TADP joins with people across the nation today to celebrate Juneteenth, commemorating that day in 1865 when enslaved Black people in Galveston, Texas, were informed of their freedom, two and a half years after the Emancipation Proclamation.
Juneteenth is a day to remember just how far we have come in the work for racial equity, to acknowledge just how far we still have to go, and to work together to keep moving forward.
The death penalty is a vestige of our nation’s history of slavery and lynching, and race continues to determine how police, court systems, and the general public respond to crime.
In order to confront our nation’s past and create a future where life is more valued and healing is prioritized, we must persist in our work to prevent executions and eradicate capital punishment.
Because of your past support, TADP was able to partner with Tennessee Disability Coalition in 2021 to successfully advocate for a law to modernize the definition of intellectual disability and provide a path into court for those on death row with such claims. This law has resulted in the resentencing of two men, Pervis Payne and Michael Sample, from death to life. These men no longer live under the threat of a death sentence because of what we were able to do.
But others with intellectual disability still remain on death row and face execution.
On August 5, 2025, Tennessee plans to execute Byron Black, a man living with an intellectual disability. Both defense attorneys and prosecutors agree that Mr. Black has an intellectual disability and should be resentenced to life, but in a hearing in 2022, Judge Walter Kurtz refused to do so.
If Byron Black is executed, it will be in violation of both the Tennessee and U.S. Constitutions.
We need your support as a monthly donor to fight against this unconstitutional execution and any others that may follow.
Thank you for your support, and Happy Juneteenth!
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