My Day: Joyce: Exonerated a Nation

There are people in this nation that are in prison for crimes they did not commit.  There are prosecutors, et al, in this nation that do not care if they are innocent or guilty, all that really matters is that they win a conviction toward their next promotion and recognition.

The National Registry of Exoneration is a project of the University of Michigan Law School.  It has recorded  every  known exoneration in the United States since 1989.  At the time it was implemented, there were some  1,610.  Now this number is up to 2,000.  More than 2,000 wrongfully convicted people have been seriously, unequivocally exonerated in twenty(24)three years.

In Texas, there has been 41 exonerations from DNA evidence  in nine(9)years.  Texas leads the nation in exonerations.  Texas also has the largest population of both – population and exonerations.  No surprise there.  But,  as I am writing this article after midnight, my mind automatically graduates to a magical number that will leave you deeply disturbed.   More than thirty(37)seven men have spent  a total of 525 years in jail/prison for crimes they did not commit.  What is so very wrong with this picture???

The string and sting of exonerations started with Joyce Ann Brown.  Her story and journey is all over the internet.  She died this week and my first statement publicly was ‘all African Americans owe a debt to her’.  I interviewed Joyce Ann Brown four(4) times over the past years on my signature television show.   My first call upon hearing about her death  was to County Commissioner John Wiley Price(JWP) who hired Joyce Ann in his office after her exoneration. She spent more than nine(9)years in prison for a crime she did not commit,  and by the way was not compensated for it.   At this point in time, people did not understand the magnitude of the Commissioner’s decision and it was gravely misunderstood.  My first question to him  was ‘how could this happen’?.  In usual JWP style he responded  “we don’t realize what justice looks like”.  Joyce Ann Brown worked for the Commissioner for  “ten(10)years”.

What is most important about this era in exonerations, the Commissioner not only felt a duty to hire Joyce Ann, but he did not stop there.  He also called on and has continued to call on other civic independent minds  to hire the former incarcerated, which is, even today,  a taboo subject.

Joyce Ann Brown’s legacy and the organization she founded should continue.  Mothers for the Advancement of Social Systems (MASS) is needed more now than doing her lifetime.  Let me conclude with this.   In April, 2015, the Death Penalty Information Center reported  152 death row inmates have been exonerated.  Since 1989, 330 people in 37 states have been exonerated through DNA testing.

For sure, a nation of exonerated American citizens will be free because of a little short lady from Dallas, Texas who continued to assist others.  And as so eloquently stated by the Commissioner, we don’t realize what justice looks like.

Don’t miss the “UNITY GALA” on-the-red carpet,

 now playing in Dallas on The Ester Davis Show.

esterdayone@gmail.com or 214.376.9000.