I AM TROY DAVIS

My life changed this time last year September 16, 2010 at 4:15 am. I was catapulted into a world so foreign to me it felt like an out of body experience, but so real that it was inevitable living and loving a black man in America. I came face to face with the Prison Industrial System. Never did I imagine it would be as dehumanizing as it is and financially taxing. It is a system designed specifically to beat the fight out of the most resistant spirit, and although it is not always successful its record is damn near impeccable.

I wrote a lot during that time, of course I was writing to him in jail, but I needed to capture for myself what all this meant, loving a black man. Because this is a reality for so many black women. This reality of not being able to hold and protect him from the evil snares of a beast hungry for his blood. I am often reminded of a short story I read in college (I can't remember the name of it or its author although it haunts me constantly) about a woman who commits infanticide because her brother was lynched by a white mob. She was so overtaken with grief (or possibly brought back to reality) that she could not allow her baby boy to be subjected to that level of hate. So instead she offered her son the greatest gift of love, death.

It feels like that sometimes. It feels like that alot. This helplessness, this unbearable feeling of anguish and pain, of not being able to completely trust that one day you will not get a phone call or visit from someone saying your son, your man, your brother, your father has been touched by this evil.

It is only the grace of God and the innocence of hope that we continue to breathe. Some breaths are shallow and rapid and others on rare occasions when he is safe in your arms are deep, full, and peaceful.

I am no longer with this black man whom I still love, but I am thankful for that experience and for opening my eyes and spirit to this long fight for humanity. During the last year I was connected to Mumia's case and all of the glaring evidence to his innocence. I read Michelle Alexander's book, The New Jim Crow. I began to see more clearly the unconditional grace and love of the Most High on my life. I have been changed by the last 12 months for it has prepared me for this moment in history where an innocent black man can be publicly lynched in 2011.

I Am Troy Davis because Troy Davis is all of us who descends from those forced to these shores for profit. I am "bone of the bone, flesh of the flesh" of those now cowering behind the veil.

This prison system can boast some level of success, although the war is not over, there does exist a major defeat to our fight for humanity. When we can allow the first black president to be let off the hook so easily for atrocities we would never stand for if perpetrated by any other, we have been dealt a significant blow, not a death blow just yet, but devastating none the less. It is our birthright to stand against evil and demand with love in our hearts and eyes that "evil you have no power here." You may imprison my body but you will not destroy my soul.

I stand, you stand, we stand together with Brother Troy Anthony Davis and the 1.7 million other political prisons behind those walls of enslavement and declare with definitive clarity that "Satan we gonna tear your kingdom down!"

On September 21, 2011 I recommit myself to standing on the side of right; standing for justice, QUALITY EDUCATION, QUALITY HEALTH CARE, and QUALITY LIVING WAGE JOBS!

I implore you, all of you, to do the same. If last night standing on the streets of Philadelphia demanding Troy Davis' freedom with hundreds of my brothers and sisters in solidarity, taught me anything, it taught me that there is still Power in and for the People.

Use your voice for good. Talk with your neighbors, your children, your spouse, your co-workers; remind them the fight for humanity is not over and it requires all of us to be involved. We no longer can afford to sit on the sidelines of history watching and waiting. You are required to earn your keep in the realm of humanity and represent the love of God through service to the people.

Power To The People!