Jesse Miskelley, Jr., Jason Baldwin, and Damien Echols celebrate a year of freedom after 18 years of incarceration for three terrible murders they didn't commit (a case still unsolved, with thoughts and deep respect going out to the families of the three 8-year-old boys whose lives were taken far too early).
Suppose for a minute that you were framed, convicted, and incarcerated as a 16-year-old without a variety of financial or cultural privileges, and that you spent the next 18 years in prison, on death row and/or in solitary confinement? You'd find yourself completely out of the loop with a variety of pervasive technological and cultural changes (the Internet as a whole, and everything that has shifted as a result!), and would find yourself with a felony stuck to your record, a lifetime of institutionalization to shake, and with an extremely limited set of options.
Click here to contribute to the West Memphis 3 Freedom Fund, a non-profit "legal trust fund that was created to pay for Damien, Jason and Jessie's basic lifestyle needs (food, shelter, healthcare, education and the like) in order to provide them a financial bridge as they re-enter society as free men, with the expectation each will become self-sufficient and live on their own earnings in the near future as they attain their career goals."
Much love and support to these three fellow Arkansans, their families, the memories of the victims, and all whose lives were scarred by these senseless murders. Despite the statistical impossibility of the Marion County or Arkansas law enforcement ever apprehending the true killer(s), here's to the hope of true justice and healing someday.
No comments:
Post a Comment