P age B4
M ay 31, 1995 • T he P ortland O bserver
Civil Rights Journal
Seattle Black Publisher Raises $15,000 For
Oklahoma City Relief Fund
In The Valley Of The Shadow Of Death
A t the beginning o f this year
There were 2,976 Americans on death
row. In a country where African
Americans make up 12 percent o f the
population, 40 percent o f those on
death row are black. In some states,
like Pennsylvania, that percentage
approaches 60 percent. They are those
who live daily in the valley o f the
shadow o f death, in the words o f
Mumia Abu-Jamal, who is on death
row in Pennsylvania.
You hear a lot o f talk today
about the death penalty, whether in
the government’s resolve to invoke
the death penalty for those responsi
ble for the Oklahoma C ity bombing,
or in the case o f Susan Smith, the
mother accused o f k illin g her sons in
South Carolina, or in the mouths o f
politicians seeking to sound tough on
crime. What you do not hear about
are the hundreds, perhaps thousands,
o f death penalty cases where inno
cent people are convicted or where
poor or black prisoners receive very
inadequate legal advice. Here is one
such story.
Girvies Davis is scheduled to be
executed by the state o f Illino is today
May 17. Girvies Davis may be inno
cent o f the crimes for which he w ill
be executed. Convicted solely on the
evidence o f an alleged confession
which heclaims was coerced, Girvies
Davis is trapped in a legal system
which so far has been unable to re
spond to the very real inconsisten
cies o f the case.
Girvies Davis, a4th grade drop
out from East St. Louis, admits that
he was involved in an armed robbery
in which a store clerk was killed,
although he denies that he killed the
clerk. Ten days afterhisarrestforthe
robbery, police came into Davis’ cell
at midnight and took him on a four
hour drive to look for “ evidence.”
When he returned, he is alleged to
have written a confession to more
than 20 crimes, including 11 mur
ders -- virtually every unsolved mur
der in the Belleville - East St. Louis
area at that time.
Girvies Davis was then convict
ed o f four murders and sentenced to
death for one o f them, the murder o f
C harles B ib e l, an 8 9 -y e a r-o ld
Belleville man. The problem is that
Girvies Davis could not have written
that confession because at that time
Girvies Davis was illiterate and un
able to write more than his name, a
fact o f which the ju ry was kept un
aware. The problem is that even the
prosecution admits that other per
sons comm itted three o f those crimes
to which he confessed. The problem
is that the prosecution systematically
used peremptory challenges to ex
clude all African Americans from the
Davis ju ry , a practice which the Su
preme Court later held unconstitu
tional in a ruling that they did not
apply retroactively. In fact, in each o f
his trials, he faced and all-white jury.
The irony is that in the sixteen
years since his incarceration, Girvies
Davis is a changed man. He learned to
read and write and earned a GED and
experienced a religious conversion
which his former prison superinten
dent described as “ very legitimate.”
he finished a correspondence
degree from a Bible college and be
came an ordained minister.
Despite all o f these facts and a
variety o f other complications and
complexities, Girvies Davis is sched
uled to die today May 17 unless he
receives a stay or unless he receives
clemency from Governor Edgar. It
would be a tragedy i f an innocent
man is executed for a crime he may
not have committed. This is but one
story from the valley o f the shadow
o f death. But it could be the story for
many, especially the poor and espe
cially the black, on death row.
Shown above are Leeia Swain, editor/publisher of the Oklahoma City Ebony Tribune
Newspaper, presenting a check on behalf of Chris Bennett Enterprises Charity of Seattle,
to ministers of the Oklahoma City Christian Relief Fund. In photo from left: Rev. Dr. W.
K. Jackson, pastor, St. John Missionary Baptist Church; Rev. Dr. J. A. Reed, Jr., pastor,
Fairview Baptist ( hurch and president of Concerned Clergy for Spiritual Renewal; Dr.
Clyde C. Carroll, Baptist Ministers' financial secretary; and Rev. Dr. Major I,. Jemison,
co-pastor, St. John Baptist ( hurch and 2nd vice president of the National Progressive
Baptists Association. I he Oklahoma ( ity ministers also received letters from elementary
students at Seattle s St. I lierese School to be presented to the children and their families of
the nation's worst terrorist act.
( hris Bennett Enterprises Charity, through a community radiothon, raised over
$15,000 to assist Oklahoma City's African American community in the tragic bombing of
the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building April 19. Many African Americans—mostly women
and children-lost their lives in the tragedy. Over $70,000 has been raised in the Oklahoma
City relief efforts. Chris Bennett is publisher of The Seattle Medium, Seattle Metro
Homemaker, laconia I rue C itizen Newspaper, The Portland Medium Newspaper and Soul
(own Review News Magazine. Bennett also owns radio stations KRIZ in Seattle,
Washington, KZIZ in laconia, Washington and KBMS in Portland, Oregon.
Gospel Musical At Lutheran
Inner City Ministries Community Center
local talent w ill be held at the center
on Saturday, June 2, beginning at 6:
P.M.
Johnny Ray Watson
■ A Gospel Music Festival, Fea
turing Johnny Ray Watson and some
1
The center is located at 4 2 19 N.
E. M L K . Jr. Blv., Portland.
Johnny Ray is no stranger in
Portland. His last visit was two years
ago at King School.
He has been blessed with a deep
baritone voice and w ill bless those in
attendance with a series o f Gospel,
Spiritual and Contemporary Songs.
A native o f Lorenso, Texas, he
now resides in southern California
with his wife, Brinda Kay and their
five children. His wonderful God
given voice has touched men and
T elephone 2 8 1 -8 8 0 1
women all over the world. His south
ern Gospel Style is A rtistically M ar
velous, S p iritu a lly M o v in g and
Anointed o f God.
Come and enjoy this wonderful
Music Ambassador and you w ill tru
ly be blessed as have The Profession
al Athletes and numerous others
throughout Asia, South Africa, The
M iddle East, Europe and the Carib
bean.
Johnny Ray w ill also sing dur
ing the 10:00 A M. worship service
o f M artin Luther M em orial Church,
which is held at the center every
Sunday.
The public is invited.
—Photo Courtesy/Okluhonta City Ebony Tribune
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