James Byrd was a black man who was chained to a truck by three men, and dragged across town until he died brutally. The case may finally be put to rest. After the murder, Texas and soon Congress passed laws strengthening the penalty for crimes base on “race, colour, religion, sexual orientation, gender, disability or national origin.”
Lawrence Russell Brewer had been sentenced to death earlier than King, with Shawn Allen Berry receiving a less harsh sentencing for not sharing the others supremacist beliefs. King was convicted before Brewer, but survived 8 more years after him.
This relates to US History because despite all of the legislation and social change we’ve had in support of diversity and acceptance, people still face discrimination. Byrd had done nothing to deserve such a brutal death, yet two men affiliated with the KKK (which dates back to the Civil War!) and another (along for the ride?) murdered him. We have to continue tightening up laws, and tightening up laws, until the noose of justice is no longer around the throats of the oppressed, but of the oppressors.
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