Her Brother Will Be Killed Two Weeks From Today
I just got off the phone with Dustin Higgs’ sister. Depending on what happens in the next 14 days, Dustin may become the last person executed — ever — under the federal death penalty.
Imagine that: A black man who never killed anyone being executed on Martin Luther King, Jr’s birthday. Dustin’s co-defendant admits to being the actual killer, and he got a life sentence. This sounds more like a legal lynching to me.
Dustin’s family is praying. Praying for “six more days,” which is the number of days between Dustin’s scheduled execution and the inauguration of a new president who pledges to stop the executions.
It’s not just Dustin on the 15th. It’s also Lisa on the 12th and Corey on the 14th. These three executions will cap an unprecedented federal execution spree, made even more historic by virtue of executions during a presidential transition period for the first time since 1889–131 years ago. According to a public awareness poll I saw this morning, only 13% of Americans are aware of these federal executions.
That is why we still need your help, today.
Death Penalty Action is the only single issue national anti-death penalty organization functioning today. We provide action tools anyone can use on-line, and we are also leading safe (masked and distanced) protests in Washington, DC and at the prison in Terre Haute.
Will you contribute today to help us do this work?
We have until a week from Tuesday before the last three executions are scheduled to begin. Death Penalty Action will lead the protests. Then we’ll get to work to abolish the federal and military death penalty laws in the new Congress and under the Biden Administration, which has pledged to end executions and abolish the death penalty once and for all.
We’re working with leaders in Congress. Our job is to find and mobilize the people who agree and get them to take action. We need resources to be able to do that.
Please chip in any amount so we can hit the ground running in 2021!
Yours in the struggle,
— Abe
Abraham J. Bonowitz, Director of Death Penalty Action
PS: If you prefer to donate with a check, our address is:
PO Box 89, Ghent, NY 12075. Thank you!
