Hate Crime: The Story of a Dragging in Jasper, Texas [Hardcover]

Joyce King (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 28, 2002

On June 7, 1998, James Byrd, Jr., a forty-nine-year-old black man, was dragged to his death while chained to the back of a pickup truck driven by three young white men. It happened just outside of Jasper, a sleepy East Texas logging town that, within twenty-four hours of the discovery of the murder, would be inextricably linked in the nation’s imagination to an exceptionally brutal, modern-day lynching.

In this superbly written examination of the murder and its aftermath, award-winning journalist Joyce King brings us on a journey that begins at the crime scene and extends into the minds of the young men who so casually ended a man’s life. She takes us inside the prison in which two of them met for the first time, and she shows how it played a major role in shaping their attitudes—racial and otherwise. The result is a deeply engrossing psychological portrait of the accused and a powerful indictment of the American prison system’s ability to reform criminals. Finally, King writes with candor and clarity about how the events of that fateful night have affected her—as a black woman, a native Texan, and a journalist given the agonizing assignment of covering the trials of all three defendants. More than a spectacular true-crime debut, Hate Crime is a breathtaking work of reportage and a searing look at how the question of race continues to shape life in America.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

When William King received the death penalty for the grisly murder of James Byrd Jr. in Jasper, Tex., he became the first white man in 150 years to be sent to that state's death row for killing a black man. Broadcast journalist King covered his trial and those of Russell Brewer and Shawn Berry, the two other young white men convicted of dragging Byrd behind a pickup truck on June 7, 1998. Suspecting that she's assigned the story only because she's black, King arrives in Jasper fearful and doubting her journalistic objectivity. The Louisiana native quickly confronts her own biases about the smalltown South, even as she becomes an "international commentator" on a crime that shocked the world. King reports the case from start to finish and deepens her chronicle by investigating King and Brewer's involvement in racist Texas prison gangs, creating a chilling portrait of racism's brutal breeding ground. But her efforts to tally the case's personal toll are less successful. The disjointed narrative provides very little insight into her character, and unskilled prose undercuts the telling. Particularly vexing are frequent dangling modifiers, such as one that turns a description of a bad tire into an accurate (if unintentional) assessment of the killers' characters: "Already beyond salvage, they decided the best insurance was a can of Fix-A-Flat." Though this account fares better as documentary than diary, King's ultimate rapprochement with the white authorities who deliver justice for Byrd rings true: "This case taught me what my own work on... racial tolerance had not. I was harboring my own insecurities about race and my own tendencies to stereotype. Recycling untruths simply made me more like the very people I avoided."
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

What was possibly the most heinous crime of the last few decades unfolded on a Texas back road in 1998 when three young whites wrapped a chain around an African American man and dragged him to his death behind their truck. Until the dragging of James Byrd Jr. some of us were hopeful (or na‹ve) enough to think that we had seen an end to such virulent racism. African American radio reporter King covers each of the three trials that followed the atrocity. She does not offer much drama the identity of the perpetrators was apparent from the start or much insight into how such a crime could have happened. Certainly, alcohol played a part, as did the racially polarizing prison experience of two of the killers, but past that we get no real perspective on why this horrible event occurred. What King does present, in addition to straight reportage, is her perspective as an African American. She relates her personal experiences as a black in the South and discusses her reactions to the trials as well as to the white authorities who handled the case. Dina Temple-Raston's A Death in Texas focuses more on the politics and agendas of various segments of the small town. While King's book does not offer explanations, it does make a strong statement. Recommended for all public libraries. Jim Burns, Jacksonville P.L., FL
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: Pantheon; 1 edition (May 28, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0375421327
• ISBN-13: 978-0375421327
• Product Dimensions: 5.8 x 1 x 8.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,568,495 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A must-read, May 28, 2002

By 

Trisha E. Lisk (Hemet, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Hate Crime: The Story of a Dragging in Jasper, Texas (Hardcover)

If any of us profess to sincerely care about this evil crime, and about race and prisons in America, this book is a must-read. The writing about this frightening, ugly subject is professional, insightful, comprehensive, and exquisitely rendered. Joyce King, at no small cost to herself, has given us a gift that we may not want, but we desperately need, that she hopes, even perhaps at no small cost to ourselves, we will actually DO something about instead of just talk about.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Grueling story, but worth the read, September 24, 2005

By 

Kim Dulaney (CHICAGO, IL United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Hate Crime: The Story of a Dragging in Jasper, Texas (Hardcover)

The beginning of this book was awful - not awfully written - just awfully sad, awfully detailed, awfully ugly.
Midway through the story, the writer's knack for describing the small to convey the "bigness" of this particular mundanely categorized hate crime sickened me. She wrote "The [...] is shredded and [...] removed by the dragging." It sickened and shamed me. I was embarrassed for having not known - embarrassed for failing to pay attention to the particulars. Embarassed for having filed this person's story in a makeshift generic Emmit Till file.
After being forced to view (in a sense) the victim's remains, and being made aware of the remorseless attitudes of the perpetrators, I had little patience for the writer's need to explore and explain prison culture in such depth. I was not interested in theories that placed blame anywhere other than squarely upon the hearts and souls (or lack thereof) of the persons who dared to commit such a heinous act.
However, upon completing the book I was satisfied. The writer had meticulously attended to every facet of the story. I appreciated the way the writer interrupted the factual reporting with personal narrative. It kept the reader mindful that the story being told was true and real. Though reading this story was at times painful, gruesome and grueling, I realize that facing this reality was necessary in order to give purpose to the suffering endured by James Byrd, Jr.

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Empowering experience, November 5, 2002

By 

Robin Orlowski "political activist" (United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Hate Crime: The Story of a Dragging in Jasper, Texas (Hardcover)

When King came to our campus to lecture about this book, I was naturally interested in attending, but believed I knew the story already. (A man had been brutally murdered in a small Texas town because of his skin color).

I am glad I went on impulse because both the presentation and the book throughly examines intersections of race, gender, ecconomic status while imploring all of us to work together for the proverbial betterment of human society. What it lacks for in volume it more than makes up for with substantive content and heart-wrenching insight.

Alternating between detached reporting and personal narratives, this story chronicles the best and the worst of human condition. Just because it is easy to simplify things into a 'soundbyte binary' does not mean the action effectively generates learning, indeed such labeling effectively stops the process.

Without dilluting Byrd's saga, the author also recounts her complex feelings during the investigation. Briefly living among the residents of Jasper Texas in order to complete the book, she learned good people come from all backgrounds and there was no shortage of townspeople (including the law enforcement) who roundly condemed the act.