KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Groups in Knoxville are pushing Governor Bill Lee to exonerate a Black man, who was executed for a crime they say he did not commit. In 1919, authorities accused Maurice Mays of killing a white woman in her home in North Knoxville.
Felecia Outsey is one of many community leaders asking Lee to exonerate Mays.
"One hundred years ago, there was a person from our community, an innocent Black man, wrongly executed," she said. "And so it is imperative that we be his voice and do what we can to bring justice."
On Saturday, Outsey joined other community leaders, including Pop Tenn, to march in honor of Mays.
"We ask for Governor Bill Lee to wash the blood off his hands and all the previous governors," said Fahd Wali with Pop Tenn. "Let us make this right."
The Beck Cultural Exchange Center has been at the forefront of this issue. The center has received support from the Knoxville City Council to take matters to Lee's desk, but its president, Reverend Renee Kesler, said it has been an uphill battle since.
"The challenge with this case is it has never been done," Kesler said. "So whenever you are looking at exonerating someone or pardoning someone, typically what happens is there is a paper process that you go through and that is usually someone who is still living. Having to do this with someone who is no longer with us, there is not really a paper trail for that. So we are in unchartered waters right now, but we are not going to give up."
Aside from looking for justice, Kesler said this is about preventing something like this from ever happening again.
"I believe that when you go back and right your wrong from yesterday, then it can perhaps prevent us from continuing to do wrongs tomorrow," she said. "So as we atone for history, we look forward to a brighter future."
Pop Tenn started an online petition to get Lee to exonerate Mays posthumously. As of Saturday evening, it had gathered 71 signatures.