In his final statement Graham, who had taken the name Shaka Sankofa, affirmed as he had for the last 19 years that he did not kill Bobby Lambert, the charge for which he was sentenced to death. "I'm an innocent Black man that is being murdered..... What is happening here is an outrage," he declared.

Graham said his execution was "nothing more than state-sanctioned murder, state-sanctioned lynching, right here in America, and right here tonight.... They know I'm innocent. They've got the facts to prove it."

Thanking all those who had campaigned for his freedom, he called for a campaign for a moratorium on all executions. "People must come together to stop the systematic killing of poor and innocent Black people," he stated. "Let the world see the barbarity and injustice of what is really happening here."

Graham was sent to death row at the age of 17 on the testimony of a single witness who said she saw him shoot Lambert through her car windshield from about 30 feet away in a dimly lit grocery store parking lot. Prosecutors never produced any physical evidence linking him to the case. Graham's attorneys cited evidence that he did not have adequate legal representation at his trial. There are eyewitnesses, workers at the grocery store, who say the gunman was not Graham but a much shorter man; these witnesses were never called during the trial.

Supporters, family, and friends as well as opponents of the death penalty began gathering early outside the Huntsville prison, demonstrating to demand a reprieve for Graham and awaiting the decision of the parole board and then the courts. It was Graham's eighth execution date.

At 1:30 p.m. the state Board of Pardons and Parole issued its denial of a reprieve or clemency. The 18-member board, appointed by Gov. George W. Bush, voted 14-3 against a stay of execution, 12-5 against commuting his sentence, and 17-0 against a pardon, with one member not voting.

Later that day, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected the appeal for a stay of execution in a close, 5-4 decision. Then a civil suit in Austin, Texas, was filed in an attempt to postpone the execution, but that too was denied.

Almost three hours after the scheduled 6:00 p.m. time of the execution, Graham was given the lethal injection. Among those witnessing the execution were Democratic Party leaders Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton, Nation of Islam minister Robert Mohammed, and Bianca Jagger, a leader of Amnesty International.  
 
Protest in Huntsville
At one point the crowd opposed to the execution swelled to more than 500, including many from Huntsville's Black community. They joined a march outside the prison.

The demonstrators protested not only the execution but a small contingent of Ku Klux Klansmen and their supporters who came to cheer on the killing of Graham.

Jenee Pierre, a student at Sam Houston State University, came with three of her friends. She wanted Graham "to get a new trial to let the evidence be heard." Her friend Ashley Etienne added, "Our struggle here can turn around the death penalty, which is a step backward."

Seven anti–death penalty protesters were arrested and charged with disorderly conduct and one with assault.

The protest at Huntsville was the subject of a violence-baiting campaign since the Republican state convention earlier in June, where a protest in defense of Gary Graham had taken place. The big-business media focused on the fact that Quanell X of the New Black Panther Party, along with about a dozen supporters, some openly carrying shotguns, got into an altercation with a Republican delegate. Charges were brought against one of Quanell X's supporters. In Huntsville, Quanell X and some of his supporters, briefly carrying shotguns, spoke and marched outside the prison.

Some 200 extra cops, decked in full riot gear as the execution neared, manned barricades as several police helicopters flew overhead.

Governor Bush, who had been confronted by anti–death penalty demonstrators at previous campaign stops, asserted after the execution, "After considering all the facts, I am convinced justice is being done." While campaigning in Los Angeles he said, "As far as I'm concerned there has not been one innocent person executed since I've been governor." This is the 135th execution during his tenure as the state's chief executive. Both major presidential candidates, Republican Bush and Democrat Albert Gore, are advocates of the death penalty.

During the last days before the execution, state and local officials worked doggedly to make sure Graham did not get a reprieve. The day before his death, Harris County District Attorney John Holmes obtained a day-old affidavit from a bailiff at Graham's trial that he sent the board of parole. In this brand new testimony, the bailiff asserted under oath that Graham had told him after the trial verdict, "Next time I'm not going to leave any witnesses."

The same day, Lt. Gov. Rick Perry and Texas Attorney General John Cornyn called a news conference to insist that Graham was guilty and urge his execution. Cornyn declared, "I personally felt it was important for us to be able to explain again what type of super due process that criminal defendants are entitled to and in fact receive--and in fact Mr. Graham has received."  
 
International defense campaign
For the past several years, an international campaign was waged demanding freedom for Gary Graham, as more people found out about the gross denial of justice in his case. His execution sparked protests in many parts of the country and internationally.

In a statement issued from Havana the day after the execution, the Continental Latin American and Caribbean Students Organization (OCLAE) said the Americas-wide student group "strongly condemns the U.S. government for the execution of the American youth Shaka Sankofa, which constitutes a violation of human rights. Without a doubt, the U.S. judicial system is not capable of representing the true interests of its citizens.

"Mumia Abu-Jamal, who remains on death row, faces a similar situation. OCLAE solidarizes with this noble cause and demands his prompt release," the student organization stated.

Cuban president Fidel Castro also issued a sharp condemnation of the killing of Graham and hailed his steadfast and dignified opposition to the execution (see accompanying box).

In Houston, David Ferguson, a sewing machine operator and Socialist Workers candidate for U.S. Congress in the 18th District, said, "Shaka Sankofa/Gary Graham died a fighter. With his final words, as the poison flowed into his veins, he condemned the lynching that was being carried out against him and called for the abolition of the death penalty. We join Graham and the thousands who protested around the world in condemning this act of barbarism."

"The death penalty," Ferguson added, "is intended by the capitalist rulers to terrorize the working class, particularly Blacks, Latinos, immigrants, and other workers who resist the conditions created by capitalism. It is one and the same with the instant death penalty carried out by cops every day on the streets. The railroaded trials, incompetent defense attorneys, and arbitrary dismissal of appeals are not signs of a broken system, but of a system working the way it is designed. The death penalty has nothing to do with crime. Every worker who resists is supposed to think: 'that could be me.'"

In the week preceding the execution of Graham, three men were put to death--Paul Nuncio, 31; John Burks, 44, and Thomas Mason, 48. The week following Graham's execution, Jessy San Miguel is scheduled to die.

A wake and funeral services for Gary Graham were planned in Houston.

Lea Sherman is a meat packer and Socialist Workers candidate for U.S. Senate. Dave Ferguson is a sewing machine operator and Socialist Workers candidate for U.S. Congress.  
 

In Cuba, President Fidel Castro condemned the execution of Gary Graham (Shaka Sankofa) as "an unspeakable crime" in a June 24 message to a rally in the Cuban city of Holguín that was organized to demand the return of six-year-old Elián González to Cuba. In his letter, reprinted in the Cuban newspaper Granma, Castro detailed some of the facts illustrating how Graham had been denied a fair trial. "He was given the death penalty and executed simply for being black," he stated.

"Shaka Sankofa has shown the world the bitter fruits of a social system where the differences between the richest and the poorest are infinite," Fidel Castro wrote.

The Cuban leader hailed "the dignity with which he defended himself" and the fact that "he didn't go like a lamb to the slaughter. He forcibly resisted the execution process right up until his death, as he had promised." Castro added, "He died like a hero."

"In this way, oppression, exploitation, inequality, and injustice creates people who, facing the most difficult moment of an unjust death, are capable of shaking an empire and stirring the admiration of all honest people in the world," the revolutionary leader stated. "For us, it constitutes not only a duty of gratitude, but also a great international duty to join the energetic protests of millions of U.S. whites, blacks, Native Americans, Hispanics, and other races that are indignantly condemning this repugnant, racist form of applying justice.

"These facts convince us, more than ever, that the future belongs to our dreams of equality and justice for all human beings. The people will win!"  
 
 
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