Posted on 01/20/2003 3:50:48 PM PST by Houmatt
The mother of a black man from Jasper who was dragged to death says she dreads the premiere of a documentary on the crime.
Three white men were convicted in the 1998 death of James Byrd Junior.
Two were sent to death row. The third man received life in prison.
Stella Mae Byrd wrote a letter published in The Jasper Newsboy.
She says her son has been dead for four years. She also says, quote: "What people said back then is their business and as for the family, we do not want to hear it!"
The film "Two Towns of Jasper" is scheduled to air on P-B-S on Wednesday night.
Filmmakers Whitney Dow and Marco Williams review the crime and the trials. They followed a cross-section of Jasper residents along the way.
A white crew filmed the white community. A black crew filmed the black community.
Dow is white. Williams is black.
Stella Byrd says Williams misled the Byrd family about the intent of the film.
But Williams says Mrs. Byrd is still grieving and is in the process of healing.
I live in Jasper. The word we hear is that it makes the whites look bad and the blacks look good.
Apparently the white man agreed to buy some gasoline 'to pay' for the ride, but when they pulled into a service station, he jumped out and tried to run away. The men in the truck ran him down, killing him.
I waited to see it on the news [because of the Byrd case], but never heard anymore about it!!
In her letter Stella Byrd also said, "Showtime has a movie coming out that has got me and my husband in it. I found out about it by accident and my husband and I were not offered anything--but they gave some men here $10,000 each."
Byrd, Jr's kids sued their grandparents to get control over the money that poured into them after the murder. The grandkids had never been close to their father or his parents.
It's about $$$$.
Jr's daughter who did the NAACP commercial refused to be on any talk show that didn't pay her-- that was the rumor around here.
A black man beat a white man to death with a pipe exactly one week before James Byrd Jr. was murdered. Did you hear about that?
We thought everybody had gone mad when we had three murders in one year.
Glad to see your response, I never heard about the 'pipe' killing. So sad when the media only tells about the 'black' killings!!
This is true. Plus, King was gang raped in prison and that's why he became a member of the white supremist group--self preservation.
King was stupid but intelligent. He didn't finish high school but he wrote some letters that were published in the paper and he is above average intelligence. His favorite columist, for a twist, is Thomas Sowell. Why would a stupid, racist like Thomas Sowell?
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