27/10/2004

Dominique Green was executed at 7.59 p.m., even though unexpected hopes forthe reprieve asked by  a federal judge, then unfortunately rejected by  theTexas authorities and  the U.S.Supreme Court. The Community has been alwaysbeside him through his legal struggle and constantly praying  for him.

USA - Newspapers talk about the execution of Dominique. (EN)

Dominique Green is 30 years old He is African-American He is poor He has been condemned to death He is the first death-row inmate we gotten to know, the first of many friends

Nobel Prize winners, Members of Parliament, Mayors and City Councils, from all over the world sign to save the life of Dominique Green.

Dominique Green - 1998

Imagine being 18 years old, having grown up black on the streets of Houston, Texas.

Imagine having your parents split up, neither of them ever being there for you.  And when the judge asks what to do with you, your mother says, “you can just take him out of circulation.”

Imagine dreaming to be part of a rock band and learning to play the guitar and instead finding yourself friends with some guys who are looking for easy money, two blacks and a white.  Imagine a cursed evening where one shot is fired and someone is wounded and then dies.

Imagine that after a while all three of you are arrested, and there are no eye witnesses.  There are those who put the blame on the weakest member of the group.  The public defender might as well not have been there.  The prosecutor pretends you confessed.  At the trial the judge makes no effort to stem the the racist excesses.  And in the end you are condemned to death, 18 years old.

This is the story of Dominic Green, an African American man who has been on death row in Texas for 9 years, first in Huntsville and now in Livingston.  A lack of defense, discrimination between the defendants, and racism: these are just the most glaring problems in his trial and the reasons behind the appeal that, once again, in Texas, the courts denied.

Since August, 1993, Dominique has been living on death row.  He has told us what it is like to grow up in prison, waiting to die.  He has spoken to us of strong friendships, born in prison and brutally cut off by executions, adding to a torment that has become unbearable.  He pushed us into friendship.  In his first letter he wrote, “I am a prisoner on death row.  I need someone who wants to help me.  I thought that you might be able to help me find someone who has time to write to me and help me out, because recently I haven’t been able to figure out how to ask for help or friendship.”

Today Dominique is a different person.  He is resisting the violence of yesterday and today, the violence he experiences on death row, trying to live “backwards.”  He gets up early, while it is still dark, to read, paint, and write poetry.  He sleeps, if he can, during the day.  And, as far as he has been able, he and a few others have created a support group for the younger prisoners, helping them keep from going crazy and teaching them to refuse the dehumanizing provocation of violence.

Through his letters, the Community of Sant’Egidio has entered deeper into the universe of death row and from this first, intense relationship was born the world-wide Campaign for a universal Moratorium on capital executions.  May no one ever be put to death again, in the United States and in the entire world.

To support the legal defense and to save a life is very difficult, but it is an important, decisive battle, because every life is valuable and with your help can we can give hope to those on death row. It is a decisive first step in reducing violence and breaking the spiral of despair and mistrust.

"A letter makes you remember that you exist, and that you haven’t been forgotten: it helps you resist and keep struggling."