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--></style><title>Saturday: 10th Annual March to Abolish the Death
Penalty</title></head><body>
<div>Excerpt from http://marchforabolition.org</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>Tenth Annual March to Abolish the Death Penalty<br>
October 24, 2009 at 2 PM<br>
Austin, Texas<br>
Texas State Capitol Building South Side (11th and Congress)<br>
Four innocent, exonerated former death row prisoners will be among the
special guests at the Tenth Annual March to Abolish the Death
Penalty</div>
<div>October 24, 2009 at 2 PM in Austin, Texas at the Texas Capitol on
the South Steps at 11th and Congress.</div>
<div>Also attending will be the penpal of Todd Willingham, Elizabeth
Gilbert, who first investigated his innocence. Plus, Todd's last
lawyer Walter Reaves. Please attend the march to support the
Willingham family as they fight to prove that Todd Willingham was
innocent.</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>Also see the note below, regarding a bus from Houston to Austin
for this march, and more.</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>Bill</div>
<div> </div>
<div><br></div>
<blockquote type="cite" cite>From: Texas Death Penalty Abolition
Movement <abolition.movement@hotmail.com></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite>Date: Mon, 19 Oct 2009 00:03:38
-0500</blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite>Subject: [friends_of_kpft] Six Days 'Til
the 10th Annual March to Abolish the DP</blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><br></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite> <br>
</blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite>Those of us in Houston are all too
familiar with the<br>
injustices in the Harris County criminal justice system:<br>
<font color="#00B050"><b>Shaka Sankofa (Gary
Graham)</b></font><b>,<font color="#FF0000"> Joseph
Nichols</font>,</b><br>
<font color="#7030A0"><b>Frances Newton</b></font><b>,<font
color="#0070C0"> Nanon Williams</font>,<font color="#00B0F0"> Calvin
Burdine</font> . . .</b><br>
the list goes on and on. <br>
<br>
But now, in the state of Texas, we have a case that<br>
is about to change history---Todd Willingham.<br>
<br>
<font color="#FF0000"><b>We are aproaching the first pothumous
exoneration in</b></font><br>
<font color="#FF0000"><b>the United States.</b></font><br>
<br>
Make plans now to join Todd Wilingham's mother, his attorney,<br>
his pen pal and advocate Liz Gilbert, and many more in Austin<br>
this Saturday for the 10th Annual March to Abolish the Death<br>
Penalty.<br>
<br>
If you are in Houston, e-mail now to confirm a seat on the bus.<br>
We will meet at S.H.A.P.E. Center, 3815 Live Oak, 9:30
Saturday<br>
morning, have a press conference at 10:00 where we will shout<br>
it from the rooftop that Todd Willingham was innocent. Then
we'll<br>
leave for Austin. We will return to Houston after the march
and<br>
rally. We urgently need donations to help fill the bus.<br>
<br>
<img
src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2744/4018144951_b69f6a5d8d.jpg"
width="276" height="414"><br>
<br>
</blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><a
href="http://marchforabolition.org/"><font color="#0066CC"><i><b>10th
Annual March to Abolish the Death Penalty October 24 in
Austin</b></i></font></a><i><br>
<br>
The national media is closely following developments in the Todd
Willingham case and Rick Perry's attempts to stall and cover up the
investigation for his own political advantage. October 24 in Austin is
the</i> <a href="http://marchforabolition.org/"><font
color="#0066CC"><i>10th Annual March to Abolish the Death
Penalty</i></font></a><i> when we will show the world and Rick Perry
that there are people in Texas who are convinced that Todd Willingham
was innocent and that the death penalty should be abolished. We plan
to shout it out that Todd Willingham was innocent!</i></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><font
color="#333333"><br></font></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><font color="#333333">Visit the special
march website at</font> <a
href="http://www.marchforabolition.org/"><font
color="#0068CF">www.marchforabolition.org</font></a><font
color="#333333">.</font><br>
</blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><font
color="#333333"><br></font></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><i>We need support for the march from
abolitionists across the country and around the world. Please forward
information about the march to your membership lists in every state.
If people can not attend in person, then</i> <a
href="http://camerontoddwillingham.com/?page_id=6"><font
color="#0066CC"><i>they can sign a petition to Rick
Perry</i></font></a><i> that we plan to deliver at the march with help
from members of Todd Willingham's family. (See photo
below of Eugenia Willingham at the 2006 march.) We will also
display all the names and comments from the petition at the
march.</i></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><font
color="#333333"><br></font></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><font color="#333333">You can also call
Rick Perry's office on October 24 and leave a voice mail telling him
to look out his office at the people urging him to admit that Todd
Willingham was innocent and to listen to them. His phone number is 512
463 1782.</font></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><font
color="#333333"><br></font></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><i>We have heard from media from around
the world who plan to be at the march on October 24 to cover the the
Todd Willingham story. CNN is also planning to be there. Here are
links to four videos from CNN AC360 about the case from</i> <a
href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5uz8HTojMYk"><font
color="#0068CF"><i>Oct 2</i></font></a><i>,</i> <a
href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-P-wreUK0k"><font
color="#0068CF"><i>Oct 13</i></font></a><i>,</i> <a
href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dgyv4EmPCYk"><font
color="#0068CF"><i>Oct 14</i></font></a><i> and</i> <a
href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L5cFKpjRnXE"><font
color="#0068CF"><i>Oct 15</i></font></a><i>. We need people in
Texas to show up, so we can show the world that many of us in Texas
oppose the death penalty. </i></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><i><br>
Speakers at the march will include two innocent, now-exonerated death
row prisoners (Shujaa Graham and Curtis McCarty), Jeff Blackburn
(Chief Counsel of the Innocence Project of Texas), Jeanette Popp (a
mother whose daughter was murdered but who asked the DA not to seek
the death penalty), Elizabeth Gilbert (the penpal of Todd Willingham
who first pushed his innocence and helped his family find a fire
expert to investigate), a family member of Todd Willingham and several
other families of people on death row, including the mother of
Reginald Blanton who is scheduled for execution in Texas on Oct 27
three days after the march. <br>
<br>
The march starts at 2 PM on October 24 at the Texas Capitol. We
will gather at the Texas Capitol, march down Congress Avenue to 6th
street, then back to the Capitol for a rally to abolish the death
penalty.<br>
<br>
The night before the march, there will be a panel discussion on the
campus of the University of Texas at Austin at 7 PM with Shujaa Graham
and Curtis McCarty. (Thank you to Bill Pelke and the Journey of Hope
for helping bring them to Austin for the march.) Shujaa and Curtis
will speak about what it is like to be innocent and sentenced to
death. The panel is in the Sinclair Suite (room 3.128) of the Texas
Student Union on Guadalupe. Call if you need more directions
512-552-4743.<br>
<br>
Immediately after the march on October 24, we plan to hold a
networking and strategy meeting inside the capitol. Everyone is
invited to attend the strategy session and help us plan how to move
forward towards abolition in Texas. The strategy session will start
about 30 minutes after the last speaker at the march.<font
color="#000000"><br>
</font><br>
</i><a
href=
"http://et.ratepoint.com/1059df9080ec9224dec7be9f4a6833bd/d8c59b20cc255572f1e73b7138212965"><i><span
></span>If you as an individual or your organization would like to
sign on as a sponsor of the march, click here to fill out the
sponsorship form.</i></a><i> It is free to be a sponsor. We just
ask that you spread the word so that we get a good crowd at the march.
Sponsors include Sister Helen Prejean, Bill Pelke and the Journey of
Hope, the Texas Civil Rights Project, Reprieve, Iranians for Peace and
Justice, UT Campus Progress, Democrats for Life of Texas,
S.H.A.P.E Community Center in Houston, the Dallas Peace Center,
ALIVE Against the Death Penalty in Germany, Ensemble Contre la Peine
de Mort (France), the Austin chapter of the Campaign to End the Death
Penalty, Texas Moratorium Network, the Texas Death Penalty Abolition
Movement, Texas Students Against the Death Penalty, Texas Death
Penalty Education and Resource Center, Kids Against the Death
Penalty and many others. </i><a
href=
"http://et.ratepoint.com/0db36b6bde00feb87f9f6fcddad5a1a1/d8c59b20cc255572f1e73b7138212965"><i><span
></span>See others on the still growing list of sponsors
here</i></a><i>. Please add your group to the sponsors
list.</i></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><font
color="#333333"><br></font></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite>Thank you for helping!</blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><br>
Hooman Hedayati<br>
(210)601-7231<br>
</blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><img
src=
"http://co121w.col121.mail.live.com/att/GetAttachment.aspx?tnail=0&messageId=67ccd945-ba87-11de-b6a2-002264c2487a&Aux=4|0|8CC1CAB4EE0AD90||"width="235"height="292"></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite>willinghams.jpg</blockquote>
<div><br>
<br>
</div>
<x-sigsep><pre>--
</pre></x-sigsep>
<div>Bill Crosier<br>
paa@crosierbiomed.com 713-641-4941<br>
Progressive Action Alliance
http://progressiveactionalliance.org/<br>
KPFT - Radio for Peace - 90.1 FM Houston
http://kpft.org</div>
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