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MURDER IN DELAWARE
Ruth Ann Minner Joins Ranks of Nationwide Serial Killers
Note by Sis. Marpessa
Shortly after midnight last night, a dark-colored car
pulled up in front of approximately 100 protesters, a white, dark-suited
man stepped out and matter-of-factly announced that Abdullah Tanzel Hameen
was dead. Many people screamed "murderers!" and that the overtime
pay the cops were getting to supervise us was "dripping with the blood
of Hameen." Hameen's sons clung to each other and sobbed, as they
had since we arrived at a little past 11:00. The Delaware Coalition
Opposed to the Death Penalty rang a huge bell. There were screams,
sobs, one "hallelujah", another "they killed my nephew," another still
"you filthy bastards!" many Islamic and Christian prayers and much anger,
grief and disbelief. On the other side, the "for the death penalty"
cowpen held one young white male with a sign that no one could read.
A reporter complained that he couldn't get a soundbite
from him. Oh yea, there's two cowpens for protestors,
one "For" the other "Against". There's cops all over the
place. Cop cars are facing us with their parking lights
on. We're constantly being directed as to where we can
and can't walk, stand or exist. We chanted them
down fiercely and they did not even turn their guilty faces around to acknowledge
our existence.
Earlier that day a Wilmington Imam was forced to go to court several times to challenge the prison for not letting him meet with Hameen as his spiritual advisor. The prison had told him to not return there. When he appeared and approached the "Against" cowpen, he was immediately told to get off the grounds or face immediate arrest. As he told them of Hameen's wish to have him present, the stonefaced cops could only repeat their threat. The Imam left. Hameen ended up with the openly racist prison chaplain.
We saw the "witness" bus leave the area but did not see any of the witnesses. Some of us met Sis. Shakeerah at another location after she had packed all of Bro. Hameen's possessions (which she was directed to do immediately after his murder). She told us Hameen had made peace with his murder and had spiritually prepared himself for the journey he would make that evening. We were told that Bro. Hameen had been strapped to the gurney since 11:00. He was not put to sleep, as expected by many. Bro. Hameen was *very* evidently in pain from one of the three chemicals in the lethal cocktail, gasping and thrusting his upper body off the gurney as far as the straps would allow, strapped in the shape of a cross. As we talk, someone notices that Sis. Shakeerah is smelling Bro. Hameen's belongings and holding them close to her face. She told me to please let everyone on the internet know that she and Hameen were both extremely grateful for all of the national and worldwide support he received and thanked each individual who took the time to do anything at all to help prevent this murder.
I personally would like to encourage anti-DP activists or those fence-sitters to go to the prison each time they murder someone. It does a lot for the family of the soon to be murder victim, lets the state know that there are *growing* numbers of people in opposition to the death penalty, and perhaps most importantly, exposes all inmates within hearing range (as most are) to some political activism, to which they cheered inside the prison walls.
PARDONS BOARD IS A FARCE - RESIGN!
At the second so-called pardon board "hearing" those officials had clearly already made up their mind as they had a pre-prepared press release in-hand before it even got started. Ron Holsterman, the head of the counseling department, with 30 years in the business of imprisonation, blatantly lied when he said that he has never known ANYONE who has been rehabilitated. He needs to be fired for incompetence if after 30 years he can say that!
Victim's advocates guided the victim's sister, Tara, although
she had a note passed to her to stop staring
at Bro. Hameen while making her comments (such as his
being "garbage" and needing to be disposed of just like the "garbage"
he is). She stated that Hameen had not been rehabilitated, had not
changed at all, had no remorse, and his conversion to Islam while incarcerated
was a ploy, although that day was the first day she had ever set eyes upon
him or heard him speak. The victim's mother was calmer but advocated
for the murder just as strongly as her daughter, stating that "the word
'happiness' is no longer in my vocabulary." Two hours later, the Pardons
Board came back with their decision that Hameen must
die and the victim's sister told reporters that she wanted to "jump for
joy."
The awful truth is that this exercise has taught us, and
hopefully will teach those more naieve, that DE has
**no standard to measure clemency**. If Hameen's
incredible turnaround (so remarkable, in fact, that
several ex-inmates returned to the prison to tell the
Board how Hameen had forever changed their lives),
could not qualify as extraordinary enough to merit the
reduced sentenced of LWOP, then no one stands a chance! They have given
no death row inmate clemency. The Board gave 4 reasons for their denial:
1. Victims' family testimony; 2.) His turnaround was the "norm" and did
not meet their criteria of "extraordinary*;
3.) he was given the death penalty by a "jury of his
peers", 4.) his crimes themselves, his "rap sheet." If this Board
were truly about granting clemency to deserving individuals and not about
playing politics, Hameen would and should have been shown as a shining
example of what SELF- rehabilitation can do. Although they did not
list his condemnations of the criminal justice system in his articles,
essays and newsletters as a reason for the
denial, they were a big part of this whole process and
were a big part of their decision to murder him.
DEMAND THE TRUTH!! These people played with this
family for weeks before they did what they planned to do all along, murder
Hameen because he was too political, too active, too loved by too many
people that he could
influence with his TRUTH, WISDOM and KNOWLEDGE. And that
is why they continually wanted to read his
writings. And that is why they continually denied
him every time he went to court. And that is why they
finally brought in the victim's relatives to seal Hameen's
fate because they had so much proof staring them in the
face that this man was NO LONGER Cornelius Ferguson but
had COMPLETELY changed his life that they needed an ace in the hole.
They exploited the victim's family's desire for revenge to stifle Bro.
Hameen's dissent (along w/his life, of course, but it's clearly his dissent
they care about, not his life!). The death penalty ain't SUPPOSED
to be about revenge- OR about stifling dissent, and has certainly been
disproven millions of times as being a "deterrent to violent crime." Victim's
families' testimony should NOT be considered when asking for clemency based
on rehabiliation (and remember, we were asking for LWOP, not a new trial!).
The victim's family
does not know what Hameen has done and can do for black
young people in that prison, they do not know
why clemency should be extended to him because of his
self-rehabilitation, they don't know the man
Hameen has become, they had not met him. All they
can bring is their horrific memories of grief and their
tremendous loss. Memories are not the same as the
HERE and NOW. Victim testimony has no bearing
on an OBJECTIVE review of an inmate's accomplishments
while incarcerated.
The DE Board of Pardons should *never* have the fate of
anyone's life in their hands *ever* again.
WE DEMAND THEIR IMMEDIATE RESIGNATIONS based on their
well-documented incompetence and
mishandling of this plea for mercy. FUNERAL/BURIAL/EXPENSES
Bro. Abdullah Hameen was funeralized and buried in New
Jersey somewhere today. Only a very few people knew the details of
where it was to be held and are saddened at having been unable to show
their respects for a drug dealer who became a man of God and worked daily
to atone for his previous, grievous, misdeeds. Killing Abdullah Hameen
has not made the streets any safer for anyone. Inmates in the Delaware
Correctional
Center have lost a brother, friend and mentor who worked
tirelessly on their cases and raised their
consciousness politically and spiritually.
Sis. Shakeerah Hameen, who did not make the trip to New Jersey, is going to be incommunicado for a few weeks and concentrate on herself and her sons. She is not aware that we are going to try and raise money to help her and her sons (one who was previously suicidal) through this traumatic event.
If you are moved to help ease the financial burdens of this family as a result of this system's practice of legal murder, please donate as small or large as you can to:
Delaware Citizens Opposed To the Death Penalty.
1304 N. Rodney Street
Wilmington DE 19806-4227
In the memo it would be important to put "BLAC-H" DCODP
has a Tax Deductible Status, and at the moment
looks after any money BLAC (Because Love Allows Compassion)
has.
Thanks again to all those who wrote, faxed, called and
otherwise worked to save the life of a truly good brother who had atoned
for his prior life of crime by using each day of the remainder of his life
to help and support others. We need to do a massive education/economic
sanctions campaign to teach the reality of the death penalty. Please
trust that this murder was not about the killing of Troy Hodges in 1991,
they could care less about Troy or his family (had his sister not expressed
her full support for the execution, do you think the Pardon Board would
have reconvened to hear her testify had she called them and instead stated
that she believe that the execution should not take place? NOT LIKELY!)
These are two black men, both who this system viewed as
potential 21'st Centural Slaves within their growing
prison industry. They need to somehow prove that
they are "tough on crime" and try to soothe the public
worries about crime by killing people, whether
they have rehabilitated, whether they are retarded, and
now, whether they are children.
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