National Weekend of Faith in Action on the Death Penalty
Martina Correia, Amnesty International Activist, Savannah, Georgia
My name is Martina Correia, and I'm the co-State Death Penalty Abolition Coordinator (SDPAC) for Georgia and the Chairperson of Georgia CURE (Citizens United for the Rehabilitation Of Errants). I also am a board member of two anti-death penalty organizations: the New Hope House and Georgians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty.
I have been an active death penalty abolitionist for 13 years. I spent much of my youth in the United States Army as a nurse, and once they told me I could not express a political opinion about the death penalty, I decided to say goodbye to the U.S. Military. I personally became involved in this work when my younger brother was unjustly tried and convicted in one of the most fabricated and racist trials I had ever witnessed. I swore that I would fight this injustice and therefore the truth about the death penalty unfolded in front of my eyes. At that point there was no turning back for me - my brother was only a small drop in the Sewer of Injustice. I have since dedicated my life to bringing a halt to state-sanctioned murders.
I have spent the last years teaching classes about the effects [of the death penalty] on both the defendants' and the victims' families and the effects of our society on young men, especially men of color and the poor. I spend a lot of time going to colleges and universities talking about juveniles on death row. We have set up displays and pictorials of children on death row. I work very hard in the school systems to prevent children from becoming future inmates on death row. I believe the school systems are setting up the young for failure, and when they have failed enough, they groom them for death row.
We help defendants' families understand what happens when you receive a death sentence, how to identify death penalty lawyers and how to make your lawyer work for you and not against you. We stress the importance of keeping these families, especially the children, close.
I continuously talk to religious leaders and groups about religion and the death penalty. First and foremost, my faith in God is the main reason I can keep doing anti-death penalty work. I believe that God would not want us to keep killing one another as a form of punishment. The God I serve is a God of compassion and forgiveness and that is what I was taught. Whenever I approach religious organizations, most of them support the death penalty because they don't take the time to learn enough about it. Also they feel they are not affected by it. The church has a double standard in my community -- they believe in forgiveness as long as it suits their purpose, yet they step out of the confines of their religion to condemn and persecute others that they feel are sub-standard in our society. The only churches that will step out are the UU's and some of the Catholics; others may be against the death penalty but they feel they will lose money and members if they speak out. So I spend a lot of time telling religious people what their own religion says about the death penalty. I think in my community, religious convictions about the death penalty will take a long time to sink in to what is truly and morally right, and what is just vengeance.
I have slowly but surely convinced some people of some religious groups that the death penalty is wrong, but having them step out on their faith and stand up for these convictions is a whole 'nother ball game, and to me, in Georgia, this is a WORK in PROGRESS.
Join the Discussion: Martina writes that she does a lot of work in the school system to prevent children from becoming future inmates on death row. What do you think we as a society could be doing to prevent crime and to enhance opportunities for young people?
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