A movement is happening deep in the heart of Texas. From March 10 until 14, Students Against the Death Penalty will host an anti-death penalty Alternative Spring Break designed to give students the opportunity to do something meaningful during their week off. The Alternative Spring Break, which is co-sponsored by Campus Progress, Amnesty International and numerous other organizations, is a one-of-a-kind experience that allows students to participate in the debate on this extremely controversial issue.
The specific purpose of the Alternative Spring Break is to bring students to Austin for five days of anti-death penalty activism, education and entertainment. This is the place to be if you want to become part of the next generation of human-rights leaders. Students will gain valuable training and experience in grassroots organizing, lobbying, media relations and in preparing direct action. Students will be able to immediately put what they learn into action during activities such as a Death Penalty Issues Lobby Day and a Direct Action Day. Participants will come away with first-hand knowledge of the anti-death penalty movement and a new understanding of how they can affect public policy.
The death penalty in Texas is real. Just last year, Texas executed 26 human beings. That is more than every other state in America combined. And since 1976, 405 human beings have been executed on Texas' death row. Texas has executed more individuals in the last 30 years than most nations around the world.
Activists, attorneys, victims' families and people who have been exonerated from death row will all join together in March in order to fight a racist system, which currently holds 391 detainees. You can be a part of this movement. This is a historical echo of the era in the 1960s when people came down to the south during the Civil Rights Movement to help people register to vote during what they called freedom summers. This is very similar to what was going on back then, but here the issue is the death penalty.
Moreover, you can meet with Jeannette Pope, a heroic mother who opposed capital punishment after her daughter was murdered in Austin. You can befriend Kerry Max Cook, author of "Chasing Justice," a book about his 19 years spent on Texas's death row for a crime he did not commit. You can meet University of Texas students who led the fight to save the life of Kenneth Foster last summer. You can lobby politicians who have the power to impose a moratorium on executions in Texas.
This Spring Break, come join fellow students from around the nation to fight the death penalty. This is not solely a symbolic fight for your beliefs; it is a fight for each and every life on death row. It is time to stop the grind of machinery of death in Texas. It is time for students around the nation to take part in the fight to save human beings from the execution chamber. It is time for students to have their voices heard. It is time for you and other students who are staying in Austin next week to come to this Alternative Spring Break.
The time is now. You are the future. Lives depend upon your decision. Register online at www.springbreakalternative.org. Hedayati is a government junior, Students Against the Death Penalty President and a Campus Progress at the Center for American Progress advisory board member.
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