Amnesty International Group 22 Pasadena/Caltech News
Volume XIX Number 5, May 2011
UPCOMING EVENTS
Thursday, May 26, 7:30 PM. Monthly
Meeting. Caltech Y is located off San Pasqual
between Hill and Holliston, south side. You
will see two curving walls forming a gate to a
path-- our building is just beyond. Help us
plan future actions on Sudan, the 'War on
Terror', death penalty and more.
Tuesday, June 14, 7:30 PM. Letter writing
meeting at Caltech Athenaeum, corner of Hill
and California in Pasadena. This informal
gathering is a great way for newcomers to get
acquainted with Amnesty!
Sunday, June 19, 6:30PM. Rights Readers
Human Rights Book Discussion group. This
month we read "Suite Francaise" by Irene
Nemirovsky.
COORDINATOR'S CORNER
Hi everyone
4 more weeks of school left, but who's counting!
It looks like the RIFs will be rescinded, and the
number of mandatory furlough days cut in half,
since the state has found some more money for
public education!
Group 22 members participated in the Doo-Dah
Parade this April, the second year since it was
moved to East Pasadena. The theme was
maternal mortality, and judging by the facebook
photos (especially of Lucas with a square pillow
shoved up his shirt), it was pretty funny! We
missed it due to a family trip to Pullman,
Washington for my aunt's 90th birthday that
weekend.
In June we are reading a book my mother
recommended to me - Suite Francaise. I really
enjoyed this book when I read it a few years
ago, what a portrait of humanity inside its
pages! I look forward to reading it again...
Con carino,
Kathy
RIGHTS READERS
Human Rights Book Discussion Group
Keep up with Rights Readers at
http://rightsreaders.blogspot.com
Next Rights Readers meeting:
Sunday, June 19,
6:30 PM
Vroman's Bookstore
695 E. Colorado Blvd.
In Pasadena
Suite Francaise
by Irene Nemirovsky
About the Author
Born in Ukraine, Irene Nemirovsky had lived in
France since 1919 and had established herself in
her adopted country's literary community,
publishing nine novels and a biography of
Chekhov. She composed "Suite Francaise" in the
village of Issy-l'Eveque, where she, her husband
and two young daughters had settled after
fleeing Paris. On July 13, 1942, French
policemen, enforcing the German race laws,
arrested Nemirovsky as "a stateless person of
Jewish descent." She was transported to
Auschwitz, where she died in the infirmary on
Aug. 17.
AS FRANCE BURNED
Review by PAUL GRAY
Published: April 9, 2006
New York Times Book Review
THIS stunning book contains two narratives, one
fictional and the other a fragmentary, factual
account of how the fiction came into being.
"Suite Francaise" itself consists of two novellas
portraying life in France from June 4, 1940, as
German forces prepare to invade Paris, through
July 1, 1941, when some of Hitler's occupying
troops leave France to join the assault on the
Soviet Union. At the end of the volume, a series
of appendices and a biographical sketch
provide, among other things, information about
the author of the novellas.
SUITE FRANCAISE
The date of Nemirovsky's death induces
disbelief. It means, it can only mean, that she
wrote the exquisitely shaped and balanced
fiction of "Suite Francaise" almost
contemporaneously with the events that
inspired them, and everyone knows such a thing
cannot be done. In his astute cultural history,
"The Great War and Modern Memory," Paul
Fussell describes the invariable progression -
from the hastily reactive to the serenely
reflective - of writings about catastrophes:
"The significances belonging to fiction are
attainable only as 'diary' or annals move toward
the mode of memoir, for it is only the ex post
facto view of an action that generates coherence
or makes irony possible."
We can now see that Nemirovsky achieved just
such coherence and irony with an ex post facto
view of, at most, a few months. In his defense,
Fussell had not heard of "Suite Francaise," and
neither had anyone else at the time, including
Nemirovsky's elder daughter, Denise, who saved
the leatherbound notebook her mother had left
behind but refused to read it, fearing it would
simply renew old pains. (Her father, Michel
Epstein, was sent to Auschwitz several months
after her mother and was consigned immediately
to the gas chamber.) Not until the late 1990's
did Denise examine what her mother had
written and discover, instead of a diary or
journal, two complete novellas written in a
microscopic hand, evidently to save scarce
paper. Denise abandoned her plan to give the
notebook to a French institute preserving
personal documents from the war years and
instead sent it to a publisher. "Suite Francaise"
appeared in France in 2004 and became a best
seller.
From a purely aesthetic standpoint, the back
story of "Suite Francaise" is irrelevant to the true
business of criticism. But most readers don't
view books from such Olympian heights, and
neither, for that matter, do most critics. If they
did, publishers' lists wouldn't be so crowded
with literary histories and biographies, those
chronicles of messy facts from which enduring
art sometimes springs. In truth, "Suite Franaise"
can stand up to the most rigorous and objective
analysis, while a knowledge of its history
heightens the wonder and awe of reading it. If
that's a crime, let's just plead guilty and forge
ahead.
"Storm in June," the first novella of "Suite
Francaise," opens as German artillery thunders
on the outskirts of Paris and those residents
who have trouble sleeping in the unusually warm
weather hear the sound of an air-raid siren: "To
them it began as a long breath, like air being
forced into a deep sigh. It wasn't long before its
wailing filled the sky." (Thomas Pynchon also
hadn't heard of "Suite Francaise" while he was
writing "Gravity's Rainbow," but compare his
opening sentence, set in London, a few years
later, same war: "A screaming comes across the
sky.") The bombardment resumes: "A shell was
fired, now so close to Paris that from the top of
every monument birds rose into the sky. Great
black birds, rarely seen at other times, stretched
out their pink-tinged wings." With the utmost
narrative economy, sharp, scattered images
coalesce into an atmosphere of dread.
Parisians wake up to the realization that
nothing, particularly the gallant French Army
they have read and heard so much about,
stands between them and the Germans, and
they decide, as one, to get out fast. To depict
the widespread chaos that ensues - railroads
hobbled by overcrowding or bombed tracks,
shortages of gasoline and food - Nemirovsky
concentrates on a few individuals caught up in
the collective panic.
While her husband, a government-appointed
museum official, remains behind, Charlotte
Pericand mobilizes four of her five children (her
eldest son, Philippe, is a Roman Catholic
priest), her senile father-in law and a retinue of
servants into an escape party, burdened by as
many possessions as she can salvage from her
haut-bourgeois household. Gabriel Corte, a rich,
successful and egotistical writer, views the loss
of Paris as an insult to his refined sensibilities.
On the road, stalled in the choking traffic, he
complains to his mistress, "If events as painful
as defeat and mass exodus cannot be dignified
with some sort of nobility, some grandeur, then
they shouldn't happen at all!" As usual,
Nemirovsky offers no comment on this burst of
folly; she allows her characters the liberty to
display themselves on their own, for better and
worse.
Maurice and Jeanne Michaud, a middle-aged
couple, both work in a bank that is moving its
operations to Tours. Suitcases in hand, the
Michauds learn from their employer at the last
instant that the space he has promised them in
his car, helping to transport bank records, has
been pre-empted by his mistress and her dog.
"Both of you must be in Tours the day after
tomorrow at the latest," he tells them. "I must
have all my staff." The Michauds laugh as they
watch his car disappear; they expect little from
life and so are rarely disappointed.
Finding the Paris train stations shut down, the
Michauds set off on foot: "In spite of the
exhaustion, the hunger, the fear, Maurice
Michaud was not really unhappy. He had a
unique way of thinking: he didn't consider
himself that important; in his own eyes, he was
not that rare and irreplaceable creature most
people imagine when they think about
themselves." The Michauds are moral beacons
among the rampaging selfishness all around
them. Their only concern is their son, Jean-Marie,
a soldier whose unit is in the path of the
advancing German Army. A few chapters later,
it is a relief for readers to learn what the
Michauds have not: Jean-Marie, wounded in a
bombardment, is recuperating in a farmhouse
near Vendome.
"Storm in June" is a tour de force of narrative
distillation, using a handful of people to
represent a multitude. Nemirovsky's shifts in
tone and pace, sensitively rendered in Sandra
Smith's graceful translation, are mesmerizing.
There are lighthearted moments - one entire
chapter is seen from the point of view of the
Pericands' cat - followed by eruptions of
terror, as when German planes strafe a mass of
evacuees: "When the firing stopped, deep
furrows were left in the crowd, like wheat after
a storm when the fallen stems form close, deep
trenches." And it all ends as the facts ordained.
News of the armistice - that is, the French
surrender - is greeted by the beleaguered
homeless as an answered prayer. Survivors
straggle back to Paris, where an occupying
enemy and a harsh winter await them.
"Dolce," the second novella, displays none of the
tumults of its predecessor. It is bucolic,
becalmed. The French people have lost the
outward war, and the battle has shifted to the
inner arena of their consciences and souls. The
Germans, who seemed as spectral as invading
space aliens in "Storm in June," now appear in
person. A garrison of Wehrmacht troops is
billeted in the village of Bussy. The local men of
fighting age are all gone, either dead or prisoners
of war; only old people, women and children
remain, and they greet the conquerors with
sullen apprehension. Conditioned by years of
propaganda to fear the bestial, rapacious Huns,
the villagers aren't prepared for these actual
soldiers, some barely older than boys. The
intruders smile, behave deferentially to their
helpless hosts and give candy to the children.
Yearning for a return to normalcy and the
familiar rhythms of their lives, the people of
Bussy grudgingly adapt to the new reality.
Lucile Angellier lives with her widowed mother-
in-law in Bussy's most elegant house. She
doesn't regret the absence of her loutish,
philandering husband, Gaston, who is in a
German prison camp, although she hides her
feelings from his mother, who regards him as a
saint. Bruno von Falk, a German officer, has
been assigned to live in the house. Lucile tries to
treat the intruder with the same icy disdain
displayed by her mother-in-law, but she finds
herself warming to him in spite of herself. He is
handsome, he plays the piano beautifully - he
tells her he had hoped to be a musician before
his military obligations intervened - and he has
read Balzac. Night after night, Lucile grows
more sensitive to Bruno's presence in the next-
door bedroom, to the sounds of his pacing and
to the ensuing silences suggesting his sleep.
Nemirovsky deftly establishes the terms of this
melodrama and its inevitable question - where
will the attraction between Lucile and Bruno
lead? - and then adds a dissonant note of
reality. A local farmer has killed a German
officer, and the fugitive's wife, who happens to
be one of the women who nursed Jean-Marie
Michaud back to health in "Storm in June," asks
Lucile to hide her husband in the spacious
Angellier house, which should be above
suspicion because of its German boarder. The
terms of the inevitable question alter
significantly. Will Lucile choose love or honor?
"Dolce" predates by nearly 30 years the
explosive confessions of wartime collaboration
in Marcel Ophuls's documentary "The Sorrow
and the Pity," which French television declined
to broadcast in 1970, even though it had partly
paid for the project. Nemirovsky recorded the
best and worst of those times while living in
them. Her novella ends as the occupying troops
leave Bussy on their mission to Moscow: "Soon
the road was empty. All that remained of the
German regiment was a little cloud of dust."
But Nemirovsky had more plans for "Suite
Francaise," as an appendix to this volume
makes clear. In her notebook, she sketched the
possibility of a work in five parts. "Storm in
June" and "Dolce" were to be followed by: "3.
Captivity; 4. Battles?; 5. Peace?" The question
marks punctuate Nemirovsky's peculiar
problem; she was trying to write a historical
novel while the outcome of that history
remained unknown. The fourth and fifth parts
of the book "are in limbo," she observed, "and
what limbo! It's really in the lap of the gods
since it depends on what happens."
We now know what happened. Nemirovsky lost
her life in what she foresaw as "Captivity." The
improbable survival of her two novellas is a
cause for celebration and also for grief at
another reminder of the horrors of the
Holocaust. She wrote what may be the first
work of fiction about what we now call World
War II. She also wrote, for all to read at last,
some of the greatest, most humane and incisive
fiction that conflict has produced.
Paul Gray is a regular contributor to the Book
Review.
PRISONER OF CONSCIENCE
GAO ZHISHENG
By Joyce Wolf
Gao Zhisheng, Group 22's adopted prisoner of
conscience, was one of the cases discussed by
Assistant Secretary of State Michael Posner
during the annual human rights dialog between
the USA and China on April 28.
The New York Times reported, "In the
discussions, Mr. Posner said, American officials
raised special concerns about a growing
crackdown on lawyers who defend human rights
advocates and dissidents. They included - Gao
Zhisheng, an internationally recognized rights
lawyer who vanished last April shortly after
having been freed from a previous confinement."
"Mr. Posner indicated that Chinese officials
offered few if any concrete responses to
American queries about the conditions of the
human rights and legal activists who have been
seized or imprisoned by Chinese authorities.
And he said that the talks, while "respectful in
tone," were colored with new seriousness on
both sides by the perception that disagreements
between the nations had widened."
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/29/world/asia/29china.html
It's good to know that our State Department has
not forgotten about Gao Zhisheng. The case of
world-famous artist Ai Weiwei, arrested at the
Beijing airport April 3, continues to focus
attention on human rights in China. Ai Weiwei
was permitted to receive a visit from his wife in
a secret location on May 15 and is reported to
be in good health. The Chinese government has
said that Mr. Ai is suspected of economic
crimes, although he has not yet been formally
charged. There is a very disturbing unverified
report that the chief of the Beijing Municipal
Public Security Bureau forced Ai Weiwei to view
a video of Gao Zhisheng being tortured.
http://www.chinaaid.org/2011/04/tortured-
by-police-artist-ai-weiwei.html
Amnesty local groups featured the cases of both
Ai Weiwei and Gao Zhisheng at the Human
Rights Fair following Amnesty's presentation of
an award to the Dalai Lama in Long Beach on
May 4. Group 22 obtained 47 signatures on a
petition for Gao, and 18 letters about Gao
addressed to Premier Wen Jiabao were also
signed. If you wish to send your own letter
about Gao to Premier Wen or another China
government official, you can find addresses and
guidelines at
http://www.its.caltech.edu/~aigp22/GaoPOC/GaoZhisheng.html.
VIOLATIONS AGAINST WOMEN
By Cheri Dellelo
Harsh West Bank 'Honor Killing' Brings
Tougher Law
(adapted from an Associated Press article
5/19/11)
A 20-year-old Palestinian woman was thrown
into a well and left to die in the name of "family
honor." She disappeared on April 20, 2010, and
was killed that same day, though her body was
not discovered until 13 months later, on May 6,
after her 37-year-old uncle, Iqab Baradiya,
confessed to the crime. On the day of the killing,
the uncle and two accomplices snatched the
woman and tied her hands and feet before
throwing her in the well. The water would have
reached to her neck, so it is unclear whether she
died immediately or if it took her a long time to
die.
Palestine TV dedicated a program to Aya
Baradiya last weekend, which Palestinian
President Mahmoud Abbas president saw. The
case saddened him and prompted him to voice
his intentions to scrap the laws guaranteeing
leniency for such "honor" killings. Under the old
law, someone who killed for family honor would
get a maximum of six months in prison. Now
they could face the death penalty.
As the horrific details of Aya Baradya's murder
emerged, Surif residents and students at Hebron
University staged rallies, demanding the death
penalty for the killers. They held up signs calling
Aya Baradiya a "martyr," the ultimate badge of
honor in Palestinian society. Aya Baradiya's
family also wants the death penalty for her
killers. Her 29-year-old brother, Rami, welcomed
the promise of tougher punishment, saying he
hoped it would serve as a deterrent.
Honor Killing on U.S. Soil
(adapted from an Associated Press article
05/13/11)
A Minnesota man who police say killed his 20-
year-old stepdaughter in Michigan because she
left home and wasn't following Islam will get a
mental evaluation. The Detroit News reports a
judge on Thursday approved the evaluation to
determine whether 45-year-old Rahim Alfetlawi
is competent for trial. He is charged with first-
degree murder in the April 30 death of Jessica
Mokdad at her grandmother's home in the
Detroit suburb of Warren. The Coon Rapids
man told a judge in Warren that he suffers from
mental issues stemming from "humiliation and
torture" in Iraq in the 1990s under Saddam
Hussein's regime. Defense lawyer Richard
Glanda says Alfetlawi claims the shooting was
an accident. Macomb County Assistant
Prosecutor Bill Cataldo says Alfetlawi seems to
have a "religious obsession rather than a
psychological issue."
South African Lesbian Brutally Raped and
Murdered
(adapted from an article from the International
Gay & Lesbian Human Rights Commission-
4/19/11)
The body of Noxolo Nogwaza, a 24 year old
lesbian, was found lying in an alley in Kwa-
Thema at about 9am on Sunday, April 24 2011.
Noxolo's head was completely deformed, her
eyes out of the sockets, her brain spilt, her teeth
scattered all around, and her face crushed
beyond recognition. An empty beer bottle and
used condoms were found pushed up inside her
genitals, and parts of her body had been
stabbed with glass. A large pavement brick that
is believed to have been used to crush her head
was found by her side.
Noxolo was raped and murdered in a similar
manner as that in which another member of
Ekurhuleni Pride Organising Committee (EPOC)
was murdered three years ago. Eudy Simelane's
body was also found in an open field in Kwa-
Thema. She had been raped and murdered,
crimes that the perpetrators confessed to. And
just last year, a gay man in the same township
was attacked by eight men who attempted to
rape him. Luckily, he escaped. The men, as they
attempted to rape him, were heard saying, "We
are determined to kill all gay people in this area
and we will do it."
Please call, fax, or email the Tsakane Police
Station and demand for a speedy and thorough
investigation into the rape and murder of
Noxolo Nogwaza and/or call, fax, or email the
South African Government and demand that
they openly speak out and take action against
the increasing violence towards LGBT people in
South Africa. Contact information for these
actions can be found here -
http://tinyurl.com/3lsgyhx.
SlutWalk, Los Angeles
On January 24th, 2011, a representative of the
Toronto Police, Michael Sanguinetti, gave a
speech to women on a college campus in which
he stated: "women should avoid dressing like
sluts in order not to be victimized." Comments
like this are all too common, reflecting beliefs
ingrained in many people as part of a culture
that jumps to blaming the victim, blaming
alcohol, blaming loose morals, blaming anyone
and anything but the actual rapist. And such a
culture isn't just demeaning; it's dangerous
because it focuses on the outfits and behavior of
victims rather than the criminal behavior of
perpetrators. This comment is also particularly
alarming coming from an individual in a place of
authority as it discourages victims/survivors to
come forward for support.
Sanguinetti's comments spurred a group of
women in Toronto to organize a "SlutWalk" to
protest the statement and to hold those in
positions of power, not just the police,
accountable for the dangerous ideas they
promote in the community. The SlutWalk idea
has since spread like wildfire and hundreds of
women have been participating in satellite
protest marches across the continent.
If you'd like to participate in the Los Angeles
SlutWalk, it will be Saturday, June 4, from
12:00p to 3:00p. The route starts at West
Hollywood Park, 647 North San Vicente
Boulevard, West Hollywood. You can find out
more about the walk here
http://tinyurl.com/3ke6wxf and more about
the original SlutWalk in Toronto here
http://www.slutwalktoronto.com.
DEATH PENALTY NEWS
By Stevi Carroll
Number of Executions as of May 17, 2011
Seventeen (17) nationwide
Ohio wins #1 for executions with four. Texas,
the state that's seemed like the logical #1 in the
past, comes in second with three executions.
Third place with two each ties among three
states: Alabama, Mississippi, and Oklahoma.
Arizona, Georgia, Missouri, and South Carolina
log in with one each. Forty-one of the fifty
states of the United States have not executed
anyone during 2011. Sixteen of those states do
not prosecute using the death penalty. The
District of Columbia, that entity that is neither
state nor country - the seat of our Federal
Government, also has no death penalty.
Another bright thought: Twenty-five states'
governors could have ordered the executions of
many inmates on death rows across our country,
and they haven't so far in 2011.
People continue to commit heinous crimes and
our laws continue to harness in the criminals.
Presently, I'm listening to Isabel Allende's
ISLAND BENEATH THE SEA. One thing
becomes clear: what is considered a crime at one
time is considered the unquestioned status quo
at another. The treatment of African people
and their children in this book compares on my
Humanity's Sinking into a Cesspool Meter with
the treatment of the mentally and physically
infirmed, homosexuals, Gypsies, sympathetic
Germans, Jews, and others I don't know about
during the Holocaust.
With mass communication, we throughout the
world know how we treat one another
sometimes without that knowledge influencing
how we treat one another to lessen the suffering
of the world. Now with that said, we do have
16 states in these United States that have
decided state-sponsored killing of incarcerated
men and women is not the path they want to
walk. Of course, those states may also have
decided they did not want to spend their shared
tax money pursuing expensive death penalty
cases; the money would be better used
elsewhere.
Late in April, Governor Jerry Brown canceled the
state's plans for a $356-million death row at
San Quentin prison. Governor Brown was
quoted as saying that at a time when the state is
slashing funds to programs for children, the
disabled and seniors it would be
"unconscionable" to spend so much on this
facility. The California general fund would be
putting out 28.5 million of our shared state tax
dollars over 25 years for this new death row.
That seems like a bundle of money to me, but
what do I know? I still consider a hundred
dollar bill a big deal. Just for a little FYI, the
average amount of each inmate's incarceration is
$44,500 per year. How many folks out here in
the real world work all year long, often at jobs
that challenge our patients, even if we like them,
and make that much or a few thousand more,
and we're paying taxes on that money we make
- to keep these folks in prison. Of course,
everyone along the prison-industrial-complex
line pays taxes, too, to support the prison
system. My only concern about the cancellation
of this plan is that Donald Specter, director of
the Prison Law Office, said the conditions on
death row are "just dismal". That does need to
be corrected. James Clark, ACLU &
LACCDPA, says a new facility at a different
location may in the works because the property
on which San Quentin is located is prime real
estate, a moneymaker for the state.
Democratic Party State Convention
James Clark and some other members of the Los
Angeles County Coalition for Death Penalty
Alternatives went to the Democratic State
Convention. They asked for a resolution
abolishing death penalty prosecutions be
presented. They were told they needed three
hundred signatures to bring it to the floor. After
they gathered over 600, John Burton, California
Democratic Party Chair, asked for the resolution
to be withdrawn with his assurance he would
support it at the executive board meeting, and
he would personally speak with Jerry Brown.
Also at the convention, I think it was Death
Penalty Focus that had multiple copies of
Edmund "Pat" Brown's book PUBLIC JUSTICE
PRIVATE MERCY, a book that deals with Jerry'
dad former Governor Brown's struggle with the
death penalty, for people to sign and send to
Governor Jerry Brown.
Troy Davis
James Clark says all that's holding Georgia up
from executing Troy Davis is a lack of the drug
sodium thiopental. California has about 500
grams of it and has decided not to execute
anyone for the remainder of 2011. I hope we
don't sell any to Georgia. Texas is segueing into
the use of pentobarbital. I hope Georgia doesn't
follow that lead. I think because of what seems
like such clear evidence that Troy's guilt is not
100% certain - and some believe the evidence for
his innocence has amassed an equal percentage,
his execution will be a heartbreaking blow to
many of those who have followed and worked
on his case. I don't know anything about
Georgia Governor Nathan Deal, but with all of
the international attention Troy Davis' case has
garnered, hubris comes to mind should he allow
Mr. Davis' execution.
To "Oppose the Death Penalty for Troy Davis"
go to
http://takeaction.amnestyusa.org/siteapps/ad
vocacy/ActionItem.aspx?c=6oJCLQPAJiJUG&b
=6645049&aid=12970
2012 District Attorney Race for LA County
As you may know, Steve Cooley has decided
not to run for DA in 2012. That leaves the field
open. James Clark told us at the May meeting of
Los Angeles County Coalition for Death Penalty
Alternatives that six people have surfaced as
viable candidates going into the election cycle:
Danette Meyers, http://www.danetteforda.com/;
Jackie Lacey, http://www.jackielacey.com/;
Carmen Trutanich, (more on this later)
http://www.drafttrutanich4da.com/;
Alan Jackson, http://www.votealanjackson.com/;
Bobby Grace, http://bobbygrace4da.com/;
and Mario Trujillo,
http://www.mariotrujilloforda.com/. What this
means for our coalition is that we will have to
watch the positions each of these folks takes on
the death penalty. As the election draws nearer,
we will have more information for each of them.
Also, our resolution will be rewritten to reflect
the changing DA with wording more generic
addressing the LA County DA rather than
specifically Steve Cooley.
Carmen Trutanich is an interesting guy because
he said he would not seek another elected office
while in the one he has - thus the 'draft' website.
In 2008, Mr. Trutanich in a letter pledged
"$100,000 to LA's Best After School Program"
if he ran for another political office while serving
in the one he holds now
(http://www.documentcloud.org/documents/
25678-trutanich-pledge.html). Alan Jackson is
calling Mr. Trutanich out
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pla
yer_embedded&v=mn-uDPaEKWM) so this
might heat up into an interesting race to watch
and be a part of.
Faith Rising: The Death Penalty and the
Quest for Community Justice
A Look at Race and Class in the American
Criminal Justice System 40 Years After the
Assassination of Robert F. Kennedy
Sunday, June 5, 2011, Death Penalty Focus is
sponsoring a discussion titled FAITH RISING:
THE DEATH PENALTY AND THE QUEST
FOR COMMUNITY JUSTICE. Professor
Charles Ogletree, the Jessee Climenko Professor
of Law at Harvard Law School and Founding
and executive Director of the Charles Hamilton
Houston Institute for Race and Justice; Bishop
Charles E. Blake, Pastor of West Angeles
Church of God in Christ and member of
President Obama's 25-person White House
Advisory Council on Faith-Based and
Neighborhood Partnerships; and Aqeela
Sherrills, the California Outreach Coordinator
for California Crime Victims for Alternatives to
the Death Penalty, are the panel members. This
event will be held at the Robert F. Kennedy
Community Schools Paul Schrade Library, 701
South Catalina Street, Los Angeles CA, June 5,
2011, form 3-5 PM. This free event will coincide
with anniversary of the assassination of Robert
F. Kennedy and will be held at the site of his
murder. RSVP by June 3, 2011, at
http://www.deathpenalty.org/june5 or call
415-243-0143.
Shawn Hawkins
For over half of his life, Shawn Hawkins, a 42-
year-old African American, has been on death
row in Ohio. The state parole board has voted
to have his death sentence commuted but the
governor, John Kasich, may not accept their
recommendation. To urge Governor Kasich to
commute Shawn Hawkins execution, go to
http://takeaction.amnestyusa.org/siteapps/ad
vocacy/ActionItem.aspx?c=6oJCLQPAJiJUG&b
=6645049&aid=15933.
Stay of Execution
Frank Williams, Jr. Arkansas
date of execution: June 22
two appeals in process
Executions
May 2011
3 Carry Kerr 46
Ohio Lethal Injection
6 Jeffrey Motts 36
South Carolina Lethal Injection
10 Benny Stevens 52
Mississippi Lethal Injection
17 Daniel Bedford 63
Ohio Lethal Injection
17 Rodney Gray 39
Mississippi Lethal Injection
GROUP 22 MONTHLY LETTER COUNT
DP 2
Other UAs 32
Gao Zhisheng 18
Total 52
To add your letters to the total contact
lwkamp@gmail.com.
Amnesty International Group 22
The Caltech Y
Mail Code 5-62
Pasadena, CA 91125
www.its.caltech.edu/~aigp22/
http://rightsreaders.blogspot.com