Texas Gov. Greg Abbott is a coward who has remained silent as the nation pleads for justice.
Abbott is quick to intervene in issues of national conservative concern, but present him with something that matters to society and he is nowhere to be found.
Abbott is no stranger to voicing his thoughts on public matters. In fact, he has already publicly disagreed with Texas State issues a few times. Earlier this year Texas State’s student government favored a resolution to ban conservative group, Turning Point USA (TPUSA). The debacle was concerning in free speech matters. Abbott was quick to tweet a disapproving stance on the situation, questioning whether the university deserved taxpayer funds for threatening First Amendment rights. Abbott confronts conservative issues with fierce passion, but someone should remind him he represents the entire state of Texas, not solely himself and his Republican followers.
Texas State students are known for proudly voicing their opinions and protesting until they are either arrested or physically removed from the scene.
Passion for justice is a core value of the student body. Right now, that passion should be used to protest the false accusations against Rodney Reed.
Rodney Reed is an innocent man scheduled for execution in Livingston, Texas on November 20.
More than 2.8 million people have signed petitions for immediate action from Abbott, yet he has decided to remain silent.
Reed deserves a retrial and continues to be denied one by the government and Gov. Abbott.
Texas governors can delay execution by 30 days on their own, or grant a longer reprieve or reduce a death sentence to life in prison with a recommendation by the parole board.
Reed is undeserving of death, he is an innocent man. The fact he has claimed innocence for decades and has concrete evidence that exonerates him is infuriating.
Everyone involved in the case must be insanely lazy or too prideful to have accepted his appeals.
The police did not properly care about bringing justice to this man and this case.
The police made their decision as soon as they noticed the first suspect was a black man.
Perfection is not possible in the justice system and that is inevitable. However, growing numb to a broken system is almost as alarming as the details of Reed’s case.
His sentence exhibits such an obvious lack of respect toward human life and factual evidence, which creates skepticism concerning the people trusted to hold the ultimate power and give a fair judgment.
The mere possibility of innocence should be taken seriously enough to postpone a death sentence.
Unsurprisingly, Texas refuses to eliminate the death penalty from its grasp. The state enjoys the power and has no problem with showcasing its narcissism.
Believing in the death penalty makes no moral sense to begin with, but allowing an innocent man to be executed because sitting on the sidelines was more appealing than taking action is repulsive.
The death penalty allows the government to execute people it deems to be disgusting enough of being eliminated from society.
The least the people with this amount of power could explore is the idea of actually killing a guilty person. Yes, even criminals deserve the respect of only being guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. In the case of Reed, there is nothing but doubt.
Unfortunately, the likelihood of Abbott having the courage to influence the outcome of Reed’s trial is low. According to The New York Times, Abbott has only interfered in one execution during his time as governor.
The man does not mind murder. The issue is he refuses to face the public and respond to this massive national outcry. His behavior is an embarrassment.
America is watching the state of Texas ignore the responsibility of taking an execution seriously. Nearly three million people are asking Gov. Abbott to take action and yet the crickets continue to chirp and the execution day gets closer.
Abbot has a chance to save an innocent man’s life from the cruel system that unjustly sentenced him to death. He can guarantee Reed receives a fair trial. He can move his date of execution to allow testing of the weapon and other evidence. Basically, he can do his job and take action, or at least have the decency to address the nation on the matter.
-Laura Nunez is an advertising junior