Texas Longhorns with newborn calf in Bluebonnets

Texas Longhorns with newborn calf in Bluebonnets

Please note I have a new phone number...

512-517-2708

Alan Maki

Alan Maki
Doing research at the LBJ Library in Austin, Texas

It's time to claim our Peace Dividend

It's time to claim our Peace Dividend

We need to beat swords into plowshares.

We need to beat swords into plowshares.

A program for real change...

http://peaceandsocialjustice.blogspot.com/2013/03/a-progressive-program-for-real-change.html


What we need is a "21st Century Full Employment Act for Peace and Prosperity" which would make it a mandatory requirement that the president and Congress attain and maintain full employment.


"Voting is easy and marginally useful, but it is a poor substitute for democracy, which requires direct action by concerned citizens"

- Ben Franklin

Let's talk...

Let's talk...

Thursday, February 6, 2020

A concerned citizen/activist organizing package to help build the movement to free Rodney Reed

A concerned citizen/activist organizing package to help build the movement to free Rodney Reed

Everyone is asking me:

“What is with this Texas Governor Greg Abbott that he refuses to recognize the overwhelming evidence that Rodney Reed is innocent and is proceeding to allow his execution while the real murderer of Stacy Stites, Jimmy Fennell, is allowed to go free?”


Quite literally, everyone is asking this question.


Well, it’s the same thing that has driven this case, this frame-up, of Rodney Reed from the very beginning:


RACISM.


Racist hate drove Jimmy Fennell to carry out this premeditated heinous brutal murder of Stacey Stites.


Racist hate, combined with corruption and a long legacy of historical, institutional, cultural and political racism is what is blinding Texas Governor Greg Abbott to the real facts involved in this case to the point where he has no respect for Rodney Reed’s right-to-life.


This movement for justice for Rodney Reed now involves millions of people, all across the country and here in Texas as it spreads across the globe... everyone is looking on in horror and in disbelief that the Governor of the State of Texas is allowing the execution of Rodney Reed to move forward in spite of overwhelming testimony from witnesses together with real medical and scientific evidence that Rodney Reed is innocent and everyone, except Governor Greg Abbott, can see that Rodney Reed is innocent recognizing that Rodney Reed should be exonerated without further delay and this execution halted.


With time running out as the scheduled day of Rodney Reed’s execution approaches, Governor Greg Abbott’s refusal time act in accordance with what human decency and justice demands can only be considered to be mean and spiteful with his actions intended to feed his small and dwindling racist base of support.


No doubt, at one time, Texas Governor Greg Abbott was thinking that with so few people concerned about the plight of Rodney Reed, because no one knew what was being passed off in the name of justice here in Texas, he could get away with executing Rodney Reed and that would be the end of the matter.


But, now, with a growing population having been informed and educated as to all the facts in this case, Texas Governor Abbott is having a great deal of difficulty carrying out his original plans, not because he has a conscience, but because he has been caught as a participant in this hideous racist frame-up of Rodney Reed.


The final decision of whether or not to execute Rodney Reed is not going to be a decision Texas Governor Greg Abbott makes on his own... the determination will be made in the ultimate court... the court of public opinion.


Can we build and organize the kind of massive and overwhelming movement in the short time left to force Texas Governor Greg Abbott to do what is right and just: stop this execution and exonerate Rodney Reed.


Texas Governor Greg Abbott comes looking for votes but he doesn’t want to hear from the people when it comes to what is right and what is wrong and what basic human decency requires.


Texas Governor Greg Abbott turns his back in indifference to millions of people now on record calling on him to do what is ethically and morally right in this case... only more people raising their voices is going to convince Texas Governor Greg Abbott to turn around and face the people and do what is right.


This is no time to give up... we must intensify and bring many more people into this struggle for justice for Rodney Reed.


We can not allow the execution of this innocent man to take place in our name.


Talk to everyone you know; get on the phone and talk to everyone- friends, neighbors, politicians, journalists, clergy, community leaders and grassroots activists.


We must ask, where are the voices from the labor unions? Rank-and-file workers are speaking out but we have yet to hear from union leaders. We are talking about the life of an innocent black worker, the victim of a racist frame-up. Organized labor must add its voice to this struggle for justice.


Take this plea for justice into every union hall for action.


Time is running out.


Look around you; do you know someone who hasn’t spoken up but who will speak up if they are educated to the facts in this case... talk to these people... don’t procrastinate.


Sign the petition and pass it along to others:

Stop the Execution of Rodney Reed!
https://www.change.org/p/stop-the-execution-of-rodney-reed



Here is some good basic information on the case for you to use to educate people...


Dr. Phil:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VEphVV4LbrY

https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x7mk087


Democracy Now... this is excellent:
https://www.democracynow.org/2019/11/6/rodney_reed_calls_to_stop_execution?fbclid=IwAR3iPOYXr4X2i8qr1lodITdx1L5xwrAdr_xUwJmvVragzBkGs0mtEKnodBU


The Intercept:
https://theintercept.com/2019/11/08/rodney-reed-death-row-texas/?fbclid=IwAR1qq2aevrdhoNtTM_KEDHm-bSV3fZ7rIJDfpDvfgejh_6_TFFiAdQu-470


Washington Post:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/crime-law/2019/11/06/texas-plans-execute-man-this-month-murder-his-lawyers-say-someone-else-confessed-crime/?fbclid=IwAR3GfwL1Vf0Z4xCTXgZGlbg6GzQjW8T5EaH7hIb9huCYYKJMcbUImBMK2A4

Bishop Joe Vasquez speaks out (includes video)
https://austindiocese.org/bishop-pleads-for-rodney-reeds-life?fbclid=IwAR0tT4L2jccidJg1TpwdeoHa_oq0_h8aY1QHBP3xp6CA_bwctk0NCwFUE48

Bastrop County Democratic Party resolution:
https://bastropdemocrats.org/resolved-to-achieve-exoneration-of-rodney-reed/?fbclid=IwAR0b0xeXdi1sO1l3UuOo3Ycg8iOBqn8H6gz_jq5id-hy2o40pIoCWYWSF8I

Polk County Republicans:
https://www.facebook.com/maki.alan/posts/2737127873034463

Austin-American Statesman
https://www.statesman.com/opinion/20191106/editorial-donrsquot-execute-rodney-reed-while-doubts-remain

Oprah Winfrey:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eCfDLaEN0rk&feature=youtu.be&fbclid=IwAR3TEKJ2iEb0OZ2Pmxz53GIEPTBYO5U2s71ccgUGkStITp_BP888g53y0P8

New York Times:
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/06/us/rodney-reed-death-row-texas.html

History of racism and the criminal justice system from the New York Times "1619 Project:"
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/08/14/magazine/prison-industrial-complex-slavery-racism.html?fbclid=IwAR2veEKhDnDEZUWsHjFZyNFE4h6DfsEq67agLjbg5mKCima2FvpdzwO6e9E&mtrref=www.facebook.com&gwh=515BF6EC60792FA4D0F6E71A217C2AE7&gwt=pay&assetType=REGIWALL


Letter from Texas State Senator Kirk Watson to Governor Abbott:
http://www.kirkwatson.com/featured-posts/request-for-reprieve-for-rodney-reed/


Letter from Texas State Representative Vikki Goodwin to Governor Abbott:
https://twitter.com/VikkiGoodwinTX/status/1190003004906364928



Letter from bi-partisan group of Texas State Legislators to Governor Abbott:
https://files.constantcontact.com/ad1cddb9001/edecbf75-f862-4b6a-a4da-a6d3e434bd61.pdf


If you need more info and people to contact let me know.


Here is the contact information for Texas Governor Greg Abbott... write, call, visit his office:
(512) 463-2000 - Office of the Governor Main Switchboard
(office hours are 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. CST)
Call 711 for Relay Texas - Citizen's Assistance Telecommunications Device, if you are using a telecommunication device for the deaf (TDD)


Mailing Address
Office of the Governor
P.O. Box 12428
Austin, Texas 78711-2428


Just a note as to how this struggle for justice to save Rodney Reed is shaping up:


Texas Governor Greg Abbott and his cabal of racist bigots are gearing up for a battle over Rodney Reed as they turn to some of the most vicious and vile racism not seen so openly in Texas in many years:


**********************
CNN reports today:
In a now deleted tweet highlighting the growing divide in the case, the Texas District & County Attorneys Association posted: "Not sure how Reed's supporters have turned him into the most popular serial rapist since Michael Jackson."
***********************


This is just the beginning.


These arrogant racist bigots who hold all levers of state power in Texas are intent on executing Rodney Reed as a way to opportunistically and sadistically mobilize their racist base.


Greg Abbott and his cabal of racist bigots can’t figure out how to get themselves out of this racist mess they created for themselves and they are now turning to this vile racism as their last bastion of defense.


This is sick!

A comment:

Alone our individual voices are like one little raindrop, we don't amount to much; but, let it pour... working together we become a powerful flood like a dry stream-bed overflowing its banks.You can find a lot of other information by doing a Google search: "Rodney Reed"
Please share the link to this blog post.

Yours in the struggle to save Rodney Reed,
Alan Maki
512-517-2708

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