quote:

JASPER — The faded Ford pickup sits like a pale gray ghost in a shady corner of the impound lot. Shoved between a chain-link fence and a carport, it has been quietly tucked away for 10 years.

The tires, the rims, the infamous chain — all stained with blood and human flesh — were removed long ago and are stored in a security vault. The evidence.

An old barrel of motor oil sits atop the truck's rusty hood, its body entangled in vines and dead branches.

"I don't like to go near it. I never even opened the door of that truck," said Leon Clark, 57, who owns the lot. "I've got to get it out of here for all the trouble it has caused Jasper, Texas."

In the early-morning hours of June 7, 1998, that truck dragged James Byrd Jr., an African-American, to his agonizing death, adding another sordid page to America's painful racial history. Three white men used a logging chain to tie Byrd's ankles to the truck's rear bumper, zigzagging him along bucolic Huff Creek Road for 3.08 miles.

quote:

ORIGINAL: DomKen

I think the thing to take from all of that was that it was so unusual. Lynchings didn't used to be rare and that they are now is a step forward not a big enough one certainly but a step forward none the less. We are moving toward that day when that 'strange fruit' will be strictly a horrific story instead of vivid memory.

quote:

ORIGINAL: lronitulstahp

i can just imagine the sort of garbage that will be posted on this thread.....

quote:

ORIGINAL: Aynne

Well lovely tulip I hate to say it but me too...and by whom? Ohh the usual suspects. Same drivel, same blah blah blah, same insensitivity, want to put money on it?  I can hear them mounting their steeds now.

quote:

ORIGINAL: Level

Ten years ago, yesterday, not so far from where I live. I hardly see our nation as a hateful, bigoted one, but for those that don't see any of that here....

quote:

JASPER — The faded Ford pickup sits like a pale gray ghost in a shady corner of the impound lot. Shoved between a chain-link fence and a carport, it has been quietly tucked away for 10 years.

The tires, the rims, the infamous chain — all stained with blood and human flesh — were removed long ago and are stored in a security vault. The evidence.

An old barrel of motor oil sits atop the truck's rusty hood, its body entangled in vines and dead branches.

"I don't like to go near it. I never even opened the door of that truck," said Leon Clark, 57, who owns the lot. "I've got to get it out of here for all the trouble it has caused Jasper, Texas."

In the early-morning hours of June 7, 1998, that truck dragged James Byrd Jr., an African-American, to his agonizing death, adding another sordid page to America's painful racial history. Three white men used a logging chain to tie Byrd's ankles to the truck's rear bumper, zigzagging him along bucolic Huff Creek Road for 3.08 miles.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/headline/metro/5823669.html

quote:

ORIGINAL: pinksugarsub

quote:

ORIGINAL: Level

Ten years ago, yesterday, not so far from where I live. I hardly see our nation as a hateful, bigoted one, but for those that don't see any of that here....

quote:

JASPER — The faded Ford pickup sits like a pale gray ghost in a shady corner of the impound lot. Shoved between a chain-link fence and a carport, it has been quietly tucked away for 10 years.

The tires, the rims, the infamous chain — all stained with blood and human flesh — were removed long ago and are stored in a security vault. The evidence.

An old barrel of motor oil sits atop the truck's rusty hood, its body entangled in vines and dead branches.

"I don't like to go near it. I never even opened the door of that truck," said Leon Clark, 57, who owns the lot. "I've got to get it out of here for all the trouble it has caused Jasper, Texas."

In the early-morning hours of June 7, 1998, that truck dragged James Byrd Jr., an African-American, to his agonizing death, adding another sordid page to America's painful racial history. Three white men used a logging chain to tie Byrd's ankles to the truck's rear bumper, zigzagging him along bucolic Huff Creek Road for 3.08 miles.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/headline/metro/5823669.html

i remember this crime vividly.  Even leaving aside the racist motives of the killers, it was more shocking to me than any murder in recent years.  i cannot imagine the agony the victim suffered before he mercifully died.
 
pinksugarsub

quote:

ORIGINAL: Archer

30 years ago it would have not raised much of an eyebrow in the national conciousness (unfortunate but true)
20 years ago it might have been swept under the rug with only a short jail sentance being passed and not much national attention
10 years ago it gathered huge national attention and all but universal condemnation.
Today the same incidentwould get pretty much universal condemnation and actually I think be a little less likely to have occured.
(More places have gotten more tollerant in general, slow progress but still progress)
10 years from now hopefully the tollerance will have remained a growing thing and the chances of this incident happening will be even smaller.

I'm glad for the progress repulsed by the high price it costs to put the ideas across, and hopefull that the progress will continue but without the high price.

quote:

ORIGINAL: MzMia

quote:

ORIGINAL: Aynne

Well lovely tulip I hate to say it but me too...and by whom? Ohh the usual suspects. Same drivel, same blah blah blah, same insensitivity, want to put money on it?  I can hear them mounting their steeds now.

Would you ladies expect any less?
Whispering in the ladies ears....the ignore feature is your friend...
I use it often, and sometimes take people off for a probation period.

quote:

ORIGINAL: pinksugarsub
i remember this crime vividly.  Even leaving aside the racist motives of the killers, it was more shocking to me than any murder in recent years.  i cannot imagine the agony the victim suffered before he mercifully died.
 
pinksugarsub

quote:

ORIGINAL: Archer

30 years ago it would have not raised much of an eyebrow in the national conciousness (unfortunate but true)
20 years ago it might have been swept under the rug with only a short jail sentance being passed and not much national attention
10 years ago it gathered huge national attention and all but universal condemnation.
Today the same incidentwould get pretty much universal condemnation and actually I think be a little less likely to have occured.
(More places have gotten more tollerant in general, slow progress but still progress)
10 years from now hopefully the tollerance will have remained a growing thing and the chances of this incident happening will be even smaller.

I'm glad for the progress repulsed by the high price it costs to put the ideas across, and hopefull that the progress will continue but without the high price.

quote:

ORIGINAL: Irishknight

If you are betting on me to lead the "Insensitivity Brigade" on this one, you just lost money.  I have to agree that this was a horrific crime and I am glad that it is the exception, not the rule.  I truly doubt you'll find anyone that will say anything good about this crime.
I will, however, be glad to ride over wait with you to see if I'm wrong.