Over the last several weeks the story and life of Troy Davis has moved to the center of many conversations buzzing around me.  As I delved deeper into his life, what I found was a story of an African American man who was convicted and being executed of the 1989 murder of Savannah, GA policeman Mark MacPhail, who was white.  During the course of Davis’s incarceration seven original witnesses recanted their testimony; this drew national and international attention.

His case drew the support of organizations, leaders and nearly one million concerned citizens.  Amnesty International, the NAACP, Jimmy Carter, Pope Benedict XVI, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, former FBI Director and judge William S Sessions and fifty House of Representatives spoke out on Troy Davis’s behalf.  As well, nearly one million people signed petitions urging the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles for a grant of clemency for Troy Davis.

On September 21, 2011 as I went to attend my seminary History class, I learned that Troy Davis’s execution had been delayed while his case was being reviewed by the U.S. Supreme Court.  I felt relieved as I was preparing in the library for class that perhaps our justice system was indeed more just than I had historically perceived.

As I sat in the quiet still of the library, I had thoughts lingering in my mind of a letter I had read on-line written by Troy Davis on September 10, 2011 that was addressed “To All.”  His final thoughts in the letter rang through my mind like a resounding charge,

So Thank you and remember I am in a place where execution can only destroy your physical form but because of my faith in God, my family and all of you I have been spiritually free for some time and no matter what happens in the days, weeks to come, this Movement to end the death penalty, to seek true justice, to expose a system that fails to protect the innocent must be accelerated. There are so many more Troy Davis’. This fight to end the death penalty is not won or lost through me but through our strength to move forward and save every innocent person in captivity around the globe. We need to dismantle this Unjust system city by city, state by state and country by country.

I can’t wait to Stand with you, no matter if that is in   physical or spiritual form, I will one day be announcing,

‘I AM TROY DAVIS, and I AM FREE!’

Interestingly enough, in the quiet still of the library, as these words danced through my thoughts, the class preparation I was reviewing was on the martyrdom of Vivia Perpetua.  She was a young twenty-two year old woman who was a Christian convert, not yet baptized who was sentenced to death for refusing to denounce her faith.

Like Troy Davis, she claimed her freedom in the mist of being held captive and found renewed strength and confidence in the mist of her suffering as a future hope and vision carried her forward.  As I sat taking notes for class, I did not then perceive that Troy Davis would become a martyr for the inequitable justice system.  Rather, I went into class with the confident hope that justice would prevail and his case would be heard as so many leaders, citizens and social justice organizations had pleaded on his behalf.

Hours of class went by and I had little time to consider the case until the last hour of class when we began to discuss Vivia Perpetua in our small groups.  Indeed in the mist of talking about this feminine Christian martyr, up arose the Troy Davis case from my peers and together we started discussing the parallels and our hope that justice would be served this time, in this era on behalf of Troy Davis.

As we left class around 9pm, we left believing that his case would be considered for at least one to seven more days before the Supreme Court.  I, in fact was so bold as to believe that indeed at least 5 of the 9 justices would hear the pleas of so many, on this man’s behalf and stay his execution.  Yet, with only four hours of deliberation the Supreme Court ruled to end another human beings life and within their legitimated power they now acted as gods deciding death and life.  In Troy Davis’s case they chose death.

I laid in bed upset, wondering how many other African American men, like my beloved father, my brother, my son, my dearest friends that this type of injustice could impact with so little regard for human life and with tears I prayed not knowing what else to do.  I needed to understand, so I found myself in the midnight hour milling through varying news articles looking for answers and yet I found little comfort.  In fact, I found salt for open wounds.

State Attorney General Sam Olens said in a statement, “Justice has been served for Officer Mark MacPhail and his family.”  The widow of Mark MacPhail, Joan, told the Associated Press that now that Davis had been executed it was finally time for healing and that she will grieve for the Davis family because now they could understand her family’s pain and hurt.

I ponder if in fact we live in an eye for eye society in America.  Archbishop Desmond Tutu says, “To take a life when a life has been lost is revenge, not justice.”  I disagree with Sam Olens that justice has been served by killing another human being.  I lament for Joan MacPhail’s lose, yet her healing does not rest in the execution of another human being, but in forgiveness and grace that should have come many years ago for her own liberation.  For her to know the deep and agonizing pain of death and to want another family to feel that pain is so far from an authentic place of justice and healing that I pray for her heart.

I found my solace coming from the final thoughts of Troy Davis, “For those about to take my life, God have mercy on your souls.  And may God bless your souls.”  Here indeed I found a free man, a man who forgives by the power of grace and love, while standing tall as a dignified person free in his soul, he is Troy Davis and he is free.

The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. reminded us while sitting in the Birmingham jail on April 16, 1963 that “Injustice anywhere, is a threat to justice everywhere.”  It is my hope and prayer that Troy Davis’s life and story illuminate the true injustice of the legal system in America this day September 22, 2011.