Death Penalty Action’s 30th Annual “Starvin’ for Justice” Fast & Vigil to Abolish the Death Penalty

Red Letter Christians, in partnership with dozens of other national and local organizations, is sponsoring this summer’s annual “Fast and Vigil to Abolish the Death Penalty” from June 29 to July 2 in Washington, DC.  You’re invited to join us!

Thursday, June 29 through Sunday, July 2: The 30th Annual “Starvin’ for Justice” Fast & Vigil to Abolish the Death Penalty at the US Supreme Court in Washington, DC. This highly visual symbolic protest event draws death penalty opponents from across the country and from other countries.

The purpose of the event is to maintain a presence at the Supreme Court between the dates of anniversaries the death penalty was ruled unconstitutional in practice in 1972, and when new laws were upheld in 1976.

For these four days, death penalty abolitionists from around the country will gather at the steps of the Supreme Court to call for an end to capital punishment in the United States. It is an energizing grassroots week of training, advocacy, action, community and education. Tens of thousands of tourists and locals, from all over the U.S. and throughout the world, pass by our vigil and table, so the opportunity for dialogue and discussion at a real grass-roots level is invaluable to the movement.

Additionally, each evening we hear stories from murder victim family members, death row exonerees, death row families, and leaders in the national abolition movement. Note that fasting is optional, and participation can be as much or as little as you want it to be – come for all four days, or just for a few hours. You can also join the online component to watch and listen to our daily teach-ins virtually.

Find out more and register at www.abolition.org.

Programs starting at 6pm each evening of the four days will feature leading figures like Rev. Sharon Risher, whose mother and two cousins were killed in the Charleston church shooting, noted death penalty expert Robert Dunham, Randy Gardner, brother of the last man executed in the US by firing squad, Charles Keith and Rodrick Reed, brothers of high-profile innocent prisoners awaiting exoneration, Ohio’s Kevin Keith and Texas’s Rodney Reed, Rev. Dr. Jeff Hood, a spiritual advisor who has accompanied two prisoners to their executions so far this year, and many more. All activities take place on the sidewalk in front of the US Supreme Court.

Find out more and register at www.abolition.org.