The Journal of the Baptist Peace Fellowship of North America January-March 2018 - 14

sTorIes oF Peacemakers

Standing in Little Rock with
Wendell Griffen
by Gwenyth Lewis

L

ast spring, I'd been following the news about Arkansas Gov.
Asa hutchinson's push to execute eight men on death row
there in an 11-day period-beginning the day after Easter.
The reason cited for rushing these executions was the
impending expiration, on April 30, of one of the drugs to be
used in the lethal injections of these eight men. Many manufacturers of such drugs are now refusing to supply them for
non-medical purposes, due in part to public outcry.

"The issue of capital punishment
has evoked horror in me since
the age of 11, when I read a
series of news articles about a
man scheduled to be punished
by 'electric chair' by my state."
So, as I watched this march toward the executions, I
forced myself to look at photos of the eight men chosen for the
assembly line of death, to try to send them comfort, to try to
memorize their names and to attempt to hold them in prayer,
despite the distraction of my own anguish about the situation.
I begged others to join me in calling and writing to Gov.
hutchinson and to Arkansas "corrections" director Wendy
Kelley, stretching myself greatly in an effort to see that of God
in them, so that they might be able to be open to my arguments.
The issue of capital punishment has evoked horror in
me since the age of 11, when I read a series of news articles
about a man scheduled to be punished by "electric chair" by
my state.
My values about murdering human beings in order to punish them were strengthened years later when I read a reflection
written by a friend in a Texas prison, incarcerated since he was
a teenager. he wrote it after his death sentence was commuted
just moments before he was to be electrocuted. he described
being strapped down to a gurney, unable to either fight or flee;
of the instinctual physical reaction of terror, knowing that he

14

Baptist Peacemaker

JAN-MAR 2018

was about to be killed, coupled with the emotional turmoil of
waiting for the inevitable.
Then, suddenly, a priest came to inform him that his
sentence had been reduced, that he would not be killed.
Juan's story convinced me, beyond any doubt, that capital punishment is inherently cruel and unusual-a horrible
example of what we humans can do to our human siblings.
It is a fact that executions only happen to people with less
power in the uS-people without enough money or status to
buy strong legal representation, people with limited mental
or emotional capabilities, racialized people and others on the
margins of acceptability and power. This just underscores for
me the urgency of stopping these state-sanctioned murders.
As I struggled to help stop the executions in Arkansas, suddenly I remembered that the Rev. Hon. Wendell Griffen-one
of the leaders who so deeply challenged and inspired me at
the BPFNA ~ Bautistas Por La Paz Summer Conference (aka
"Peace Camp") in 2016-is a judge in Arkansas.
Though the peace camp theme was "When did I see you in
prison?" I hadn't yet made the connection that Rev. Hon. Griffen
might actively be involved legally with the Arkansas executions.
I soon learned that, on Good friday afternoon, Judge
Griffen had ruled in favor of the McKesson Medical-Surgical company, which was asking for a temporary injunction
against the State of Arkansas to prevent the use of Mckesson's
property (vecuronium bromide, a drug to be used in the lethal
injections) on grounds that the state had misled Mckesson
about its plans to use the drug in its killing cocktail, thereby
obtaining it under false pretenses.
After ruling on this seemingly routine property/contract
law case, Judge Griffen went home to change into his private-citizen clothes, and then joined members of the faith
community he pastors, new Millennium Baptist church, for
a Good friday vigil in front of the Governor's mansion.
I had read Judge Griffen's new book, The Fierce urgency
of Prophetic hope, which includes reflections on the lead-up to
the election of donald Trump as uS president.1 So I was not
entirely surprised that Pastor Griffen had decided, as he headed
to the vigil, to lie on a cot "as a dead man" for an hour and a
half at the Governor's mansion, as he said, "in solidarity with
Jesus, the leader of our religion who was put to death by crucifixion by the Roman Empire." He and other New Millennium



Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of The Journal of the Baptist Peace Fellowship of North America January-March 2018

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The Journal of the Baptist Peace Fellowship of North America January-March 2018 - 2
The Journal of the Baptist Peace Fellowship of North America January-March 2018 - 3
The Journal of the Baptist Peace Fellowship of North America January-March 2018 - 4
The Journal of the Baptist Peace Fellowship of North America January-March 2018 - 5
The Journal of the Baptist Peace Fellowship of North America January-March 2018 - 6
The Journal of the Baptist Peace Fellowship of North America January-March 2018 - 7
The Journal of the Baptist Peace Fellowship of North America January-March 2018 - 8
The Journal of the Baptist Peace Fellowship of North America January-March 2018 - 9
The Journal of the Baptist Peace Fellowship of North America January-March 2018 - 10
The Journal of the Baptist Peace Fellowship of North America January-March 2018 - 11
The Journal of the Baptist Peace Fellowship of North America January-March 2018 - 12
The Journal of the Baptist Peace Fellowship of North America January-March 2018 - 13
The Journal of the Baptist Peace Fellowship of North America January-March 2018 - 14
The Journal of the Baptist Peace Fellowship of North America January-March 2018 - 15
The Journal of the Baptist Peace Fellowship of North America January-March 2018 - 16
The Journal of the Baptist Peace Fellowship of North America January-March 2018 - 17
The Journal of the Baptist Peace Fellowship of North America January-March 2018 - 18
The Journal of the Baptist Peace Fellowship of North America January-March 2018 - 19
The Journal of the Baptist Peace Fellowship of North America January-March 2018 - 20
The Journal of the Baptist Peace Fellowship of North America January-March 2018 - 21
The Journal of the Baptist Peace Fellowship of North America January-March 2018 - 22
The Journal of the Baptist Peace Fellowship of North America January-March 2018 - 23
The Journal of the Baptist Peace Fellowship of North America January-March 2018 - 24
The Journal of the Baptist Peace Fellowship of North America January-March 2018 - 25
The Journal of the Baptist Peace Fellowship of North America January-March 2018 - 26
The Journal of the Baptist Peace Fellowship of North America January-March 2018 - 27
The Journal of the Baptist Peace Fellowship of North America January-March 2018 - 28
The Journal of the Baptist Peace Fellowship of North America January-March 2018 - 29
The Journal of the Baptist Peace Fellowship of North America January-March 2018 - 30
The Journal of the Baptist Peace Fellowship of North America January-March 2018 - 31
The Journal of the Baptist Peace Fellowship of North America January-March 2018 - 32
http://www.brightcopy.net/allen/peacemaker/38-1
http://www.brightcopy.net/allen/peacemaker/37-4
http://www.brightcopy.net/allen/peacemaker/37-3
http://www.brightcopy.net/allen/peacemaker/37-2
http://www.brightcopy.net/allen/peacemaker/37-1
http://www.brightcopy.net/allen/peacemaker/36-3
http://www.brightcopy.net/allen/peacemaker/36-2
http://www.brightcopy.net/allen/peacemaker/36-1
http://www.brightcopy.net/allen/peacemaker/35-4
http://www.brightcopy.net/allen/peacemaker/35-3
https://www.nxtbook.com/allen/peacemaker/35-2
https://www.nxtbook.com/allen/peacemaker/35-1
https://www.nxtbook.com/allen/peacemaker/34-4
https://www.nxtbook.com/allen/peacemaker/34-3
https://www.nxtbook.com/allen/peacemaker/34-2
https://www.nxtbook.com/allen/peacemaker/34-1
https://www.nxtbookmedia.com