'Free Frances Newton' week builds support
By
Gloria Rubac
Houston
Published Mar 2, 2005 2:53 PM
After a whirlwind of activities
during the "Free Frances Newton" week Feb. 20-27--including radio shows, church
presentations, demonstrations and a speak-out at City Hall--tens of thousands of
Houstonians became familiar with Newton's case.
Newton was set to be the
first African American woman executed in Texas last Dec. 1, when she received a
120-day stay of execution two hours before the lethal injection was scheduled in
Huntsville, Texas.
Newton's stay of execution is over March 31. Her
lawyers at the University of Houston Law School's Innocence Network are
furiously working to prove her innocence.
Newton's mother Jewel Nelms and sister Pam Nelms, Feb. 27.
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The Committee to Free Frances
Newton, the Nanon Williams Support Association and the Texas Death Penalty
Abolition Movement sponsored the February events. Williams is another innocent
person on Texas death row.
The week culminated with a Feb. 27 Black
History event at Newton's church, Joy Tabernacle. The program featured radio
host and activist Hitaji Aziz as well as Newton's mother Jewel Nelms. Nelms and
members received a warm welcome and pledges of support from the
congregation.
A supporter of Randy Arroyo explained that the 17-year-old
Arroyo was sent to death row because of the law of parties, which says that if
you were at the scene of a capital murder you are also guilty.
Aziz, the
keynote speaker, told how being an activist all her life never prepared her for
her own son going to prison. She said everyone must join together to fight the
racist criminal-justice system that robs Black youths from their families and
communities.
She said: "My son Amill was sent home last May after nine
years but I am still waiting for him to return. He has been spiritually and
psychologically and mentally taken from me and I want my child back!"
The
week began with radio discussions at Texas Southern University, an historically
Black college in Houston, and on a popular talk show hosted by Houston City
Councilwoman and activist Ada Edwards.
The Harris County Green Party
invited Newton's mother and Williams' mother, Lee Bolton, Feb. 21 to speak on
their children's cases as well as the racist history of the death
penalty.
At a Feb. 22 public session of the Houston City Council, a dozen
supporters presented a resolution calling for the mayor and council to support a
moratorium on all Harris County executions in light of the disastrous scandal at
the Houston Police Crime Lab. The lab has lost, improperly stored and
cross-contaminated evidence. And its staffers have testified at trials with
false information that has sent innocent people to prison and death row.
A
Feb. 25 protest and news conference was held outside the Houston Police Crime
Lab on a busy corner along major bus routes during rush hour. People waiting for
the buses began chanting along: "Frances and Nanon should be free, jail the
criminals at HPD!" and "Crime Lab? Shut it down!" and "No justice, no
peace!"
Kofi Taharka, chair of the Houston Chapter of the National Black
United Front, and Bolton coordinated chants, keeping the rhythm going loud and
strong. Both Bolton and Nelms spoke to reporters about their children's wrongful
convictions caused by the lies of the crime lab.
Art Browning spoke for
the Harris County Green Party and filmed the protest for the Green Watch TV
show. Deloyed Parker, director of S.H.A.P.E. Community Center and a leader of
the coalition that freed former death-row prisoner Clarence Brandley, rallied
the crowd, saying that only the people's action can win justice for
Frances.
Attorney Jolanda Jones, who exposed the HPD Crime Lab fiasco
several years ago, chastised the criminal-justice system for the racism that
permeates it, from the cops to the courts to the prisons.
Immigrant-rights
activist Maria Jimemez is organizing to oppose the death penalty for Tyrone
Williams. He is on trial for capital murder right now in federal court in
Houston, in a case of immigrant smuggling that resulted in 17 people dying in a
sweltering 18-wheeler truck in 2003.
Jimenez told the protesters that this
case was very tragic and difficult for the Latino community but that they are
opposed to a death sentence for Williams, a Black man, who did not knowingly or
intentionally kill the immigrants.
Newton's mother told the many crowds
she addressed during the week: "When my daughter was arrested, I never thought
anything bad would happen to her. I now know that the system is not fair. After
I bring my child home, I will never stop working for all the others on death
row.
"I now know that attorneys do not always help you. And police change
their story and don't investigate. After what I have learned, I cannot ever be
still.
"These men on death row are treated so badly and live under such
terrible conditions. No one should be on death row."
Letters of support
can be sent to: Frances Newton #000922, Mountain View Unit, 2305 Ransom Road,
Gatesville, TX 76528. For more information, go to
www.freefrances.org
Rubac, a well known anti-death penalty activist,
spoke at the Feb. 27 event.
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