Am I Troy Davis?

Wednesday, September 21st, 11:08 p.m.

An innocent man died. Troy Davis. He was set for execution for the alleged murder of a cop back in the late 80s and last night, he supposedly paid for it.

I didn't follow this story much. Quite honestly, I'm not too well versed on the news these days, but this story is just unfortunate. Twitter was all the rage for the execution of this innocent man in Georgia and the Supreme Court, the "highest court in the land" didn't stop it. A crowd gathered outside of the prison for his defense; a large group of African-Americans that realized the evidence wasn't there, the testimonies invalid and the crime fabricated. I was watching CNN to hear the crowds cheer around 7:00 pm; the time he was supposed to be executed, for the Stay of Execution passed by the Supreme Court to review the case. Nobody expected four hours and eight minutes later that their hopes would be executed along with Troy.

The thing about social media is that it has a bandwagon-like behavior to it. Everyone on Twitter and Facebook was rightfully disgusted, as well they should have been. I'm not saying people being angry and upset about the execution was exaggerating just to receive affirmation from their other friends who are upset. I'm saying sometimes people aren't aware of stories like these, or are uninformed about the issues and when things start getting real, they are quick to say that things are messed up and it's not fair. This was the status I put up on Facebook last night:

"Though I don't know much about the Troy Davis case, it is sad to hear about injustice. It reminds me of Mumia Abu-Jamal; innocent black men trailed and even put to death for something they didn't do. The law is definitely not on our side. I could be like everyone else and say Troy created an example of us all waking up, but even with our eyes open, these injustices still occur. Don't wake up, be alert. RIJ (Rest In Justice) Troy Davis"

I didn't post this status because I wanted to be like most of my friends on my FB timeline, this is genuinely how I feel about the case. A lot of other people started to claim that "I am Troy Davis." The same quote occurred when Sean Bell was brutally shot and killed by police officers. I don't know how to feel about this statement. I know it means that anyone of us (in particular, African-American males) could have been in Davis' shoes, but at the same time, would anyone have changed to Troy Davis if the execution was cancelled?

It seems that we all connect to some who is not being treated fairly and we try to personalize the tragedy by saying we are in the person's shoes. If that is the case, everyday while he was in jail, we should have been him; when he was on trial, we should have been Troy Davis, not just when he gets executed by a crooked justice system. As African-Americans, we are all at risk of being persecuted for a crime we didn't commit. As I mentioned in my FB status, Mumia Abu-Jamal (if you don't know who he is, Google him) is still on death row for a crime he didn't commit. Nobody seems to be claiming to be him unless he gets executed.

The whole point of this point is that as awake as we can be to the justice system in America, which is not on our side, we must be more alert to the monstrosities occurring and figure out a way to combat it. Unfortunately, the system has been corrupted for years. So to answer my question, I am NOT Troy Davis; I am a man who can potentially be next.

-Video Vix[o]n