Customer Reviews

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

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

I found the novel Hate Crime to be exciting and captivating in a morbid sort of a way. The author describes the characters and events without any type of gruesomeness or hysteria, so I was able to continue reading the story with anticipation for what would happen next. I did not however enjoy the reporting part of the story. The actual trial I thought was a lot of filler, although I understood why it was wriiten in that manner. Ms. King is a reporter and that part of her writing style emerges as she retells this horrific story. It is a good story to use when comparing the writing styles of storytelling by two very different authors such as Truman Capote (In Cold Blood) v. Joyce King's novel.

During the summer of 1998, James Byrd Jr., was dragged to death by three men in Jasper, Texas. Joyce King offers a detailed account of the racially motivated murder and the three emotional trials that followed. King's novel offers the facts of the case as well as a fair examination into the reason why Byrd was killed. This book highlights the cruelty of hatred and racism, as well as the desire to move beyond it in the name of justice.

This book was many things to me. Disturbing, insightful and educational. The book depicts the Mr. Byrd's death so vividly that at times I felt myself being dragged behind the truck. I had to put the book down many times but I was unable to stay away for long. The author did a very good job of exploring the backgrounds of the men convicted of this heinous crime. You must be made of stone to be left untouched after reading this book.

One reader made the mistake of saying that the author was from Jasper. She is NOT a resident of Jasper...Dallas is, I believe, where she resides. I, on the other hand, AM from Jasper, Texas, and this story is one that deeply affects me still to this day. I found the way she discussed certain issues in this book to be quite ridiculous. I believe another reader already touched on this issue, but the author did in fact talk too much of herself and try to implement her own personal story into one which needed no other input. I did not like the way she wrote the book, and I do not like the way she discussed the racial issues at hand. Ricardo Ainslie's book on this same topic has a much better understanding of the fact that just because three white men committed such a horrifying act, doesn't mean that all white people are that way. There are many details of the story that aren't really touched on in this book, and it leaves readers with the wrong ideas of Jasper, its residents, and "racial issues". We have no more of said issues than most other towns across the nation, yet we're put in the spotlight for it. This author only added fuel to the already blazing fire.

Hate Crime: A Review

The first few pages of Hate Crime will have you turning each page slow and methodical like to ensure there is not one piece of information missed from this powerful piece of creative non-fiction by Joyce King. Imagine the incident, "He felt every single weed, every endless speck of grass and dirt, every chasm, and every inch of asphalt." Not only does King draw the reader into the horrific crime that happened that fateful night in Jasper Texas, but she manages to put a human face on this person only known to the world as James Byrd; the Black man dragged through the dusty back roads of this small country town for only one reason and one reason only-he was a Black man. King recreates Byrd's impending death from what appears to be countless interviews from everyone involved in the life of James Byrd, including his killers.

From a literary standpoint, the way King enters and exits her narrative provides an on hands experience that the reader needs to validate the information being processed. Then there is the Byrd family and how they cope with the brutality and viciousness of this murder. There is a touch of humanism in this story that rarely gets to be told, much less heard. What engrosses the reader in this story are the interactions of the killers leading up to the commitment of the crime. King provides background analysis through story telling that brings these perpetrators to life. She takes us inside the courtroom and gets in the heads of the prosecution and defense teams. The pictorial she paints of the jurors upon reviewing the photos of fragmented pieces of James Byrd: arm, flesh, torso will having you screaming for justice! This is clearly a book that takes a serious look at the social dynamics of America and is held under no illusion as to the classification of race in this country.

Joyce King was the CBS reporter, who reluctantly accepted the duty of covering the murder trial of alleged killers, King, Brewer and Shawn Berry. The were tried for the dragging murder of James Byrd Jr. on the night of June 7, 1998. Whether or not you remember this story making news or not, like the recent book of the events leading up to the racially motivated murder of Emmit Till, this is a text that painfully informs readers that racisim is still alive and killing.
The author does a fine job of placing the reader beside the killers on the night of the actually killing, in their heads, as well as giving us a first row seat in courtroom to hear both the defenders and prosecurtors of the three accused men.
The story is powerful, and emotional. We also gain entrance into a bit of Joyce King's personal struggles with dealing with the case, how she stands up to it physically and emotionally, and even some of her opinion, like, "The jury likes her. Hell, some of them probably know her." Which I think takes away something, rather than adds to a journalistic text such as this.
But with all that being said, it is a disturbing, but neccesary read that not only documents, but informs readers that, although Americans have come a long way, there is still such a long way to go.

King's meshing of the genres creates an interweaving of a true to life event. She gives all the angles the proper amount of respect and decency. Through memoir, journalism, including impressive research and newswriting, and a sometimes humorous storytelling technique she implants the reader, whom she has cleverly made an unwilling participant, into the town of Jasper and into the lives of 3 troubled young murders. The story humanizes all involved and gives a unique perspective of the police officers, prosecuters and the press selected to cover the trial and the story. It is powerful in its truth and profound in it's honesty and vision. In his physical absence she has painted a picture of the victim, James Byrd Jr. The book makes the story leave an imprint because now the reader has not only hear the story but has bore witness to the event.