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The last words of Shaka Sankofa before execution: “This is a lynching that is happening in America tonight.”

written by AQM Blog Staff

(Blogger’s Note: The following are the last words of Shaka Sankofa, formerly know as Gary Graham, as he was about to be executed in Texas on June 22, 2000 under the George W. Bush Administration. The text is from his printed statement. Shaka Sankofa was a Texas death-row inmate who was sentenced to death at the age of 18 for the murder of fifty-three-year-old Bobby Grant Lambert in Houston, Texas on May 13, 1981.)

“I would like to say that I did not kill Bobby Lambert, that I’m an innocent Black man that is being murdered. This is a lynching that is happening in America tonight. There’s overwhelming and compelling evidence of my defense that has never been heard in any court of America.

What is happening here is an outrage for any civilized country to anybody anywhere to look at what’s happening here is wrong.

I thank all of the people that have rallied to my cause. They’ve been standing in support of me, who have finished with me. I say to Mr. Lambert’s family, I did not kill Bobby Lambert. You are pursuing the execution of an innocent man.

I want to express my sincere thanks to all of y’all. We must continue to move forward and do everything we can do to

(AP Photo/Pat Sullivan)

outlaw legal lynching in America. We must continue to stay strong all around the world, and people must come together to stop the systematic killing of poor and innocent Black people. We must continue to stand together in unity and to demand a moratorium on all executions. We must not let this murder/lynching be forgotten tonight, my brothers. We must take it to the nation. We must keep the faith. We must go forward.

We must recognize that many leaders have died. Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, and others who stood up for what was right. They stood up for what was just. We must, you must, brothers, that’s why I have called you today. You must carry-on that tradition. What is here is just a lynching that is taking place. But they’re going to keep on lynching us for the next 100 years, if you do not carry on that tradition, and that period of resistance.

We will prevail. We may lose this battle but we will win the war. This death, this lynching must be avenged. It will be avenged, it must be avenged. The people must avenge this murder. So, my brothers, all of y’all stay strong, continue to move forward. Know that I love you. I love the people. I love all of you for your blessing, strength, for your courage, for your dignity, the way you have come here tonight, and the way you have protested and kept this nation together.

Keep moving forward, my brothers. Slavery couldn’t stop us. The lynching couldn’t stop us in the south. This lynching will not stop us tonight. We will go forward. Our destiny in this country is freedom and liberation. We will gain our freedom and liberation by any means necessary. By any means necessary we keep marching forward.

I love you, Mr. Jesse Jackson. Bianca Jagger make sure the state does not get my body. Make sure that we get my name as Shaka Sankofa. My name is not Gary Graham. Make sure that it is properly presented on my grave. Shaka Sankofa. I died fighting for what I believe in. I died fighting for what was just and what was right. I did not kill Bobby Lambert, and the truth is going to come out. It will be brought out.

I want you to take this thing off into the International Court, Mr. Robert Muhammad, and all y’all. I want you, I want to get my family and take this down to the international court and file a lawsuit. Get all of the video tapes of all the beatings. They have beat me up in the back. They have beat me up at the unit over there. Get all the video tapes supporting that lawsuit, and make the public exposed to the genocide and this brutality world, and let the world see what is really happening here. You must get those video tapes. You must make it exposed, this injustice to the world.

You must continue to demand a moratorium on all executions. We must move forward, Minister Robert Muhammad. Ashanti Chimurenga, I love you for standing with me, my sister. You are a strong warrior queen. You will continue to be strong in everything that you do. Believe in yourself, you must hold your head up, in the spirit of Winnie Mandela, in the spirit of Nelson Mandela. Y’all must move forward. We will stop this lynching. Reverend Al Sharpton, I love you, my brother. Bianca Jagger, I love you all. Y’all make sure that we continue to stand together. Reverend Jesse Jackson, I know that this murder, this lynching will not be forgotten. I love you too, my brother.

Shaka2

This is genocide in America. This is what happens to Black men when they stand up and protest for what is right and just. We refuse to compromise, we refuse to surrender the dignity for what we know is right. But we will move on, we have been strong in the past. We will continue to be strong as a people.

You can kill a revolutionary, but you cannot stop the revolution. The revolution will go on. The people will carry the revolution on. You are the people that must carry that revolutionary on in order to liberate our children from this genocide and what is happening here in America tonight. What has happened for the last 100 or so years in America. This is the part of the genocide, this the part of the African Holocaust, that we as Black people have endured in America.

But we shall overcome, we will continue with this. We will continue, we will gain our freedom and liberation in this country. We will gain it and we will do it by any means necessary. Stay strong. They cannot kill us. We will move forward. To my sons, to my daughters, all of you. I love you all. You have been wonderful. Keep your heads up. Keep moving forward. Keep united. Maintain the love and unity in the community, and know that victory is assured. Victory for the people will be assured.

We will gain our freedom and liberation in this country. We will gain it and we will do it by any means necessary. We will keep marching. March on, Black people. Keep your heads high. March on, all y’all leaders, march on. Take your message to the people. Preach the moratorium for all executions. We’re gonna stop, we are going to end the death penalty in this country. We are going to end it all across this world. Push forward people and know that what y’all are doing is right.

This is nothing more than pure and simple murder. This is what is happening tonight in America. Nothing more than state-sanctioned murders, state sanctioned lynching, right here in America, right here tonight. This is what is happening, my brothers, nothing less. They know I’m innocent. They’ve got the facts to prove it. They know I’m innocent. But they cannot acknowledge my innocence, because to do so would be to publicly admit their guilt. This is something these racist people will never do. We must remember, brothers, this is what we’re faced with. You must take this endeavor forward. You must stay strong. You must continue to hold your heads up, and to be there. And I love you too, my brother. All of you who are standing with me in solidarity.

We will prevail. We will keep marching. Keep marching, Black people. Black power. Keep marching, Black people. Black Power. Keep marching, Black people. Black Power. Keep marching, Black people. They are killing me tonight. They are killing me tonight. They are murdering me tonight.’

 

Read The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan’s statement on the execution of Shaka Sankofa: http://brotherjesseblog.com/minister-louis-farrakhan-speaks-on-the-execution-of-shaka-sankofa/

June 22, 2016
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ActivismTop News

Jasper-Style Lynching? Reporting on the Grounds in Paris, Texas

written by AQM Blog Staff


Written by Jesse Muhammad

Originally published 10.9.08

On Saturday, October 4, I received a serious phone call from Krystal Muhammad of the New Black Panther Party (NBPP) in regards to a possible dragging death in Paris, Texas which is located about five hours north of Houston. The first thing that immediately came to my mind was that 2008 is the tenth anniversary of the lynching of James Byrd, Jr. in Jasper, Texas. Liken unto that case, the victim in Paris was said to be a 24-year-old Black man and his killers were two White men.
I immediately Googled the town and saw that there were only a handful of media outlets that had covered the story which involved Brandon McClelland and these two White males. One reason possibly that there was hardly any coverage was that this killing took place on September 16, which was the tail end of Hurricane Ike hitting landfall so I am sure the town officials were hoping this would be swept under the rug. Too bad, because the Final Call is on top of it!
Sister Kyrtle told me that members of the NBPP Dallas Chapter were on the grounds already to meet with the family. So myself, Sis Krystle and my older brother Deric Muhammad hit the road on Sunday, October 5 to do some on the grounds work to see what really happened.
After a five hour drive, we arrived in the ‘hood of Paris. We then caravaned over to the home of the McClelland family where Brandon’s mother sat on the porch with tears in her eyes. Ms. Jacqueline McClelland and her family gave recorded statements to me for my Final Call story as well as the NBPP for an independent investigation. We were also joined by local activists, a head of the State NAACP chapter and other friends of the family.

After hearing their accounts, it was verified that her son was dragged on the back of a pickup truck by these two White males and his body was dismembered. Jasper all over again. Afterwards we drove over to the grave site.

We then went to the scene of the crime in Lamar County. You would not believe that parts of that Brandon McClelland’s skull was still out there on the ground! Shows how much the police cared. It was like an episode of CSI:NY with blood tracks up and down the road and tire marks chased by the blood trails. This was one of the most painful stories I have had to cover in person.

“They tied my son to that truck and drugged him until his body parts were detached”, said his mother Jacqueline McClelland to the Final Call. “His body was so destroyed that it could not even be embalmed by the funeral home. This is a hate crime. I don’t want the death penalty for these killers because that would be too quick. I want them to suffer for life in jail without parole since I will never have my son back.”

 
Read my entire story in next week’s edition of the Final Call Newspaper. Here are some more exclusive photos.

June 22, 2015
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ActivismPerspective

Have things changed 10 years after Texas lynching?

written by AQM Blog Staff

National News

Have things changed 10 years after Texas lynching?

By Jesse Muhammad, Staff Writer

Originally published 6.22.08

 

http://www.finalcall.com/artman/publish/printer_4871.shtml

 

HOUSTON (FinalCall.com) – It was June 7 a decade ago that James Byrd, Jr. was tied to the back of a truck and dragged to his death in the east Texas town of Jasper. The incident sparked coast to coast outrage and 10 years later during national commemorative events the question being posed: How much has racism in America changed?

 

“I don’t see any progress made 10 years since the murder of my brother,” said Clara Byrd Taylor to The Final Call. “The present climate and atmosphere in this country is such that this can happen again and again. Racism is still everywhere.”

 

In l998, Mr. Byrd was murdered by three White men when they dragged him three miles to his death in the outskirts of the small town. This incident is known as one of the worst hate crimes in American history. Three suspects were convicted of the crime, which marked the first time in Texas history that White men were convicted of murdering a Black man. Today, two of the convicted murderers are on death row, while the third is serving a life sentence.

 

“These killers have shown no remorse at all and if the death penalty is executed under the law then I would not have any problem with it. My family wants justice,” said Mrs. Taylor.

 

To mark his death, Byrd family members planned to participate in three national tributes. The first event was held June 2 in Houston and the second was slated for June 7 in Jasper, Texas. The third tribute will be held June 22 in San Francisco. Hundreds of local events are scheduled throughout the country.

 

The Houston event was held at the Cullen Oaks Community Center and was titled “Nooses, A History of Lynching, From Trees to Trucks.” It was sponsored by the Center for Healing Racism in partnership with the Byrd Foundation for Racial Healing, the Byrd family and the James Byrd, Jr. Racism Oral History Project, a project of the Byrd Foundation for Racial Healing.

 

The presentation involved a discussion on the history of lynching in America and the use of the noose to hang Black people dating back to the early 1900s. “We wanted to show that the pickup truck that was used to drag my brother to his death was a modern day noose. Teaching our young people this history is critical,” said Mrs. Taylor, who is president of the Byrd Foundation for Racial Healing.

 

“Today the noose has been used as a prank, but there is nothing funny about it to me. This feeds into the racism in this country,” said Mrs. Taylor. “Older generations tend to be settled in their thinking but we have a chance to reach the youth and educate them. We have to fight to put this racism to an end.”

 

Speakers at the event included Cherry Steinwender, co-director of the Center for Healing Racism; Michael Ingram, of the Center for Healing Racism; and Lani Silver, director of the James Byrd Jr. Racism Oral History Project. Musician Jimmie Moore performed at the free event and a commemorative march was also held.

 

Southwest Regional Student Minister Robert Muhammad, of the Nation of Islam, was in attendance at the emotional funeral of Mr. Byrd 10-years-ago and observed that “things have become worse in this country in the last decade. We as a people have become our own worst enemy. These are dangerous times and our people must take heed to the divine guidance of the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan and become peacemakers in our community. The scriptures read that blessed are the peacemakers.”

 

“Fear, lack of trust and no understanding are at the core of racism,” said Pastor Mark Viator of Friendship Church in Beaumont, Texas. “We want to highlight that what these men did was wrong and we need to be agents to stand for righteousness. Stand up against those things that would not line up with God’s word and his character.”

 

The James Byrd, Jr. Racism Oral History Project was launched in the summer of 2000 and has collected approximately 2,500 oral histories on the topic of racism in America. The oral histories serve to remember and honor Mr. Byrd and hope to help Americans improve race relations in their communities. The foundation has helped introduce hate crime legislation in Texas and consults on hate crime legislation nationwide.

 

On June 20, the Houston PBS news station will broadcast a live panel discussion entitled “A Conversation on Race.” Panelists will include Robert Muhammad, Police Chief Harold Hurtt, journalist and Pulitzer Prize finalist Tony Freemantle, Rice University sociologist Stephen Klineberg and Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas).

June 22, 2015
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