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The Blackwoman went silent for most of the day yesterday. For me, the scream is not protest. For this Blackwoman the scream is the fuel that feeds the engines of hatred, callousness,ignorance and fear. Just as anger rather than dissipate, fuels the flames of dissension. The scream is part of the primordial goo holding onto which has prevented continued evolution I believe it drains our energy in a manner which finally gives nothing back. Except exhaustion. And the feeling of being helpless. Helpless is not a feeling I subscribe to.

I have killed the scream With silence.

Let us be clear about a few things. I have screamed. Loudly. From the core of who I thought I was at the time. I have screamed. Hollered. Thrown things at walls (hint…do not throw plants, otherwise you leave a mess behind to clean up). Do not throw glass,especially glass with something in it. (Clean up thang again.)

If your must, throw aluminum pans, pots and pans,pillows and gym shoes. I used to keep a few textbooks from college classes for just the purpose of hurling them against the wall. Oddly, I got more good from the hurling than attendance in any of those particular courses.

Oh and I once had this rolling around on the floor deal,wailing and gnashing my teeth. After the scream. But before the cry. And cry I did. A lotta lotta tears. All of that and things I just will not reveal (at least for now).

What I was able to observe was the scream expressed did not go away. It was always there awaiting an opening. There were many openings. And often. The Blackwoman just got tired of it. Sick and tired. So I stopped. Screaming.

Instead I retreated into the silence. In the silence I was able to hear what those screams were really about. The law. Injustice. Immorality.

Things, important things, go much deeper than the scream. Injustice is one of those things. For some of us it is painful beyond words. There are few places where the law, what is just and that which is moral meet. Their visits with each other are rare and always notable. Most people labor with the understanding that the law encompasses all three. Nah. Rarely has. Never will completely until and unless we insist upon it.

After Wednesday’s state sponsored murders, I had to go silent. I tried to sleep through the day. I did not want to walk through the day when some people cheered the death of other. Texas saw Grace in the words of one black man. A man who knew that the death of his murderer would not return his father. Others endeavored to carry on with their days business as usual. Sad part it is business as usual.

The Criminal Injustice Series does a most excellent analysis of the prison system. They present the information intelligent,caring people ought to know.

There is no reason for me to do this.

What I want to do is share with those who care what I believe is possible.

I believe it is possible to change the justice system as currently constructed. It will require both time and patience. This is grassroots work.

Most people know very little about the judges on their ballots. All of us can make it our business to find out about them. It’s really not that difficult a thing to do.

If associate judges do not stand for re-election and they make the nasty decisions judges who are elected don’t want to make, contact all the judges and tell them that re-affirming a particular judge will cost them a vote next election and then go about the business of informing your neighbors and the local newspaper. Blog about it.

Even a rigged system can be un-rigged. Takes time and due diligence. It. Can. Be. Done.

Get busy contacting your Senator whoever he or she is. Let them know that a price will be paid for those Republicants that are holding up Mr. Obama’s selections for the Federal bench. This is important work. If those appointments weren’t crucial to the common good the suit wearing carbon units in the Senate wouldn’t work so hard to prevent their appointments.

The murder by the state of two men yesterday, one I believe to be innocent and one who apparently was unrepentantly guilty are both examples of why we must do whatever we can to change the make-up of judges. No one should die. Not the innocent. Not the guilty. No one.

Every state Governor could tear a page out of now imprisoned Gov. Ryan of Illinois. He was willing to look at the evidence and released I believe thirteen prisoners from death row. A couple of days before he left office he commuted the sentences of 167 people. It wasn’t that he was against capital punishment, he just didn’t want to see innocent people killed. A position unknown to the likes of Rick Perry and their ilk.

Am I the only one who finds it curious that the self-came folk who care about zygotes as they multiply in the womb care not one whit about it after it is born?

I believe we can take the murder of Troy Davis and instead of screaming and walking around disheartened and resigned, we can go into our own silent places and gather the strength to fight the good fight. This must not be another ’cause celebre’. It must be the rallying call for revolution. Armed with cellphones and computers we must go to courtrooms across America and listen. We must not re-elect judges whose understanding of the law does not touch justice and morality.

Blog about it. Find others in your area and compare notes. Keep blogging. About. It.

Today I am turning off the electricity in my home for an hour. This hour is to remind me that I can live in the dark mess for a while or I can turn on the power. And the light.

Now run and tell that.

Cross posted at www.progressivepoc.com

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