Newspaper Page Text
www.themaroontiger.com
September 28 - October 4,2011
TROY DAVIS
The Revolution Will Not Be Televised:
It Will Be Tweeted
DAVIS case draws support
from Atlanta University
Center as students protest his
execution
•4 continued from front page
NAACP Chairwoman Roslyn
Brock.
They then joined other pro
testers at Towaliga County
Line Baptist Church for a
prayer service and strategy
session. NAACP chairman
Ben Jealous, Ebenezer Bap
tist Church Senior Pastor Rev.
Raphael Warnock and Atlanta
rappers Big Boi and Killer
Mike also attended and gave
compelling messages of hope
and ceaseless perseverance to
protesters.
Around 6 p.m., passionate
protesters left the church and
began to march towards Jack-
son State Prison, adamantly
chanting phrases such as “Too
much doubt, let Troy out!”
and “NO justice, NO peace!”
Simultaneously, unbe
knownst to the crowd, Davis’s
attorneys made a last hour
appeal to the U.S. Supreme
Court, asking to grant Davis a
stay. His execution was put on
hold - only temporarily.
Since his execution had
been delayed three times
before, AUC students were
highly optimistic and jubi
lant about the news, hugging
each other and crying tears
of joy. Donning T-shirts with
Davis’s face, diversity among
protesters was quite evident.
Students comprised a major
ity of the protesters, seeming
ly reminiscent of the Student
Nonviolent Coordinating
Committee (SNCC) in the
1960s.
“We really showed how im
portant this issue was by the
amount of students that came
out to support Troy Davis,”
Deaweh Benson, a senior at
Spelman College, said.
News broke around 11 p.m.
that the Supreme Court had
denied his request, and that
Davis had been executed.
The “legal lynching” of Troy
Davis, as Jealous would come
to describe Davis’ case, was a
shock to all. Student protest
ers, though heartbroken and
somewhat discouraged, knew
their voices and actions had
not gone unseen or unheard.
Thursday classes through
out the AUC were filled with
discussions about the execu
tion and its racial implica
tions and overtones, election
debates and the dissolution
of capital punishment. Above
all else, a flame was ignited
among college-aged students
to stand up and fight for what
they vehemently believed in.
Though race, ethnicity, and
most poignantly age, separat
ed protesters, Troy Davis un
doubtedly united them.
James Williams
Assoc. Opinions Editor
j ames.willi@yahoo.com
I have a riddle for you. What
is big, black, oppressed, and
marches everywhere, but gets
absolutely nowhere?
Us.
The case of Troy Davis
taught me a few things, but
highlighted several more. 1)
Like many of the other sys
tems here in the United States,
the judicial system is broken.
2) Our world will never be
grey and that racism is alive
and well. 3) Politics will al
ways be politics. Lastly, to be
black here in the United States
is a criminal offense punish
able by death.
However, more important
ly, the lesson I learned from
the Troy Davis murder (yes,
murder), is that we as people
of color are stifled and that we
as a community have yet to
evolve from the Civil Rights
Movement of the 1960s.
We as a people still believe
the most effective way of dis
playing our displeasure is
through demonstration. We
want change, so we march.
We decorate our pretty little
picket signs and wave them
around threatening nothing
more than our presence. We
scream. We protest. And still-
--nothing gets done.
Our ineffectiveness is not
due to the absence of a worthy
cause. Unemployment in the
black community is still more
than 15 percent. Education in
the inner city is still a mess.
We are still being slighted in
the justice system. Yet, we re
main complacent with the sta
tus quo and fall victim to this
pervasive “old guard” mental
ity that the way to be given
attention is by screaming the
loudest despite the fact that it
has been nearly 50 years since
that method has been effec
tive.
In the midst of our protests,
we allowed our communities
to be eaten away at the hands
of the crack epidemic of the
‘80s, empowered neighbor
hood gang members to ter
rorize our neighborhoods
in the ‘90s and allowed the
white majority to convince
us that the fact our president
was black somehow mitigated
the racist roots the U.S. holds
firmly planted in this Ameri
can soil in the ‘00s.
We as a community are
the starving man living off
of American crumbs and our
only method of protest is by
petition.
America is built on mon
etary greed and shady poli
tics. The desire we have to
obtain and sustain wealth as
a capitalist society far out
weighs our attention to any
real human issues. However,
even while knowing this and
placing our fresh hundred-
dollar bill on the counter in
exchange for the latest Jordan
sneakers, we have forgotten
our buying power.
We have forgotten that
in this modern America,
strength lies not in the num
ber of demonstrations, but in
the number of big faces. Ben
jamin Franklin speaks louder
than we as a collective unit
ever could. To protest worthy
causes, why do we not chan
nel our spending?
We have forgotten that in
this modern America, change
can be initiated at every level
of political system. Holding
your city and state represen
tation accountable through
voting for the issues in your
community has a far more
immediate effect on the qual
ity of your life than holding
mass demonstrations for the
federal and state government.
To create the change we want
to see, why do we not become
actively in involved in the di
rection of our own lives?
We are not puppets.
In order for there to be
change in our current soci
ety, we have to modernize our
thinking. We are the technol
ogy generation. We are ex
perts with social media. We
blog and journal every detail
of our lives. Why are we not
using the current resources
we have to further our own
agenda? Instead of allowing
the media to exploit us for
profit, we need to learn how to
exploit the media for change.
Racism, oppression and un
equal treatment among the
races in the hands of our ju
dicial system will go nowhere
without our metaphorical
foot on the neck of the pow
ers that be. That can only be
done through our consistent
involvement in every step of
the political system; from our
local and state governments
to our federal government.
President Obama and Con
gress should be held no less
responsible than the official
who put the needle in Troy
Davis’ arm.
Our revolution will begin
at home, not in a mass dem
onstration. It will begin in the
way we raise our children, in
the way we teach our lessons
and in the way we utilize what
we have been taught. Some
times change does not start
with the first foot forward,
but rather the first idea tweet
ed and the first dollar spent.
Sometimes change starts with
the first idea to do what has
yet to be done through means
which have yet to be thought
of.
Our revolution will not be
televised—-it will be tweeted.
NOW TRENDING
Social media becomes
inundated with posts about
Davis during final hours
J. Taylor Jones
Staff Writer
jtaylor.jones92@gmail.com
F or the non-business ma
jor, I think it’s fair to say
that most students finish their
week around 2 p.m. or 3 p.m.
on Friday. There is an imagi
nary wave that washes over
you as you take your first steps
out of your last class for the
day. Your smile gets brighter
and your backpack gets light
er. I made it!
Immediately minds skip to
the first activity that should
kick off the ever-deserved
weekend whether it be Mar
ket Friday, Atlantic Station,
Lenox Mall, a workout, nap,
and, for very few, the library.
In a sense, we willingly and
purposefully throw off the
metaphoric burdens that oc
cur during the week. For some,
activities and responsibilities
increase as the weekend hits,
but, for most, the weekend is a
temporary vacuum of respon
sibility and cares.
In light of all the noise that
was created by the Troy Davis
case, I wondered what differ
ence, if any, would occur this
weekend after his execution. I
do not believe we should live
in the past, nor do I think it is
wise to cling on to moments
and continuously live through
them. But when so much
emotion, tension and anxiety
culminate into one event, I am
shocked that there is no emo
tional residue, no thoughtful
aftermath that would reflect
such passion that was exhib
ited before.
In the era of Twitter activ
ists and Facebook philoso
phers, I am afraid our genera
tion’s passion has gotten lost
among the incessant chang
ing of statuses and causes.
Take Troy Davis for example.
Twitter timelines and Face-
book walls were decorated
with #TooMuchDoubt in the
weeks leading up to the fate
ful Wednesday, Sept. 21 night,
but just days after the sting of
such a heinous injustice the
cause could hardly be felt on
campus or in social media.
In the blink of an eye and
the glimpse of a flyer, our goals
and our attitudes changed.
The “trending topic” has lost
its appeal and the “trendy top
ic” is all that we cling to. Our
passions, desires and our am
bitions seem to be on refresh
mode. It seems as if our moti
vation and drive to speak out,
act and live for something
that comes and goes as quick
ly as the weekend. As young
people, we lack consistency of
action. My biggest fear about
Troy Davis is that his legacy
will be confined to the glitzy
wallpaper of pop culture rath
er than in the rich paintbrush
of future social change.
Troy Davis should never be
forgotten and his legacy will
be carried on in some capac
ity, but I think we should ask
ourselves if our attention span
is even capable of processing
such a moment and using it
for a greater good. The era of
technology has allowed for an
infinite amount of informa
tion to be shared but in the
same vain, an infinite amount
of information is also being
lost.
It’s pageant season boys and
girls and just like that, our
minds have changed. In the
midst of a world of turmoil,
injustice and Troy Davises,
the microcosm of the AUC
is more concerned with tal
ents and courts. My hope, as
a member of one of the most
historical hotbeds of student
social change, is that our pro
testers do not turn to “pag-
eanters” as soon as the week
end comes.
^ * Recycle The Maroon Tiger