Human rights advocate Jen Marlowe remembers Martina Davis-Correia in this letter. Martina fought for 22 years to prove the innocence of her brother, Troy Davis, a man finally, and wrongly, executed by the state of Georgia in September 2011. She did this all the while fighting off her own breast cancer. Martina sadly succumbed to the cancer in December 2011, after living ten years longer than her original prognosis, leaving behind her eighteen year old son De’Jaun: “The world is a better place for Martina, Virginia [Martina’s mother] and Troy having been in it, and having connected their family’s struggle to our universal struggle. And I am a better person for having known them, and having had the tremendous honor of fighting alongside them.
For those who have not met Martina, or heard her powerful voice, here is a video edited from an interview she did with Amnesty USA, 6 months before Troy was excuted and 8 months before Martina passed: