More Tennessee Families

Last Thursday's post about unsolved murders talked about Tennessee MVFHR member James Staub. James just published an opinion piece in the Tennessean titled "Spotlight on death penalty lays bare its many flaws."

We continue to add Tennessee victims' family members to our online Gallery of Victims' Stories. We've just added pages for Clemmie Greenlee and Regina Hockett, both of whom lost a child to murder and now work to help victims and prevent further violence.

Regina, whose daughter was killed in 1995, is now president of Victorious Mothers of Murder, which provides support groups, retreats, and one-on-one counseling to families in the Nashville area. Clemmie, whose son was killed in 2003, now works as an organizer for the Nashville Homeless Power Project and as outreach coordinator for an effort called the Peacemaker Campaign, through which Clemmie works to connect with gang members in the community and create events that promote non-violent solutions to conflict.

Both Clemmie and Regina do frequent public speaking events with the Tennessee Coalition to Abolish State Kililng, and opposing the death penalty is an important component of their anti-violence work. Says Clemmie, "Why would I, the Mama of a murdered son, want to see another Mama's son murdered? I can't live with that." Regina says, "“When people ask me why I’m against the death penalty, I just tell them I look at those young men who killed my daughter. I look at where they came from and I look at where I came from. Those young men could be my sons. In fact, my own son went to school with them. It’s not right that they killed my daughter, and it wouldn’t be right if the state killed them, either."