9-11, a Story of Tragedy All Around

As Mark Stroman watched in horror at what he was seeing on TV the day of 9-11, he remembers "feeling a great sense of rage, hatred, bitterness, and utter degradation." He stated in "True American" an essay he has written about that tragic day how he "wanted the Arab's to feel the same sense of vulnerability and uncertainty on American soil much like the mindset of chaos and bedlam that they were already accustomed to in their home country."

True American was an essay written in Dallas County jail before Stroman's trial. He stated "this is what went through my mind the dark days of September 2001, I've come a long way since then, that angry Mark has calmed down. "True American" can be read in it's entirety here:

That was the day Mark lost his 27 year old sister in the 9-11 attacks. He remembers feeling how his "sense of security and my right to live in peace and sanctity was all but shattered." He remembers going to a store to make a purchase and "perched behind the counter was a foreigner who's own people had now sought to bring the same chaos and bewilderment upon our people and society as they lived in themselves at home and abroad."

That was the day Stroman's second nightmare began. According to the TDCJ website," On 10/04/2001 in Mesquite, Stroman murdered a 49 year old Middle Eastern male convenience store employee during an attempted robbery." Stroman was arrested, convicted, and sentenced to die. He now resides on Texas's infamous death row.

I asked Mark questions about his case and he was more than willing to answer my questions.

Mark, can you give us a bio about yourself?

My name is Mark Anthony Stroman, currently awaiting death at the Polunsky Unit which houses death row inmates. I'm originally from Dallas Texas, that is where I was born and raised, and went to school at, up to the 8th grade when I dropped out of school. I moved out of the house, got a job, and paid my own bills.
I was married at the age of 15 1/2 and now have 4 wonderful kids and a super sweet granddaughter who is almost one year old. I myself turned 40 this October. My children, 3 girls and 1 boy are at the ages of 24, 23, 20, and 16. Pure innocence, all children are, no matter what color or nationality. My job trade before coming to death row is one I loved, marble and granite. I cut, fabricated and installed granite countertops, marble vanity tops, for new and old homes. I loved to see the finished product, works of art!

Do you consider the crime you committed to be what is known as a "Hate Crime"?

It was done out of love, anger, an act of passion and what I thought of as patriotism for what I saw 9-11, 2001. If someone kills anyone, that's a hate crime, not just because one is a minority, gay, disabled, or another nationality or otherwise different from the main stream of this country. All killings are based from some type of hate.

Did you have any animosity against Middle Eastern people before this happened?

No, I did not have any animosity towards Muslims or people from the Middle east. September 11, 2001 if forever etched into my mind. Before this happened, they never crossed my mind.

How are you treated on death row?

Well, that's a tricky question, we are all treated like monsters as a whole, but on a personal level I can say I am treated a lot better than most. I do realize that 90% of the workers here are here to feed their families, but there is the 10% that are just as ignorant and nasty, mean to all they encounter.

Do you do a lot of writing about death row?

Yes, I do a lot of writing about death row. I've been doing this for a year so far and will tell the story till the end. It all began back in 2004 when I met Ilan Ziv, he is doing a documentary on this and follows the journey. Last year he came up with the idea of the site which is called The Execution Chronicles. There is live footage of all my blogs for the duration of the nightmare as I call it, on the site with more to follow. Not just of me but of the family members of the victims as well.

Everyone is encouraged to visit the Execution Chronicle Site that can be accessed here

What have you learned of yourself since your incarceration?

Since my arrest and conviction I have learned a lot about myself. Some of which I don't like, but as humans, we all have our faults. But the main thing I learned is life is beautiful, no matter where one lays his head. As for the other issue of what I've learned, it's that I have a non-active right frontal lobe which controls, or would control my emotions. This has been discovered by cat-scans and MRI'S. That is a proven fact, and explains why I "snapped" after 9-11.

Mark concluded by saying "I've been here over 7 years and have seen over 200 people take that final walk to the death van, and it doesn't make any sense. How can Texas or any other state say killing is wrong by killing others as punishment? The system is broken!

Mark stated "This was not a hate crime but an act of passion and patriotism, an act of country and commitment, an act of country and recompense".

Sources:

Letters of correspondence with Mark Stroman

TDCJ website

http://www.tdcj.state.tx.us/stat/stromanmark.htm

Stroman's essay "True American":

http://www.executionchronicles.org/stroman/mark-writes.htm

The Execution Chronicles:

www.executionchronicles.com