Marcellus Williams' Advocate Tells Those Seeking To Politicize His Execution To ‘Stop Bickering’ On Social Media — 'This Is Not A Game To Those Of Us Who've Actually Done The Work'
She urged people to register to vote, if they haven't, and to show up to the polls on election day.
Innocence Project It's been almost a week since Marcellus Williams' execution caused an uproar, especially on social media, about the morality of the death penalty and the painful reminder of how the justice system treats Black bodies. Williams was executed in Missouri for the 2001 murder of former newspaper reporter Felicia Gayle despite the conviction being heavily contested.
Now, the fight for a better justice system, one without the death penalty and a system that doesn't place biased policing and unfair judicial decisions rooted in anti-Blackness, has become stronger than ever. But, an activist named Chloe Telle urged people not to let social media and misinformation deter people from fighting a battle that has been going on for longer than it should.
A Marcellus Williams' advocate told those seeking to politicize his execution to 'stop bickering' on social media.
Telle, who often speaks out on her social media platforms about different social issues and injustices, responded to another content creator who insisted that if Kamala Harris really was an ally to the Black community, then she should've stepped in to stop Williams' execution. To his misinformed point, Telle explained that this issue shouldn't be about Harris, Donald Trump, or using it to get political clicks on social media, but about Black lives.
"If you want meaningful change in Missouri the first thing you all need to do is stop sitting out elections and saying voting doesn't matter," Telle said. "Do you know how the murderers of Marcellus Williams got into office? They were voted in by extremists."
She pointed out that it's the people who have dangerous views on human lives, on Black lives, that are going to the polls and affecting their viewpoints into office.
To combat this, Telle urged Black people to get up and vote because it's not a game anymore. A lot of these policies and laws that politicians want to put into place, i.e., Donald Trump, have to do with the safety and well-being of Black lives, which means we need to be showing up and showing out at the election polls.
And it's not just the upcoming presidential election either, but also local elections as well. You can't expect to see change when even the local politicians in your state are getting in the way of justice. Telle insisted that instead of "bickering" on social media, everyone should be registered to vote because that's how we can make sure our voices are being heard.
Marcellus Williams' wrongful execution should be fuel to keep fighting against the outdated justice system.
Despite people's insistence that the Biden-Harris administration could've prevented Williams' execution, that's just not true. While presidents have the constitutional power to pardon punishment for crimes in America, most prisoners convicted of capital offenses, like murder, are held under state law, meaning only state politicians can step in for executions.
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"We don't understand how the system works," Telle observed, regarding people's ignorance about certain judicial laws in this country. "They have no idea how their system works, so they get on TikTok and add to the white supremacy. I would like for Black people to stop doing the work of white supremacists."
Marcellus Williams' execution has called into question the Supreme Court's role in granting last-minute reprieves.
According to the Innocence Project, which heavily advocated for Williams' execution to be stopped, there was far too much uncertainty and lack of evidence that proved Williams was the one behind the murder of Felicia Gayle.
The State of Missouri destroyed or corrupted the evidence that could conclusively prove his innocence, and the available DNA and other forensic crime-scene evidence did not match Williams.
“It’s very troubling the way that the Supreme Court is approaching capital cases these days,” Cliff Sloan, a professor at Georgetown Law, told CNN. “In any fair and just society, a freestanding claim of innocence should be recognized as an important constitutional claim.”
What happened to Williams should be enough for people to start getting involved in making sure we have the right politicians in office and also holding these politicians accountable when their actions don't match up with the things they've promised while campaigning.
The death of Marcellus Williams proves that not only is the justice system deeply flawed, but there's a clear bias toward the people who are deemed innocent and those who aren't.
Making sure there can be change for this generation and the next means voting, and as much as people want to argue that voting doesn't change anything, it does.
It's the difference between a Supreme Court that allows capital punishment when the conviction isn't solid and justices who don't.
Nia Tipton is a Chicago-based entertainment, news, and lifestyle writer whose work delves into modern-day issues and experiences.