Documents obtained by WBEZ and the Chicago Sun-Times through a public records request show that in 2011 the Chicago-born future Pope Leo XIV sent his gratitude to then-Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn for abolishing the death penalty in Illinois.
Oklahoma AG Gentner Drummond on supporting Richard Glossip’s bid for a new trial: “It’s not a very popular position for a Republican attorney general... But the mission of my office is not to protect the prosecutor. My mission is to seek justice.”
LOUISIANA: RALLY THIS SUNDAY 2-4PM GOVERNOR'S MANSION.
Today, I’m thinking about Ivan Cantu, executed in Texas on 2/28/2024. His last words to the victims’ families, there to see him die, were, “I did not kill your son. I did not kill your daughter.” I was there in the killing chamber close to him, whispering prayers into his ear.
🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉
WONDERFUL NEWS!
New trial for Richard Glossip! www.nbcnews.com/politics/sup...
The Time of the Wasps Now is not the time for your usual life. Within our hive the wasps have already launched their swift assault, overwhelming our guards, killing the workers, turning their avid eyes on our pooled, collective honey. They come for our eggs, too. We have expected the assault— they are wasps, after all— but not the shape of that assault, and that could well be our undoing if we pretend that now is the time for our usual life. Now is the time to shower love on those who wield the pen; the poets, the comics, the resolute reporters, yes, but also on those who build palisades and pitfalls from statutes and precedents, who slow the charge of the lawless now empowered. Now is not the time for your usual life. Use normality as a ruse, silence as a shield, but not as a path. Hold close your joy and love and frolicsomeness— the you that longs for your usual life— while in safe places you share rumblings and connections and lay smart plans to make a swarming cacophony in unsafe spaces. Now is the time of the wasps who bring their billions to crush our millions. But they are few.
A poem for the times from my co-worker, Rose Vines.
Colourful drawing of the life cycle of a butterfly.
The next edition of the Graphic Dead Man Newsletter traces the book's six-year journey (so far). The newsletter is out tomorrow. graphicdeadmanwalking.substack.com
I love the latest edition of the Graphic Dead Man Walking newsletter. I hope you've subscribed - I read it each weekend.
Two Aussies walked into a Louisiana prison...
graphicdeadmanwalking.substack.com/p/two-books-...
Biden has commuted almost all federal death row. This is indeed a good day to do the Lord's work. I'm thankful to so many religious leaders and justice advocates who helped make this possible. I pray for victims' families, knowing that wishing for death is not a healing course.
This Giving Tuesday, please consider helping my work to end the death penalty. We are facing strong headwinds!
sisterhelen.org/donate
#GivingTuesday
#DeathPenalty
#Executions
Sister Helen Prejean standing beside Manuel Ortiz on death row at Angola, Louisiana State Penitentiary. Photo taken in 2009 at Christmas. They are standing in front of a Christmas tree.
On this day and on each day I am thankful to know Manuel Ortiz. He shows such extraordinary grace and courage after being on death row for 30 years for a crime he did not commit. I have promised him I shall tell his story to the world, and that's the book I'm working on now.
#deathpenalty
The 50 individuals on this list can both imagine a better future and do the hard work of building it.
They're not just dreamers; they're doers. voxdotcom.visitlink.me/i0ElST
EJI does such important work, and they do it well. Great storytellers for justice.
Catherine Anyango Grünewald (an extraordinary illustrator) and I are in the final proofreading stage of creating a graphic version of Sister Helen Prejean’s classic Dead Man Walking. We have a publication date: Sept. 2, 2025. Follow the creation journey at graphicdeadmanwalking.substack.com
I’m very glad to be joining the conversations here on Bluesky. We have so much trouble - the good John Lewis kind of trouble - to make!
#deathpenalty
#executions
#capitalpunishment
#goodtrouble
#justice
#criminaljustice
