It says something about us a people when an innocent man is executed despite overwhelming evidence that he did not receive a fair trial.
The case of Marcellus Williams is one such case. Despite the prosecuting attorney in his original trial joining with Mr. Williams’ own defense attorneys in asking for a stay of execution and reconsideration of his conviction in another court, Marcellus Williams was put to death on Tuesday night in Missouri.
Governor Mike Parsons and the Trump-appointed SCOTUS Justices seemed to enjoy watching the death penalty be applied unjustly to a Black man in the United States.
They are corrupt cowards.
In the case of Governor Parson even his predecessor, Eric Greitens, had issued a reprieve in Mr. Williams’ death row sentence (as did the State Supreme Court at the time) based on the paucity of evidence linking Williams to the crime scene and a heavy reliance on jailhouse informants looking to shorten their own sentences.
Governor Greitens appointed a state board to look into DNA evidence (or lack thereof) proving his innocence.
When Governor Greitens left his term, embroiled in his own scandal, Parsons became the next Republican leader of Missouri and disbanded the board that would have heard evidence in Mr. Williams’ case.
I won’t get into all the evidence here that pointed to Mr. Williams’ innocence but would encourage you to explore it on your own, as it provides almost a textbook case of a misapplication of justice.
It lays out why the death penalty, at this point, is basically a vindictive weapon for MAGA Republicans to assert their ‘law and order’ dogma and white supremacist governance on the populations they are elected to represent.
They couldn’t admit they had been wrong because that goes against the party line of unquestioning fealty to law enforcement and an irrational and racist fear of African Americans that is repeated not just on Fox News and in NRA advertisements but on the floor of the U.S. Congress.
That attitude carries all the way up to the Supreme Court conservative justices like Brett Kavanaugh who seems to almost enjoy refusing to block the executions of death row prisoners when the circumstances of their original convictions call for clemency; when all the facts in the case clearly lead to the summation that they did not receive a fair trial.
Marcellus Williams had a last meal of tater tots and chicken wings and then the State of Missouri put him to death.
Without a moment’s regret.
These Republican leaders are not true Christians, they’re not even true patriots - they are as immoral and rudderless as men can be - their only allegiance is to Donald Trump and keeping MAGA’s hold on power.
The very next day Rep. Clay Higgins was tweeting out repugnantly racist statements regarding Haitian immigrants and our fellow Americans.
Higgins himself had been accused of police brutality - for beating someone while they were in handcuffs when he was a cop in Louisiana.
When he was busted for his brutality and giving false statements during an internal police investigation he stepped down - and later became a U.S. Congressman where he serves as a cheerleader for Donald Trump and a member of the ‘Three Percenters’ and ‘Oath Keepers,’ both extremist groups that were heavily involved in the January 6th attacks on the U.S. Capitol.
The pipsqueak Speaker of the House refused to censure Clay Higgins, simply saying, ‘he prayed on it and took down the tweet’.
As if prayer and religion were only there to serve conservative white males and they could simply ignore the parts they don’t like - such as forgiveness or redemption or treating your fellow human beings as you yourself would like to be treated.
They couldn’t find it in their dark hearts to forgive an innocent man as he faced execution simply because of the color of his skin.
He was guilty of not being like them and that was enough.
To forgive or grant clemency would have been to recognize the humanity of Mr. Williams and so many prisoners just like him; when a party runs on dehumanizing others that simply cannot be done.
The GOP seems to enjoy working in concert with each other to deny the rights of our fellow Americans and recent immigrants because it not only helps them hold onto power and manipulate an ignorant base of voters - it allows them to define Christianity on their terms alone.
Which in the case of the modern conservative movement is essentially white supremacy without the hoods and robes.
If this does not make you sick to your stomach you are not paying attention.
It also clearly illuminates how high the stakes truly are in November’s election.
It is not hard to surmise that if Trump had not been able to appoint three Supreme Court Justices during his term, cooler heads would have prevailed on our nation’s highest court and Mr. Williams would still be alive today.
Or women would still have the right to safe and legal reproductive healthcare nationwide.
Or a President would not be made into a king.
Or industry would not be allowed to ‘self-regulate’.
Or affirmative action would still exist to level the playing field and foster equanimity.
The GOP’s rhetoric revolves around punishing the right kind of people in the eyes of their constituents.
It really is as simple as that, despite the flowery statements and smug delivery at the loftier end of conservative politics.
The stuff that gets cooked up at the Heritage Foundation and workshopped in the mahogany-paneled back room at Morton’s Steakhouse.
They deny climate change as yet another massive hurricane bears down on the Gulf Coast and Southeastern States.
It is not just dangerous - what they are saying and doing - it is maddening beyond belief.
While seemingly every day the stakes get higher.
The damage becomes more incalculable, the progress our world so desperately needs gets pushed farther away; so a few corrupt and immoral men can exert their twisted beliefs and wield power over the many.
Beholden to industries that destroy our environment but bestow their benefactors with vast amounts of money as long as they deny the truth and promote their lies.
The soul of our nation is at stake on November 5th; that is not hyperbole but a sad fact of where we are in this moment.
A land where bloodlust and vengeance are passed around like party favors amongst an army of the ignorant.
We are better than this - we have to be if we want to survive as a democracy.
We will either be dancing the streets or weeping in the gutters.
Vote Blue.
*If you enjoy reading ‘Noel’s Notes’ please consider becoming a paid subscriber. Thank you for reading and sharing with your friends. -NC
How can any nation have the temerity to believe itself to be civilised, much less "christian", when this barbarity is any part of its legal system?
Compare the legal systems of the UK or other Westminster type democracies. Seems you would be better off had you not rebelled against a king and yet inherited a system that has the ability to produce tyrants.
Coupled with the deep-rooted stain of slavery.
And a nation awash with guns.
God damn, I thought we were beyond this shit, or at least on our way beyond it. It sickens me that we are so nearly in the same place we were so many decades ago. And that the same small, weak, pathetic, nasty, vicious people are still running things in the Bible belt. White religious nationalism is a scourge on our country. We must not be cowed by people who claim the moral high ground in the name of "gawd" as they perpetuate the sins of all-too-human hatred, fear, and cowardice. Local enforcement of racial hatred and its (somewhat) color-blind partner, hatred of women, are powerful and are entrenched in White religious communities, whose "spiritual leaders" perpetuate it.. We must fight hard against this. Fuck religion, fuck white nationalism, fuck racism, fuck misogyny. Fuck the people who profit off perpetuation of propaganda among our sadly illiterate and gullible people.