Neben ihrem jahrzehntelangen tapferen Kampf, um ihren Bruder zu retten, verlor sie jetzt den Kampf gegen den Krebs, der sie ebenso lang schon heimsuchte, so daß sie manches nur aus dem Rollstuhl heraus erledigen konnte.
Sie und ihr Mut bleiben unvergessen.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/diann-rusttierney/martina-davis-correia-troy-davis-sister_b_1141538.html
I imagine angels weeping today. But no soul shuddering sobs of despair are heard.
I imagine angels weeping quiet tears of recognition. These are the
same tears we shed when we encounter a thing of extraordinary beauty, or
are touched by unexpected and we think, undeserved compassion.
These are the tears we shed when we encounter a soul possessed of a different quality of yearning for goodness.
I imagine angels weeping because today, family and friends of Martian
Davis-Correia are gathered to mark her exit from our world to theirs.
Martina Davis-Correia died on December 1, 2011. She died 10 weeks
after her brother Troy Davis was executed in Georgia. For more than a
decade there was a synchronicity between Martina's struggle to save her
brother and her own personal battle to survive breast cancer.
Martina approached both challenges with the cleared eyed pragmatism of one determined to find a way to prevail.
She would not be deterred by the challenge of a serious health
condition requiring extraordinary stores of personal courage,
perseverance and determination. She summoned the "right stuff" mustered
by millions and their families to survive and then advocate for more
resources and research to find a cure.
She would not be deterred by the challenge of a criminal justice
system that is too often incapable of getting things right and worse,
less than candid about its propensity for mistake.
She was not deterred by a system in which the quality of justice is too often sacrificed to expediency.
But her greatest challenge was to open our eyes to the fact that the
struggles she faced required our already overstretched and limited
attention and involvement.
She showed us by her own example. As Martina fought to save her own
life, she became an eloquent, impassioned advocate for improved
healthcare, access to treatment and breast cancer research.
As she fought for justice in her brother Troy Davis' case, she became
a seasoned and dedicated champion for human rights for the sons and
brothers, fathers, mothers and sisters of others, speaking forcefully as
a leader in Amnesty International.
Martina opened our eyes by patiently telling the story of her brother
to any and all who would listen. It was the simple quality of
Martina's truth telling that was her secret weapon.
I will never forget my meeting with Martina. It lasted more than two
hours. She arrived unexpectedly. I had read about her brother's case.
However, Martina's account of the many irregularities and missteps
before, during and after his trial painted a vivid, compelling and
disturbing picture of a legal system gone terribly wrong. Her
description of the personal indignities she suffered simply because she
continued to love and support her brother stirred a passion for justice
in me that would not rest.
She stirred that same passion in others -- one at a time and then by the hundreds, thousands and more.
Martina was the spark for a multi-racial, multi-generational,
bi-partisan cause forged in the hot flame of one family's desperate
search for justice.
At times such as these we speak of legacy.
What is Martina Davis-Correia's legacy?
First and foremost, her legacy is her son De Jaun. She raised him to
be a fine young man even with the enormous obstacles set before her.
Martina focused on providing him with the love, security and support
that would enable him to stand with poise and clarity as a person of
faith and whole to address thousands at the funeral of his uncle Troy
Davis. She raised him to move forward, despite loosing a grandmother, an
uncle and now mother within a year.
Martina was true to her brother. Troy Davis did not die in vein.
Because of Martina, the world has an up close and personal view of the
workings of the capital punishment system in Georgia and a deeper
understanding of how it operates in every state that continues the
practice.
Even though capital punishment is in its waning days, shrinking in
popularity and use, we now know that at some point, in a remaining,
increasingly isolated number of places it does not matter how much doubt
there is about your guilt.
It does not matter how many people say: hold the train; take one more
look; make sure its right;-- be they former presidents, world leaders,
the Dalai Lama or the Pope.
The protest of millions of concerned voting citizens can not save
you. No amount of the irresistible life force of a sister's love can
open the heart or mind of one determined to deny his or her
accountability to justice.
This is why capital punishment must end once and for all.
Martina's most remarkable legacy may be the high standard for
activism she set in the face of injustice. The bar is high -- once our
eyes have been opened to suffering and unfairness -- we can not turn
away.
Martina's call was answered by an unprecedented number of people who
believed the unfair system in Georgia had to be challenged. They will
continue to work, in Georgia and elsewhere, picking up where Martina's
strong and gentle hands left off.
They will add their voices and new energy to the voices and energies
of those who have been working, since long before Troy Davis was
sentenced to death, to expose capital punishment as the biased,
error-prone system that it is. The death penalty is a punishment that
inflicts a singularly unique form of cruelty on all it touches: the
accused and convicted, the families of the accused and convicted,
homicide survivors, judges, prosecutors, defense attorneys, jurors and
correction workers.
Out of the sadness and grief of this past year, momentum for change is building.
With the grace and care of an earthbound angel, we can sow seeds of
healing and compassion for all people touched by the tragedy of
homicide. We can demand a system of justice that respects human rights
and never loses site of the fact that it derives its legitimacy from the
people and the people's confidence that it operates with integrity.