Justice for Keith LaMar

On this exact day next year, the state of Ohio plans to execute an innocent man. Keith LaMar was wrongfully convicted by the state of Ohio and has been inhumanely trapped in solitary confinement for 28 years. At 19 years old, LaMar was incarcerated after being charged with murder and sentenced to 18-years-to-life for defending himself from robbers who broke into his home, where he had lived alone since the age of 15. In 1993, four years into LaMar’s sentence, the Lucasville prison uprising erupted, resulting in the death of one prison guard and multiple inmates. In a desperate attempt by the state to give the illusion of control, state investigators falsely accused LaMar of murder and paid jailed informants to offer false, uncorroborated testimony that would implicate LaMar. Meanwhile, evidence of LaMar’s innocence was deliberately withheld by prosecutors, including an inmate’s confession to murdering someone who LaMar had been accused of killing. In addition to the manipulation of testimony and evidence, LaMar’s trial was held in a remote Ohio town preceded by its reputation for violent racism. In fact, any potential Black jurors were prevented from joining the trial. Sentenced to death by an all-white jury, LaMar has borne the brunt of unbridled white supremacy, unjustly suffering unrelenting abuse and dehumanization by the state and its actors. 

Keith LaMar’s wrongful conviction and death sentence are indicative of the way in which the legal system and incarceration are inherently white supremacist institutions that rely on the economic precarity of those upon whom they prey in order to function. The state will discard without hesitation those it considers dispensable, namely Black and working class people, in order to maintain its power and to perpetuate white supremacist, capitalist hegemony. Keith LaMar is an innocent victim to a system whose entire existence presupposes the subjugation of Black people. Despite only comprising five %of the global population, the United States holds 20% of the world’s prisoners. The Thirteenth Amendment enables legalized slavery through the form of prison labor, and Black people in America are incarcerated at nearly five times the rate of white people, with Black people comprising only 13.6%  of the U.S. population, while white people are 75% of the total population. Thus, prisons serve as an instrument of class rule and, under racial capitalism, as a means of furthering the dispossession of Black people. Black people within the United States are colonized, having been targeted by the state ever since they were forced into slavery by white people. In fact, the inception of the modern-day police

began with slave patrols, which subjected Black people to surveillance and brutality as a means of control. In this manner, the police carry out the same function as the slave patrols, since they are also an institution that has infiltrated and brutalized Black communities. The various institutions that form the entire carceral system operate cohesively with the main goal of serving the ruling class. The fact that Keith LaMar was sentenced to death by an entirely white jury by design, as well as the fact that the state orchestrated his conviction, places into stark relief the cruelty of white supremacy and capitalism, highlighting the lengths to which the state will go in order to preserve its domination.

In addition to his wrongful conviction, Keith LaMar’s sentence itself is grossly inhumane. The state should not have the right to determine who lives or dies, and it never acts as a moral arbiter, only serving its own interests. At least 190 people on death row have been exonerated and released from death row since 1973, highlighting the fallibility of the legal system, and Keith LaMar is another individual who needs to be freed, having already paid the price for far too long for a crime he did not commit. 

Despite his abysmal circumstances and the abuse to which he has been subjected for decades, Keith LaMar has remained steadfast in advocating his innocence, as well as selflessly advocating for others. In hoping to combat the school-to-prison pipeline, LaMar founded the Native Sons Literacy Project during his incarceration, which connects with vulnerable youth and youth in juvenile detention, offering literacy materials and mentorship. This demonstration of generosity and love by LaMar speaks to his strength of character and his dedication to uplifting others, even in the midst of his own suffering. LaMar has also turned to music and literature as a source of advocacy and support; for example, LaMar has been able to share his story and spread awareness of the realities of death row through means including podcasts, spoken word and jazz, and writing, including a published book dictated over the phone. LaMar’s writing reveals the true nature of the prison industrial complex: “So prisons—it must be understood—aren’t about controlling crime and punishing those who commit it; they’re about controlling the poor.” This notion of control is critical to understanding LaMar’s case, as it was the state’s desire for control that motivated investigators to wrongfully convict him. In addition to LaMar’s own writing, his collaboration with other organizations, groups and individuals has been another source of advocacy and love. For example, the “Freedom First” music project, initiated by a group of international jazz musicians, collaborated with LaMar so they were able to make music together, even with LaMar in solitary confinement. The group has also spoken on podcasts in order to spread awareness of LaMar’s case, advocating for justice to be served. In a country that dehumanizes incarcerated people, the empathy and love that LaMar gives and receives in turn is a crucial aspect of his struggle for justice. 

We demand that Ohio Governor Mike DeWine release Keith LaMar, so that he can be reunited with his loved ones and his community. An innocent man has faced state violence in one of its most sadistic forms, and we condemn the state of Ohio for this blatant injustice. We demand an end to the death penalty and to solitary confinement, cruel and inhumane practices that only serve as tools of discipline against a vulnerable population. We recognize the important role that incarcerated individuals play in the revolutionary struggle against capitalism, imperialism and white supremacy, and we assert our solidarity with those who remain incarcerated. 

We demand the abolition of prisons, police and the entire carceral system. We demand the abolition of the white supremacist structures in place that subjugate Black people. We demand a world in which people do not have to worry about where their next meal will come from, or how they will ensure their basic survival. We demand an end to the capitalist system that drives economic instability and renders working class people vulnerable to state violence. Keith LaMar’s struggle remains intertwined with the fight for our collective liberation, which depends upon our joint efforts to dismantle capitalism, imperialism and white supremacy. LaMar’s words ring out and illuminate the reality that we must confront if we are to be free: 

“When eyes are burning with mace, when blood is dripping down the face, it all becomes frighteningly clear: capitalism is a sham; and whether in or out (of prison), as long as we live under a system that views everything and everybody as a commodity, we’re all doing time. And that, at the end of the day, is the real crime—not that some of us are locked up, but that none of us are free!”