Well, you know I want to give time for Abe to talk. I am glad for Abe's strength. He does more with less money then anybody that I know. Abe, they are going to give you an award, but we really know who does the work on abolition on all the travels you do. There's only one GOVERNOR who talks to you. (laughter!) So some of your friends have come together. We have a packet, they got him a card for the canine abolitionist of the year, for Governor, so I hope you will give this to Governor tonight... (APPLAUSE). A George Bush chew toy... (Laughter!) But Abe, on behalf of all of us in this room, I want to thank you for all of your work, and we wish you congratulations. (APPLAUSE) Governor, "because we wanted at least one Governor who would listen to us, and we still don't have that!" Abe Accepts Award I want to thank everyone who was involved in making this happen tonight. (Unintelligible) (laughter!) Alright. Well, first, I've got my own timer. (laughter!) And I'll probably need it. To the board of directors and the staff of the National Coalition, I really want to say THANK YOU for recognizing me, and for recognizing all of the people who make me what I am and who allow me to do this work. And there are so many people. I really wish that I had the time and the ability to name everybody. But I would be certain to miss people. I am going to try to be brief. I want to share a couple of things. I want to share this walking stick with you. Some of you who have been around a long time know that this comes out of this conference from 1995 when we were in New Orleans. Sam Reese Sheppard walked from Boston to New Orleans - 1600 miles in what he called his "walk for alternatives to violence," and everywhere he went he talked about what it was like to be the child of a murder victim who was opposed to the death penalty, and also what it was like to grow up visiting his father in prison. Sam talks about what it is like to be seven years old and have other children on the school bus pointing at you saying "Your daddy's going to fry in the electric chair." Sam carried this stick and when he got to New Orleans he put it into the auction to help raise money for the NCADP, and I bought this walking stick. I went into debt to buy this stick - thanks for your credit card, Dad - and tonight, especially, I wanted to be able to share this with you all. I am going to pass this around. There is a lot of energy here - if you need some, take it out, if you've got some, put it in.

It was at that conference, in 1995, that Steve Hawkins gave his first speech (as the new executive director of NCADP), and I was so inspired by that I remember we were out on the town in New Orleans, and I came to the conclusion that by the time I turn 50 I believe that we will be able to abolish the death penalty in this country. And that gives us a little bit more than 12 more years. Especially now with a new executive director, and with so much that has been happening, I believe that that is more possible than ever. (APPLAUSE) 12 more years.... I want to give thanks to our Creator. I have not always been a religious person. I'm really not exactly religious, but recently I have become spiritual and I firmly believe that there is a higher being, and I know that I am alive because of the angels that are with me. I know that the people who ride in my car with me - they believe too. (laughter!) Because there are angels who ride along side and keep us between the lines because sometimes I fall asleep - right Bill? (laughter!) I have to give thanks to my family here. Its really amazing to me that all these people came - this whole table. (APPLAUSE) My mom and my dad, my aunts and uncles, cousins, my best friend from high school, my sister. And just one thing - if you were a fan of baseball and you read statistics books and personal profiles of figures in baseball in the early 1970's, if you know about all that sort of stuff, that's B. Zanger over there. (APPLAUSE) I want to thank, especially, well there are many people but I am going to name a couple. I want to thank the people who have trusted me. I want to thank George White. I want to thank Juan Melendez. I want to thank Sam Reese Sheppard. Bill Pelke. These are people, and there are others, these are people who have literally put their lives and their reputations in my hands. They have allowed me to help craft their message. They have allowed me to help guide their work. They have allowed me to help us all be more effective through their voices. I thank you for your trust. I thank everybody who has joined me in this work, and there are so many, but I am going to mention a couple - and a couple who are not here. Pam Dyer is tireless in helping me with my internet presence. If you think I do all that work, it's Bob Wakfer, and it's Pam Dyer, and a couple other internet volunteers, who are really behind me that are doing a lot of this work. K. Bandell. My lawyers - Mark Goldstone is here (APPLAUSE) He keeps me out of jail. Steve Goldman couldn't be here tonight, he's the lawyer that incorporated CUADP and he's also the lawyer that incorporated Amnesty International USA - he's been involved in the human rights movement for so long. Hannah Floyd is sitting over here. (APPLAUSE) Hannah has been a partner in crime of mine for quite some time, actually. Sarah Owocki, Carolyn Gray is not here but I want to give a special thanks to her.

I want to thank all of those special people who have sustained me financially. You know who you are, and so many of the people in this room are among those who make it possible for me to get up, pay the bills, and keep doing this work. There is a lot more that I want to say, but the main thing is that what we are doing in this struggle is now at a level that success is only a little bit away. And it is up to each of us to keep carrying this on. There's one other group of people that I need to thank - two actually. There are the people like Diann Rust-Tierney, and Peter Loge, who have beaten me up when I needed to be beaten up (APPLUASE). There is also the people who have told me that it can't be done. When we decided that we were going to start CUADP, I had a couple of phone calls from people who said, "Abe, we don't need another national group. You shouldn't be doing this." But you know its people like those - and the people here in my family that especially know that the sure way to get me to do something is to tell me that it can't be done. "You can't do that." So that's why I go do it. So when people say you can't abolish the death penalty? WE WILL ABOLISH THE DEATH PENALTY! (APPLAUSE) It is only a matter of time, but it is up to each and every one of us. And it is going to be for each and every one of us to do everything that we can. And as we all know, what I do is I help create more visibility. So when you get off this boat tonight, there is going to be a bag of buttons - there is enough for one button for every person that's here on this boat. Take a button, and make a pledge, please, to wear that button. Wear it when you go to the grocery store. Wear it when you go to school. Wear your button, and when somebody says, "What's that about?" talk to them, because you people in this room have more information than most people in this world, and you can share that. And if you don't, if you miss the opportunity to share that, then in my opinion you are hampering the cause of this movement. So we MUST wear it on our sleeve. We must share this message at every single opportunity.

I thank you. I love you all. I want to say that, well, I think I've said it all, and I beat my timer by TWO MINUTES! (laughter!) (APPLAUSE) Magdaleno M. Rose-Avila: You know, in this struggle, one of the things we don't do is we don't thank each other enough. But, I really want to thank Abe's family, because they have been a financial foundation, and moral support, and (unintelligible MUCH (laughter!) ). But you know I've had a lot of fun working with Abe. But I started out teaching Abe, and recently Abe's been teaching me....