Oklahoma students walk out amid nationwide protests to stop Julius Jones execution

Oklahoma Public Schools says it supports the demonstrations

Students across the Oklahoma City metropolitan area walked out of class on Wednesday, calling for Oklahoma governor Kevin Stitt to halt the execution of death row inmate Julius Jones, which is scheduled for Thursday.

Walkouts occurred at high schools including Northwest City, Putnam City North West, Classes SAS, Start Spencer, Harding Charter Preparatory, as well as John Marshall High School, Jones’s alma matter.

John Marshall students walked outside onto the school’s athletic field, where they prayed, held a moment of silence, and listened as Jimmy Lawson, Jones’s best friend, said, “This is the real deal. I could lose my best friend tomorrow. The state of Oklahoma wants to steal my best friend and he’s innocent.”

A student named Jose told KOCO he was protesting because he doesn’t think “anybody should be discriminated against by their skin colour. It’s a very serious thing.”

Oklahoma Public Schools said they were supportive of the protests.

“We have worked closely with students and student groups who wished to assemble today so we could provide them with a safe space to express themselves regarding an issue they are passionate about,” the agency said in a statement on Wednesday. “Our top priority is always to support the academic and social emotional needs of our students while maintaining a safe and orderly learning environment for all.”

Jones had been a promising student and athlete at John Marshall, where he was one of only two Black males to graduate in the top 10 per cent of his class, and went on to attend the University of Oklahoma on an academic scholarship.

He was sentenced to death for the 1999 murder of businessman Paul Howell in the Oklahoma City suburbs, a crime which authorities have always maintained he committed, and which Jones has always denied.

Rallies are planned across the country in Los Angeles; Newark, New Jersey; Washington, DC; Minneapolis, Minnesota; and New York City.

Oklahoma City police erected barricades around the governor’s mansion on Tuesday evening, saying they were securing the space for protestor safety, though demonstrators noted they had protesting there regularly without such barriers.

Jones is out of legal appeals, and only Oklahoma governor Kevin Stitt can stop his execution, which is scheduled for Thursday. The Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board has recommended twice that Jones be taken off of death row, citing doubts about his guilty.

The Independent and the nonprofit Responsible Business Initiative for Justice (RBIJ) have launched a joint campaign calling for an end to the death penalty in the US. The RBIJ has attracted more than 150 well-known signatories to their Business Leaders Declaration Against the Death Penalty - with The Independent as the latest on the list. We join high-profile executives like Ariana Huffington, Facebook’s Sheryl Sandberg, and Virgin Group founder Sir Richard Branson as part of this initiative and are making a pledge to highlight the injustices of the death penalty in our coverage.