Eighteen long years ago, when I was a 17-year-old juvenile, I became the victim of poor legal representation and a racially biased prosecution system that is more often criminal than just. I was wrongly convicted of robber/murder and sentenced to death by a nearly all white jury in spite of the overwhelming and compelling evidence of my innocence. My trial was a travesty of justice. A strong people’s movement is the only hope to prevent my legal lynching and to stop my execution.

As my 36th birthday approaches on September 5th, 1999, I find myself sitting in this desolate prison cell on death row in Texas reflecting on the 18 years of my imprisonment. It has been a nightmarish ordeal endured under horrendous circumstances. I think about my son and my daughter who have had to endure a many hardships without me and with the passage of time my beautiful children have grown up into young adults and my lovely daughter recently brought into the world my first precious grandchild. I think about the passing of my beloved mother in 1989 and the tragic death of my father in 1996 and I think of how prison officials would not allow me to attend the funerals of my parents and I find that there are no words to describe my grief. I think about the many unfortunate victims of senseless violence in our society and I think about the hundreds of men and women and children deliberately murdered by the State and I think about their widows and their orphans, their families and their friends, their fathers and their mothers who have grieved and wept for them. I think about the people who have died while fighting for freedom and liberation and those who have struggled and sacrificed for justice. I think about the worldwide attention that my own suffering has helped to bring to the genocidal plight and the oppressive conditions of millions of my oppressed sisters and brothers and I think about how my case has come to symbolize the racism and brutality inflicted on poor people and minorities in America.

But my spirit of resistance will never be crushed by this racist injustice and political repression. Never will I cease to struggle and fight for the freedom and national liberation of my oppressed people. After 18 long years of illegal prosecution, I still have hope that justice will one day be achieved in this historic cause and this is so because of the tremendous faith that I have in my sisters and brothers. The odds and the danger that we face in our struggle for justice is great but even greater is the power of the people.

There is more momentum now around the death penalty than in recent times. The international campaign to stop my execution has played a critical role in this important development and has brought together diverse and wide groupings of people who have one message in common: we will take a stand and defend social justice and human rights because we care about human life and human dignity.

With the recent denial of my appeal by the federal courts, my case has taken on an exceptional urgency. All progressive forces are being called upon to publicly voice their concern and to pledge their solidarity with our righteous and just cause as we find ourselves once again confronted with the fierce urgency to mobilize progressive forces around the world to prevent a horrible miscarriage of justice.

I beseech all of my sisters and brothers and supporters to persist in your demand for justice to be done. We must all continue to take a strong and firm stand in this historic battle because history tells us that this is a repressive system that will never provide justice unless it is compelled to by massive national and international protest and unrelenting and uncompromising resistance by our sisters and brothers in the streets.

We urgently need the moral and political and financial support of all of our sisters and brothers and justice-loving people everywhere. I call upon you at this critical juncture of my 18 year battle for justice to urge and encourage you to offer your generous financial support towards my continued legal and political battles, for in the present political climate which encourages an ever-increasing fast track to the death chambers—coupled with ever-decreasing access to a proper and quality defense and due process, the possibilities for poor people and minorities like myself unjustly convicted are horrendous.

People from all walks of life must continue to pressure the government for justice. Brothers and sisters must continue to protest out in the streets. Build public awareness by having community meetings, hold forums, organize fundraisers and community events, conduct press conferences and speak out in the community and in the media. Stand in solidarity with our movement and demand: Let the evidence be heard! A powerful people’s movement is the only hope to prevent my legal lynching and to stop my execution. Your dedicated and tireless sacrifices have made it possible for me to be alive today. Therefore, at this critical juncture of our struggle for justice, I place my life and my fate in the united and powerful hands of my sisters and brothers and the people.

In The Spirit of African Resistance,