18 years, and you have already granted her a 120- day stay. But on the basis of new evidence, Frances needs to finally have her day in court. We plead to you in good conscience to STOP THE EXECUTION OF FRANCES NEWTON.
Sincerely,
For more information and to order DVD's of Frances or postcards to the Texas Governor, go to http://www.freefrances.org
STOP THE EXECUTION OF FRANCES NEWTON CAMPAIGN
International Action Center
39 West 14th Street, Room 206 New York, NY 10011
1-212-633-6646
email: francesnewtoncampaign@iacenter.org
http://www.iacenter.org
Informant: smilingmoon14
--------
EMERGENCY: 4 DAYS LEFT TO STOP THE TEXAS EXECUTION OF FRANCES NEWTON ON SEPTEMBER 14!
JOIN WITH FORMER ATTY. GEN. RAMSEY CLARK, THE PRESIDENT OF THE AMERICAN BAR ASSN. AND AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL SEND A FINAL APPEAL TO DEMAND THE EXECUTION BE STOPPED!
FRANCES IS THE FIRST AFRICAN AMERICAN WOMAN SCHEDULED TO BE EXECUTED BY TEXAS IN MODERN HISTORY.
NEW EVIDENCE AFFIRMS HER INNOCENCE.
Go to http://www.iacenter.org/francesnewtoncampaign.shtml for an updated urgent letter to be sent in your name. you will be able to review and modify the text to put in your own final appeal for Frances, even if you have already sent the original letter. (The updated appeal letter text appears HERE lower down in this message).
4 days remain before the scheduled execution of Frances Newton, an innocent African American woman, by the state of Texas. Thousands of people have taken up the appeal, sending over 200,000 email messages and thousands of letters and postcards and faxes and phone calls to Texas Governor Rick Perry, President Bush, legislators and the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles urging the execution be stopped. WE MUST INTENSIFY THE PRESSURE!
Former Attorney General Ramsey Clark has written to the President, the Governor and the Pardon Board. Here is what he wrote:
"Every element of law, morality, human dignity and reverence for life compel commutation of the death sentence of Frances Newton scheduled to be executed in Texas on September 14, 2005.
Evidence not presented at trial, but now known to have existed, would have caused an acquittal. Her trial attorney was not competent and can no longer appear in death cases, but too late for her. A person of financial means would never have been convicted and probably never even tried in such a case.
At 22, Frances Newton lost her husband and two children and, most cruelly, has been condemned as their murderer. Her mother and father-in-law, the parents of her dead husband and grandparents of her dead children, could have testified in her behalf at her trial, but no one called them. They pray everyday that her life be spared.
Frances Newton, a poor African-American woman unable to defend herself, who lost her family to violent death, has now spent seventeen years in prison on a conviction unsupportable in law and fact. Surely if there was ever time, now in the wake of Katrina with its devastating exposure of the fate of poor Americans caught in calamity, American officials can find the understanding, courage and compassion to commute this damnable death sentence. I ask you to use all your authority and persuasion to see that happens.
Sincerely, Ramsey Clark"
And Michael Greco, President of the American Bar Association, wrote in part:
"..significant and and compelling new evidence .. has not yet been evaluated by the Texas courts. .. This evidence was not discovered earlier because of the negligence of her appointed lawyer.. He did no investigation whatsoever, and therefore, did not place before the jury the evidence that now casts doubt on Ms. Newton's involvement in this crime. .. We believe that carrying out the execution of Frances Newton without a full review of this new evidence is inconsistent with principles of fundamental fairness and due process. Because reasonable doubt exists, we urge you to vacate her execution date so that the newly discovered evidence can be tested and properly evaluated by Texas courts."
Please join the online campaign to STOP THE EXECUTION OF FRANCES NEWTON! YOUR EMERGENCY FINAL URGENT APPEAL IS NEEDED NOW! Send emails to Texas Governor Rick Perry, Attorney General Greg Abbott, President Bush, Congressional leaders and Senators and Representatives from Texas and the Texas State Legislature, the Mayor of Houston and Houston City Councilors, The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles, U.N. Secy General Kofi Anan and your senators and representative, DEMANDING that Frances' execution be stopped IMMEDIATELY!
If you have already sent an email, do it again! The letter (see below) has been updated to refer to the two letters just mentioned, and you can modify it to put in your personal appeal with all the urgency required by the execution date this Wednesday.
Go to http://www.iacenter.org/francesnewtoncampaign.shtml for the following letter to be sent in your name:
Sample Text (you will be able to edit it on the website):
Governor Perry, Attorney General Abbott, President Bush, Senators and Representatives, Houston Mayor White, Houston City Councilors, and Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles:
IN A MATTER OF DAYS, on September 14, 2005, Frances Newton, AN INNOCENT WOMAN, is scheduled to be executed by the state of Texas. If the jury had known the facts that are presently known, they would not have found Frances guilty nor given her the death sentence. The dubious motive, unrealistic timeline, the police's refusal to follow important leads, and most of all, her incompetent counsel, all point to the compelling evidence that proves Frances Newton is innocent.
Former Attorney General Ramsey Clark has written to President Bush and Goveror Perry that "evidence not presented at trial, but now known to have existed, would have caused an acquittal." And Michael Greco, President of the American Bar Association, also wrote to the President, Governor and Pardons Board that because "significant and compelling new evidence has not yet been evaluated by Texas courts, we urge you to vacate her execution date." She has been on death row for 18 years, and you have already granted her a 120-day stay. But on the basis of new evidence, Frances needs to finally have her day in court. We plead to you in good conscience to ACT IMMEDIATELY TO STOP THE EXECUTION OF FRANCES NEWTON.
Sincerely,
For more information and to order DVD's of Frances, go to http://www.freefrances.org
STOP THE EXECUTION OF FRANCES NEWTON CAMPAIGN
International Action Center
39 West 14th Street, Room 206 New York, NY 10011
1-212-633-6646
email: francesnewtoncampaign@iacenter.org http://www.iacenter.org
From Action Center
--------
From: Christina Kraich-Rogers
[NOTE: adding the URL that tells about Frances Newton's situation]
fwd:
STOP THE EXECUTION OF FRANCIS NEWTON!
TOMORROW, SEPT. 14, THE GOVERNMENT IS GOING TO KILL ANOTHER BLACK WOMAN IN THE POISON FLOOD WATERS OF NEW ORLEANS'
http://72.14.207.104/search?q=cache:Pg2awGDF6PAJ:www.prisontalk.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-143786.html+Francis+Newton&hl=en&client=firefox-a
Francis Newton, is about to become the FIRST Black woman legally lynched in Texas since the Civil War. She is scheduled to be executed tomorrow in the Huntsville, Texas death house. The poison that the state will inject into Francis might just have well be drawn from the flood waters that killed and tortured so many Black people in New Orleans.
In Francis's case the levee didn't break because it was never there to begin with. Like so many others, Francis is about to be drown in the systemic flood of racism that permeates and defines the courts in the U.S. and overpopulates its prisons and death rows with poor Black people, people of color, and increasingly, more women.
It's not enough to point out for the 10,000 thousandth time that Francis Newton did not have a fair trial. Of course she didn't. Race and class, just as in New Orleans, determines who gets rescued, and who gets lethal injections. Executions, especially executions of people of color have absolutely nothing to do with the truth, facts, and justice; they are political acts.
And so in the Texas death house tomorrow, the master will once again hold his ceremony of terror, a ritual designed to send a signal to the have nots that state sanctioned murder remains a weapon in the hands of the powerful, wielded to keep the powerless and exploited in place.
The only reason why more Black women aren't executed, is because some in the government are fearful that outrage over multiplying these murders will generate a political backlash. The executioners know that they can pretty much kill men of color at will, but they're eager to get to the women. And so tomorrow in Texas is another test to see if they can get away with it.
The bottom line? It's not just Francis Newton that they plan to do harm to tomorrow, it's all Black women, and all poor and working people of color.
For the executioners to conduct this racist test in the wake of Katrina-cide, is tantamount to them spitting on the corpses of Black people floating in the streets of New Orleans, and the mocking all of us.
The execution of Francis Newton amounts to racist insult on top of injury, and once more it's dangerous. We better do everything we can think of over the next hours to stop this crime.
And especially now, if the "movement establishment" people in the upper strata of the political arena are either too blind, too busy, too self-absorbed, too scared, or just too plain class biased to get what this execution means and do something about it, it's a big time reminder that we are going to have to start the revolution without them.
STOP THE EXECUTION OF FRANCIS NEWTON!
Larry Holmes
Gloria Rubac
"Without struggle, there can be no progress." Frederick Douglass
Informant: Martin Greenhut
--------
Huntsville: THE CITY OF DEATH http://www.cityofdeath.org is housing around 1,000 displaced persons from N.O. Many are housed in the Baptist Church that is directly across from the "Walls" and the "Death House" where the State of Texas conducts its murders.
GW Bush was almost o... when he sanctioned and promoted the killing of Carla Fae Tucker. His pathetic crony, Rick Perry is also a b... t... m...
It would seem appropriate to me to inform the N.O. storm victims residing in Huntsville about the forthcoming murder of Francis Newman since they are located just a couple of hundred feet away from the pre-meditated murder scene.
They should be amongst the first to protest the killing. Tragically, the majority of the Baptists of Huntsville condone murder, in direct defiance of the words of the Jesus that they hypocritically claim to worship.
George H. Russell
Bishop The Universal Ethician Church
http://www.cityofdeath.org
P.S. Please forward to any lists that you belong to.
THE STATE SANCTIONED MURDER OF INNOCENT AMERICANS MUST STOP!!!!
International Action Center - LA wrote:
TOMORROW, SEPT. 14, THE GOVERNMENT IS GOING TO KILL ANOTHER BLACK WOMAN IN THE POISON FLOOD WATERS OF NEW ORLEANS
JOIN WITH FORMER ATTY. GEN. RAMSEY CLARK, THE PRESIDENT OF THE AMERICAN BAR ASSN. AND AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL
SEND A FINAL APPEAL TO DEMAND THE EXECUTION BE STOPPED!
NEW EVIDENCE AFFIRMS HER INNOCENCE.
Go to http://www.iacenter.org/francesnewtoncampaign.shtml for an updated urgent letter to be sent in your name. you will be able to review and modify the text to put in your own final appeal for Frances, even if you have already sent the original letter. (The updated appeal letter text appears HERE lower down in this message).
Following is a statement and call to action from the International Action Center.
This execution is about Katrina!
STOP THE EXECUTION OF FRANCIS NEWTON!
Francis Newton, is about to become the FIRST Black woman legally lynched in Texas since the Civil War. She is scheduled to be executed tomorrow in the Huntsville, Texas death house. The poison that the state will inject into Francis might just have well be drawn from the flood waters that killed and tortured so many Black people in New Orleans. In Francis's case the levee didn't break because it was never there to begin with. Like so many others, Francis is about to be drown in the systemic flood of racism that permeates and defines the courts in the U.S. and overpopulates its prisons and death rows with poor Black people, people of color, and increasingly, more women.
It's not enough to point out for the 10,000th time that Francis Newton did not have a fair trial. Of course she didn't. Race and class, just as in New Orleans, determines who gets rescued, and who gets lethal injections. Executions, especially executions of people of color have absolutely nothing to do with the truth, facts, and justice; they are political acts. And so in the Texas death house tomorrow, the master will once again hold his ceremony of terror, a ritual designed to send a signal to the have nots that state sanctioned murder remains a weapon in the hands of the powerful, wielded to keep the powerless and exploited in place.
The only reason why more Black women aren't executed, is because some in the government are fearful that outrage over multiplying these murders will generate a political backlash. The executioners know that they can pretty much kill men of color at will, but they're eager to get to the women. And so tomorrow in Texas is another test to see if they can get away with it.
The bottom line? It's not just Francis Newton that they plan to do harm to tomorrow, it's all Black women, and all poor and working people of color.
For the executioners to conduct this racist test in the wake of Katrina-cide, is tantamount to them spitting on the corpses of Black people floating in the streets of New Orleans, and the mocking all of us. The execution of Francis Newton amounts to racist insult on top of injury, and once more it's dangerous. We better do everything we can think of over the next hours to stop this crime.
And especially now, if the "movement establishment" people in the upper strata of the political arena are either too blind, too busy, too self-absorbed, too scared, or just too plain class biased to get what this execution means and do something about it, it's a big time reminder that we are going to have to start the revolution without them.
STOP THE EXECUTION OF FRANCIS NEWTON!
Starmail - 23. Aug, 17:13
