ANTHONY IN SWEDEN
Notes from a diary by Lars Åke Augustsson
Tuesday, May 3
My son David and I are waiting outside the arrivals area at Stockholm-Arlanda airport for another miracle to happen. We met with Anthony Graves for the first time in 1999 and have met him many times since then, always with thick glass between us and him in prison clothing. The last time we met him like this was in October last year. Just some days after what seemed like a miracle took place: Anthony was released and exonerated from all charges and we got to hug him for the first time.
It seemed like a miracle but of course it was not. It was the result of Anthony’s own faith in himself and that truth would finally prevail that kept him sane and focused through all these years. It was the result of the help he got from other friends of the truth, Nicole Casarez and her investigative team of students that collected vital evidence, but also because the prosecutor of his case, Kelly Siegel, respected the facts and declared his innocence and that he had been framed by the worst kind of prosecutor.
That was just a little over 6 months ago. That is why it seems like a second miracle that we are here waiting for Anthony to arrive on his first visit to another country, on the invitation of Amnesty International’s Swedish section.
I met with Anthony in Texas just some months ago, stayed in his home and visited him at his job as a Mitigation Specialist at Texas Defender Service, so I knew that he in an amazingly short time had got a new start in life. ( Even if the State of Texas, because of formalities in the paperwork , so far has denied him the compensation for wrongful imprisonment he is entitled to.) He had also traveled to other parts of the United States, among them New York City.
But how will he react to Sweden, to Europe – and to a pretty awful weather especially for May, with rain and cold and even some snow? Finally he arrives – dressed for a Texas spring, with a short-sleeve shirt. (But he assures us he had packed some warmer clothes.) We hurry our valuable guest out to a taxi for Stockholm before he catches a cold. We tell him that he has to get used to everything being smaller than in Texas, like this motorway with only three lanes. As soon he is in his hotel room we get him his first Swedish burger and fries, which wins his approval.
The rest of this first day it is only getting-to-know Sweden that is on the agenda. The cold weather persists, but Anthony does not complain for one minute, his wisdom being: “After being locked up for 18 years, any kind of weather is nice!” We get him his first souvenir, a cap with the emblem of Hammarby IF, one of the best known soccer teams of Stockholm. We have dinner at Pelikan, a typical Swedish restaurant where Anthony is a bit suspicious of some of the offerings like pickled herring, but rather likes the fish dish he orders filet of pikeperch (gösfilé) with potatoes.
At Pelikan he finally, after many years and many letters, also re-connects with Anna Pakvis. Anna became his pen-pal back around 2000, she traveled to Texas in 2002, just nineteen years old, and met him when he was on Death Row. Now she works at Amnesty and during the following days we will work together in bringing Anthony around for interviews and speeches both in Stockholm and Gothenburg. When leaving the restaurant he rehearses the first words of Swedish he has learnt: tack (thanks), hej (hi) hej då (goodbye), but stumbles on one of the hardest words in the language, namely David’s job: sjuksköterska (registered nurse).
Wednesday, May 4
Anna has breakfast with Anthony at his hotel and then brings him to Amnesty’s office for his first interview, which is with DN.se, the website version of Sweden’s largest morning paper Dagens Nyheter (Daily News). Anthony also meets with a High School class that is visiting the Amnesty office and tells them a bit about his case, and ends up shaking hands and taking pictures with several of them.
We take Anthony to an extremely un-Swedish lunch consisting of dumplings at a nearby Chinese lunch-restaurant, and he likes them a lot. In the afternoon another interview with the news programme at the Swedish Radio’s channel one, which will be broadcast tomorrow morning (and later on their website).
We spend the evening relaxing at David’s home in a suburb of Stockholm, along with Anna and her brother Jonathan. The dinner is Lebanese – Anthony appreciates the lamb chops but does not care too much about falafel and bulgur wheat. We appreciate Anthony’s assortment of stories of life in prison, how you manage to get stuff from one cell to another with the help of an empty toothpaste-tube and a piece of sheet you tear into lengths and braid into a kind of rope, also how you make a prison guard help you by letting him know that you can delay his leaving work by just quietly refusing to follow orders – truly, getting laughs out of misery.
Thursday, May 5
In the morning Anna brings Anthony to the Radio House for another interview. The driver of the taxi cab has heard the interview from yesterday on the morning programme and starts to cry when he realizes that it is Anthony he is driving. In the afternoon still another radio interview, and then we gear up for tonight’s big event, Anthony’s first actual speech in front of a live audience. The event will take place at the ABF House (ABF, Arbetarnas Bildningsförbund, The Worker’s Educational Society) which is the foremost venue for lectures and speeches in Stockholm. The arrangers behind the meeting are Amnesty’s Action Group Against the Death Penalty (AMD, Aktionsgruppen mot dödsstraffet) and ABF.
Some months ago, February 25, I attended an event at St Thomas University in Houston, Texas, when Anthony and Nicole Casarez were celebrated for their struggle for truth and justice. Many of the people in the audience of about 300 persons had family members in prison and you could feel that Anthony to them represented a hope for the future, for freedom, and lots of them lined up after the event just to shake his hand and to give him a hug. But that was Texas, in his own backyard – could something remotely like that take place here in Stockholm, Sweden?
People arrive early to say hi to Anthony, more arrive than expected so we have to get more chairs to seat them all. We have an audience of nearly 200, many of them young people, when the event begins at 1800 hours. Anthony speaks without any notes, and without any tools like pictures or video. He just speaks from his heart about his story and the conclusions that he has drawn from his experiences: the death penalty needs to be abolished, because it threatens us all, even from far away. The audience is stirred and absolutely quiet, some are crying, and Anthony is close to tears himself when he once again recalls the day when he got to hug his mom and his sons after 18 years in prison.
Afterwards there are lots of questions, of course, about his case and about how he did stay so strong. One answer is “I was naïve, you know. I did not think they could kill me, since I was innocent, and I think being naïve actually helped me survive.” He also tells everybody to get involved in the fight against the death penalty, and afterwards the AMD gets some new recruits. After the questions & answers the same thing happens as in Texas: people line up to just hug the man and to personally thank him for his story and his example. For us that have known Anthony for so many years this night is truly a dream come true.
Friday, May 6
During this weekend Amnesty International’s Swedish Section has its annual conference in Göteborg/Gothenburg, Sweden’s second largest city. Anthony is of the guests during the conference, and we arrive by train to Göteborg in the afternoon just in time for his first assignment.
In late afternoon the participants will perform a march from the venue of the conference through parts of central Göteborg to the square Götaplatsen, where 50 years of Amnesty work will be celebrated with a short speech by Anthony followed by a toast, also proposed by him. To guarantee the orderliness of the march we have a police van in front – Anthony is truly amazed by the informality of the arrangers dealings with the police.
But the buffet afterwards, totally vegetarian, does not impress him, so he goes for pizza with some friends…
Saturday, May 7
In the morning there is a screening of a 30-minute documentary-style movie on the death penalty in China “Killing the chickens to scare the monkeys” by the well-known photographer Jens Assur, followed by a seminar on the death penalty where among others Anthony and an Iranian democracy activist is on the panel. The death penalty is supported by the majority of the American people because they are ignorant of the realities, Anthony says, so what we must do is to educate, educate.
In the afternoon Anthony gives the conference his main speech about his own experiences. Just like in Stockholm he speaks without manuscript, which means that he does not repeat himself, but just as in Stockholm the reactions both in Anthony and in the audience is very emotional. Tears and near-tears, but most of the questions must wait till tomorrow afternoon since the conference is on a tight schedule.
Me and Anthony take some time out for a walk in Göteborg, where it is finally warm, and as always I am amazed by how soon and how seemingly easy he adjusts to new realities. From using a cell phone and a computer to finding his way in a strange city like this, even if you sometimes does not know if he likes a particular dish or drink since he is never whining or complaining. And even if the sumptuous buffet at the restaurant Röda Sten (Red Rock or Red Stone) in the evening is also 100 percent vegetarian, and not his bag, he consoles himself by taking part in dancing till well after midnight.
Sunday, May 8
Anthony’s session of question and answers is in the afternoon, and we are there well before that time. He wants to be available for informal questions as much as he can, and spends time with an Amnesty activist who is pen-pal with an inmate on Pennsylvania Death Row, and gives one clear advice: “There is only so much you can do from here. You need to get people in Pennsylvania involved in his case, that is the only way to get results.” And when the discussion then turns to another subject altogether, namely boxing, Anthony is just as interested, and tells about a cousin of his, Don Curry, a famous champion.
I have seen this over and over during these days, both how easily Anthony can shift from one topic to another, and also how he puts people at ease, when they approach him. Even if is a hero to many of us, he is not craving adoration, and is always quick with a laugh and a joke. During the question and answers-session he is asked about his relations to the guards during his years in prison, and when he answers that he mainly were on good terms with all of them, and that in fact many believed that he was innocent, you know that this must have a lot do to with the way he treats people: you feel very strongly that this is a person who is a stranger to violence, that tries to respect everybody – if possible laugh with everybody.
He also gets general questions, of course. One very topical is about his views on Osama bin Laden. And he keeps with his principles: “I don’t think it’s right to kill anyone.” And he repeats that what we need to do is: “Educate. Educate.”
We go back to Stockholm in the glorious Spring evening, when everything is green. “I could buy a house in this country. Once I get my compensation money”, Anthony muses when he takes a break from his computer, because he is trying to keep up with his job at the Texas Defender Service and keep in touch with his family and friends back home.
Monday, May 9
We spend the night at ha hotel near the airport, because Anthony is catching an early flight to Germany. Later he will travel to Switzerland and to France, most of the time giving speeches and meeting with other friends that are looking forward to giving him the first hugs.
While we are having breakfast, another of the guests comes up to Anthony to shake his hand. Anthony recognizes him right away as one in the audience in Thursday’s event. Anthony has certainly made an impact here. We part without tears, we know we will meet again before too long, either in Texas or in Sweden. Because he says: “I love Sweden”. And by now we can say: Sweden loves you too, Anthony.
