I am an African American. I was �captured� in Compton, California on September 18, 1990. I was flown by plane to Louisiana, tried for a shooting I can �prove� I did not commit, wrongfully convicted and sentenced to Life in Prison. All in a courtroom that flew a Confederate battle flag along side the Stars and Stripes. So I consider myself an expert of sorts on the �injustice of Louisiana�s Criminal Justice System�. I imagine that my experience would evoke the same sense of Justice, Trust, and Fairness that a Jewish person might feel in a courtroom flying a flag emblazoned with a Swatztika
Last month the nation seemed shocked to find that Jim Crow had sired a son, (Jim Crow Jr.); down here we like to call him �Jimbo� or sometimes �Little Jimmy�. The Civil Rights movement may have silenced Jim Sr., but Little Jimmy, with his bachelor degrees and political clout can legislate discrimitory policy that constitutes �legal lynching� on a scale that dear ole dad and his cross burning buddies could only dream about.
Please do not be surprised to find prosecutors like Reed Walters of Jena, Louisiana boasting of destroying black lives, �with the stroke of a pen�. They have used that power in the Louisiana Criminal Justice System since the days they made Vagrancy Laws to supply plantation labor to support their agricultural economy. The state numbers on Black/White sentencing practices is so lopsided; it has become the subject of political discussions all across the country.
By giving protest to the Jena 6 case, Jesse Jackson, Michael Baisden, and Al Sharpton brought greater attention to the institutional racism in Louisiana�s Criminal Justice System. Hopefully all those brothers and sisters from across the nation did not leave without realizing that there are literally hundreds of Michael Bells and Reed Walters down here.
A Life Sentence in Louisiana is known by the locals as �Death by Incarceration�. It is sinister and diabolical but there exist no viable release mechanism for a person sentenced to life for a violent crime. Louisiana has per capita the highest incarceration rate on the planet Earth. This statistic includes comparisons to South Africa, Russia, Saudi Arabia, China, Iran, and Egypt, with 836 per 100,000 capita of its citizens locked away and 82% of those black, the stats alone should warrant a United Nations Humanitarian Rights Counsel investigation to look at it as a rather ingenious form of ethnic cleansing.
I am live from ground zero keeping you aware and awake to the fact that Louisiana�s confederate traditions are working to deprive many wrongfully convicted men and women of our Constitutional, Civil, and Human Rights. Some might say that arguing over procedure instead of releasing a man who is actually innocent sounds unfair, unjust, draconian, or just mean spirited. However, here in the �boot� it is just business as usual, the good ole Louisiana Way.
Curtis Ray Davis II
If you wish to aide and support Curtis Davis vs. the State of Louisiana:
E-mail Curtis Davis at [email protected]
OR
Write to: CURTIS RAY DAVIS II 320151
LOUISIANA STATE PRISON
ANGOLA, LA 70712