Love is Stronger Than Florida’s Death Penalty
August 27, 2025
Dear Curtisia,
I’ve carried you in my heart in recent days. This afternoon as I was praying for you, the Spirit overwhelmed me and I just had to write. I know the whole world seems to be talking about your father’s execution, about justice, about politics, about crime. But I don’t want to talk about the state right now…I want to talk about you.
The Weight of Loss and the Courage of Forgiveness
From the moment I read your words…“I’ve already lost my Mom. I’ve already lost my Grandma. This is … my Dad”…I felt the Spirit move through me. In one sentence, you gave more truth than all the courts and politicians combined. You named the wound. You named the fear. And you named the cruelty of what Florida is trying to do.
I can’t begin to imagine the weight you’ve carried. To lose your mom before you were old enough to even know her. To spend your life with a father behind bars. To learn how to love him in that space. And now, to face the possibility of watching the state take him too. There aren’t words for the kind of pain you’ve experienced.
And yet, you have found words. You have found courage. You have found forgiveness. When you said, “Forgiveness comes with time, and 33 years is a long time. I, myself, have forgiven my father,” I felt my throat catch. I thought of how rare it is in this world to hear forgiveness spoken so plainly, so vulnerably. That is God speaking through you.
I know some people probably tell you that you’re wrong, that forgiveness is weakness. But I want you to know…I see your forgiveness as holy. It’s not weakness. It’s strength. It’s the kind of strength that disarms death itself.
What the State Demands of You and Your Children
I was also moved when you spoke about your kids…“My kids know him. My kids have a real relationship with him, so now I would have to teach them, ‘Hey, grandad’s not here anymore for a mistake he made in 1992.’” What a cruel demand for the state to place on you. They want to make you the messenger of their violence. They want to make you explain to your children that their grandfather is gone…not because time or nature took him, but because the state chose to kill him.
That is not justice. That is another trauma. This is…
I don’t have to keep naming it all…you’ve already lived enough trauma for ten lifetimes. You’ve already carried grief most people will never know. And yet, out of that grief, you’ve found a way to speak mercy. Out of that loss, you’ve found a way to keep loving. Out of that heartbreak, you’ve found a way to teach your kids the truth about forgiveness.
Your Prophetic Witness Against Death
Curtisia, you are a prophet. I don’t know if you see yourself that way, but I do. Your refusal to let the state use your name to justify killing…that is prophetic courage of the highest order. Your determination to forgive your father even after all that was taken from you…that is stunningly prophetic love.
I need you to know that you’re not alone. I am with you. So many of us are with you. We are carrying your words into the streets, into the churches, into the halls of power. We are crying out with you…“Don’t kill for me.”
Not Alone: Voices Rising With You
I can’t promise the governor will listen. I can’t promise the courts will stop this. But I can promise you this…your voice is not lost. Your witness will live on long after any date on the calendar has passed. You’re showing the world what love looks like when everything in you has every reason to choose hate.
Whatever happens in the days ahead, please hold onto this…your love is stronger than the state’s cruelty…your forgiveness is more powerful than their violence…your voice is the one that matters most.
Love, Mercy, and the Final Word
And I hear you. I believe you. I stand with you. I wish I had the words to make all of this go away…but I don’t…
…all I can do is tell you that I’m zealously praying that mercy will get the last word.
With love and solidarity,
The Rev. Dr. Jeff Hood
Spiritual Advisor, Death Rows Nationwide
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