I stopped everything i was doing so that I can type this update with the rawest emotion possible.  As the tears stream down my face in a synchopated rhythm to the soundtrack of Sam Cooke’s “A Change is Gonna Come”, I am reminded that today is not that day. Today, the Georgia Pardon and Parole Board denied clemency for Troy Anthony Davis.  It has been a long time since injustice has brought me to my knees. Or kicked me in the gut with a real steel toed boot.  My skin is hot, my stomach nauseous, and my head spinning.  The world we live in is pretty jacked up. I knew that yesterday. But today, i look at it with new eyes. Eyes that see just how awry we have gone. The government can decide to kill someone. Just like that. No matter the evidence. No matter the facts. No matter the situation.  No matter the doubt. How is it that we allow the killing of ANYONE in our society. What type of barbaric society are we participants in? And I always teach my little sisters that there is a lesson in everything. Every task. Every assignment. Every consequence.  What is the lesson in this? Well my friend Trisha made it very plain to me this morning.  An African-American woman raising 3 children, she will use this case as a tool for her son.

“Im raising 3 kids including a lil black boy and this is when I pull not the race card but the teaching card.  Its a teaching moment for sure. We have to make OUR kids understand (heck some adults) there are consequences for bad decisions, bad company, bad choices… and sometimes the consequences are NOT equaled to the wrong doing that was committed.. sometimes they are far greater… and its not fair but it happens.We may lose Troy but we will save MANY MORE TROYS because of this.”

And that is where I must leave this hurt and distress that has overwhelmed me this morning.  That through the death of Troy Davis, many more young men will have life. At 7pm tomorrow, Wednesday Sept 21st, Troy Davis will die by lethal injection.  Troy you will not be forgotten. Your struggle, your fight for justice will not be in vain. We will continue to march, and scream, and fight for justice for you and those like you.  We will never forget. We will stand with your friends, family, community, and advocates and ensure that through your death, the future will live better.  Be at peace. Go to God knowing you fought the good fight. Leave us here to carry on the torch. Because we will. We will be here. I’m still here. Waiting on the world to change.