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!
Since the United States became an independent nation, we’ve had political parties and processes for electing out politicians. When electing a president, we hold primaries with delegates and superdelegates, so this is nothing new. But unfortunately, we have come to a crossroads in this country where it’s become painfully obvious that the system is no longer working, and in fact, we no longer even have a democracy with both sides shamelessly rigging the system for their establishment candidates.
We are seeing more and more interracial relationships today then ever before, which asks the question: are more black women open to dating and marrying outside of their race for financial security and stability? Does a white man have more to offer? Or is this a media influence to destroy the images that love between black men and women still exist?![black women white man[11]](https://conversationsofasistah.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/black-women-white-man11.jpg?w=109&h=150)
History has continuously gone through paradigm shifts due to war, laws, new generations and social movements. Interracial relationships between black and whites have been in US history since the beginning of the Atlantic slave trade, however they have gradually moved to the forefront and became more prevalent and public through television and the media. We are seeing more interracial couples in television ads, in movies and in the media like never before.
Polygamy and Bigamy is illegal in the U.S., yet some people are practicing this way of living as if it is the new norm. Essentially they are the same in the aspect of having more than one wife/spouse.
With the many discussions tossed around regarding the lack of preparedness for the estate of the late recording artist, Prince, Certified Financial Education Instructor, 
Conversations Of A Sistah 