I trekked into the 2010 Amnesty Conference to support a friend. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m a member of Amnesty International (AI) and fully support everything that they do. I just haven’t exactly been an active member in recent years. But this year’s National Conference has left me determined to get back involved with the organisation and do everything I can to help.
The moment I arrived I was thrust a blue “I am Troy Davis” t-shirt. We traipsed down to O Connell Street all clad in blue for a photo shoot. I was really surprised by how effective a method of campaigning this was. Numerous people came up to ask questions about Troy, and apparently some people thought we were on a stag…. slightly odd. I guess it made a pleasant change for people, accustomed to being accosted by over enthusiastic campaigners with fliers and leaflets.
I have to be honest at this point and admit, that I had no idea who Troy was before the recent convention. I had asked another member for some background before we had headed down town. Thus, I found out he was a prisoner on death row in the US, who for 20 years has maintained his innocence and fought for a fair retrial but never received one.
The closing portion of the weekend’s events was dedicated to Troy, with his sister Martina addressing the Conference. Naturally I expected this to be interesting, but I think everyone in the audience was unprepared for the effect it would have on us. The theatre had filled up quite a bit with interested parties, members and non-members alike. Martina started, with a film describing the situation that led to her brother’s arrest and eventual conviction.
Troy was convicted of killing a police officer in August 1989. The circumstances leading to his arrest are highly questionable. Amongst other irregularities plaguing the case, 7 of the 9 witnesses used to convict him have recanted their stories.
What struck me most, as Martina began to talk of her journey and that of her brother, was how fresh it all sounded. It has been 20 years. She must have told this story, his story, thousands of times, but still spoke with such conviction and clarity, that most in the audience were moved to tears. To say her tale is moving and powerful is really not doing it justice. Her resilience, courage and determination are simply incredible.
Hearing her talk about her brother, you realise that this strength and determination comes from her love for him. And you cannot but warm to him, when you hear this love in her voice. His tale is truly horrifying. To hear that he has been, three times, within 90 minutes of being executed is unbearable.
The death penalty is abhorrent to me in all circumstances. But to think that an innocent person could be killed in this way is simply horrific. That is not justice, nor could it ever be.
I can’t even begin to comprehend what Troy and his family have gone through. What is even more terrifying is that while I go on living my life, even writing this article, he is still locked up and this nightmare continues for him. I read up on him in the week after. What is clear from letters he has written to people, is that he is not fighting for himself and neither is Martina. Troy sees himself as one of many people who have suffered injustices at the hands of their government and he fights for all of them.
I wonder what I would do in her circumstances. When Martina joined Amnesty, she didn't realise that the life she would end up fighting for would be that of her brother. I like, Martina, have joined Amnesty, to fight for the rights of other, of distant people. Like Martina, I have a brother that I love dearly. But a brother who could, in Martina’s words, “be in the wrong place at the wrong time”. I can only hope that I would have the same resilience and strength as Martina to keep on fighting for him. And in the meantime, I will fight for Martina’s brother, Troy Davis, and hope that one day he will be free.
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