A student-led demonstration regarding the execution of Julius Jones was held on Thursday, Nov. 18 at 2 p.m. in the Bishop W. Angie Smith Chapel. The event was led by the OCU Black Student Association.
SGA President Reid Powell announced the event on the university’s email server at 10:59 a.m. Powell attended the event as an audience member.
“I don’t have specific notes. I don’t have a script, I just have a few words on my phone,” Shaw said in an opening statement. She explained the events which had unfolded were too difficult for her to arrange in an organized format.
“I really feel that for something like this, it is important to pause and have silence and space,” she said.
On Nov. 18, hours before both the OCU demonstration and the execution of Julius Jones, Governor Kevin Stitt signed Executive Order 2021-25 commuting his death sentence.
“I, J. Kevin Stitt, Governor of the state of Oklahoma – Hereby commute the death sentence of Julius Darius Jones to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole, on the conditions that he shall never again be eligible to apply for, be considered for, or receive any additional commutation, pardon or parole,” Stitt stated in Executive Order 2021-25.
Shaw said Julius Jones was a 19-year-old OU student when he was convicted of killing businessman Paul Howell. In 2002 Julius Jones was convicted of First-Degree Murder and sentenced to death.
“It wasn’t until yesterday in the afternoon that me and a few other students decided to come together to stand in solidarity. I think it’s important for something this heavy to be shared with the entire community,” stated Shaw.
She said though she is expected to go about her day attending class and taking exams, she aims to remember that Julius Jones and the Jones family are still fighting for justice. She encouraged attendees to do their own research on the case of Julius Jones.
“Today… less than four hours before 4 p.m., which was when Julius Jones was scheduled to be executed, we all received news that he has been commuted and will not be executed today at 4 p.m. but will serve life without parole. This is only the first step for Justice for Julius Jones,” said Shaw.
The Julius Jones Coalition states “Julius has lived on death row for almost 20 years and is held in solitary confinement for 23 hours a day.” A Change.org petition to commute Jones’s sentence by the coalition has received 6.5 million signatures.
“I spoke earlier on how hard this has been for me, personally. I know some people who know Julius, went to school with Julius, know someone in the Julius family,” Shaw said. “You may not know Julius personally, but you definitely know someone who does.”
She then went on to explain her experience attending the demonstration the day prior, where she said she heard singing, participated in prayers, and listened to a speech by Jones’s mother.
Shaw continued, “I remember hearing loud thumping noises as she was speaking and that was because as she was speaking, she was hitting the podium, she was very passionate. I am not sure how Governor Stitt could sleep last night but I can only imagine how many sleepless nights the Jones family had.”
Governor Stitt has previously bragged that Oklahoma is a beacon of freedom.
“Welcome to the Great State of Oklahoma, where we believe in protecting and preserving individual freedoms,” Governor Stitt declares on the Oklahoma.gov webpage.
Shaw held a moment of silence for two minutes to represent Jones being pardoned twice.
“The truth is that Governor Stitt did the bare minimum and decided to choose life and now we’re off to the next steps. Right now, I feel hopeless, and I’m a bit puzzled on what took him so long,” she said. “I ask you really pay attention to our state. This is not just a Black issue, but an issue of Oklahoma and embarrassment to humankind.”
“The same mistake continues to be made over and over again,” said SGA Diversity and Inclusion Program Coordinator Gladys Green. “[Jones was going to be] put down like an animal all the while screaming his innocence.”
Green said she thinks often about the members of his family who have faced grief and sorrow.
“I imagine my family, my brother, my father, and how I want a community to stand together,” Green said.
Green went on to affirm that this is not the end. She said Governor Stitt is not the only person in power who will make the dire decision on someone’s life, someone’s family.
“To be Black is to be constantly in a state of holding my breath and waiting for the ball to drop,” Green said.
Shaw closed by saying, “I thank all of you for coming and continuing doing your research. Keep watch on what is happening to Julius Jones and his family. Julius Jones gets to live past 4 p.m. today, but the fight is not over.”
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