The Quixote Center’s Equal Justice USA program made history this year when we won the nation’s second state moratorium in the country in our home state of Maryland. On October 26 in Chicago, the national movement honored that achievement when the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty named Equal Justice USA project coordinator and founder Jane Henderson “Abolitionist of the Year.” Jane accepted the award on behalf of all the staff of Equal Justice USA, which, under her leadership, pioneered a movement that is now sweeping the nation.
Three weeks later, on November 16, Equal Justice USA issued an award of its own, presenting Maryland Delegate Salima Siler Marriott with the Quixote Center’s 25th Anniversary “Bold Dreamer” award. Back in 1997, Delegate Marriott was the nation’s first legislator to propose a moratorium. In true Quixote style, she ignored those who said she was tilting at windmills, leading a movement that was ultimately victorious.
“I remember even in the beginning of 2001 legislators told Delegate Marriott she was crazy,” said Jane Henderson as she presented the award. “And that was the year the bill passed the House and nearly passed the Senate.”
Appropriately, the event was held in Mt. Rainier, MD, the first local government in the nation to call for a moratorium. Seventy-six other cities and counties have followed Mt. Rainier’s lead, and 20 different states have followed Delegate Marriott’s in considering moratorium legislation.
“We didn’t pass the resolution back then because we thought we were making history,” Mayor Knedler told the crowd. “We did it because it was the right thing to do.” Mayor Knedler recalled the well-orchestrated testimony of Equal justice USA organizers during the moratorium resolution’s hearings. Never since have I seen a group come before our town council with such a creatively organized testimony, he said.
Both the “Abolitionist of the Year” and the “Bold Dreamer” awards were presented as a celebration of the victory in Maryland and the extraordinary vision of those who led the movement.
But the November 16 event also opened a new chapter in the movement to halt executions. The morning that Equal Justice USA awarded Delegate Marriott with the Quixote Center’s Bold Dreamer award, the Washington Post reported that new Maryland Governor-elect Robert Ehrlich intends to lift the moratorium when he takes office in January. Attending state legislators used the event to issue a powerful call to action.
Maryland Delegate Joanne C. Benson, who introduced Delegate Marriott, told the crowd, “Not that I believe in war or anything, but if Ehrlich wants a war, we will give him one.”
