We're looking forward to see you all tomorrow, Thursday, February 16 from 9-1pm for GFADP’s Annual Lobby Day. We will be talking to our legislators about SB 342, which would repeal Georgia’s death penalty; HR 250 and SR 155 which urge district attorneys not to seek the death penalty and instead direct those funds to services for victim families and general public safety measures; and we’ll urge legislators to support HR 977 and HB 648, which provide for dedicated funding for the public defenders system. 

Tull Fellowship Hall, Central Presbyterian Church, 201 Washington St SW, Atlanta 30303(across the street from the State Capitol). 

MARTA - get off at Georgia State Station. One suggestion for parking is garage next to Trinity United Methodist Church at the corner of Trinity and Washington Streets 1 block passed the Capitol.

In lieu of our December meeting; we'd like you to join us for our annual Holiday Party with Amnesty International’s Southern Regional Office on Thursday, December 8, 6:30-9:00 p.m. at the Phillip Rush Center; 1530 Dekalb Avenue, Suite A; Atlanta, GA 30307 (One block from the Candler Park MARTA Station next to Radial Cafe).  Beverages and wine will be provided.  Please bring a dish to share.  Come any time between 6:30 and 9 and stay for whatever time you can.  We will be signing Christmas cards for the 103 people on Georgia’s death row and Amnesty will have letters to send to people in prisons around the world and to world leaders asking for political prisoners to be released. 

Dear Friends,

Our movement to end the death penalty in Georgia is in an exciting new phase. People who have been troubled by, but ultimately supportive of, the death penalty have come to realize that the legal system in Georgia is more interested in finality than truth--and now reject the death penalty outright. High school and college students are mobilizing, faith leaders are speaking out against the atrocities of the death penalty in increasing numbers, and conservative voices and murder victim family members are saying there is another way to bring justice and healing.

Georgians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty (GFADP) has always gone out and educated the public about the unfairness and cruelty involved in Georgia’s capital punishment system.  GFADP board members have been interviewed in recent months by the New York Times, Washington Post, as well as Amy Goodman’s Democracy Now! The public is coming to us in large numbers and asking: what can we do to end this madness? GFADP is the statewide coalition with the expertise, experience, and gumption to bring these diverse voices together to influence public opinion and the legislature and bring an end to the death penalty. With your financial contribution, we can keep the eyes of the world on Georgia as we continue to expose the unfairness of the system in the media and press for an end to the death penalty.

 

With sadness we report that in 2011 four executions were carried out in our state. Emmanuel Hammond, Roy Blankenship, Andrew DeYoung, and Troy Anthony Davis all died by lethal injection.  We responded with vigils around the state on the nights of executions, and many of you were there with us, using our bodies to take a stance in opposition to government involvement in pre-meditated killing.  The work of GFADP is not only to let people know, but to move them into action--to demand an end to the death penalty.

 

Over the past year, GFADP also brought disturbing issues surrounding Georgia’s lethal injection protocols to the attention of the public. We believe that Georgians need to know about illegally obtained execution drugs, untested protocols, and the objections of a foreign manufacturer to use of its drug to execute people. GFADP’s campaign of public education drives the growing skepticism in our state about vesting government with the power to kill its citizens. We will not let executions, carried out by paid medical professionals, be mistaken for justice. With your help we can tell a different story in 2012 and beyond.

The conversation about capital punishment in our state has changed.  The eyes of the world were on Georgia when Troy Anthony Davis was executed amid doubts about his guilt, and people who were once silent or ambivalent about the death penalty were forever awakened to its unconscionable inequities and exorbitant monetary and human costs.  Abolition is suddenly a topic for legislators, community leaders, and members of the media who are coming to recognize that the flawed capital punishment system in Georgia cannot be fixed, drains vital resources from public programs, and brings embarrassment to our state. 

Seizing the moment, State Senator Vincent Fort, a GFADP board member, will introduce legislation in the 2012 session calling for an end to the death penalty. This will provide a forum for publicizing the intractable problems with the justice system that led to Troy Davis’ execution. Your support for Georgians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty allows us to continue our campaign to educate the public and our legislators about this inhumane punishment. Please give generously.  

 

Join the growing opposition to the death penalty around the world and make a difference in Georgia.

 

With hope,

Kathryn Hamoudah, Chair

GFADP Board of Directors

GFADP Board of Directors

Martina Correia●  Edward DuBose● Margaret Eskew● Senator Vincent Fort ●Terrica Redfield-Ganzy● Kathryn Hamoudah● Peggy Hendrix

Suzanne Hobby-Shippen ●Tabatha Holley● Mary Catherine Johnson● Laura Tate Kagel● Em McNair● Bill Moon● Sara Totonchi● Erik Wilkinson

 

P.S. GFADP has recently hired an Organizer, Evelyn Lynn, to recruit, activate and empower faith communities from across the state to take effective action to end capital punishment in Georgia. Your generous donation will allow Evelyn to capture the outrage at Troy Davis’ execution and channel that into a demand for the abolition of the death penalty in Georgia.