Weekly Report from the Board Meeting at Holman Prison 3.17.21

Kyle Whitmire who is the state political columnist for the Alabama Media Group in an Opinion piece last week summed the Toforest Johnson situation up well when he wrote: "So many people are now picking up their pens for justice in this case — except the ones that matter. Judge Pulliam could fix this with a stroke of a pen, but that hasn’t happened yet. Attorney General Steve Marshall could, too, but hasn’t. If neither of them does soon, Gov. Kay Ivey should.” And we mean NOW!

 Well, we did it one more time and are proud and pleased that the latest edition of our newsletter Wings of Hope has landed at the printer. It should be on its way to you shortly. 

We heard from an associate producer on an ABC News show called Soul of a Nation currently working on a segment that revolves around the death penalty. She was looking for persons with personal connections to this matter — those who are family members of victims whose cases led to someone being on death row. She was particularly looking for someone in the African American community who is a family member of a victim and currently advocates against the death penalty or a family member who has a complicated view on the death penalty. The associate producer had come to the right place and it did not take long for us to connect her with our extraordinary Advisory Board member Callie Greer. Thank you, Callie we so appreciate who you are and all you do to promote reconciliation not just with words but by action!

Thank you also to Advisory Board member Dr. Katie Owens-Murphy who gave us some exposure in vol. 54-issue 2 of Society for the Study of Southern Literature! We are proud to display the article as well as the picture of Dr. Katie Owens-Murphy and Gary Drinkard on our bulletin board. Gary, also on our Advisory Board was on our Board while on death row at Holman. We so appreciate that he never forgot us after his exoneration and remained actively involved with us. Thank you, Gary!

 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!         

                                                                                                          Esther