Immediate Release
Contact: info@blackallianceforpeace.com
December 10 is celebrated in most places as international Human Rights Day in commemoration of the day that the international community promulgated the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) — elevating the fundamental right to life, freedom of speech, participation in government and the elements like housing, health and education that should characterize a life of dignity — the document that served as the beginning point of a set of principles that would serve as foundation for the evolving human rights framework.
Therefore, since it is quite clear that the number one violator of human rights on the planet is the government of the United States of America, it is perhaps quite fitting that U.S. national authorities would celebrate this day by executing an individual, together with four additional Federal prisoners, scheduled to be submitted to this ritualistic process of state murder over the next few weeks.
In a statement issued on December 9th, Black Alliance member Aaron Greene said:
“The U.S. death penalty has always been a symbol of white supremacy and a violation of human rights law. Having already executed 11 people this year, the Trump administration plans to execute five people (four of them Black) during a lame-duck session. This would be the first time a president has carried out executions during a lame-duck session since the Cleveland administration carried out the execution of an Indigenous man in 1890.”
As Attorney Jaribu Hill, director of the Mississippi Workers’ Center for Human Rights and member of the BAP coordinating committee has stated:
“The death penalty is the ultimate human rights violation and can be carried out even beyond the ritualistic lynching unfolding today on Human Rights Day.”
The execution serves as a backdrop for structural violence in the U.S. that has resulted in death and hospitalizations from COVID-19 and the failure of the U.S. state to protect the human rights of its residents and citizens. The conscious decision to sacrifice workers health, allow critical support to elapse, and to commodify vaccine production for profit is consistent with the complete disregard of human life not only in the U.S. but globally. Reports have been circulating for months revealing the incredible level of suffering that the people of Iran and Venezuela are facing in trying to protect the lives of their people in the midst of crippling, inhumane sanctions that deny them vital equipment and medicines.
Understanding how ritualistic state murder can continue in the U.S. is impossible without understanding the cultural values of the U.S. settler state, where violence and de-humanization were the core values that allowed for the conquering of the land, enslavement, and brutal capitalist exploitation. “Violence and death as entertainment, incessant wars, a military budget that consumes 60% of Federal budget, mass incarceration, mass shootings, are all symptoms of a decadent and sick society,” according to Ajamu Baraka, National Coordinator of the Alliance.
That is why it should be impossible for any U.S. official to stand up in any public forum and declare the U.S. as a nation committed to human rights.
Below are five people that are scheduled to be executed:
Brandon Bernard (Black Man) – Currently incarcerated in Terre Haute, Indiana. Brandon was 18 years old when first incarcerated and now is 40 years old. Brandon was only an accomplice to the alleged crime and five of the nine surviving jurors for his case no longer view the death penalty as a necessary punishment. Brandon would be the youngest executed in 70 years and his scheduled date of execution is December 10, 2020 (Human Rights Day).
Learn more about Brandon’s Case: https://www.helpsavebrandon.com
Dustin Higgs (Black Man) – Currently incarcerated in Terre Haute, Indiana. Dustin was sentenced to death on January 3, 2001. Dustin was convicted as an accomplice to three murders in 1996, even though he actually did not pull the trigger, but was guilty by association under the so-called law of party’s theory. He is scheduled to be executed on January 15, 2021, which would be the last federal execution carried out by the Trump Administration. January 15, 2020, is the birth date of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther, King, Jr.
Learn more about Dustin’s Case here: http://www.savedustinjhiggs.com
Lisa Montgomery (White Woman) – Currently incarcerated in Fort Worth, Texas. Lisa was sentenced to death on October 22, 2007. Lisa suffers from severe mental illness and experienced relentless physical, emotional, and sexual abuse including being trafficked by her own mother. She is the only woman under a federal death sentence and would be the first woman executed in 70 years. Execution date of January 12, 2021.
Learn more about Lisa’s case here: https://www.deathpenaltyworldwide.org/project/savelisa
Cory Johnson (Black Man) – Currently incarcerated in Terre Haute, Indiana. Cory was sentenced to death in 1993. His lawyers have continuously argued that he suffers from an intellectual disability, which should prohibit him from being executed under federal law. Cory is one of the longest serving people now on federal death row. His execution date is January 14, 2020.
Learn more about Cory’s case here.
Alfred Bourgeois (Black Man) – Currently incarcerated in Terre Haute, Indiana. Alfred was convicted and sentenced to death in 2002. Alfred is intellectually disabled and should be constitutionally ineligible for the death penalty. He is scheduled to be executed on December 11, 2020.
On December 2, 2020, Alfred Bourgeois attorneys asked the U.S. Supreme Court for a stay of Dec. 11 scheduled federal execution and review of intellectual disability claim. Read the press release, cert petition, stay motion here.
Photo credit: Leonard Freed/Magnum Photos