The slow death of a butterfly

There’s a gruesome list of number on the Amnestry International website. It refers to people who have been killed because of the US justice. Death penalty was reintroduced in the States in the 1976. Since that year, 1168 people have been killed. Moving on from this number, I’d like to focus on two other data: 439 of these people were condamned in Texas, and 930 were killed by a lethal injection.

Texas has the sad primacy of death sentences. Amnesty reports that 200 people have been killed since Richard Perry became Governor of the country, in 2000. As far as I know – but I don’t have updated data to confirm it – the majority of them have been black people.

Lethal injection is then the common “death method”. Basically, it depends if you are lucky or not. The injection indeed is a mixture of three liquids: the first put the prisoner to sleep, the second induce paralysis and stop breathing, the third stops the heart. It happened in the past that the firts one, the anesthetic, wasn’t enough. This obviously causes a painful agony to the person.

There are a few people that mark your life. One of the mines is a young boy, 18 years old, who was condemnded for a murder that he sustained with all his voice he never did. He was an afro american boy. He wasn’t rich, so he couldn’t pay a  lawyer by himself. That’s why a young public defender with no experience was given to him. There were many episodes of injustice that made this case famous in Texas.
Justin died three years ago. But he actually started dying many years before, when he was imprisoned.

Justin was a poet, a young poet who loved butterflies. I had the honour to read what he used to write. His presence is still strong for all the people who fought for his freedom. To me he represents the symbol of a fight that people should never forget. And a friend I loved with all my heart.

This post is for him, wherever he is.

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