Twenty-five years after a Black man, James Byrd, was killed by three White men in this East Texas town, many in Jasper are ready to forget.
The three White men charged with Byrd’s murder were convicted before the laws were in place. But in their trials, prosecutors still highlighted their racist attitudes, including a note one of the defendants, John William King, 23 at the time, sent to another. “Seriously though bro, reguardless [sic] of the outcome of this, we have made history and shall die proudly remembered if need be … Gotta go. Much Aryan Love. Respect and Honor my brother in arms,” wrote King, a laborer.
The city’s establishment as a hub for cotton and timber production is featured, but that it was powered by a large population of enslaved people,“We are working on how to address it as a museum,” said Tod Lawlis, the museum’s part-time director. He recently heard of an exhibit about Byrd in Austin, 250 miles away, but hasn’t seen it and isn’t sure whether he will bring it to Jasper.
KiLeigh Isom, a White 19-year-old Jasper native, said she learned of Byrd’s death only recently from a friend and then asked her parents about it. “We sat down and had a big conversation about it,” she said. . “We need prosecutors offices that are serious enough about hate crime that they have special units where people develop the expertise you need to prosecute these laws, where they know what to ask people who have been targeted by hate crimes and what to tell the cops to do to get the evidence they need to convict.”Town leaders say they worry that Jasper, known for its historic courthouse square, will forever be tainted by the misdeeds of a few people.
Amid the city’s struggles, there has been progress — but even that has been shadowed by its reputation.
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