Sandra Bernhard Enraged Over Troy Davis Execution

By Renee Ghert-Zand September 22, 2011

The execution by lethal injection late last night of Troy Davis, a Georgia death row inmate convicted of the killing off-duty police officer Mark MacPhail in 1989, gained the attention of many in the U.S. and throughout the world. Among those protesting the impending execution earlier this week were a number of celebrities, including Jewish comedian, singer and actress Sandra Bernhard.

During the countdown to the execution, Bernhard furiously tweeted to her followers to take action by calling the President and the Georgia parole board (for which she provided phone numbers).

Among the messages she sent out yesterday were:

today is the day we must stop injustice #troydavis to be executed in georgia when everyone knows he is not guilty. save an innocent man!

let the man take a lie detector test right now #whoistroydavis

can we? will we? stop the execution of #whoistroydavis this is incredibly frustrating what can we do to shift the thinking? continue.

She even addressed President Obama directly in one tweet, saying:

President Obama: Can’t you do like President Kennedy did & send in federal troops to stop this injustice in Georgia?

After learning that the execution was carried out after a temporary stay was vacated when the Supreme Court of the United States refused to intervene, Bernhard expressed her sadness and frustration. She said she hoped that Davis’s life [but she probably meant “death”] was not in vain, and that positive change would come about because of it.

Among her final tweets earlier today, before moving on to reminding fans about her fundraiser show tonight in New York, was:

we must as a civilized country end the death penalty it doesn’t deter anyone but many innocent die. we need a debate and sweeping changes.

The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.

Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.

Readers like you make it all possible. We’ve started our Passover Fundraising Drive, and we need 1,800 readers like you to step up to support the Forward by April 21. Members of the Forward board are even matching the first 1,000 gifts, up to $70,000.

This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism, because every dollar goes twice as far.

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO