Big Week Ahead: World Day Against the Death Penalty Events
There are a number of opportunities this week to join events and otherwise be involved as we approach October 10, World Day Against the Death Penalty.
First, it's Respect Life Month in the Catholic World. America Magazine published this new article today, about how Pope Francis's new encyclical declares that there is no going back. "The death penalty is inadmissible and Catholics are to work for its abolition."
ALSO TODAY: Death Penalty Action submitted the name of our friend and founding Advisory Board Member, Jerry Givens (pictured above - click his name to see his impact on our work), to the National COVID-19 Wall of Remembrance, which is today remembering the 211,000+ dead in the US as a result of the pandemic, virtually. Jerry's name is listed in the opening scroll of names. The National COVID-19 Remembrance virtual event was live-streamed today from the Ellipse on front of 20,000 empty chairs on this Facebook page. This effort goes on all week. Of note, our friend Meah Pace is the lead singer on the musical selection (which she wrote) at 2:35 into the program.
TUESDAY EVENING at 8pm EDT: Death Penalty Action director Abraham Bonowitz will be the honored guest on the Road to Eden, a joyful and entertaining live program each evening this week during the Jewish festival of Sukkot. Sukkot is a celebration and a harvest festival, and it is about so much more than ritual. "It is a handbook for how to live, breathe, and act as a truly free people. It's about breaking routine and celebrating like there’s no tomorrow. It's about realizing the fragility of life and living fully in the moment. It's about not becoming so deeply entrenched in our daily material pursuits that we forget what's really important. While Passover represents our collective hope for redemption, Sukkot is about taking action and committing ourselves to realize our dream of a world perfected. Sukkot says: we are all in this together-- walking the Road to Eden. So, pull up roots and join the journey!" Doug Passon, one of the hosts, is a capital defense attorney. Watch live or afterwards on Tuesday evening at 8pm EDT on this Facebook page. For more information on the Jewish perspective on the death penalty, visit the Death Penalty Action Jewish resources page.
THURSDAY at 12pm EDT: EXECUTION BY THE NUMBERS: Harvard Law School's Charles Hamilton Houston Institute on Race and Justice is hosting a one-hour, online event about the upcoming film by our friend Paula Caplan. about why, 18 years after Atkins, people with Intellectual Disabilities are still being executed in this country and what it will take to stop it. The film includes Bryan Stevenson, the late Justice Stevens, and Sister Helen Prejean. Register for the event at bit.ly/2RRYzFk. See the trailer for the film at https://vimeo.com/435265615. Join us in support of this important film, here.
THURSDAY (Time TBA): Death Penalty Action's Voices of Experience on the Death Penalty live Facebook program will continue with special guests and an update on the campaign to abolish the federal death penalty. Click here to learn more, sign up for direct alerts once program details are known, and to learn how to sponsor this program.
SATURDAY at 1:30pm: Ohio Northern University's Amnesty International chapter invites you to a World Day Against the Death Penalty program with Abraham Bonowitz of Death Penalty Action and two Ohio death row survivors. We'll hear about the status of the campaign to end executions in Ohio and talk with two Ohio death row survivors, Kwame Ajamu, chairman of the national group of exonerated death row survivors, Witness to Innocence, and also Ahmad Issa, whose case was just added to the web page of the Death Penalty Information Center (scroll down a bit on that site). Use this link to participate starting at 1:30pm on Saturday, Oct 10.
A bit more about Ahmad Issa: Imagine being isolated from the world for 22 years, and coming back into freedom with nothing but the clothes on your body with which to resume life. What would YOU do? Could you use a hand up? That is what this is about.
UPDATE: $10,850 raised from 158 supporters so far. Our goal is $22K - $1K for each year of wrongful incarceration endured by Ahmad Issa. YOU are invited to click here to donate today to help Ahmad resume his life in freedom, right now if possible, and then to also share the opportunity with others in your network. Further details are at that link.
To avoid GoFundMe fees and otherwise use Paypal, Venmo, Cashapp or to send a check, please reply to this message or e-mail Abe [at] DeathPenaltyAction [dot] org, or call Abe at 561 371 5204. This is a side project that Abe is running on his own and is not being managed by Death Penalty Action.
There is much more going on. Visit us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram for more updates as the week progresses. Thank you.
PS: Protect yourself and others in style - Click here to check out our new masks and other ways to wear the message with AbolitionWear!
