A far-reaching impact
Jun. 17th, 2008 08:05 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
aamusedinatxBay Area Reflects on Racism and Prejudice in Society
On the night of June 7, 1998, James Byrd Jr., a resident of Jasper, Texas, was walking alongside the road when he hitched a ride with three men driving by in a truck.
All was seemingly well. But at some point things that night went terribly wrong.
The men chained Byrd Jr. — who was 49 at the time — to the truck by his ankles and dragged him for three miles to his death. Byrd Jr. was black, and the three men charged for his crime were members of a white supremacy group, classifying the case as a hate crime.
One man was sentenced to life in prison. The other two were given the death penalty and are still on death row. They are the first white men in Texas to be sentenced to death for the killing of a black man.
To honor the man who was so brutally murdered and reflect on the continued existence of racism in society today, "The 10th Anniversary Tribute to James Byrd Jr. — Working Together to Reduce Racism" will take place Sunday at the Herbst Theatre in San Francisco.
More than a dozen Bay Area authors, politicians and civic leaders will be paying tribute to the Byrd family and discussing racial hatred within the community.
