Check out this new book by my friend Grace Ji-Sun Kim.
I am thrilled that our new co-edited book, Planetary Solidarity: Global Women’s Voices on Christian Doctrine and Climate Justice (Fortress Press) with Dr. Hilda P. Koster is now available. You can order the book now.
Climate change is one of the most important issues of our time. As people of faith, we all need to work towards climate justice and gender justice.
View original post 1,369 more words
Filed under Uncategorized
Marcellus Williams is scheduled for death on Tuesday despite circumstances that he might be innocent. Sign a petition to the Governor of Missouri to halt the execution.
Why should we halt the execution?
Mr. Williams might be innocent.
But even if he is not, executing people to keep people from committing crimes has proven ineffectual.
Execution lowers us to the level of those who kill.
The violence of an execution feeds violence.
Thou shall not kill.
Background from Amnesty International
The state of Missouri is scheduled to execute Marcellus Williams on August 22 despite a lack of solid evidence used to secure his conviction and a new report from a DNA expert that his lawyers argue supports his claim to innocence.
“The death penalty is abhorrent in any circumstance, and as we have seen time and time again, the capital justice system is capable of error,” said Zeke Johnson, senior director of programs at Amnesty International USA. “The state of Missouri must not allow this execution to go forward, and must commute the sentences of all of those on death row. There is no acceptable way for the state to kill its prisoners.”
Williams was convicted of the 1998 murder of former St. Louis reporter Felicia Gayle by a jury consisting of 11 white jurors and one black juror. Williams is black and Gayle was white. There was no forensic evidence or eyewitness testimony linking him to the crime. The jury was not presented evidence of Williams’ background, which included severe abuse and mental disability.
Two experts retained by the appeal lawyers have concluded that DNA testing conducted in December 2016 on the murder weapon excludes Williams as the contributor of the male DNA found on the knife. The lawyers have just filed the latest expert report they have obtained on this with the Missouri Supreme Court in a bid to obtain a stay of execution.
See you along the Trail.
Filed under Capital Punishment, Current Events, Death Penalty
He would have been 83 today. But he died, young. Too young.
And in my mind and in my heart I can see him still, the young man, who I saw live,
Asserting his rights in a racist society
Demanding that all people be treated with dignity and justice
Reaching out to people pushed to the margin by oppression and natural disaster
And in my mind and in my heart I see him still, the young man, who I saw live,
Patrolling the field of green with grace and passion
Slicing a line drive into the gap
Chasing flies with reckless abandon
Arms pumping, racing around the bases
And unleashing laser throws to the infield that froze runners in place or cut them down if they were foolish enough to try to advance
In my mind and in my heart I see him still
And seeing him, the young man, mist forms in my eyes
and my smile broadens
and my spirit soars.
Gracias, Roberto
Feliz cumpleaños.
See you along the Trail.
The photo comes from the Pittsburgh Pirates Facebook page.
Filed under Baseball, Pittsburgh Pirates
Photo by Sera Chung
15 July 2017
Princeton Theological Seminary
Princeton, New Jersey
Photo by Tricia Dykers Koenig
12 July 2017
San Francisco Botanical Garden
San Francisco, California
Photo by Tricia Dykers Koenig
12 July 2017
Japanese Tea Garden
Golden Gate Park
San Francisco, California
Along the Graybeard Trail 