PRESS RELEASE
FROM THE ABOLITIONIST
ACTION
COMMITTEE (AAC)
MEDIA ADVISORY
CONTACTS:
Abe Bonowitz, Abolitionist Action Committee
561-371-5204 (mobile) abe@abolition.org
David Elliot, National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty
202-543-9577, ext. 16
202-607-7036 (mobile)
delliot@ncadp.org
Bill Mefford, United Methodist Church General Board of Church and Society
202-488-5657
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Press Conference Announcement
GROUPS TO HIGHLIGHT FAILURES OF THE DEATH PENALTY ON 30TH ANNIVERSARY
OF GREGG DECISION
United Methodist Church Marks 50th Anniversary of its Call to End Executions
As part of STARVIN' FOR JUSTICE 2006; THE 13TH ANNUAL FAST AND VIGIL
TO ABOLISH THE
DEATH PENALTY AT THE U.S. SUPREME COURT
WHO: United Methodist Church Bishop Ray Chamberlain, Amnesty
International USA Executive Director Larry Cox, Death Row Survivors
Gary Beeman, Kirk Bloodsworth, Shujaa Graham, Ron Keine, and Ray
Krone, Murder Victim Family Members Bill Pelke and George White, and
other leaders of various anti-death penalty organizations.
WHAT: Press Conference
WHEN: 10:30am, Friday, June 30, 2006
WHERE: On the sidewalk in front of the United States Supreme Court
in Washington, DC
WHY: July 2, 2006 marks the 30th anniversary of the Gregg V. Georgia
decision in which the United States Supreme Court upheld laws written
to reinstate the death penalty after all death penalty laws were
struck down by the Furman decision in 1972. Leaders of the
anti-death penalty movement will speak out about recent developments
regarding the issue, noting how the death penalty continues to fail
as a public policy in the United States. Also, the United Methodist
Church is this year marking the 50th anniversary of becoming the
first major Christian denomination to call for the abolition of the
death penalty in the United States.
This press conference is part of the Annual Fast & Vigil to Abolish
the Death Penalty at the US Supreme Court, wherein anti-death penalty
activists will converge on Washington, D.C. from Thursday, June 29
through Sunday, July 2 for four days of activities commemorating the
historic 1972 and 1976 Supreme Court rulings that suspended the death
penalty in the United States and later allowed executions to resume.
This is the thirteenth year in a row that the Abolitionist Action
Committee has held its annual Fast and Vigil between the dates of
these two landmark decisions. Activists, many of whom are fasting
the entire four days, are travelling to Washington D.C. from across
the United States and beyond.
Highlights of this highly visual and interactive annual event include
live music and evening teach-ins by death row survivors, murder
victim family members, and noted activists and scholars. Please see
details at http://www.abolition.org/starvin13.html
ATTENTION REPORTERS, EDITORS AND PRODUCERS: Consider interviews with
activists from your specific state or region. A "media availability"
will be held at 10:30 a.m. Friday, June 30 on the sidewalk in front
of the U.S. Supreme Court, but we are available all day on June 29
and 30, and July 1 and 2.
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The Abolitionist Action Committee is an ad-hoc group of
individuals committed to highly visible and effective public education for
alternatives to the death penalty through nonviolent direct action.
Contact the AAC at:
800-973-6548
aac@abolition.org
http://www.abolition.org
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SENT BY:
Citizens United for Alternatives to the Death Penalty
http://www.CUADP.org
800-973-6548
