How Just is Our "Justice" System: Troy Davis Part Two

A couple of weeks ago I posted about the story of Troy Davis. Unfortunately his life has come to an end, he was executed for a charge of murder late on the night of September 21. We are all entitled to our own opinion, but I strongly believe Troy was innocent. There were numerous questions and aspects of the story that just did not seem to fit. I am not alone as many people such as Jimmy Carter, Jesse Jackson, Pope Benedict and the organization Amnesty International. Troy's life was one of torture. He spent over twenty years on death row awaiting an injection that he did not deserve.
After hearing of his Tragic end, I had a rather disturbing thought. Let's say it was the other way around; a white cop killed Troy. He may end up serving a short term in jail but probably would not be in very long. There is still evident racism in our country, and I feel this trial was a good example of it. Georgia is one of the top states in dealing out the death penalty sitting in seventh with 40 people executed since 1976. Of those there have been a few debated cases but Troy's remains the most contested.
No matter the evidence, or lack there of, I feel that when a persons execution is as opposed as that of Troy Davis is, the least the government could do is step in and review the situation. The fact that one of the witnesses against Troy was a man who many witnesses said was the true killer is an other point of question. If a man is accusing someone of murder is it fair to take them seriously if they themselves may be the culprit? Overall I am disappointed in the courts judgement of the case, and I hope that this will teach us to look at things a little more carefully in the future. Troy may be dead but we can remember him by helping others in similar situations.

"Wild" Animals

After watching Grizzly Man  in American Studies, I remembered another story similar to Timothy Treadwell's adventure in some aspects. Starting in the 1950's Soviet scientists began attempting to domesticate the silver fox through selective breeding. For decades they the most gentile and kind foxes and bred them, but also bred were they most ferocious and mean foxes. Though some financial issues arose through the duration of the experiment it is still operational today, and in some places it is possible to purchase these foxes as pets.

My real question is, should we as humans be doing this? The silver fox is a wild animal, yet we are turning them into dogs. The characteristics of the domesticated animals have even undergone changes. Their noses are smaller and their tail changed shape. Genetically they are no longer the same as other foxes. I am not completely against this experiment. I like most people find the idea of a tame fox to be very appealing, especially after seeing Timothy Treadwell and the fox that followed him around all that time, but I am bothered by the creation of extremely vicious foxes. There is little reason to create an animal to be as bloodthirsty as possible. Those animals will never be happy and it is easy to see the negative applications of foxes like those. As seen in the video there are pros and cons so it is up to you to decide what you think of all this. In my opinion doing research for the furthering of our scientific and evolutionary knowledge is way different than companies selling these foxes as pets for their profit or creating killer animals.

Hockey More Show Than Sport

Hockey has always been a contact sport, but now it often seems to be just a sport used as an excuse to watch men bash each others brains out. In the early days of hockey helmets were not worn, but neither was their much need for a helmet. Players wore minimal padding and kept the hitting to light bumps. But as science helped to increase the protection of pads, the game got more violent, but at a natural level. Nowadays all people want is the hitting. Sitting in the stands a massive hit raises as much of a cheer as a nice goal.

This change in playing style has led to a new breed of player, The Enforcer. It is their job to sit on the bench and look mean then every once in a while go out and check a bunch of people then maybe get in a fight. Unfortunately our own Blackhawks have stooped to this level, picking up Daniel Carcillo in a trade. You may remember him from the Stanly Cup finals versus the Flyers where he racked up countless penalty minutes. Carcillo and other enforcers have very limited hockey skills apart from size and strength. They are opposite of what a hockey player should be, yet the crowds love them.

Hockey is an inherently dangerous game, but the chance of getting hurt is much greater now with the degree of hitting that has arose. Neal Goss of New Trier was a team captain and just your everyday normal student. But a cheap shot changed his life forever. In 1999 Goss was cross checked from behind, a very illegal hit that left him paralyzed from the chest down. That is one close to home example of how devastating it can be when people do not respect a sport enough to play it correctly. I am hoping that soon hockey fans will once again prefer the players finesse and skills over their ability to cause pain. As hockey is part of the entertainment industry they do conform to the fans wishes, so I believe we should try to clean up the sport of hockey and play it as was meant to be played.

Watch Video First

The story of Troy Davis is a sad one, but I hope that we can all still help remedy the situation. In 1989 a police officer was killed while working an off duty job in Savannah, Georgia. With no true evidence to speak of, except an unlikely eye witness account from very far away, Troy was convicted and sentenced to death. Soon after his sentence was suspended for further trials. After 22 years waiting on death row and numerous death sentences, one of which was called off within hours of being carried out, Troy Davis is still waiting for a fair trial. Many new testimonies have turned up revealing that the police were responsible for forcing "witnesses" to give the "proper" account of the events of that night, including one man who could not even read being forced to sign the testimony. For a more detailed account watch the linked video.


                                 I first heard of the sad story of Troy Davis through the band State Radio. They wrote a song, "State of Georgia" as a means to get the word out about Troy. After hearing the song I decided I had to learn more, and the more I learned the more disturbing I found the whole situation.There are countless online petitions and groups backing a fair trial or even the release of Troy Davis including Amnesty International (linked to a page to join the movement against the death penalty). If you wish to learn more you can visit one of these sites or use Google to learn for yourself.

http://troyanthonydavis.org/  
   
http://www.amnestyusa.org/our-work/cases/usa-troy-davis

 http://www.naacp.org/campaign/davis?source=bsdads_googlegrant_news_TroyDavis&gclid=COX69aHGh6sCFQjCKgodqTPObw


Please visit these links and do your part to help Troy Davis

Comments are appreciated