Pat Clark

“The emotions that family members experience in losing loved ones to violent crime ran the gamut in my family.  I had aunts and uncles who wanted to personally wreak havoc and vengeance on the perpetrators.  But my grandmother’s response to the anger and outrage of other family members was that no human being had a right to determine who should live or die.  My grandmother was a strong, quiet, deeply religious Black matriarch.  Her ultimate belief in people was memorably displayed when the son of the woman who killed my uncle came to her house to play with my cousins.  To the shock and horror of other family members, my grandmother welcomed him in.  Her loving example helped lay the foundation of my opposition to capital punishment.”