Thank you so much for your support signing the petition and asking Gov. Parson for clemency for Marcellus.  He recently asked us to share the following poem he wrote in response to the tragic murder of George Floyd and for readers to consider the connection between state sanctioned murder and state violence against Black men. 

I! CAN'T! BREATHE!

neck plus knee
i can't breathe
yeah black that's a part of me
i can't breathe
do some have to be lynched for the others to be free?
i can't breathe
stars and stripes--explain again what the flag should mean to me?
i said i can't breathe
sworn to serve and protect the community
i still can't breathe
blue blood with black robes sipping a scotch and martini
i can't breathe
in prison i sit witnessing covid's killing spree
i can't breathe
not surprised to see sociopathic characteristics on t.v.
i can't breathe
still...never will get use to it so this poem helps ease my melancholy
i can't breathe
why should i have to weigh what is truly weighty?
i can't breathe
to be alive testifies to one's purpose and importance in the human family
i can't breathe
hand cuffed and subdued just isn't enough no matter the city
i can't breathe
one's face must be imprinted on the pavement to hear the whispers say:
"what a pity"
i can't breathe
now behold officials scramble for a p.r. strategy
i can't breathe
listen closely as the the community is mentioned before the family
i can't breathe
if that went over your head welcome to the art of subtlety
i can't breathe
but what do i know as a black man on death row with this plea:
i can't breathe
the state's use as an unlawful killing apparatus has a long history
i can't breathe
constitutionally protected now look up in the air and see my liberty
i can't breathe
now is there someone that can deny this connection and my affinity?
i said i can't breathe
but i am not asking one to juxtapose these realities
--because they are reality
i can't breathe
i am just sharing my frustration with the frustrated and angry
i can't breathe
this goes much deeper than civil servants lack of empathy
i can't breathe
who can explain america's fixation with the black man's upper-vertebrae?
i can't breathe
strangulation from a chokehold a knee or a tree
i can't breathe
rushing to the scene of a suspected felony
i can't breathe
the scenario gets blurred by authoritative criminality
i can't breathe
four essential workers out of a job essentially
i can't breathe
never could this be the solution to cure this malignant evil that reoccurs and spreads destructively
i can't breathe
i hear the voices again and again chanting: "no justice no peace"
i can't breathe
exercising democratically held rights as a release
i can't breathe
now sign on this dotted line to engage in a designer-protest in the streets
i can't breathe
most want to ask: "what do you mean?"
shhh...
i can't breathe
listen can you hear the heart beats?
i can't breathe
as they slow down to a other worldly rhythm that's strange and discrete
i can't breathe
so full of contradictions but still able to reach (insha'allaah)
i can't breathe--
each must take a long breath and never fail to think clearly before speech
i can't breathe
then breathe again and appreciate life and be mindful of death because this back and forth cycle will not cease
i can't breathe
organizations/social network groups/think tanks and conventions with feasts
i can't breathe
congressional hearings/new bills and promises of change for peace
i can't breathe
still patience is better than reactionary politics or incendiary antics in the belly of the beast
i can't breathe
the strong is not the one who can take down the opponent with ease
i can't breathe
the strong are those who control their anger even when they have a right to seethe
i can't breathe
never the one to espouse the 'way of life' of turning the other cheek
i can't breathe
divinely legislated retribution is what i believe
i can't breathe
most want indictments not the perfect deen
i can't breathe
although the cure is always better than the disease
i can't breathe
so as the people gather to protest in the age where everyone sees
i can't breathe
--take a conscious breath before any missteps and consider deeply what is to be achieved
i can't breathe
seriously what is the plan what is to be achieved?
i can't breathe
being marginalized for so long can a grand jury and conviction appease?
i can't breathe
life is meant to be lived wholly not in pieces
i can't breathe--
smothered by systemic denials and the deliberate indifference to the word: "please" "please" "please"
-remove your knee because i can't breathe
was a death sentence warranted for an alleged $20 dollar forgery?
i can't breathe
what ever happen to innocent until proven guilty?
i can't breathe
behold the new phenomenon of after being found guilty many are proven innocent and set free
i can't breathe
police must not think that they can be the judge/prosecution and jury
i can't breathe
a disheartening affair that has happened all over the country
I can't breathe
but i want live
black men want to live
black people deserve and have the right to live-
and all humans have the right to breathe unrestricted
so just breathe.

Written on death row by Marcellus Williams (5/27/2020)