"Do Justice, Love Kindness, Walk Humbly with Thy God." Micah 6:8Tonight a woman on death row will be executed in the state of Virginia. Teresa Lewis was denied every appeal possible, from the Supreme Court to the governor. Her story is compelling and heartbreaking beyond most stories of death row inmates, and she, like all others facing execution, does not deserve this punishment. I have two friends who are intimately acquainted with Teresa Lewis. Today, for them, as well as in an attempt to appease my own social conscience, I stood with two of my children and 20 other men and women in protest against her execution.
I took this photo to bear witness to our protest today. I took this photo because when my children become grassroots organizers, political activists, and leaders of social justice, I want to have this on record. I want my children to look back on this day, and others in the future like this one, and say, my mom stood up. My mom stood up for others who could not. My mom protested and let her opinions be known and had the courage to bear witness to that which she opposes from the core of her being.
I struggle now with the right words to express what lays so heavy in my heart. I realized today how desperately I want my children to care, to have compassion, to love humanity. Perhaps it is my most fervent desire for each of them. And so I will lead them, as best I can, to
Do justice, love kindness, walk humbly with your God. Micah 6:8
1 comment:
Thank you, Anne. There will come a day when capital punishment will be a part of our history and not the law of the land. You will have helped make that change happen. I am so very proud of you.
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