Intellectually disabled and executed in Georgia

The gathering reminded me of a Unitarian Universalist crowd: gray-haired septuagenarians in t-shirts and bandanas and restless kids clinging to their parents' limbs. (Think of what you picture when you hear the words "grassroots movement.") A crowd of about forty people were gathered on the steps of the Georgia Capitol Building on March 20 in Atlanta for one of at least thirteen vigils around the state for the execution of Willie Pye in Jackson, Georgia. Mr. Pye was denied a stay of execution on March 19.

Some held signs or wore shirts saying "No more killing!" and "MERCY." One woman held a photo of Willie Pye, the more recent prison photo. The crowd engaged in prayer and songs, such as the African-American spiritual/anti-war song "Down By the Riverside" (with the stanzas "I'm going to lay down my sword and shield" and "I'm going to shake hands around the world.") Organizers spoke about a hopeful abolition of the death penalty, about Pye's upbringing in severe abuse, and about praying for the family of the victim and for Pye's family. There were four or five Catholic clergy in attendance from the Archdiocese of Atlanta. An organization called Georgia Catholics has been fervently raising the alarm on social media about Pye's scheduled execution, second only to Georgians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, the organization who planned the vigils. Many of the people at the vigil were also those who delivered clemency petitions to the State Board of Pardons and Paroles on March 13. One person in attendance there held a sign that simply read "Willie Pye 68 IQ."

At 7 p.m., the time Pye was scheduled to be executed with an injection of pentobaribitol, a woman rang the bell of Central Presbyterian Church across the street. It's an old, gray stone church, with a considerable population of unhoused folks who take up refuge on its sidewalks, directly across from the gold-domed Capitol building. I thought the bell would toll seven times – it tolled for three minutes.

I asked one of the Catholic bishops why Catholicism is specifically against the death penalty. He clarified that Catholicism believes in preserving all life, and noted that he was also anti-abortion, because that falls under the umbrella of preserving life. I reminded myself that it is good to talk with people who have different views than my own. He talked for a long time about preserving life, which led to him telling me about his childhood in war-torn Vietnam and that he remembers the sight of his brother dying by stepping on a land mine. The immense amount of violence and death he witnessed in his own life led him to advocate against killing.

I also learned today that members of the press are almost prohibited from attending executions and therefore, the process severely lacks transparency. The ACLU of Georgia argues that this violates First Amendment Rights. According to the Death Penalty Information Center, Georgia allows journalists only “limited auditory access” to executions, and "bars them from seeing the death chamber for most of the process, including the placement of the IV line."

"Having members of the press during the entire execution process is the only way brutal problems are revealed," said Gerry Weber, an attorney for the plaintiffs. "Secreting the execution process hides its reality."

The prison system can't be transparent, even in intentional death.

Almost as soon as the bell started tolling, I began to notice a lot more cops – sedans weaving in and out of traffic, APD's flashy new SUVs with impossibly bright blue-and-white LED lights. I don't hang around downtown Atlanta a ton, so for the area it was probably a "normal" amount of police (they have a lot of unhoused people to bother).

I took the long way home, MARTA card empty, relying on strangers to let me slip through the gates. More cops throughout my commute, cops idling in the Quik Trip parking lot, setting the sirens off in short blasts just to make people uncomfortable, a tactic they learned from Israeli police. It felt like I was watching the full cycle of the prison industrial complex: a Black man born into abject poverty, intellectually disabled and set up to fail by every system, denied a fair trial by a racist, money-hungry attorney, ends up on death row and dies because of a clerical error in the law. More cops surveil and arrest more people and the cycle starts over.

There were a few last-ditch petitions for a stay of execution submitted to SCOTUS throughout the afternoon and evening – they were denied. Willie James Pye was killed by the State at 11:03pm on March 20th.