"The way to right wrongs is to turn the light of truth upon them."
–Ida B. Wells
March 19, 2021
The Honorable Governor of Tennessee
1st Floor, State Capitol
Nashville, TN 37243
Re: Scheduled Execution of Pervis Payne
Dear Governor Lee,
As I have absorbed the horrors of the latest lynching of a black person by allegedly frightened white people, I have tried to give words to a thought that has been percolating for me for some time – which is, as black people arrived on these shores in chains, and have been brutalized, oppressed and subjugated ever since, and are a minority in America – what is the basis of this white irrational fear of the black body?
I was lucky to travel to Montgomery for the opening of the Legacy Museum and the Memorial for Peace and Justice. I was able to attend 4 of the panel discussions, the opening ceremony and the Concert for Peace and Justice. It was overwhelming and incredibly enriching.