[sixties-l] Fwd: Last Statement of Shaka Sankofa (Gary Graham)

From: radman (resist@best.com)
Date: Tue Jun 27 2000 - 10:37:02 CUT

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    Forwarded message:

    >The Last Statement of Shaka Sankofa [killed in George W. Bush Jr.'s Texas]
    >[from: http://www.tdcj.state.tx.us/stat/grahamgarylast.htm]
    >
    >I would like to say that I did not kill Bobby Lambert. That I'm an innocent
    >black man that is being murdered. This is a lynching that is happening in
    >America tonight. There's overwhelming and compelling evidence of my defense
    >that has never been heard in any court of America. What is happening here is
    >an outrage for any civilized country to anybody anywhere to look at what's
    >happening here is wrong.
    >
    >I thank all of the people that have rallied to my cause. They've been
    >standing in support of me. Who have finished with me.
    >
    >I say to Mr. Lambert's family, I did not kill Bobby Lambert. You are
    >pursuing the execution of an innocent man.
    >
    >I want to express my sincere thanks to all of ya'll. We must continue to
    >move forward and do everything we can to outlaw legal lynching in America.
    >We must continue to stay strong all around the world, and people must come
    >together to stop the systematic killing of poor and innocent black people.
    >We must continue to stand together in unity and to demand a moratorium on
    >all executions. We must not let this murder/lynching be forgotten tonight,
    >my brothers. We must take it to the nation. We must keep our faith. We must
    >go forward. We recognize that many leaders have died. Malcom X, Martin
    >Luther King, and others who stood up for what was right. They stood up for
    >what was just. We must, you must brothers, that's why I have called you
    >today. You must carry on that condition. What is here is just a lynching
    >that is taking place. But they're going to keep on lynching us for the next
    >100 years, if you do not carry on that tradition, and that period of
    >resistance. We will prevail. We may loose this battle, but we will win the
    >war. This death, this lynching will be avenged. It will be avenged, it must
    >be avenged. The people must avenge this murder. So my brothers, all of ya'll
    >stay strong, continue to move forward.
    >
    >Know that I love all of you. I love the people, I love all of you for your
    >blessing, strength, for your courage, for your dignity, the way you have
    >come here tonight, and the way you have protested and kept this nation
    >together. Keep moving forward, my brothers. Slavery couldn't stop us. The
    >lynching couldn't stop us in the south. This lynching will not stop us
    >tonight. We will go forward. Our destiny in this country is freedom and
    >liberation. We will gain our freedom and liberation by any means necessary.
    >By any means necessary, we keep marching forward.
    >
    >I love you, Mr. Jackson. Bianca, make sure that the state does not get my
    >body. Make sure that we get my name as Shaka Sankofa. My name is not Gary
    >Graham. Make sure that it is properly presented on my grave. Shaka Sankofa.
    >
    >I died fighting for what I believe in. I died fighting for what was just and
    >what was right. I did not kill Bobby Lambert, and the truth is going to come
    >out. It will be brought out.
    >
    >I want you to take this thing off into international court, Mr. Robert
    >Mohammed and all ya'll. I want you, I want to get my family and take this
    >down to international court and file a law suit. Get all the video tapes of
    >all the beatings. They have beat me up in the back. They have beat me up at
    >the unit over there. Get all the video tapes supporting that law suit. And
    >make the public exposed to the genocide and this brutality world, and let
    >the world see what is really happening here behind closed doors. Let the
    >world see the barbarity and injustice of what is really happening here. You
    >must get those video tapes. You must make it exposed, this injustice, to the
    >world. You must continue to demand a moratorium on all executions. We must
    >move forward Minister Robert Mohammed.
    >
    >Ashanti Chimurenga, I love you for standing with me, my sister. You are a
    >strong warrior queen. You will continue to be string in everything that you
    >do. Believe in yourself, you must hold your head up, in the spirit of Winnie
    >Mandela, in the spirit of Nelson Mandela. Ya'll must move forward. We will
    >stop this lynching.
    >
    >Reverend Al Sharpton, I love you, my brother.
    >
    >Bianca Jagger, I love all of you. Ya'll make sure that we continue to stand
    >together.
    >
    >Reverend Jesse Jackson and know that this murder, this lynching will not be
    >forgotten. I love you, too, my brother. This is genocide in America. This is
    >what happens to black men when they stand up and protest for what is right
    >and just. We refuse to compromise, we refuse to surrender the dignity for
    >what we know is right. But we will move on, we have been strong in the past.
    >We will continue to be strong as a people. You can kill a revolutionary, but
    >you cannot stop the revolution. The revolution will go on. The people will
    >carry the revolution on. You are the people that must carry that
    >revolutionary on, in order to liberate our children from this genocide and
    >for what is happening here in America tonight. What has happened for the
    >last 100 or so years in America. This is the part of the genocide, this is
    >part of the African (unintelligible), that we as black people have endured
    >in America. But we shall overcome, we will continue with this. We will
    >continue, we will gain our freedom and liberation, by any means necessary.
    >Stay strong. They cannot kill us. We will move forward.
    >
    >To my sons, to my daughters, all of you. I love all of you. You have been
    >wonderful. Keep your heads up. Keep moving forward. Keep united. Maintain
    >the love and unity in the community.
    >
    >And know that victory is assured. Victory for the people will be assured. We
    >will gain our freedom and liberation in this country. We will gain it and we
    >will do it by any means necessary. We will keep marching. March on black
    >people. Keep your heads high. March on. All ya'll leaders. March on. Take
    >your message to the people. Preach the moratorium for all executions. We're
    >gonna stop, we are going to end the death penalty in this country. We are
    >going to end it all across this world. Push forward people. And know that
    >what ya'll are doing is right. What ya'll are doing is just. This is nothing
    >more that pure and simple murder. This is what is happening tonight in
    >America. Nothing more than state sanctioned murders, state sanctioned
    >lynching, right here in America, and right here tonight. This is what is
    >happening my brothers. Nothing less. They know I'm innocent. They've got the
    >facts to prove it. They know I'm innocent. But they cannot acknowledge my
    >innocence, because to do so would be to publicly admit their guilt. This is
    >something these racist people will never do. We must remember brothers, this
    >is what we're faced with. You must take this endeavor forward. You must stay
    >strong. You must continue to hold your heads up, and to be there. And I love
    >you, too, my brother. All of you who are standing with me in solidarity. We
    >will prevail. We will keep marching. Keep marching black people, black
    >power. Keep marching black people, black power. Keep marching black people.
    >Keep marching black people. They are killing me tonight. They are murdering
    >me tonight.



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