Life through my branches

Life through my branches

5.6.10

Another vigil. February this year in a bitterly cold field in front of Florida State Prison in Raiford. Martin Grossman was being executed on this day and standing there waiting for the news of his demise, all i could think of was how premeditated and calculated this was. How can we as a society allow this to happen? The caption under this photo of me published online by TBO says "Giusi Branca stands outside of Florida State Prison to protest the death sentence of Martin Grossman". It's more than that actually. It's standing in disbelief that we can kill so cold-bloodedly without a thought for what exactly we are doing. How can we extinguish a life which, within the barbaric confines of prison walls, has already been extinguished? We are committing the ultimate barbaric act, by telling our children that this person shouldn’t be allowed to breath the same air we do. So, what then makes us better than the individual accused of committing his abhorrent deed? Who will judge us one day for extinguishing a life in the name of a justice system that leaves a lot to be desired........a justice system that regards due process with more favor than the innocence of an individual?


I was looking at the sun shining behind the prison in that moment. Life actually giving birth to life, day moving to night with a crescent moon smiling down at us in a cloudless sky. Who ever was in that building preparing to kill Martin, must have at some point look into his eyes. What did they see? Fear? Did they ever stop to feel the despair of a man about to loose his life after years of living with his own deeds, in his own limbo? I doubt it. Doesn’t that make us all wonder? If we don’t spread humanity, if we don’t listen to the people around us, look deep into their eyes and try and understand, how can we ever repair what is broken in our society? It is as though the victims have died in vain. That is the tragedy of this whole charade. This was a sad day, for Martin, his victim, the families and all who were touched by the killing machine at work that day. All these executions are as horrific as the murders these inmates are accused of committing. To stand in that 'play pen' as a friend of mine refers to it, and wait helplessly as another human life is destroyed, makes you wonder have we learned anything, will we ever, about humanity? There is something wrong with this picture, with this whole scene. And what of the emotions after the execution? There is emptiness, i don’t believe that we can feel anything but that. What have we achieved when we are left with our deed and nothing more,  the victim is after all not miraculously returned to us. When we have removed from this world another individual who was already buried in the system, does it make anything better, does it change what is left behind? If not, what then? What is the point, not only for the grieving families of the victims, but for us as a community?  Have we achieved something profoundly good? Something which will inspire us to move forward? And if so, how? How do we learn about forgiveness, how do we learn about redemption if the very individuals who can teach us, who in thier own suffering have come face to face with horror and have faced our fears,  are destroyed and buried? There are so many questions we don’t dare ask, so many questions left unanswered because we don’t want to go to that place where we need to ask them, because they don’t fit into our conveniently sheltered worlds. Do we take responsibility as a society? It doesn’t feel as though we are. This all seems so pointless and such a waste of our efforts to bring peace and to stop violence in this world.


http://www2.tbo.com/photoalbum/2010/feb/16/grossman-execution/3/
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WHAT'S IN THE BROWN PAPER BAG?

What's In the Brown Paper Bag ?
By Luis Ramirez #999309

I'm about the share with you a story who's telling is long past due. It's a familiar story to most of you reading this from death row. And now it's one that all of you in "free world" may benefit from. This is the story of my first day on the row.I came here in May of 1999. The exact date is something that I can't recall.I do remember arriving in the afternoon . I was placed in a cell on H-20 wing over at the Ellis Unit in Huntsville, Tx.

A Tsunami of emotions and thoughts were going through my mind at the time. I remember the only things in the cell were a mattress, pillow, a couple of sheets, a pillow case, a roll of toilet paper ,, and a blanket .. I remember sitting there, utterly lost.The first person I met there was Napolean Beasley. Back then, death rowprisoners still worked . His job at the time was to clean up the wing and help serve during meal times. He was walking around sweeping the pod in these ridiculous looking rubber boots. He came up to the bars on my cell and asked me if I was new.. I told him that I had just arrived on d/r.

He asked what my name is. I told him., not seeing any harm in it. He then stepped back where he could see all three tiers. He hollered at everyone, "There's a new man here. He just drove up. His name is Luis Ramirez."When he did that, I didn't know what to make of it at first. I thought I had made some kind of mistake.

You see ? Like most of you, I was of the impression that everyone on d/r was evil. I thought I would find hundreds of "Hannibal Lecter's in here. And now , they all knew my name. I thought "Oh well," that's strike one. I was sure that they would soon begin harassing me. This is what happens in the movies after all.Well, that's not what happened .

After supper was served. Napolean wasonce again sweeping the floors. As he passed my cell, He swept a brownpaper bag into it. I asked him "What's this"? He said for me to look inside and continued on his way . Man, I didn't know what to expect. I was certain it was something bad. Curiosity did get the best of me though. I carefully opened the bag. What I found was the last thing I ever expected to find on death row, and everything I needed. The bag contained some stamps, envelopes notepad, pen, soap, shampoo, toothpaste, tooth brush, a pastry, a soda, and a couple of Ramen noodles. I remember asking Napolean where this came from ?He told me that everyone had pitched in . That they knew that I didn'thave anything and that it may be a while before I could get them.

I asked him to find out who had contributed . I wanted to pay them back. He said, "It's not like that . Just remember the next time you see someone come here like you.You pitch in something ?"I sat there on my bunk with my brown paper bag of goodies, and thought about what had just happened to me. The last things I expected to find on death row was kindness and generosity. I thought of how many times I had seen "good people" of the world, pass by some man, woman, or child holding a sign that read, "Hungry, or will work for food." I'm guilty of the same. I just passed them by.

By the end of the block, or upon reaching my destination . That poor, hungry, tattered, and perhaps dirty , soul had been forgotten. Lost among my daily challenges and struggles with life. Yet, here on death row Among the worst of the worst . I didn't have to hold up a sign.They knew what I needed and they took it upon themselves to meet thoseneeds.They did this without any expectation of reimbursement or compensation. They did this for a stranger, not a known friend. I don't know what they felt when they committed this act of incredible kindness. I only know that like them,, twelve "good people" had deemed me beyond redemption.

The only remedy that these "good people" could offer us, is death. Somehow what these "good people" saw and what I was seeing didn't add up. How could these men, who just showed me so much, humanity, be considered the "worst of the worst."It chills me to my core when I think about it. Those twelve "good people" were given this enormous God like responsibility . They had to decide who lives, and who dies. The state of Texas gave them this responsibility. But they didn't give them any God like training.

I'm sure that they all meant well. They probably thought, as the DA and judge told them, that they were doing their civic duty. I personally have never considered murder a civic duty. That aside, how many times have we gotten this wrong ? I'm on the inside looking out now. I have that advantage over you. So I can tell you this. I have yet to meet a man here who I feel is beyond redemption. If you took a good look, and I invite you to do that, You may just come to realize how often you have been wrong.Ever since Napolean was executed, for a crime he committed as a teen. I've wanted to share this story with his family.

I've never been able to find anyone with their address. If anyone out there can share this with them, I would appreciate it very much. I would like for them to know that their son was a good man. One who I will never forget. I want for them to know how sorry I am that we as a society failed them and him. I still find it ridiculous that we as a people feel that we cannot teach or love our young properly. I'm appalled at the idea that a teen is beyond redemption, that the only solution that we can offer is death. It's tragic that this is being pointed out to the "good people" by one of the "worst of the worst." God help us all.What's in the brown paper bag? I found caring, kindness, love, humanity, and compassion of a scale that I've never seen the "good people" in the free world show towards one another.

Luis Ramirez# 999309
Executed October 20, 2005
http://www.deathrow-usa.us/luis_ramirez.htm

Luis Ramirez