The National Lawyers Guild condemns the murder of Marcellus “Khaliifah” Williams at the hands of the state of Missouri. May Marcellus rest in power and may his family and loved ones find solace. The state of Missouri knowingly and willfully murdered an innocent Black man. For years, Mr. Williams, alongside numerous organizations and advocates, have maintained his innocence and yet the evidence to exonerate him has continuously been denied in the court. The Williams family and even the family of the alleged victim and prosecutors themselves have all advocated in support of Marcellus “Khaliifah” Williams’ stay of execution.
Since the 2020 uprisings against police violence in the wake of George Floyd’s murder by an officer of the Minneapolis Police Department, the U.S. is now more than ever confronted with the horrific reality of the violence Black people face at the hands of State-sanctioned violence. Marcellus’ murder is yet another example of the criminal punishment system working as designed: to further criminalize and oppress communities of color with threats of violence and death. In the murder of both George and Marcellus are public lynchings of Black men carried out in the name of “law and order”, not justice. As the NLG, we have called for the abolition of prisons, the abolition of policing, and called for investigations into the death of Black people by the police.
The NLG vehemently condemns the use of incarceration and the death penalty as a form of punishment. Since its inception, the American prison system has been used to disproportionately target Black people, people of color, and the poor. Black people make up approximately 38 percent of the people in jails and prisons in the United States, despite being only about 13 percent of the U.S. population. Black people also make up 40% of the people on Death Row.
As the NLG, we urge our supporters to put an end to the prison industrial complex and abolition everywhere, abolition now! The NLG demands that not one more prisoner is executed by calling upon all correctional personnel and correctional personnel unions to refuse participation in executions and to condition union membership upon such refusal. Do not push the button. Do not flip the switch. Do not fire the gun. Do not initiate the gas. Resist. Not one more Marcellus Williams!
