Shabaka WaQlimi Visiting Colorado
-- By Aaron
D. Graff
Shabaka WaQlimi will visit
Colorado in October to discuss his time on death row,
his eventual release after evidence was overturned
and to spark dialogue regarding capital punishment
in Colorado and across the nation. He intends to reveal personal aspects of
capital punishment, and he believes that discussions with people who have been
in his situation bring the debate to life.
WaQlimi spent 13 years on death
row in Florida for crimes he didn't commit.
He never waivered from his claim of innocence,
even to the point of refusing to order his
last meal. To this day he believes the state
of Florida executed innocent men while he
was there. Asked why he was wrongfully convicted,
he cites race as a factor: "I had
a white, court-appointed attorney, the DA was white, the judge and jury were
white, and I was referred to as a nigger by a member of the jury."
WaQlimi
says racism is a reason the death penalty
persists today: "An apartheid
system still exists. We still judge people based on the color of their skin.
If we really followed the words of Martin Luther King, we wouldn't have the
death penalty, and we wouldn't have this economy." His
anger towards the American justice system
stems not only from his wrongful conviction
and the loss of years he can never reclaim,
but also from the lack of repercussions for
a system that "deliberately and intentionally
convicted me."
Shabaka WaQlimi now shares
his story to prevent others from suffering
the same injustice he endured, and to let
people know the government has executed innocent
people. When people ask him what he would
think of capital punishment if his mother
were murdered, he replies, "What if
it was your mother that killed my mother?
Would you still be in favor of the death
penalty? When it's personal, we take time,
hesitate and pause, and think about it."
Aaron Graff is currently a paralegal working
for Philip Cherner. He graduated from George
Washington University in 2009.
