James Byrd Jr. (pictured here), was murdered in Jasper, Texas on June 7, 1998. He was severely beaten, chained to the back of a pickup truck, then dragged three miles 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. Byrd’s murder is considered one of the worst hate crimes since the civil rights era of the sixties.
Byrd, 49, on a walk home from his parents home in Jasper, accepted a ride from Shawn Berry (age 24), Lawrence Russell 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 approximately 1.5 miles (2.4 km). The men then dumped Byrd’s mutilated remains in front of an African-American church cemetery.
Join me tonight at 6:30 p.m. EST on “Conversations Of A Sistah” via Blog Talk Radio, as I sit down with my special guest, Joyce King, Author of HATE CRIME: The Story of a Dragging in Jasper, Texas.
The critically-acclaimed book landed King on CNN, BET, NPR, USA Radio, Book TV, and The Oprah Winfrey Show.
All “Conversation links” in this post make it possible to access the show.
See you on the air but in the meantime, sound off here!
Conversations Of A Sistah 
I remember when this happened. Damn shame what happened but I didn’t know it was a book about it. 😡
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Wow this is an ugly and painful story.
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Good morning
Happy “Conversations Of A Sistah” Wednesday!
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Good morning Daisy 🙂
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Morning Ladies
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Dais, Bobby and 2Thick, whatz up?
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Hey ladies
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Sup people. the conversation tonight won’t be a pretty one.
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Sup people
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Good morning all
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Morning peeps. This is going to piss me off I know.
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Morning all
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Happy Hump Day everyone
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Good morning
I know Tracy save these Wednesday post about her show, but I want the scoop on that 2 yr. old kid that was eaten by the alligator in Florida 😥
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Morning all.
Yea Tracy posted the story about the kid eaten by the alligator. This is not a good week for Florida.
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good morning good people
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MornTing peoples!
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Good morning.
I dare y’all to google this story and you’ll find the info is shocking. Like wow. These 3 white supremacist hicks killed an innocent black man name James Byrd, Jr. and only one out of the 3 have been executed for this man’s murder so far. Smh 😥 I think dying is even too good for them evil motherfuckers!
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Praise God Wednesday.
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Good Wednesday afternoon Peeps
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Hello everyone. Story is a crying Fucking shame. They dragged this man with that chain? WTF they think he was cattle, a mule? plus they urinated on him. This is a GOT DAMN SHAME!!!!
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Happy Wednesday all
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Hey Ladies….The gentlemen too.
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Good morning all.
I might be a day late but I still heard the show.
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I don’t remember this story but I googled it and it’s a horrible read. especially what the 3 men who killed him did to him. Tuning in to hear about Joyce King’s book on this horrific crime. I wanna know why did she decide to write about it? That had to be hard 😥
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“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 approximately 1.5 miles”
OMG 😥 I can’t Smh NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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They urinated on him and then dragged him and that town is still standing? FOH!!! I woulda had to burn Texas down if that was my daddy/brother/cousin/uncle. 😡
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I think this was deeper than a hate crime. 😡 To urinate on somebody is just plain cruel. I’m scared to hear this show, sounds like it’s gonna piss me off.
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They dragged this man and his head came off when they hit a culvert? Damn that’s beyond fucked up? Smh wow
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what’s a culvert?
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Bobby if you read the post, Tracy has a highlighted link to the word. If you click on it it’ll give you the definition of it plus a picture. It also gives the definition of a asphalt road.
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Yeah @Adam, it seems the more you read about the story the worst it gets. It’s actually making me sick to my stomach knowing this was done to another human being.
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Jasper, Texas is probably the most racist town in Texas. I remember when this happened and the new black panthers marched on that hick town with their rifles and guns drawn. It was deep.
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Jasper, Texas is probably the most racist town in Texas
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CoSign!!! That town amongst others.
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the asphalt road only add insult to injury and the fact that his head came off is even worse!! It’s like his head hit an open drainage at the bank of the road. It’s just an awful way to die.
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what’s a culvert?
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a tunnel carrying a stream or open drain under a road or railroad.
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This world is filled with hate and this hate crime is no different than the rest. They killed James Byrd, James Garner and Trayvon Martin all the same. They were all hate crimes.
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No Ashanti,
I gotta disagree with you on this one. James Byrd lost his head and limbs and was chained to the back of a pickup truck. Yeah all these men were killed unjustly but “The story of a dragging in Texas” was the worst.!!! The worst crime ever.
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Yeah I agree with Coco, the James Byrd dragging was horrific.!! This story is disturbing. and the conversation will be just as worst,
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the James Byrd dragging was horrific.!! This story is disturbing. and the conversation will be just as worst
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I agree
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the James Byrd dragging was horrific.!! This story is disturbing. and the conversation will be just as worst
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Pretty Much. Where in thee hell is Jasper, Texas anyways???
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the James Byrd dragging was horrific.!! This story is disturbing. and the conversation will be just as worst
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I think it depends on what Tracy’s goal is in having the conversation. Either way I’m tuned way IN.
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Sad 😥 sad story
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Tuning in.
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😥 horrible horrible story!
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This man was kidnapped, beaten and dragged, that’s never pretty or easy to talk about. So of course I wanna hear this 😡 I’ll be tuned in.
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TRACY MAYBE YOU CAN INCREASE THE FONT IN YOUR WRITE UP SO FOLKS CAN READ 😳👀🤓
Okay, carry on ☕️🚬
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Oh Dayum!! Not this story again. wow. tuning in
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Sad story, hate to regurgitate but this is one conversations that will most likely be both sad and horrific.
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Lawd Have Mercy Jesus, give me the strength to listen to this here.
*sighs*
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😥 Yup I wanna hear this right here.
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This story is a real tear jerker 😥 to disregard another human life like this is a sin. I hope they suffer b4 leaving this earth.
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Thank you Tracy for having this conversation. I remember when the story broke when it happened but there wasn’t too much buzz about it then in my opinion. Can’t wait to hear Joyce King’s take on it.
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😥 wow!!!!!!
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SMH 😥 this is the 1st I’m hearing of this story. Just horrible. wow
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If this was a relative of mine, I would have NO PEACE!!!! I would have to kill somebody because of the shit they did to him. I would be so fucking destructive! Jasper, Texas would of burned b4 I was satisfied.
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True but it wouldn’t solve anything or bring your relative back.
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Gonna be a good show. Looking 4ward to it.
This is going to be a great conversation.
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This was a good show.
Joyce King was an awesome guest. Her story was heart breaking. she sounded really sad 😦 though.
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I was DONE when I read how they pissed on this man. WTF 😡
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I mean I didn’t wanna hear SHIT else after that smh
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I was DONE when I read how they pissed on this man
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CoSign. Evil bastards!
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Tracy I could see how you couldn’t finish the book. From what heard last night was a bit much for me.
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