My brother Pervis, who has an intellectual disability, is on death row in Tennessee for a crime my family and I know he did not commit.
In November of last year, I had a moment of hope when the governor granted Pervis a temporary reprieve, but on Friday, that ended. The State of Tennessee can now set an execution date for my brother at any moment — so we have to act.
From left: Tyrasha Payne (sister), Pervis Payne, Carl Payne (father), and Rolanda Holman née Payne (sister). (Image: Courtesy of Rolanda Holman)
I was 13 when Pervis was arrested, and although I didn’t fully understand what was going on, I knew that there was no way my brother committed this crime. He had never been in trouble before and had no criminal record or history of violence. In fact, anyone who knew him knew that he could never have done this.
But the people on the jury didn’t know my brother, and the prosecution played to the deep history of racism in our home county by evoking racist stereotypes to convict my brother — a Black man accused of killing a white woman.
For the past three decades, all I’ve wished for is to save my brother’s life and to finally see justice in his case. My family and I have been so humbled by the support for Pervis over the last year, but the fight isn’t over. Some say it takes a village to raise a child, but I also like to say it takes a village to fight for justice — so thank you for being a part of our village. I know we can get justice for my brother, if we all come together.
The Innocence Project exonerates the wrongly convicted through DNA testing and reforms the criminal justice system to prevent future injustice. www.innocenceproject.org
