Remember the dead. Fight for the living!

El Día de los Muertos, Nov. 1, was a day filled with exhilarating joy and deep sorrow, with bountiful hope and realistic despair, with love and hate. It was the day of the 26th Annual March and Rally to Abolish the Death Penalty, held in Texas every year since 2000 when George W. Bush was governor.

Following a brunch for organizers and death row families hosted by the Austin Quaker community at the Friends Meeting House in Austin, Texas, forces gathered at the steps of the Capitol. They set up an altar for the Day of the Dead to remember those lost to executions and neglect by the state of Texas. The names of all 596 people executed by Texas since 1982 were read aloud. 

After this sobering start for the afternoon, the mood was lifted by speakers working for their loved ones who are still alive and fighting to stay that way. Yancy Balderas spoke of her spouse, Juan Balderas, who is innocent and fighting to gain justice in the courts:  “We are taught that a person is innocent until proven guilty, but that isn’t how it really works. Juan was arrested at age 19 and then spent 8 1/2 years in solitary confinement at the county jail waiting for a trial!”

Marilyn Grant talked about her son Paul Story whose appeal was recently turned down by the U.S. Supreme Court even though the district attorney lied to the jury, claiming the victim’s family wanted Paul to be executed when they actually did not want him to receive the death penalty.

There have been 201 people exonerated off death row in the U.S. after they were found to be innocent. Two of them traveled to Texas to speak of their victories. Gary Drinkard spent almost six years on Alabama’s death row and was finally exonerated after writing to Bryan Stevenson, who is with the Equal Justice Initiative. Drinkard spoke about hydrogen hypoxia — the torture that Alabama is now using to execute people.

Drinkard explained that Alabama’s last execution was of an innocent man, Anthony Boyd, who “would be with us here today if he had gotten help from the Equal Justice Initiative like I did.” Media witnesses said Boyd’s execution was the longest nitrogen gas execution so far, taking nearly 40 minutes for the time of death to be announced.

Juan Melendez, like Drinkard, is an activist with Witness To Innocence, an organization led by death row exonerees focused on ending this horrific punishment. He spent seven years, eight months and one day on Florida’s death row before exoneration. In a dramatic speech, he told the crowd: “Those of you who have your loved ones on death row, tell them to keep fighting. To never lose their hope. Abolition is coming! It may take a little while longer, but it’s coming. We are on the right side of history!”

Unfair Law of Parties

More encouraging news was shared by Sonya Valencia Alvarez, the sister of Melissa Lucio, who came with other family members from Harlingen, Texas, in the Rio Grande Valley. She said, “We know that the court is taking too long, but they have been told by the judge, the DA and Melissa’s attorney that she didn’t kill her little daughter, and she should come home!”

Other speakers included Nick and Gavin Been, founders of Kids Against the Death Penalty, who have fought for their uncle, Jeff Wood. He did not kill anyone but was sent to death row under Texas’ unfair Law of Parties that holds individuals criminally responsible for the conduct of anyone they allegedly assist, encourage or try to aid in committing a crime. 

Wood’s sister, Terri Been, was overcome with emotion as she tearfully spoke about the injustice of her brother sitting on death row even though he was not a killer. Been has worked tirelessly to lobby legislators to end a sentence of death under the Law of Parties in Texas. 

Delia Perez-Meyer spoke about her brother, Louis Castro Perez, who died on death row last year after not being immediately treated when he suffered a likely heart attack. He was left lying on the floor of his cell for two days before being sent to a hospital and never left the prison infirmary after he was returned from the hospital.

Kenneth Foster was only 19 years old when he was sent to death row under the Law of Parties. A massive political campaign by activists resulted in a victory when just six hours before he was to be executed in 2007, the governor issued a rare commutation. His spouse, Celandria Foster, spoke for him and thanked everyone for their continued support even though Foster was no longer on death row.

A year and one month after her brother, Garcia Glen White, was executed, Monica Garrett spoke about this great loss to her family. White’s funeral was packed with members of his large family, dozens of friends who attended school with him, anti-death penalty activists and even some prison employees. 

White was affectionately called “Big White” by his many friends on the row as well as many guards. On the first anniversary of his death, family and friends gathered for a balloon release next to a huge sign as wide as the front yard that read “Forever in Our Hearts — Big White.” Garrett thanked everyone who came out for their determination to fight to end executions.

‘Death penalty is dying’

While there have been a number of executions around the country in 2025, the facts confirm Melendez’s words. The death penalty is coming to an end. The number of executions is much lower than it was in the last decade, public support for executions is down, and the number of people being sentenced to death has declined.  

This reporter was the last speaker at the Capitol and told the crowd: “The death penalty is dying. There are two executions set for next year in Texas. Our job is to keep organizing, keep educating the public about the errors in this rotten, racist system so we can end the damn death penalty for good!”

Many people passing by the Capitol stopped to listen, to pick up literature and to sign petitions. Many noticed the altar set up for the Day of the Dead with photos and flowers. A couple visiting from Abilene, Texas, stayed for almost an hour, talking with activists and learning about the injustices that regularly take place in courts.

Rain caused the march to be halted and chanting ended the day: “The Death Penalty? Shut it down! Executions? Shut ‘em down! Death row? Shut it down! The whole damn system? Shut it down!”