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CEDP 2009-2010 National Speaking Tour
CEDP TOUR OFF TO A GREAT START!
The CEDP 2009-2010 national tour, Lynching Then, Lynching Now: Roots of Racism and the Death Penalty in the US, is off to a great start, and shaping up to being a very exciting spring.
The tour was designed to be a forum to delve into the injustices of the
death penalty today and how inextricably race is bound up with it. But
the tour also aims to draw out the historical roots of capital
punishment and its close ties to lynching in the US. Activists have
much to learn from looking closely at the history of racism and how
vigilante racist violence was used as a means to subjugate
African-Americans through a reign of terror in the South. The tour
hopes to be a vehicle to turn opposition to death penalty into action
based on the view that struggle will be more effective with a deeper
understanding of what has come before.
To date, we’ve held stops at Cornell University, American University
and Fordham University, featuring longtime civil rights activist Alan
Bean from Texas’ Friends of Justice speaking on the case of Mississippi
prisoner Curtis Flowers, Jena 6 and the Southern “injustice system.”
Other speakers included Yusef Salaam, CEDP Board member and exoneree in
the Central Park case, who spoke on the parallels between his case and
that of Emmett Till and the Scottsboro Boys, and Lawrence Hayes, former
death row prisoner and CEDP Board member, on the legacy of repression
against the Black Panthers and those who fought against racism.
UPCOMING TOUR STOPS
Exciting events are in the works for Winter and Spring, 2010. Highlights include:
* North Carolina — mini-tours on multiple campuses
* Texas — mini tour on multiple campuses and venues
* Austin -- February 20
* Bay Area in February
* Atlanta in February
* Rowan College (NJ) February 12
* Delaware — February 13
* New York –date to be determined
* Chicago — date to be determined
Featured speakers include Martina Correia, sister of Georgia death
row prisoner Troy Davis, Brian Jones, author, “King’s Last Fight,” and
Jackie Goldsby, author of A Spectacular Secret: Lynching in American
Life and Literature.
HOST YOUR OWN TOUR STOP
CEDP Chapters and other groups are strongly encouraged to host a
tour stop of their own. This year’s tour is designed with a teach-in
format in mind, where hosts are encouraged to hold workshops and
discussions in conjunction with a panel or forum. The aim of the
teach-in structure is to facilitate more in-depth discussion of the
historical material and its relevance to racism, prisons and the death
penalty today.
For questions or to set up an event, contact Lee, the tour organizer, at nyc@nodeathpenalty.org.
SUGGESTED READINGS
And to help brainstorm and prepare for tour events, including
discussion topics and themes, following is a suggested reading list:
Bill Carrigan, The Making of a Lynching Culture: Violence and Vigilantism in Central Texas, 1836-1916
Dan T. Carter, Scottsboro
Philip Dray, At the Hands of Persons Unknown: The Lynching of Black America
Jackie Goldsby, A Spectacular Secret: Lynching in American Life and Literature
Charles Ogletree and Austin Sarat, From Lynch Mobs to the Killing State: Race and the Death Penalty in America
Ida B. Wells, Southern Horrors and Other Writings; The Anti-Lynching Campaign of Ida B. Wells, 1892-1900
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