Troy Davis, 42-year-old death row inmate who was convicted of the 1989 murder of off-duty police officer Mark MacPhail, will be executed tonight at 7pm by lethal injection.
Over the past 20 years, Davis has garnered waves of support from celebrities and politicians after his murder conviction was clouded and as he is scheduled to be killed tonight, celebrities are now pulling together again to keep this event from happening. There is just too much doubt to kill Troy Davis.
STORY: Too Much Doubt: Troy Davis Refuses His Last Meal
We spoke with Big Boi this morning to get his take on this tragic event as he, like Kim Kardashian, Russell Simmons, Quest Love and other celebs are using their voice to do whatever they can to protect Troy Davis from being executed tonight.
Check out what he had to say.
Global Grind: Big Boi, how are you? Man, you’re a champion.
Big Boi: Yeah, you got to do what you got to do.
Tell me what is happening down there (in Atlanta). I know you are on your way to the rally now, but for those of us not in Atlanta, can you give us the rundown?
Let me give you a little background. Troy Davis is from my hometown and I have known about this case for a minute and he reached out to me like, last week. I was already trying to bring awareness to the case via my twitter and he didn’t even know it and people at Amnesty International called me and told me that Troy wanted me to speak on his behalf to get the young people involved.
He went to high school with my auntie actually, he said he met me when I was eight-years-old but I don’t remember that. My point though, is that guilty or innocent, there is just too much doubt. That is the basis of the whole trial. You’ve got 7 out of 9 people recanting their stories and no evidence whatsoever, so to just put a man to death is just unjust.
Look at Casey Anthony in Florida. With way more evidence than what Troy has against him, they let her go scotch free. I feel like it is really about people and about what is right and what is wrong. So, I have just been using my voice. There have been over 100 people killed and unjustly put to death that were later proved to be innocent.
Down here in Atlanta there have been thousands and thousands of people going up to the state capital. They said the rally is at 4:00PM but I feel like that is too late. I am going to head down there. Some of my friends are already down there and we are just going to show support for him. We are trying to let our voices be heard.
Do you have any hope left that the execution will be stopped?
Everything is possible with God. It is like my Grandmother always told me, it is whatever the Lord says. But, if you are in a position that I am, in the position to reach millions of people, I feel like it is necessary to use that voice not only to entertain but also to educate and just really bring awareness to this. Whether it goes through or not, we know we tried and we gave it a good try to push in his favor. I am just doing what god is asking me to do right now.
What is the one thing that someone can do if they do not live in Atlanta? What can they do to help?
They can call the judge down in Atlanta and also the District Attorney. I just found out yesterday that Georgia is one of the four states where the Governor has no control over the execution so he can’t even stop it. I guess they were just kind of giving people the run around, the Governor said ‘call the parole board,’ the parole board said ‘call the attorney’ and the attorney said ‘call the Governor’ so it was a big circle.
I saw it yesterday where it was trending all day (on Twitter) in Atlanta and within two minutes it just got cut completely off in the peak of me and Uncle Rush bringing awareness to it. But, now it is back trending again. I was telling people it is not about a trending topic, it is about letting your voice be heard. They didn’t have twitter in the 1930’s and ’40s during the Civil Rights Movement when there were a lot of things going on so I feel like if you’re in Georgia and you can make it down there (to the rally), it is 40 miles outside of Atlanta. I’m finna go down there and let my voice be heard for Troy Davis and hopefully something can happen. It all comes down to what the lord wants to happen at the end of the day.
Did you ever think that when you were eight-years-old that you would be involved in things like this and have people listen to you? How does it make you feel that you have to wake up at seven in the morning and go to a prison to protest the execution of a potentially innocent man?
I really feel like God is working through me and I am just existing for him. This doesn’t have to do with no music or nothing, it is just all about people and what is right and wrong and if you just lay down they will just keep running over you.
If there were more people put together like Russ and Kimora and myself, and I see Tyrese and I see Kim Kardashian did her thing. People are like where were all these people 20 years ago? Well, people didn’t know about it 20 years ago. People are just finding out about it. A lot of stuff like this goes swept under the rug until people like me bring attention to it. It is all about entertaining as well as educating. That is all I am out here to do, I am doing what God wants me to do and that is what it is all about.
To help save Troy Davis you can contact District Attorney Larry Chisolm:
Phone: 912-652-7308; Fax: 912-652-7328
