The Innocent Victims

You do not see their tears. You do no hear their cries and you do not feel their pain. We, the condemned men on death row call them : Mother, Father, Sister, Brother Aunt, Uncle, Cousin, Wife, Son, Daughter or Friend.

They are the victims who are unjustly punished. They bear the enormous grief of my anticipated date with death, if in fact it is to come. Society makes them innocent victims and it is wrong. I have looked into my Mother's eyes and saw her pain. I've looked at my daughters and seen their tears and I cannot really define the great amount of pain that engulfs me. My oldest Kari, desperately wants just to touch me physically and something so simple and human is denied. Kari is not alone, for there are countless other daughters, sons, mothers and fathers who long to hug their relative on death row.

Society denies them that right and then they must endure the stares and whispers from people in town. Such is the case of Donna Doolin, a schoolteacher in Fresno, Texas, who was fired from her job because her son was found guilty of murdering two prostitutes. She was told that they couldn't have the mother of a murdered on their payroll. After 10 years of dedication, this was her thanks. She hears the whispers and catches the stares in the local stores. She insists that her son was framed and has devoted the last 5 years trying to prove his innocence. She and her husband have invested all of their financial resources into lawyers and investigators in an attempt to exonerate their son. In doing so, the couple lost their home and now live in a trailer.

Sharon Davis spent 17 years fighting to prove her brother's innocence in South Carolina. She stated that every time one court would turn down an appeal for her brother, she would become more motivated to prove he was not guilty of the crime. Finally, evidence came forth linking someone else to the crime and her brother became temporarily free on a $ 100,000 bond, but he may be tried again. She too has endured her share of being victimized by society.

A kiss, a touch, and a hug all sound so simple but they are the things denied to your family. Society shouldn't punish my children, because they done absolutely nothing. My mother done nothing, my Granny done nothing, but even in their weakest, they are at their strongest and that's what has carried. Friends who I long to hug have kept the fire within my heart lit. I am more than blessed to be surrounded by great family and friends who are equally supportive, but the innocent victimization must stop. A child longs for a touch of her father or his father. They are punished unjustly !

Farley C. Matchett