PRESI DENT’S CORNER
Free Pervis Payne- A Black man like ME. Justice must be served for Pervis Payne. By Dr. Charles Steele Jr., SCLC National President & CEO
Sweet tea, blues, rock-n- roll and barbeque are a few things I love about Tennessee! The mountainous plains of the state the and the beautiful weather in summer and winter make Tennessee a beautiful place. Yes, there are many things to love. However, like most states in this country, Tennessee has it closet of bones. Memphis is where Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., the co-founder and first president of the SCLC, was assassinated on April 4, 1968. He was killed by a sniper’s bullet as he stood outside his room of the Lorraine Motel. Yes, in Tennessee you can also be guilty for being Black and in the wrong place at the wrong time. It is not uncommon for this to happen. We’ve seen it throughout history. Remember Emmett Till, a 14-year-old AfricanAmerican boy from Chicago, Illinois. He was brutally murdered for Allegedly flirting with a white woman four days earlier. The only thing Emmett was guilty of was being Black and at the wrong place at the wrong time. Emmett was killed August 28th 1955. Pervis Payne was convicted of his crime on June 27th 1987. Here we are in 2021 and we are still fighting for the release of Payne and for Tennessee to right the wrong that has been placed upon Mr. Payne for the last 53 years. In 1987, Pervis Payne was accused of killing a 28-year-old white mother and her twoyear-old daughter. He has been on death row for 33 years. Since his arrest, Payne has maintained his innocence. Payne discovered the bodies, but, fearing for his own life, fled the scene upon arrival of police. A new investigation into Payne’s case reveals numerous errors in the investigation, a staged crime scene, hidden evidence, destruction of evidence, information that Payne is intellectually disabled, prosecutorial misconduct and a racially motivated prosecution. The trial prosecutor, who has a history of professional misconduct,
SCLC National Magazine/ King 2022 Issue
7
