Midnight DJ, Jasper, Texas Murder and Other Commentaries

 

 

Page Updated Tuesday, July 26, 2005  


James Byrd, Jr. was walking home alongside the highway just outside of Jasper, Texas on June 10, 1998. Because he was a black man, and three racists were coming down the road, his fate was sealed. As a consequence he was accosted, chained to the rear of a pick-up truck and dragged to his death for no more crime than being a black man at the wrong place at the wrong time; America ... now. byrd_1997ap.jpg (3498 bytes) How many isolated incidents does it take to establish human behavior? For nearly four hundred years unarmed black men have been repeatedly attacked by groups of white men; many of them armed. The list of victims continue to grow as the United States continues to deny ... deny ... deny. James Byrd was just one black man that fell into the hands of racists, but the name, James Byrd, is added to a long list of brothers we have fallen victim to the same fate. Murder has no justification. Race based murder is race hate, but it is also an act that fills the pages of United States history. 

Prior to the criminal trial the Klu Klux Klan

held a rally in Jasper, and, as is the custom, their safety was assured by a strong police presence. Well over a hundred years after the Civil War black Americans still must tolerate the Confederate battle flag; the Stars & Bars. It is akin to Jews having to endure young punks wearing swastikas, and proclaiming Hitler as

something less than pure evil.   These images, and those hidden from the public eye, present contemporary evidence that racism remains America's greatest pastime. 

But, let us quickly consider, there is no shortage of black people who race hate with equality and the same level of ignorance. Members of the Black Panther Party, the Communist Party, and the KKK made themselves very visible during the Jasper, Texas rally. 

Oh, and let us not leave out the media. Once American newspapers, radio and television, were considered trustworthy sources for facts surrounding news events. No longer. The media of today is profit driven, and will rape anyone's life, or milk any violent incident, in the quest for greater ratings, and more advertising dollars. Consider that most television stations earn in excess of 50% of their revenue from ads sold to sponsors of  news programming. No longer the champion of the people the media had been reduced to an insensitive mob of thrill seekers drive by greed and false recognition. 

No, there is no need to dig up events from the historical past to demonstrate the health of American Racism. Just look out the window and

this is what you might see wearing the same robes they wore to intimidate freed slaves during the Re-Construction Era. It seems progress can best be measured by the quality of materials used to make the robes and hoods the KKK wear.

 
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