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Okayafrica wants to take a moment to acknowledge this shameful day in American history. Last night Troy Davis was executed despite numerous inconsistencies in his case and sworn affidavits from original witnesses that they were pressured or coerced by police into testifying against Troy Davis. Pleas from hundreds of thousands of Americans and letters and calls from prominent politicians and leaders including former President Jimmy Carter, Al Sharpton, Pope Benedict XVI, Nobel laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu, and former FBI Director and judge William S. Sessions went unheeded by the Supreme Court. The world was watching, and today they are shocked and ashamed.

The use of the death penalty in the US has a long history of racial bias stemming from the times of slavery and it continues to be pervaded by racial discrimination based on the race of the victim and the defendant.

To pledge to fight to abolish the death penalty, go to Amnesty International's page here.