We, the comrades of Unit 1012, will
remember James Byrd, Jr., an African American man who was murdered by three
White Supremacists on this date, June 7, 1998. We are against racism, so we
condemn this hate crime.
We will post information from Wikipedia.
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James Byrd, Jr. (May
2, 1949 to June 7, 1998)
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Born
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May 2,
1949
Beaumont, Texas, United States |
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Died
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June 7,
1998 (aged 49)
Jasper, Texas, United States |
James Byrd, Jr. (May 2, 1949 – June 7,
1998) was an African-American who was murdered by three men, of whom at least
two were white supremacists, in Jasper, Texas, on June 7, 1998. Shawn Berry,
Lawrence Russell Brewer, and John King dragged Byrd for three miles behind a pick-up
truck along an asphalt road. Byrd, who remained conscious throughout most of
the ordeal, was killed when his body hit the edge of a culvert, severing his
right arm and head. The murderers drove on for another mile before dumping his
torso in front of an African-American cemetery in Jasper. Byrd's lynching-by-dragging
gave impetus to passage of a Texas hate crimes law. It later led to the federal
Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes
Prevention Act, commonly known as the Matthew Shepard Act, which passed on October
22, 2009, and which President Barack Obama signed into law on October 28,
2009.
Lawrence Russell Brewer was executed
by lethal injection for this crime by the state of Texas on September 21, 2011.
King remains on Texas' death row while appeals are pending, while Berry was
sentenced to life imprisonment.
1 Victim
James Byrd, Jr. was born in Beaumont,
Texas, one of nine children, to Stella (1925 – October 7, 2010) and James Byrd,
Sr. (born 1924).
1.1
Family
Ross Byrd, the only son of James Byrd,
has been involved with Murder Victims' Families for Reconciliation, an
organization that opposes capital punishment. He has campaigned to spare the
lives of those who murdered his father and appears briefly in the documentary Deadline
about the death penalty in Illinois.
2 Murder
On June 7,
1998, Byrd, age 49, accepted a ride from Shawn Berry (age 24), Lawrence Brewer
(age 31) and John King (age 23). Berry, who was driving, was acquainted with
Byrd from around town. Instead of taking Byrd home, the three men took Byrd to
a remote county road out of town, beat him severely, urinated on him and
chained him by his ankles to their pickup truck before dragging him for three
miles. Brewer later claimed that Byrd's throat had been slashed by Berry before
he was dragged. However, forensic evidence suggests that Byrd had been
attempting to keep his head up while being dragged, and an autopsy suggested
that Byrd was alive during much of the dragging. Byrd died after his right arm
and head were severed after his body hit a culvert. His body had caught the
culvert on the side of the road, resulting in Byrd's decapitation. Byrd's brain
and skull were found intact, further suggesting he maintained consciousness
while being dragged.
Berry,
Brewer and King dumped their victim's mutilated remains in front of an
African-American church on Huff Creek Road; the three men then went to a
barbecue. Along the area where Byrd was dragged, authorities found a wrench
with "Berry" written on it. They also found a lighter that was
inscribed with "Possum", which was King's prison nickname. The
following morning, Byrd's limbs were found scattered across a seldom-used road.
The police found 81 places that were littered with Byrd's remains. State law
enforcement officials, along with Jasper's District Attorney, determined that
since Brewer and King were well-known white supremacists, the murder was a hate
crime. They decided to call upon the Federal Bureau of Investigation less than
24 hours after the discovery of Byrd's remains.
King had
several racist tattoos: a black man hanging from a tree, Nazi symbols, the
words "Aryan Pride," and the patch for a gang of white supremacist
inmates known as the Confederate Knights of America. In a jailhouse letter to
Brewer that was intercepted by jail officials, King expressed pride in the
crime and said he realized in committing the murder he might have to die.
"Regardless of the outcome of this, we have made history. Death before
dishonor. Sieg Heil!" King wrote. An officer investigating the case also
testified that witnesses said King had referenced The Turner Diaries
after beating Byrd.
Berry,
Brewer and King were tried and convicted for Byrd's murder. Brewer and King
received the death penalty, while Berry was sentenced to life in prison.
Brewer was
executed by lethal injection on September 21, 2011 while King remains on Texas'
death row.
3
Perpetrators
3.1 Shawn
Allen Berry
The driver of the truck, Berry was the
most difficult to convict of the three defendants because there was a lack of
evidence to suggest that he was a racist. Berry had also claimed that Brewer
and King were entirely responsible for the crime. Brewer, however, testified
that Berry had cut Byrd's throat before he was tied to the truck. The jury
decided that there was little evidence to support this claim. As a result,
Berry was spared the death penalty and was sentenced to life in prison. Berry, TDCJ#00894758,
is currently held at the Ramsey Unit in Rosharon, Texas, and his parole
eligibility date is June 7, 2038. As of 2003 Berry is in protective custody; he
spends 23 hours per day in an 8-foot (2.4 m) by 6-foot (1.8 m) cell,
with one hour for exercise. Berry married a woman named Christie Marcontell by
proxy. Marcontell was Berry's girlfriend at the time of the murder. The two
have a child together.
3.2 Lawrence
Russell Brewer
Brewer was a white supremacist who,
prior to Byrd's murder, had served a prison sentence for drug possession and
burglary. He was paroled in 1991. After violating his parole conditions in
1994, Brewer was returned to prison. According to his court testimony, he
joined a white supremacist gang with King in prison in order to safeguard
himself from other inmates. Brewer and King became friends in the Beto Unit
prison. A psychiatrist testified that Brewer did not appear repentant for his
crimes. Brewer was ultimately convicted and sentenced to death. Brewer,
TDCJ#999327, was on death row at the Polunsky Unit. Brewer was executed in the Huntsville
Unit on September 21, 2011. The day before his execution, Brewer expressed no
guilt for his crime as he told KHOU 11 News in Houston: "As far as any regrets, no, I have no regrets. No, I'd do it all over
again, to tell you the truth."
3.2.1 Last
meal practice ended in Texas
Before his execution Brewer ordered a
large meal that included two chicken fried steaks, a triple-meat bacon
cheeseburger, a large bowl of fried okra, a pound of barbecue, three fajitas, a
meat lover's pizza, a pint of ice cream, and a slab of peanut butter fudge with
lots of crushed peanuts. However he did not eat any of it and the meal was
discarded, prompting Texas prison officials to end the 87-year-old tradition of
giving last meals to condemned inmates.
3.3 John
William King
King was accused of beating Byrd with
a bat and then dragging him behind a truck until he died. King had previously
claimed that he had been gang-raped in prison by black inmates. Although he had
no previous record of racism, King had joined a white supremacist prison gang,
allegedly for self-protection. As a child he was diagnosed as manic-depressive.
He was found guilty and sentenced to death for his role in Byrd's kidnapping
and murder. King, TDCJ#999295, is on death row at the Polunsky Unit.
4
Reactions to the murder
Numerous aspects of the Byrd murder
echo lynching traditions. These include mutilation or decapitation and revelry,
such as a barbecue or a picnic, either during or after a lynching. Byrd's
murder was strongly condemned by Jesse Jackson and the Martin
Luther King Center as an act of vicious racism and focused national
attention on the prevalence of white supremacist prison gangs.
The victim's family created the James
Byrd Foundation for Racial Healing after his death. Basketball star Dennis
Rodman paid their funeral expenses and gave Byrd's family $25,000. Fight
promoter Don King gave Byrd's children $100,000 to be put towards their
education expenses.
In 1999 Chantal Akerman, inspired by
the literary works of William Faulkner, set out to make a film about the beauty
of the American South. However, after arriving on location (in Jasper, Texas)
and learning of the brutal racist murder, she changed her focus. Akerman made Sud
(French for "South") a meditation on the events surrounding the crime
and the history of racial violence in the United States. In 2003, a movie about
the crime, titled Jasper, Texas, was produced and aired on Showtime. The
same year, a documentary named Two Towns of Jasper, made by filmmakers
Marco Williams and Whitney Dow, premiered on PBS's P.O.V. series.
While at radio station WARW in
Washington, D.C., DJ Doug Tracht (also known as "The Greaseman") made
a derogatory comment about James Byrd after playing Lauryn Hill's song "Doo
Wop (That Thing)". The February 1999 incident proved catastrophic to
Tracht's radio career, igniting protests from black and white listeners alike.
He was quickly fired from WARW and lost his position as a volunteer deputy
sheriff in Falls Church, Virginia.
In May 2004 two white men were
arrested and charged with criminal mischief for desecrating James Byrd Jr.'s
grave with racial slurs and profanities.
4.1 Impact on
US politics
Some advocacy groups, such as the NAACP
National Voter Fund, made an issue of this case during George W Bush's
presidential campaign in 2000. They accused Bush of implicit racism since, as
governor of Texas, he opposed hate crime legislation. Also, citing a prior
commitment, Bush could not appear at Byrd's funeral. Because two of the three
murderers were sentenced to death and the third to life in prison (all charged
with and convicted of capital murder, the highest felony level in Texas)
Governor Bush maintained that "we don't need tougher laws".
The 77th Texas Legislature passed the James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Act. With the
signature of Governor Rick Perry who inherited the balance of Bush's unexpired
term, the act became Texas state law in 2001. In 2009, the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes
Prevention Act expanded the 1969 United States federal hate-crime
law to include crimes motivated by a victim's actual or perceived gender, sexual
orientation, gender identity, or disability.
4.2 Musical
tributes
In
2010, Alabama musician Matthew Mayfield penned, recorded, and released a song
in Byrd's honor. The tune, titled "Still Alive," is the fourth track
on Mayfield's EP You're Not Home. "Still Alive" clearly
related a stark bitterness towards racism and equated such hate crimes to genocide.
"Tell Me Why" by Will Smith featuring Mary J. Blige mentions Byrd on
Will Smith's fourth album, Lost and Found. "The Ballad of James
Byrd" is another tribute to Byrd, written and performed by Southern
Californian musician Ross Durand. Houston rapper E.S.G. mentions Byrd on the
song "Realest Rhyming" from his 1999 album Shinin' N' Grindin',
stating "...let the Klu Klux know that I'mma blast ya/heard how ya done
James Byrd down up in Jasper."
"The
New Hell" by death metal band The Famine mentions Byrd on their album The
Architects of Guilt (2011). "Jasper", by Confrontation Camp, is
the fifth track on the album Objects in the Mirror Are Closer Than They
Appear (2000). "100 Miles" by Rollins Band is a b-side track from
their album "Get Some Go Again." The song's lyrics are written in the
first person about a vigilante who takes the lives of Byrd's killers (2000).
"Guitar Drag" by sound artist Christian Marclay is a video- and
sound-installation about the murder of James Byrd (2000). "I Heard 'Em
Say" by Ryan Bingham is about Byrd's murder and the racially charged
climate around Jasper following the crime (2012).
PLEASE
WATCH THIS VIDEO:
Remember
His Name.mov
Uploaded on Dec 10, 2009
Remember His Name Trailer
directed by Rich Thorne and Liz Latham. A documentary about hate crimes and
hate crime legislation in the U.S. motivated by the tragic death of James Byrd
Jr. in Jasper County Texas in 1998. President Obama signs the US Hate Crime
Legislation Act. The full documentary coming soon.
VIDEO SOURCE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Wagam6HpHw
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