February is Black History Month and so we appreciated the Innocence Project honoring it by publishing the following 8 statistics in which racial inequality persists in the criminal justice system. Obviously we were aware of them but we certainly did not have the up to date figures. We discussed them: 1. More than half of death row exonerees are Black. 2.Nearly half of the people currently on death row are Black.3.Half of the 2,725 people exonerated since 1989 are Black. 4.Innocent Black people are seven times more likely to be wrongfully convicted of murder than innocent white people. 5. It takes long to exonerate an innocent Black person. 6. Police misconduct occurred in more than half of all wrongful murder conviction cases involving innocent Black people. 7. About one-third of unarmed people killed by police are Black. 8. Black people are more likely to be stopped and searched. Certainly to quote the Innocence Project “an occasion to reflect on how far we have to go.”

We elected Sherman Collins to the position of Sgt at Arms and Darryl Turner to the position of Assistant Coordinator. We know both will do a great job as like all our officers they rose through the ranks of our organization gaining experience for their present positions.

The last 2 executions in Alabama, Willie B. Smith and Matthew Reeves, were allowed to proceed by the U.S. Supreme Court even though both men were intellectually disabled and had obvious Atkins claims. We have always welcomed serious media attention, whether by journalists or film makers and are pleased that this clear violation of the law has not gone unnoticed nor has the gas chamber. We are here to connect, to facilitate and to answer questions from our perspective.

And yes, we have begun work on the next edition of our quarterly newsletter Wings of Hope.

A special Thank You to Leon E. “Chief” Frazier for once more including one of our Weekly Notes in his excellent on line monthly newsletter The Revealer! A great honor!

In closing and as always, we continue to thank all our generous donors who either gave by going to our website and using the “donate” button or who gave directly. Thank you also to all who took the time to read our notes, commented, liked and shared them on Facebook. You encourage us and make all the difference. Stay safe and wear a mask!

                                                                                                       Esther