NEWS

Innocent man details time on death row

“I turned 18. I blew out a candle in my prison cell on death row for my 18th birthday," Kwame Ajamu said.

Emily Chappell
EChappell@dmg.gannett.com
Kwame Ajamu stands to speaks to a small group at the Unitarian Universalists of Southern Delaware on International Human Rights Day.

It was the fifth night of Chanukah, about two weeks to Christmas.

Both a Christmas tree and menorah offered a soft glow in the Unitarian Universalists of Southern Delaware. The room held a small group of individuals.

But the night wasn’t about holidays and festivities.

Instead, Kwame Ajamu stood at a podium in Lewes on International Human Rights Day, stopping every so often to wipe tears from his eyes, as he told his now-famous life story.

He was only 17.

Ajamu, formerly Ronnie Bridgeman, was arrested and sent to prison alongside his older brother, Wiley Bridgeman, and best friend, Ricky Jackson, for crimes the three did not commit.

The case was based on the testimony of a 12-year-old boy. The boy, Eddie Vernon, later recanted his statement and, Ajamu said, had been coerced by police.

“Those three young male negroes, as we were labeled, would be courted out, stand trial, be tried and convicted, and be sentenced to die,” he said. “I turned 18. I blew out a candle in my prison cell on death row for my 18th birthday.”

He spent two years on death row before Ohio repealed the death penalty. Then, he moved into general population.

Ajamu came to Delaware to speak Thursday about his struggles, and to stand with the UUSD, Amnesty International and other Delaware Repeal Project partners, to stand up against the death penalty.

He and those running the event also urged attendees to reach out to Delaware representatives asking them to repeal the death penalty.

A table outside of where Kwame Ajumu spoke on International Human Rights Day promotes repealing the death penalty.

“Because  of the human atrocities that happened in my life, because of pain and suffering that happened to my brother and my good friend, I stand before you today,” Ajamu said. “I say to you today, thank you so much for having the courage to stand before the world and say these thing should never be.”

He spent two hours detailing the traumas he suffered while wrongfully incarcerated for 27 years. Ajamu spoke of his time isolated on death row, on his brother being forced to take drugs in prison, of his family members who died while he was put away.

The death of his mother, he said, was the death of Ronnie. And so, he became Kwame Ajamu, a name holding significance, a name meaning he would fight for what he believed in.

It’s a fight, while he is now free, that Ajamu keeps fighting.

“I only stand here that I might help another not suffer the way I have,” he said.

Ajamu learned to forgive his time in prison. He questioned his life, his god. He went from being a Baptist to a Muslim.

Thursday night he spoke of religion, of the strong ties behind both the Muslim and Christian faiths, a topic that the country has been engulfed in over the last few months.

Many times, he stopped to compose himself. The sound of quiet cries, empathy vocalized, could be heard throughout the room.

As he finished his story, his final words were met with applause, the crowd rose to its feet.

They are winning the fight, Ajamu said. It may not feel like it, but they are.

“We are soldiers in a fight that must never end.”

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On Twitter @EmilyChappell13