Those who die and those who are to die
Death is the great leveller, they say. Just yesterday, by way of
jest, I asked a colleague a question: ‘when people die, the sages say,
they don’t take anything...is this true?’ Shelly looked at me
half-amused and answered in the affirmative. ‘Not even their clothes?’ I
asked. ‘I knew something like that was coming,’ she responded with a
laugh. Then I went on and on about tattoos, body odours and other
add-ons, designed and natural.
I also asked whether the thousands who died at 1.09 pm (the question
was asked at 1.10 pm) were all moving around in the hereafter together,
the old, the still-born, tyrants, prostitutes, petty thieves, the
saintly, accident victims, the murdered and executed, the dismembered
and congenitally deformed, all naked regardless of nationality,
religious faith, political affiliation and such. That was a time to
laugh. This is not.
Troy Davis |
‘Death’ arrived in two ways. It had two names. Joe and Troy. From
1957 to 2006, from Saradama to Dheewari, Joe Abeywickrama entertained
audiences in innumerable ways on the silver screen. He gave life to
screenplay, fleshed out characters and made characters inhabit our
thoughts and inform our own life-engagements in ways that few actors did
or can. Many are the accolades and awards he won over his acting career.
Others can enumerate. I just can’t forget him in Daesa Nisa (Nirudaka),
Siribo Aiya, Soldaadu Unnahe (Soldier), Baddegama (Silindu), Kolamba
Sanniya (Andare), Bambaru Avith (Anton Aiya), Madol Duwa (Loku Iskola
Mahaththaya), Maldeniye Simiyon, Pooja (Jamis the Executioner),
Purahanda Kaluwara (Vannihami) and Malata No-ena Bambaru (Sunny).
Simple man
Joe Abeywickrama |
My friend Anasuya Subasinghe describes him thus: ‘Joe Abeywickrama
passed away last night. An actor of phenomenal capacity. One of the best
I’ve seen in my lifetime. No method acting schools. No affected
superstar rubbish. Just a simple man who was put on this planet to
perform with his instinct and never failed to entertain! If only there
were more like him...’ He, perhaps more than any other actor of his
generation, could with utmost ease call upon the widest range of
emotions to settle on countenance. In his eyes were resident hundreds of
characters and character traits. He was that versatile. He not only had
control over each and every facial muscle but could order each and every
one of them to play to multiple scripts. He passed. And that’s era-end,
for me.
Troy is still with us. Marked for death, not dead. Troy Davis can be
executed by lethal injection any minute now. Originally scheduled to be
murdered (yes, that’s the word) at 7:00 pm Eastern Standard Time, USA,
on September 21, 2011, the ‘moment’ had been delayed since judges were
deliberating on a stay-execution plea. What’s his story?
Guilty verdict
He has been wrongly convicted over the killing of a Police officer in
1989. Absolutely no physical evidence has been found that implicates him
in the killing. No murder weapon has ever been found. Seven of the nine
witnesses whose evidence helped the prosecution secure a guilty verdict
have since recanted or altered their version of the relevant incident
and related events. Five have signed statements saying they were coerced
by police to testify against Davis, a common element of many racist
‘legal lynchings’ targeting Black people.
The real killer has been named by three people. Troy is black. That
counts, it seems. In the negative. Robert O. Blake, like Barack Obama
might say ‘We stand by our actions’, but this means that ‘due process’
is observed in the breach when it comes to justice in the United States
of America. Good America (yes, there is also ‘Bad’, ‘Ugly’, ‘Racist’ etc
versions) has objected in many forms and with the strength of numbers.
People have stood up across that country and all over the world.
I wrote the title before I wrote this article. It is wrong. Troy
Davis would not know or care but I feel bad. I leave it because that is
how things were when I wrote it. It is 10.56 am, September 22, 2011 here
in Colombo, Sri Lanka. It is 1.26 am in New York. Troy Davis would not
know. Troy Davis was executed two minutes ago. Death maybe a leveller,
but life is wobbly and wobble-life does not level out. There is nothing
to laugh about.
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