Real justice, not cowboy justice, for Rodney Reed by Kevin Cooper. Mr. Rodney Reed, who was an innocent African American man on death row in the state of Texas, is in the fight of his life for his life. He and his family are doing something within a state that has proven historical record for the fact that it cannot, and for the most part, has never been fair to him in this judicial system. Since its founding, the state of Texas has shown that it cannot, on its own, be fair to all its citizens, especially its poor minority citizens, and now must be forced to do so in a tortured case of Rodney Reed.
Texas loves to hand out cowboy justice, which, in fact, is no justice at all. We want, and demand, that this cowboy mentality be set aside so that Mr. Rodney Reed and his family can once and for all receive real justice within this case, because it’s screaming out for real justice. How can the state of Texas honestly claim to be correct in the case of Mr. Rodney Reed, when there’s so much evidence that not only undercuts and undermines all the state has said is saying, but also helps to prove all what Mr. Rodney Reed and his family, attorneys, and supporters are saying? How can the state of Texas claim to be so right in any case, especially this one, when history has proven the fact is that they had been wrong in so many other cases in the past, and have, in fact, executed innocent people? Many of those cases have less evidence supporting those people than Mr. Rodney Reed has within this case.
America as a whole, and Texas, especially manage inhumanity very well, just as long as it’s kept isolated to the poor minorities and kept away from its middle, upper classes within its state and within this country. This is why, besides its arrogance, that the state of Texas feels so comfortable denying Mr. Rodney Reed not only his constitutional rights, but also his day in court, as well as his universal right to life. All Mr. Rodney Reed is asking for is what those so called Founding Fathers said we citizens of this country are entitled to have, which is this; a fair trial and a trial free from governmental interference, none of which Mr. Rodney Reed has ever had in this case in Texas. It is way past time for Texas to do the right thing in the case of Mr. Reed. We are here to say to them, and to all that need to be told, that despite the historical and ongoing mindset of certain people in power, the lives of Black people do have value within this world, country, and state of Texas, especially that of Mr. Rodney Reed. In struggle and solidarity from death row of San Quentin Prison, I’m Kevin Cooper.
These commentaries are recorded by Noel Hanrahan of Prison Radio.
