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Alternative Spring Break: Students Speak Out Against
the Death Penalty
By Meghan
Mandeville, News Research Reporter
While some Texas
college students headed to the beaches of Cancun for fun in
the sun this Spring Break, others stayed closer to home to
feed their social consciences.
Last week, a group of
students from several Lone Star State colleges gathered at the
University of Texas in Austin for a week of anti-death penalty
workshops and activities. The alternative spring break
experience was sponsored by the Texas Moratorium Network and
featured guest speakers from national anti-death penalty
organizations and the state legislature.
"I wanted to
do something more meaningful [during my Spring Break]," said
Chaunte Sterling, a senior at Sam Houston State
University (SHSU). "I figured this would be the place where I
[could] do that."
Sterling, who is the vice-president
of the SHSU chapter of the National Association of Blacks in
Criminal Justice, was one of about 25 spring breakers who
opted to spend their vacation in Austin, dedicating their free
time to a cause they believe in.
According to Scott
Cobb, Political Director of the Texas Moratorium Network,
the goal of the program was to get students more involved in
anti-death penalty activism and to teach them how to
effectively work with politicians, stage public demonstrations
and talk to the media about the issue.
During the
course of the five-day event, students had an opportunity to
hear from many guest speakers, Cobb said. First off, Walter
Long, a well-known criminal defense attorney, talked to
the attendees about the history of the death penalty in Texas
and his experiences handling death penalty cases.
Dr.
Michael Young, a UT sociology professor, also spoke to
the students about social movements in the United States,
including the civil rights movement and the abolishment of
slavery.
Program participants also got a lesson in how
to handle the media from Brenda Bowser, Communications
Director for the Washington, D.C.-based Death Penalty
Information Center. According to Cobb, she gave a workshop
focused on writing press releases, establishing relationships
with reporters and speaking to media.
To polish
up their lobbying skills, students also heard from Les
Breeding, former legislative director of the Texas
Legislature.
"He told them how to communicate with
members of the legislature and gave them tips on how they
should behave during lobby day, which was the next day," said
Cobb.
According to Cobb, lobby day was a chance for
students to gather on the steps of the state capitol building
and make their voices heard. In preparation for the rally, the
students assembled 280 boxes to use as props - a reference to
a recent scandal at the Houston Police Department's crime
lab.
The boxes represented the misplaced evidence, some
of it dating back over 20 years, that was uncovered at the lab
in August, Cobb said. Some of that evidence pertained to death
penalty cases, prompting Cobb and the students to push the
issue in their rally.
Aside from lobbying at the
capitol building, the students also organized a "direct
action" at Texas Governor Rick Perry's mansion, with
guidance from Abe Bonowitz, Director of Citizens United
for Alternatives to the Death Penalty.
Bonowitz met
with students early on in the week to discuss different types
of direct actions with them and to encourage them to start
thinking about what kind of event they were going to plan for
their final day of the alternative spring
break.
Originally, the direct action was slated to
coincide with an execution that was scheduled for March 16,
Cobb said. But Perry issued a stay of execution in that case,
so the students, instead, turned their attention to a new
criminal justice advisory council he created.
Last
week, Perry announced that he was putting together a
nine-person council, charged with examining criminal justice
issues and making recommendations to improve the state's
criminal justice system.
The spring breakers applauded
Perry's decision as they rallied outside his home.
"We
turned it into a victory celebration," said Cobb.
After
the gathering at the mansion, the students marched, with
anti-death penalty signs and bullhorns, to downtown Austin,
where a film festival was taking place.
"We got a
lot of positive responses when we went through the crowd in
the film festival line," Cobb said. "People started
clapping."
Cobb was excited that the students were so
well received by the public. He hopes that the crowd's
reaction combined with the lessons the students learned during
their alternative spring break will drive the attendees to
continue to work for their cause.
"I just want them to
be educated and, as they finish their university career and
move on, maybe they'll continue to be involved in criminal
justice issues and be helpful to us as we try to stop
executions here in Texas," Cobb said.
For at least one
participant, that is the plan.
Sterling said that, when
she returns to SHSU, she intends to form an anti-death penalty
group on campus.
"I definitely want to start an
organization there that the primary focus is to protest during
the executions and to get students there to write their
legislators," said Sterling.
She finds it strange that
both the Texas Department of Justice's Death Chamber and SHSU
are located in Huntsville, yet the school has no group that
speaks out against the execution of prisoners in the same
city.
"We just need to make a big deal about it,"
Sterling said.
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