NAACP president to Gov. Parson: Call me to discuss saving Marcellus Williams’ life | Opinion
A Black man is scheduled to be lynched tomorrow. But he is innocent. DNA evidence proves it.
Governor Mike Parson can stop this execution before it is too late.
In 1998, Mr. Marcellus Williams was wrongfully accused of killing Felicia Gayle. And he has spent 24 years in prison despite not committing this crime.
According to the prosecuting attorney of the county of St. Louis, "none of this physical evidence tied Mr. Williams to Ms. Gayle's murder." He even filed a motion to reverse the conviction. So why is Mr. Williams scheduled to be executed tomorrow?
Killing Mr. Williams, a Black man who was wrongfully convicted of killing a White woman, would amount to a horrible miscarriage of justice and a perpetuation of the worst of Missouri's past. Taking the life of Marcellus Williams would be an unequivocal statement that when a White woman is killed, a Black man must die. And any Black man will do.
We've seen this before in the darkest moments of American history.
As noted by the Death Penalty Information Center: "Throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, at least 60 Black Missourians were killed in lynchings, making it the state with the second highest number of racial terror lynchings outside of the South."
In 1909, the NAACP was founded in response to the lynchings that took place across our country — the baseless killings of Black people for no reason other than being Black. That was in 1909. We are now in 2024, and we still have to fight against the barbaric killing of Black people.
According to the University of Birmingham, at least one in 10 people who are executed have been proven innocent. Mr. Williams will be one of those wrongfully killed unless Governor Mike Parson steps in.
In 2017, Republican Governor Eric Greitens granted a stay for Mr. Williams after reviewing the DNA evidence, which found no trace of Williams' DNA on the knife used to kill Gayle. Does this DNA evidence suddenly not matter anymore?
Everybody agrees — the prosecutors, the victim's family, the jurors, Williams' attorneys — that he is innocent. The facts prove it. No one wants him to die. There is no just reason for him to be scheduled for execution tomorrow.
This is not an issue of ideology. Nor is it a conservative issue or a progressive issue. It's about right versus wrong. It's about the innocent life that will be snuffed out without due cause.
Governor Parson, you have both the capability and the responsibility to halt Mr. Williams' execution and ensure Missouri isn't complicit in our country's dark past of lynching. Let us turn away and rebuke the times when Black men were killed for no reason.
Governor Parson, please give me a phone call. Let's discuss this case before you consign an innocent man to death. Governor Parson, your legacy is on the line here. Will you be remembered as the leader who stands against injustice? Or will your governorship be forever tainted by the blood of an innocent man?
Do the right thing.
Whichever you decide, America is watching. Missouri is watching. And we will never forget which decision you make.
