Will You Still Care About Troy Davis Next Week?

You care about Troy Davis. I get it. But will you still care next week?

Here’s my problem. People keep screaming about the injustice of the trial, about the merits of the death penalty. Well, here’s the challenge: do something about now so maybe you can make a difference the next time.

See, tweeting about something a day before it’s supposed to happen isn’t the way for change. Just like spamming your music to @iamdiddy isn’t going to make you famous. To do anything well in life, you need preparation. Preparation and execution.

My last article was very critical. For the people who actually do care and have taken action, the people who have dedicated their time and resources to reform, I sincerely apologize. That last post wasn’t for you, nor is this one.

To the other 95% (I’m being kind, my feeling is the percentage is much higher), keep reading, though what you read might be hard for you to hear.

See, changing a policy isn’t about picking out an arbitrary opinion and demanding it be changed. See, the people who decide these policies, who make the decisions on subjects such as the death penalty, they dedicate their entire lives to this. They debate the merits with other experts, they weigh these decisions for years, and are constantly reevaluating. They create these laws based on many different facets.

But now you read something on Wikipedia that you disagree with and suddenly you want the policy changed? Oh, ok.

Honestly, that’s about as silly as the rapper who records a few songs in his house and spams Kanye West asking him for a beat.

If you want change, that’s great. Very noble. Now, put your time and effort behind it. Let’s use the death penalty as an example. If you strongly disagree with the idea of our government putting someone to death, become an expert on the topic. See, you can’t just look at one side of the coin. To intelligently have a discussion with someone, to effectively effect change, one must understand both sides of the argument. So read the history of the death penalty. When it began, how it’s evolved. Read what other countries feel or how they implement it. Discover which states are in favor and which aren’t. What the guidelines are for who can be executed. Find out which of your local politicians and judges are in favor or opposed. Now, you’ll have a solid knowledge base.

Next, study those who fought against the death penalty and how they won or why they lost. See what can be improved on. Read articles or even books on why people are opposed to it. What prominent people share your views and what have they done? Try and come up with arguments that have yet to be presented.

Next, and even more importantly, read up about why people are in FAVOR of the death penalty. That’ll help give you perspective and understanding. It’s human nature to believe that we’re always right and there’s only one way to think about things. Unfortunately, that’s extremely ignorant. Read about what people have done to keep the death penalty in tact. Read up on why they feel so strongly. What states still use capital punishment. Learn the more prominent cases and the results.

This will help greatly in your discussions, because now you can have healthy debates instead of arguments. If you don’t know why the other person feels the way they do, then they’ll spend the whole time trying to convince you and you’ll be hearing it for the first time, so your retorts will be to throw your feelings there way. If you already know what they’re going to say, you can have your rebuttals ready. You’ll be prepared. Maybe you’ll even change a few minds.

Next, find other people who feel as strongly as you do. Our generation has the gift of social media. We can organize rallies and meetings with people all across the world from the luxury of our local Starbucks (thank you, free Wi-Fi). Find people who are dedicated to this cause and try adding to this group, one person at a time. Create a Facebook page and a twitter account specifically for your cause. Get people to “Like” the page or follow the account and share their feelings. There are strength in numbers – organized numbers. So gathering all these people in one place can give you a voice when you actually try and approach someone in authority because you have hundreds or thousands or tens of thousands or more people backing your cause.

Remember, social media is only as strong as the people using it and the effort that’s invested. Again, relating to music, you can either choose to spam links to all of your followers and friends, or you can use these tools to build relationships and establish a real fan base. That’s totally dependent on how much time you’re willing to invest.

Organize events. Remember Woodstock? Well, before it could become legendary, it had to become an idea. You see tons of rappers and celebrities using hashtags in support of Troy Davis, tweeting about how important this is. Well, let them really show their support. Maybe organize a music event for your tens of thousands of supporters that you’ve gained through social media. You can approach an artist directly about doing a free show to raise awareness (or a show where all the proceeds go towards the cause). You’ll find a good number of artists who believe in this cause enough to actually contribute.

And guess what? If all that talk they were doing was hollow and they aren’t willing to work? Well, guess what. You’ve invested enough time into this important cause where you now have 80,000 followers on your twitter page. That, in itself, is a dangerous weapon. Because does this artist really want to be exposed to that large of a group of people and potential fans as being phony and not caring about the cause that he was tweeting about? You’ve gained leverage now. Maybe they won’t all do a free show (or at a greatly reduced fee) , but maybe they’ll contribute some free autographed copies of their cd for you to sell or auction off to raise money. Or record an exclusive song about the cause. Or shout out your organization and promote your social media pages to their fans. Or record a drop or a message exclusively for your organization. There are plenty of ways for an artist to get involved.

You can now reach out to local media. You’ve built a following over the past 18 months, you have celebrity artists involved in your cause, now the media is interested. At the beginning, maybe it’s a few blogs. Then some websites. Then college radio, local TV stations, and then who knows? The point is, you now have a voice. You exist in a world outside of the few hundred followers that you used to complain to before you started this process.

You can now place calls or even secure meetings with your local congressmen and women and get involved at a political level. You can organize voting drives through your social media following and even get volunteers in various cities (one of the benefits of using the internet to gather these groups) to work the campaigns of politicians and judges who share your similar views, because now you have significant numbers. You can bring dozens of volunteers and dozens, hundreds or even thousands of votes to this person. By now, you have over a hundred thousand hopefully active supporters. If you can get contributions – $1, $10 – to donate into these campaign war chests, trust me, you will be heard and will make a difference.

Does this all sound lofty? The longer you read, the more out-of-reach it seems? Well, that’s because it is lofty. But it is all extremely attainable. These are just thoughts I literally came up with while typing. This isn’t even something I spent an hour on. If you got together with like-minded people and created an actual plan a roadmap? You could absolutely make a difference.

That is, if you care enough.

Realize, this might interfere with your clubbing on the weekend. It might not leave you as much time for your fantasy football leagues or for watching Dancing with the Stars. See, to really initiate change, you’re going to have to invest time. If you want to point fingers at the people who invest their lives, you have to be willing to match that effort. It’s simply unfair to attempt to put in a fraction of the time but want the majority of the decision making power. It’s part of our spoiled mentality. Our generation doesn’t want to fight for anything. We’re so used to convenience. Our phones have all the information in the world at our fingertips, there’s no more going to the library. We don’t have to leave a message and wait for someone to come home to return our call, we can call their cell phones or send a text. We’re all about instant gratification. If it can’t be done quickly, it’s not worth doing.

It isn’t a black or white thing. It isn’t a social economic thing. It’s just a way of life that has engulfed this entire era, and it’s progressively gotten worse. So here it is, people, here’s a basic blueprint for that change you’ve been saying for the past 48 hours that you’ve wanted. This is what it’ll take. It just depends how badly you want it, or if you’re satisfied RT’ing Kim Kardashian’s tweets and then complaining that the government unjustly murdered Troy Davis and there’s nothing we can do about it. You have the power to save the next Troy Davis. The question is, will you use it?

If not, then please shut the fuck up. Accept the way things are and stick to planking or whatever new fad you’re on to.