June 1998
James Byrd Jr., 49, was chained to the back of a pickup truck by three white men — John William King, Lawrence Russell Brewer, and Shawn Berry — and dragged nearly three miles along an asphalt road in Jasper, Texas until decapitated. King and Brewer had white supremacist tattoos. King and Brewer were sentenced to death; Berry received life. The murder prompted the eventual James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Act.
Following James Byrd Jr.'s murder, Texas civil rights advocates and Byrd's family pushed for hate crime legislation at state and federal levels. Texas Governor George W. Bush declined to sign a state hate crimes bill in 1999 citing existing law. The federal Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act was not signed until 2009 by President Obama, over a decade after the murder.
Events
- June 7, 1998James Byrd Jr. Lynched by White Supremacists in Jasper, Texas
James Byrd Jr., 49, was chained to the back of a pickup truck by three white men — John William King, Lawrence Russell Brewer, and Shawn Berry — and dragged nearly three miles along an asphalt road in Jasper, Texas until decapitated. King and Brewer had white supremacist tattoos. King and Brewer were sentenced to death; Berry received life. The murder prompted the eventual James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Act.
- June 10, 1998Jasper Murder Spurs Push for Federal Hate Crime Legislation
Following James Byrd Jr.'s murder, Texas civil rights advocates and Byrd's family pushed for hate crime legislation at state and federal levels. Texas Governor George W. Bush declined to sign a state hate crimes bill in 1999 citing existing law. The federal Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act was not signed until 2009 by President Obama, over a decade after the murder.