The Storm of Love
Things happen for a reason. God moves in mysterious ways. It was meant to be. Tonight (April 26, 2017) was one of those nights, and because of that I once again was put in a position to witness uncompromising love.
Backing up — Scott Langley and I are in Arkansas in support of the Arkansas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty as they deal with what I have been calling the #ArkansasCircus. This is the result of Governor Asa Hutchinson scheduling 8 executions in ten days with about seven weeks notice. Why so fast? The “use by” date on one of the lethal injection drugs is April 30.
Over the weekend we were in other parts of the state showing some short films & photos as a way to draw folks in to a conversation about the issues. Our date to host a similar event in Little Rock was tonight, and we were rained out. Well, it wasn’t just rain. Tornadoes threatened. By 2pm, we decided to cancel the 6pm event. I was kicking myself. People would have come! Right?! Oh well — at least we can gather for dinner…
Then I saw this news item — the family of one of the victim’s of the man set to be killed Thursday night had forgiven the killer. It’s an amazing story, so I shared it on Twitter & Facebook immediately.
What made the story amazing? The victims family did not want the killer to be executed. But they didn’t stop there. They knew Kenneth Williams has a daughter the same age as one of his victim’s daughters. Was she in touch with her father? They spent the last several weeks trying to find Jasmine. No one would help, until finally, just a few days ago, William’s attorney connected them with Jasmine. The Greenwood/Yaw family insisted that she fly to see the man she had last seen 18 years ago, and bring her daughter — the grandchild Williams had never met. The Greenwood/Yaw family bought the tickets. Then they drove from Missouri to Little Rock, met Jasmine and her daughter at the airport, and took them to the prison to visit.
This was unbelievable. This doesn’t happen. But it did. Unlike last weekend when I had a hand in helping the daughter of another one of the eight visit her father before he was killed, this time I’m merely an observer. BUT, maybe not. For some as-yet unknown reason, I was supposed to meet these people. If not for the storm, I would have been elsewhere. So imagine my surprise when my team and I are having dinner and in walks this family!
Jasmine and Kayla have known each other for less than 24 hours, and they are stuck to each other like sisters. I was able to talk with them for a bit. They are still shocked by the interest of the media and the hateful comments they are seeing on the news items. I told them not to look at the comments on media stories. Look instead at the comments where I posted the story — on the Death Penalty Action Facebook page. Kayla brightened noticeably, as did Jasmine, when I told them many people are praying for them, and inspired by their act of forgiveness and love.
To be clear, there is another victim in the case, and that person’s family wants the execution to move forward. It is that victim for whom the death sentence was passed. Jasmine says she understands, and she can’t hold any grudges. She is still processing all of this. But she saw her dad for the first time in 18 years. Kenneth Williams got to see his daughter and meet his granddaughter before he was killed. And two girls who were three years old when one’s daddy killed the others’… Now they are 21 and they each have a new sister.
The Greenwood/Yaw family went back to Missouri. Jasmine and her baby land back in Washington State sometime around noon on Thursday (April 27th).
UPDATE from a press release issued this morning:
This mornimg Kayla, the daughter of victim Michael Greenwood, sent Governor Hutchinson a letter this morning asking the Governor to spare Mr. Williams’s life. While acknowledging that Mr. Williams’s actions from nearly twenty years ago caused her family considerable pain, she believes that executing Mr. Williams would only cause them “additional suffering.”
In her letter, Ms. Greenwood explained that if she had known about Mr. Williams request for clemency, her family would have requested to testify at the hearing on behalf of Mr. Williams and would have asked the board to grant clemency. Ms. Greenwood now asks for that opportunity for her family to be heard. Ms. Greenwood also wishes to meet with Governor Hutchinson in the hopes that her sincere desire to see Mr. Williams live might convince the Governor to spare Mr. Williams’s life today. She hopes that Mr. Williams will be granted clemency and will have the opportunity to continue to positively impact other prison inmates and continue to use his life and experience to “council and help people who may be in a dark place.”
Kayla Greenwood’s letter to Governor Hutchinson can be accessed here.
Unless the lawyers are successful, at 7pm, Scott will be at the Governor’s mansion, and I’ll be outside the prison, tolling the bell as the state of Arkansas cements these two families forever by adding another round to the cycle of violence…
[Abraham Bonowitz & Scott Langley co-founded Death Penalty Action in order to add capacity to the death penalty abolition movement. They launched it publicly on March 18th, 2017. You can invest in their success and allow them to be your boots on the ground where it matters most via the crowd funder here, or directly, here.]