If you haven't heard about Rodney Reed, you probably aren't alone. Most people haven't heard about Reed until his case was spread nationally by celebrities and activists via Twitter, Instagram and other social media platforms.

But this case isn't recent. Reed was convicted 21 years ago for the murder of Texan woman, Stacy Stites. This black man has been serving a 21-year-long prison sentence for a crime he may not have committed. Reed has been scheduled to be executed by means of lethal injection on November 20. His fate was determined by an all-white jury, and it's possible the verdict was racially motivated. According to the innocence project, there is a preponderance of evidence exonerating him, and new evidence suggests that the victim's fiance at the time, Jimmy Fennel, was her true killer.

Much of the evidence towards the victim's fiance being the perpetrator to the crime instead of Reed was overlooked until the past few years. For starters, Fennel had a history of abusing women, physically and sexually. He did serve time for this, however, he was never tried for Stites' murder. Witnesses have recently come out saying that Fennel stated that his ex-fiancee "deserved to die" over having a having a consensual relationship with Reed.

Despite all of this, including a lack of substantial DNA evidence to convict Reed, the jury still decided his fate — to be legally executed.

Learning about this made my skin crawl. Not only the fact of Reed's possible innocence but the fact that some human beings actually have the power to say who lives or dies. It's like playing God in and I feel that this shouldn't be allowed. The death penalty is still legal in 29 states, including Texas, where Reed's case was tried. This is not only unjust to Reed but immoral in my eyes. How can we determine the life and death of a human being? I think the death penalty sets us back to a time at which people were publicly lynched or people's heads were cut off in front of crowds of people as a form of punishment and entertainment.

There have been efforts to stop Reed's execution to give him a fair and just trial. I hope that with the number of signatures on the petition as well as public outcry and disapproval of the decision to execute Reed, Texas Governor Greg Abbott reconsiders Reed's fate — and not only spares his life but frees him.

Overall, this is also another wake-up call to examine the morality and legality of the death penalty. The only thing it accomplishes is killing a human being, without even considering giving them a second chance. Now, I'm not saying to let criminals who have committed heinous acts without a shadow of a doubt, to run free. I still believe that they should serve out the rest of their lives in maximum-security prisons, away from society. But being put to death really doesn't change much and the death penalty does not deter criminal activity. The death penalty serves as a bandaid to make the public believe that justice has been served when in fact it kills many who are innocent or have committed crimes that shouldn't warrant being put to death. I can only hope that in the case of Rodney Reed, a fair trial is granted to him so that another innocent person is not killed.