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Via Workers World News Service
Reprinted from the Aug. 10, 2000
issue of Workers World newspaper
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Court harasses death penalty foes
By Monica Moorehead
New York
After the ghastly lynching of Shaka Sankofa, also known as Gary Graham, the big-business media's silence was deafening. After all, they had given so much national attention to his case before the execution. Why didn't the media take the golden opportunity to discredit Texas Gov. George W. Bush as the murderer of someone who, at the age of 17, clearly did not receive a fair trial?
The ruling class told the media to shut up about the case because Bush is still one of their own. Also it was not in their class interest to risk diverting attention from their bogus 2000 elections by elevating the issue of racism in the form of the execution of an innocent Black man. This would help expose the racist platform of the Republicans.
The International Action Center has refused to shut up about this travesty of justice. In fact, the anti-racist organization has been carrying out an intense campaign to keep Sankofa's case alive with disruptions of serial killer Bush's campaign speeches wherever possible. This included a disruption of Bush's speech at the NAACP's annual convention in Baltimore July 10.
These bold actions have helped to influence some mainstream figures to take a stand against the death penalty, no matter how moderate their overall political program.
For instance, Hugh B. Price, president of the Urban League, one of the oldest and most respected civil-rights organizations, came out for a national moratorium on the death penalty. Sankofa's execution was cited as a major motivation for this announcement at the Urban League's annual conference.
The criminal-justice system may want the masses to forget the circumstances of Sankofa's death. But the repressive state is far from forgiving those activists who struggled to stop this legal lynching.
Two days before Sankofa's execution, the IAC held a demonstration in front of Bush campaign headquarters in midtown Manhattan. This emergency demonstration was called on two days' notice. The New York Police Department usually requires five business days to secure a sound permit.
Because of the urgency of the situation, the IAC struck a deal with the NYPD whereby the normal five-day stipulation would be waived if those using the sound equipment would accept summonses to appear in court and the sound being temporarily confiscated at the conclusion of the demonstration.
The charge would be illegal use of the sound, a misdemeanor. Five IAC activists received summonses, including Imani Henry, Rachel Leiner, Qausu Thwaites, Nzinga Pearson and the writer of this article. They were represented by Leslie Brody, a progressive lawyer from the National Lawyers Guild.
At the July 21 hearing Brody explained to the judge the political significance of the death penalty issue--that the protest was taking place just two days before the scheduled execution of Shaka Sankofa. She pointed out how both sides cooperated in this matter and that in the interest of justice, the charges should be dismissed.
Her pleas were ignored as the judge said that he was not about to dismiss this case because, in his opinion, "there are two sides to every issue."
Fortunately Brody pointed out that three of the summonses had been written incorrectly. As a result, those cases were dismissed. The remaining defendants were scheduled to return the next week to stand before a different judge.
The defendants appeared in court a second time July 27. Once the same political argument was made by the lawyer, this judge said that he would not dismiss the charges and suggested that the defendants receive Adjounrments in Contemplation of Dismissal. Getting an ACD means that the charges remain on your record and can be reactivated if you are arrested within six months.
The lawyer refused to go along with this suggestion. The judge then wanted to schedule a trial date for late September.
The lawyer was aggressively able to negotiate a third court date of August 3 before another judge to try to get the charges totally dismissed.
This is another example of the ongoing political harassment of the progressive movement and the intense impact Sankofa's execution continues to have on both sides of the death penalty issue.
Moorehead is Workers World Party's 2000 presidential candidate.
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