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FROM THE WILLIAMS REPORT
( By Nanon Williams -
Death Row Texas )
September 5, 2000
Prisoner-to-Prisoner Interview
with
Lonnie Johnson,
a Texas death row prisoner
Lonnie Johnson was born
in Houston, Texas. His family was poor, but he knew he was lucky to
have two parents when
so many other kids had but one, and some, well...some had none. His
parents having invested
so much love in him, young Lonnie wanted to make his parents proud
because he knew how much
they sacrificed for him. Becoming one of the few to graduate from high
school in his family, he later went on to college. Strong and athletic,
Lonnie became a football star and entertained the idea of becoming a professional
football player while in college, but after a couple of years he dropped
out to find a job to offer his family the financial support they so desperately
needed.
In 1990, now with a son
and a daughter of his own, Lonnie was doing well. In fact, so well he had
created a small but prosperous landscaping business and prepared to re-enter
college in search of a degree. However, life took a cruel turn for Lonnie.
Having caught a lift home with two teenagers who offered him a ride home
despite the racisme in his area, Lonnie was confident he would make it
home safely.
He told me when he questioned
the route these two white teenagers were taking, he suddenly felt a gun
being pressed into the side of his head and heard, "This is the end of
the rider for you nigger!"
When the truck came to
a screeching halt, he was forced out onto the ground at gun point as one
viciously kicked him in the head and stomped on his back, while all the
time laughing and saying, "Nigger, you gonna die. I hate niggers, boy!
We're gonna cut you up."
When he was ordered,
"Get your black nigger arse up", Lonnie got up slowly, and then made a
grab for the gun while he was bruised and aching. He said he was mad with
fear and knew his life would be taken, so when he wrestled with the much
bigger youth, with the gun, the smaller youth jumped on his back, but was
slung off. While still wrestling with the bigger youth, the gun went off.
The big youth fell and Lonnie then held the pistol as the smaller youth
came at him with a knife. Lonnie then pulled the trigger...
In Texas a Black man
didn't kill a White person and get away with it, not to mention killing
two white youths. So Lonnie, although terrified, two weeks later was arrested
for capital murder. He describes the experience as, "Having someone stick
a thousand knifes in my heart".
Lonnie strongly maintains
his innocence and claims he acted in self-defence; that he had no weapon.
One of the youths had
been found still clutching a knife with a 20cm. blade. Then Lonnie looks
up and says, "If you would have been in my situation", he asked. "What
would you have done?"
the williams report (wr): I appreciate you sharing your story and doing this interview. Tell me how old you are now and how long you've been incarcerated?
LONNIE: Thanks for asking
to hear my story and for interviewing me. I'm now thirty-seven years
old and have been locked
up for ten long years.
wr: Are you angry for having been incarcerated for ten years?
LONNIE: Maybe when I was
younger I would have said yes, but no, not anymore. I do get angry
some time, but if I let
that feeling take over it would only cloud my thinking and disable me from
making the right decision when it counts the most. I just try to think
about my mother, children, God, and of course my freedom.
wr: It sounds like you were a victim, but what would you say to the victim's family whom you were convicted of murdering?
LONNIE: We are all victims because of the circumstances, but I'm not sure what to say to any one who has lost a loved one. I know the feeling myself, and words just don't do much to ease the pain. There are always two sides to every story and I know pain only finds comfort in anger. I understand...All of our families have, and are suffering.
wr: How many executions have you seen and what do you think about the Shaka Sankofa (Gary Graham) execution?
LONNIE: I have seen more
than 125 executions of people I knew on some personal level and it
feels like I'm always
on the battlefield wondering if my corpse will soon be added to the growing
number of those killed by the state of Texas. And I knew Shaka...Some people
saw him as a threat to society for the crimes he was convicted for. But
there was too much doubt whether or not he was guilty of the crime for
which he was sentenced to death. When poor people, especially minorities,
can't get due process when someone like Shaka had all that support from
so many prominent figures, it dashes the hopes of the lesser known Shakas
on deathrow. It is also a blow to the Black community that now realized
there is a long way for us to go until we find justice, equality, and freedom
in America.
wr: What is your vision of freedom?
LONNIE: That vision would be when the day comes when race is unimportant and equality is no longer questioned. My vision of freedom is when financially someone's status doesn't rise or fall, but we are all the same just like God created us to be.
wr: What do you think it would take to humanize institutions? I mean all institutions, not just prisons.
LONNIE: In one word: respect!!! The people who run most institutions see others as beneath them. Bro, all they gotta do is respect people because that has been forgotten.
wr: How do you see the guards who work in prisons?
LONNIE: Bro, I see them overall as just ASSHOLES!!! They are trained to treat us as animals and most do. No, not all, but most! They fail to see us as someone with feelings and they think a conviction justifies however they treat us.
wr: The courts label death row prisoners as animals. monsters, psychopaths, etc. Respond to that?
LONNIE: Society and a court saw Jesus as an animal, monster, psychopath, and a bunch of other stuff but they spread him on a cross and torture him. He was just trying to teach people, but they labeled him and killed him. What can I say about society or any court that hasn't been said by their actions?
wr: Although you won't be nailed to a cross, the state plans on killing you. Have you thought about being "executed"?
LONNIE: Yeah, I've thought
about being executed, but I try to always think positive. I erase the
thought when it comes
because there is enough negativity in this world without me adding to it.
I just try to maintain a positive outlook.
wr: How do you think your family deals with your possible execution?
LONNIE: I believe my family
stays as positive as I do. Things will change. I know at some point
they worry and feel down.
I don't know...That's a bridge we'll have to cross if it comes to me
receiving a date of execution,
but until then we all hold strong.
wr: Besides constantly dealing with executions what has been the worst act of violence you've seen in prison?
LONNIE: I've seen so much
violence I can't say which or what I've seen is the worst. What sticks
in my mind the most is
when I saw prison guards beat a guy so bad and brutal until his eyeball
came out of his socket. I just remember seeing so much blood until his
face was covered, and those few prison guards didn't care. They just threw
him down two flights of stairs while that prisoner was still handcuffed
with his hands behind his back. I have seen so much violence in prison
I'm not sure to say what has been the worst. Every day there is violence
in prison on some level and it is most often manipulated by prison officials
to keep prisoners divided.
wr: How have you made amends for the wrong you've done in your life? Do you think at some point when anyone goes through something bad they reflect upon what they've done throughout their life?
LONNIE: I think a lot of people think about the wrongs they did in life at some point. I can't make amends for the reason I'm on death row because my life was in jeopardy, but I wish things were different. But yes, I've done wrongs in life although there were petty things and I have made my peace with God, as should most people.
wr: If you could say something to a kid on the wrong path of life, what would you say?
LONNIE: That there's a right and wrong way to go about everything. More importantly, I would tell them to hold on onto their dreams and goals because when you lose your focus on them, you lose far too much. Naw, nothing will come easy and we must have the courage and will power to stay on the right path knowing obstacles will always come, but words are always easy to say. You just have to show a kid you care through your actions. Just a smile makes all the difference in the world.
wr: Are you open to correspondance and what would you like to say in closing?
LONNIE: Yes, I am open
to correspondance. It doesn't matter who writes - I will respond. In
closing: I just wish
that every responsible and concerned person would step back regardless
of race and gender and just take a closer look at what's really going on
in the world today, and say enough is enough!
Lonnie Johnson #999135 - FROM THE WILLIAMS REPORT September 5, 2000
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