#609 - Peace & Life: Execution Stayed!/Stopping Slavery/Events - April 29, 2022
Stay of Execution! Hallelujah!
Melissa Lucio has been spared for now, on evidence of innocence. Usually, when people on death row are found to be innocent, it’s because someone else committed the crime. In this case, there was no crime. Her two-year-old daughter Mariah had a medical condition that made her an unsteady walker. Mariah’s fall down a stair case was a tragic accident. Then her grieving mother was subjected to intense police interrogation which wore her down; false confessions are well understood by psychologists and a major problem in police practice. The brutal treatment of her was outrageous.
Executions make the injustice impossible to remedy. She’s already missed the remainder of her other children’s childhoods, and the children had their mother in jail. That can’t be undone. But at least she could be released, and couldn’t have been if she had been executed.
Peace & Life Referendums
Good news! Oregon is adding itself to the list of states voting to amend their constitutions to abolish slavery entirely – removing the exception for those convicted of a crime. Our topic page on slavery has a full list of which states still have this problem and other background info. There are now four states voting on this in November, the others being Alabama (as part of re-consolidating the entire state constitution), Tennessee, and, for indentured servitude, Vermont.
See Peace & Life Referendums for all the referendums we’re tracking.
Events
May 3-6, 2022: #JusticeForTheFive Week of Action
Washington DC
To demand justice for the five children discovered in Washington DC who may have been killed by illegal partial-birth or born-alive abortion methods.
June 29-July 2, 2022: Fast and Vigil to Abolish the Death Penalty
Washington DC and Online
Death penalty abolitionists will gather at the U.S. Supreme Court steps, where tens of thousands of tourists and local people pass by, allowing for grassroots engagement. The week includes training and education, advocacy and action. Register here.
July 8-10, 2022: #NoWar2022 Conference
Online
Register for the 2022 World Beyond War Conference. While this isn’t a member group, the group has had tables and presentations at consistent life conferences.
August 5-7, 2022: Pax Christi USA 50th Anniversary Conference
Arlington, Virginia
Pax Christi is a member group: Pax Christi Conference. Note also that August 6 and 9 every year are dates for worldwide commemoration of the anniversaries of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in protest of nuclear weapons; check for what’s happening in your area.
October 15, 2022: Rehumanize International (RI) Conference.
RI is a member group, and the consistent life ethic is the entire focus of the conference. More details yet to come, but RI is asking now for people to weigh in on what speakers they would like to see this year, plus any other feedback.
Our Latest Blog Post
Looking at both problem and solutions, Rachel MacNair considers what violence does when animals are the target in Beyond the Human – Plus Everyday Peace Actions. She then details everyday purchasing actions to promote nonviolence for animals, environment, and people.
Quotation of the Week
Joycelyn Elders, then U.S. Surgeon General
U.S.A. Today, 29 Dec. 1993.
Here’s an abortion defender who understands a core point of the consistent life ethic, even though she doesn’t apply it to abortion:
Our children are dying because they are being taught to use violence to solve problems. Violent behavior is being modeled in our homes, schools, neighborhoods, and in the media. Children are learning daily that violence is a socially acceptable response to others' behavior.