By Vincent Mercogliano
He was accused of murder, put on trial, sentenced to death and then for years, lived in fear of dying for a crime he did not commit. It is difficult to imagine what one's thought process would be in those circumstances, but for one night, Shujaa Graham shared his experiences in that very situation as he described years of fighting for his rights.
On Nov. 8, Graham, a former death-row inmate, spoke of how he was exonerated and cleared of all charges after being accused of murder.
Graham spent most of his youth in and out of juvenile facilities, which he attributed to getting involved with the wrong people when he was young and impressionable.
At the age of 18, he was arrested and sent to prison for what he described as a "$35 robbery." His original sentence was supposed to only last from two to three years, but in 1973, Graham was accused of murdering a prison guard at the Deul Vocational Institute in Stockton, California.
Graham said that he believes he was framed because of his vocal involvement with the Black Prison movement. According to him, the treatment of African Americans was harsh, which led to a great deal of tension between prisoners and guards.
"I was framed because of my beliefs and because I was outspoken about prison conditions," said Graham.
He and his co-defendant, Eugene Allen, were sentenced to the death penalty and sent to San Quentin's death row in 1976. Graham went through a total of four trials before finally being acquitted of all charges. He added that for the first three trials, the District Attorney excluded all African American jurors.
For the three years that Graham spent on death row, he never received compensation or an apology from the state.
At the time, there were less than five people ever exonerated from death row. Today, 123 have been found innocent, Graham said during the speech.
Graham told the audience that instead of being bitter because of his past, he uses his experiences as motivation to do something positive with the life he was so close to losing. He now works as an anti-capital punishment activist, who travels around the nation describing his experiences.
Graham attributed his success to his support system, which ranged from his wife to the people in the community where he was tried.
"I stand here wounded by the blows of the death penalty of racism, trying to end this awful reality," said Graham as he concluded speech.
Shujaa Graham is now an anti-death penalty activist. (Photo courtesy of Shujaa.org)