4
The News Argus
Feb. 18, 2008
Buck History Momh
“In all my work, what I try to say is that as
human beings we are more alike than we are
unalike.”
—Maya Angelou
Poet, 1993
“Liberty is the soul’s right to
breathe.”
—Henry Ward Beecher
Author, 1858
Words
Live By
“Mankind will endure when the
world appreciates the logic of diver
sity.”
—Indira Gandhi
Former prime minister of
India, Jdte
“If we expect to gain our rights by nerveless
acquiescence in wrong, then we expect to do
what no other nation ever did. What must we do
then? We must complain. Yes, plain, blunt,
ceaseless agitation, unfailing exposure of dis
honesty and wrong - this is the ancient, unerr
ing way to liberty, and we must follow it.”
—W.E.B. DuBois
Author, journalist, historian, 1910
“The best art is political, and you ought to be
able to make it unquestionably political and
irrevocably beautiful at the same time.”
—Toni Morrison
Author, 1992
i-
^ 1
“We all find flag-burning repugnant. We find burning crosses repug
nant. But they have been burning crosses longer than they have tieen
burning flags, and there has been no rush for a constitutional amend
ment to stop the burning of crosses.”
—Jesse L. Jackson
Civil rights leader, 1989
“Give us fair play, secure to us the right
of discussion, the freedom of speech, and
we will settle the difficulty at the ballot
box, not on the battleground - by force of
reason, not force of arms.”
—Hinton R. Helper
Anti-slavery author, 1857
“It was books that taught me that the things that tor
mented me most were the very things that connected me
with all the people who were alive, or who had ever been
alive.”
—James Baldwin
Writer, 1964
“The more you encourage someone etse’s
freedom of expression and the more different
that someone else is from you, the more deim^
cratic the act.” i
—Wynton Marsalis
Musician, 1993
“No person is your friend who demands your silence
or denies your right to grow.”
—^Alice Walker
Contemporary American writer, 1983 (author of
“The Color Purple”)
Hate Crime: The story of a dragging in Jasper, Texas
Stephanie Douthit
NEWS EDITOR
"Hate Crime: The Story of
a Dragging in Jasper, Texas"
by Joyce King is a com
pelling and emotionally
driven story that draws
readers into the thoughts,
feelings, and experiences of
first-time author Joyce King,
as she explores one of the
most horrific trials in U.S.
history of the dragging in
Jasper, Texas.
King is former reporter
and anchor for a CBS radio
affiliate who writes guest
columns and opinion pieces
for a variety of publications.
After being fired from her
job. King took another posi
tion in which she was not
enthusiastic about having.
She was assigned to cover
the dragging murder of
James Byrd, Jr.
in Jasper,
Texas. King
did not want to
leave her
"comfort zone"
and head to
Book
Review
Huff Creek Road, a part of
the Huff Creek community
in Jasper. The body was
identified as that of 49-year-
old James Byrd, Jr.
Byrd was
murdered by
three men who
drug him to his
death behind a
vehicle; it was
discovered that
Jasper into a he had been
racially
charged national story that
unknowingly, it would
change her life.
On Sunday, Jun. 7, 1998, an
unidentified body was dis
covered in the middle of
dragged for
three miles after tracking
miscellaneous items and a
trail of dried of blood and
flesh.
James Byrd, Jr.'s death
gave the world a glimpse of
the injustices in America and
changed the mindset and
opinions of some people.
Racial division was put into
the spotlight and forced
many to accept the
inevitable, acknowledging
the differences amongst one
another. In the prologue.
King stated "I feel tremen
dous relief that I will never
have to step foot in such a
place," but she reluctantly
involved herself in a the
story. While reading her
story one will notice the
deeply embedded fear that
King had while traveling to
Jasper, and in every action
she takes while there.
I was under the impres
sion that King was fearful
and not knowing what to
expect, but she was not will
ing to allow her fear to over
come her purpose for being
in Jasper; covering a nation
ally recognized injustice to a
human being.
Her involvement in this
case changed her interac
tions not only with her fam
ily, but it also changed her as
a person. She no longer con
sumed herself with negative
thoughts of race and racial
interactions, but it became
her mission to create under
standing for establishing jus
tice for everyone.
Joyce King currently
resides in Dallas and gives
lectures around the country.
She has also written
"Growing up Southern:
White Men I Met Along the
Way/' about a little girl's
evolution to a woman of
color in America, and
"Forgotten Hurricane:
Conversations with My
Neighbors," which is a
memoir about Hurricane
Katrina. She continues to go
to Jasper every year since her
involvement in the case.
Copies of "Hate Crime:
The Story of a Dragging in
Jasper, Texas" is available in
O'Kelly Library.