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Felicia Draughon Quote:
"I was 16 when it happened... The last time I touched my brother I happened to just brush his back where he was sitting during the trial... I was a character witness at his sentencing... That'll probably be the last time I touch my brother before he's executed.... It's been almost 12 years now, its just now sinking in... I've just now started to have the nightmares... I woke up crying because I was dreaming of my brother's execution.. I'm paying his funeral payment right now each month, you know, its pretty sick and depressing..."
Felicia Draughon, interview with Amnesty International, Dallas, June 1998.
Felicia Draughon’s summer between her Junior and Senior year of High
School, was spent in Houston at her brother's capital murder trial. Until
That moment she wasn't really even aware that the death penalty existed. It
seemed so archaic and silly. At 16 she testified for her brother Martin's life.
Martin was sentenced to death on a gloomy, rainy day that summer in July 1987.
Felicia’s journey began in order to try and make sense of the Capital Punishment Machine. “Like so many people on the Journey of Hope, I didn’t choose to become an anti-death penalty activist, it chose me. I certainly didn’t choose to have a brother on death row…but it is because I have a brother on death row that I have had to ponder this issue every single day of my life, and learn how tragic, unfair and arbitrary it is.”
Felicia became involved in the Texas 1998 Journey of Hope. That is where she found a
support group and her voice.
A small group of Journey Members spoke at Christian Brothers High School in Memphis, Tennessee. Felicia Draughon was the youngest of the group and spoke the language of the students. "Do you know what it’s like to have a brother on Death Row? It sucks!"
Felicia told how her older brother had been raised in an abusive home,
gotten involved in drugs, started robbing stores for drug money, shot a clerk
in the course of the robbery, and was now on Death Row in Texas. One of the
students asks how she explains her brother going so bad and her turning out okay,
when they were both raised in the same abusive environment. "I was lucky, someone reached me.
Kids need mentors, someone to reach out to them, like in Big Brothers Big Sisters.
But some kids just get skipped over, like my brother. If you really want to make a difference in this world, reach out to a kid who needs attention, whether through an organization like Big Brothers Big Sisters or on your own."
Links to Felicia’s Journey:
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Felicia with Renny Cushing and Sister Helen Prejean
