Original subtitles

SOUTH

It has changed a lot since my time.

Back in my day...

when I was the age of these children,

we worked like slaves

for whites. We had no choice.

Since we lived in their houses,

They did what they wanted with us.

Because we lived in their houses.

When blacks woke up

and began to take the reins,

They couldn't treat us like before.

They ended up realizing.

At night, we sat outside, like this,

at home, to talk, I don't know.

One of them came and said: "You, go cut hay."

One Sunday afternoon.

Things went like this. Not now.

They can no longer say:

"Get in the truck and go to the field."

Now we are in our house.

I remember that in 1966,

at the Jones house, near the church you visited,

there were only barrack camps,

where the blacks lived.

But the plantations belonged to the whites

and they had to do what the whites told them to do.

But...

When did the civil rights movement come along?

things completely changed.

They no longer dared to tell us to our faces

that we get away

They came home and wrote:

"You have so many days to go.

I need the house for the hay.

We don't need you anymore."

Things were like that.

The water from the well, which is free,

We couldn't even touch it!

We had to go to the forest,

we had to dig holes to find a source

and drink from there.

The whites were like that, here.

Today, things are better.

We were going to milk the cows before dawn

to have something to feed

to the children, to the family.

Before he got up early. We were freezing cold.

We didn't want to, but we had to go

Now we no longer have to.

We have our own houses, however modest.

You no longer see any "For Sale" signs.

which forced us to leave.

That's fine.

It must have been 8:30 in the morning, I think.

I was watching a channel that shows westerns.

I heard a noise. I told my son to go take a look

and then go to sleep.

Through the window, I saw a truck on the road.

He couldn't stop 7igzagging. I thought she had punctured.

I went to bed, when the western finished.

The next day I wake up

there were police everywhere.

They had found the body.

On June 7 of that year,

we learned, here in the newspaper,

that three whites had killed a black.

Apparently,

It was a racist murder.

The sheriff confirmed it right away.

On Monday the 7th in the morning, it was a Sunday,

Monday morning, the police...

had arrested all three suspects.

Shortly after,

we learned the identity of the victim.

James Byrd Jr an inhabitant of Jasper.

People here knew him well

because he was always on foot.

He didn't have a car and always went on foot.

As the sheriff later said,

The three men caught Mr. Byrd

on Highway 9 near the Ramada Inn.

No, near the Holiday Inn Express.

They took him to an isolated place,

they made him get out of the truck,

they beat him before chaining him to the truck.

Then they dragged him for 4.5 kilometers,

down a secondary road

from a primarily black part of the county.

Via Huff Creek Highway, 9 km east of Jasper,

mainly black region.

They unchained Mr Byrd...

before the Huff Creek Negro Cemetery.

During the tour,

looks like it hit the edge of a sewer,

ripping his head and arm from his torso.

Body parts were found along the road.

The day after the body was found,

the police issued a search warrant

which led to the statement of one of the defendants,

Sean Berry,

22 years old, I think.

He also lives in Jasper.

His statement is similar to what I just explained to you.

Said it was a racist murder

in the name of white supremacy.

He said that the group's leader, William King,

I wanted "that black to shit his pants."

It is a tragedy that should never have happened.

I do not believe

that it is something that God allowed

to test Jasper.

It never would have had to happen here.

Not anywhere. Kill like this!

They want to remember your presence.

They want to restore white pride in Jasper.

Those pigs want to finish their work:

eliminate and silence the blacks.

Because after the emancipation of the slaves,

they progressed very quickly, they organized

to stop the blacks and kill them,

so that they do not become

in real men.

They say there were fewer lynchings

after my birth than before.

The branches of some trees leaned over the road.

They said they had hanged people.

They said that the branches grew differently

in the place where they hung people.

There were big branches along the paths

on the Woodstock side and also near Vance

where they hung people.

They doused them with kerosene

or fuel before dragging them down the street.

I never saw that. But I do know that

on a saturday night,

my brother and a man who worked with him,

Actually, his son...

They were in my house

at my father's house, walking the horses

after his workday.

And then a man arrives,

with his head wrapped in red strings,

bare-chested, shirtless.

When he came to my father's house,

They said that he had killed two blacks,

destroyed by gunshots.

He thought they were my brother and his son.

But when he got close to them,

he saw that he had been wrong.

He came to my father's house to get cartridges,

because he had spent all he had.

I came here

to take cartridges to kill them!

When he arrived, he saw that my brother

he had recognized him despite being disguised.

He turned around and left.

They had burned churches

and they had done terrible things.

They went to the fields

and they took whatever they wanted: wheat,

peas, watermelons, potatoes.

They tore down the fences

for the cows to come out of the woods

and eat our crops.

It's the kind of thing they did.

They put stills on other people's land.

There was a lot of smoke when they did

bootleg alcohol.

But in my family, no one was hurt

for their actions.

My mother is from Tuscaloosa.

He has told me about these things.

murders lived,

staining.

I remember when I was little...

here in Birmingham, there was...

They castrated a man.

I think his name was Judge Aaron.

I remember that...

when Nat King Cole came in 1956

to play in Birmingham,

three men -I don't know if they were from the Ku Klux Klan-

They went on stage and beat him with chains.

He went to clean up the blood and finished his show.

I remember four girls killed by a bomb

at the church on 16th street.

Remember the lost sheep.

Come before it's too late.

Lord, have mercy.

Remember those who are lost

They can't find their way.

Open their eyes so they can see.

What to do but run away and cry to reach salvation?

Remember the families of the deceased.

Lord, give them strength.

Help them in their duel.

Lord, have mercy.

Lord, you must call

and we answer

Accept us into Your kingdom.

And we will praise Your name forever. Amen.

In the path...

Lord, if you guide my steps...

I won't get lost

Lord, let me walk...

every day by your side.

Guide my steps, Lord.

Guide my steps.

Pastor Lyons, distinguished guests,

Ladies and Gentlemen.

On behalf of the Jasper Chamber of Commerce

and my family,

I want to express my empathy with the Byrd family.

We share your sorrow

knowing we can't feel

what you feel

But we know that you, members of the Byrd family,

you have shown great strength

and dignity.

You have shown human values

rare in circumstances like these.

Rejecting hatred and bitterness,

and violence as a response to this horrible crime,

against one of yours,

You have set an example.

And you have demonstrated your deep Christian faith.

I still feel sad and disappointed in reality

of the racist murders in our country

in the year 1998.

and I'm very surprised

that this tragedy took place in Jasper.

And not because Jasper isn't affected by racism.

Or because there are no racial problems here.

However, the racial climate that prevails in Jasper

does not lead to brutal acts

perpetrated by the murderers of the Byrd family.

We know that this murder does not reflect

the feeling of the population of Jasper.

Despite being barbaric and evil,

I think the death of James Byrd Jr

He will contribute more than he could have achieved in life.

That is, a better racial harmony in Jasper.

Thanks to Mr. Byrd,

for the first time in Jasper,

all races have united

for the common good of the city.

His death has accelerated the creation of a working group

to identify the problems in Jasper,

and I think it is a positive first stage.

I also believe that the St Byrd tragedy

has awakened the conscience of those

that can eliminate racism

and ensure the equality of all citizens.

Finally, the circumstances of Mr. Byrd's death

must encourage leaders, at all levels,

to act against any new act of racism,

anytime.

If these actions do not occur again,

then Mr. Byrd will not have died in vain.

James had turned his love of music into a career.

He liked to share his talent with many people.

He liked a lot of songs

but, above all, "Walk by my side, Lord".

James deeply believed in harmony

of the holy values ​​of the family.

His love for humanity was tireless.

In your spiritual life and your faith towards Jesus,

there was a sober mood.

He was a pillar for humanity.

I visited older people

and tried to contribute to their needs

giving them food and their time.

His dynamism and his love

They will never leave us.

James counseled young people and everyone loved him.

His friends called him 'Toe'

and his family, "Son".

With his personality, he carried his profession

to an irreproachable degree.

What Mr: Byrd leaves his children,

your family and society

It will always remain in our memory.

so many loads

I have had to (take.

so much evil

But you are by my side.

You comfort me...

in your bosom

Bring us peace, Lord

among so much despair.

Now, everything is fine.

I am at home.

God has taken care of everything.

The world can keep turning.

Amaos más, amaos.

All of you, children of God.

He brings peace.

God has taken care of everything for you.

For you, dear brother.

Everything has changed since you left.

Sadness and pain fill our hearts.

We miss your smile and your talents

of musician

You always said that one day your name would be known.

From now on, the name of James Byrd Jr will be known.

For mom and dad,

he was the talented artist in the family.

With your brothers and sisters,

Stella, Clara,

Mary, Melinda, Betty,

Norman y Levonne,

I had a very close relationship.

for the children,

James, Renée, Ross,

his death is a great loss.

In their hearts, he will always be alive,

even for her granddaughter, Taylor Renée.

His death is a great shame.

EN A big step backwards for all humanity.

We wish the death of James Byrd Jr

have positive consequences.

For us he will be a legend.

We pay tribute to you, James Byrd.

"Son" for some, "Toe" for others.

May these words resonate throughout the world.

I remember a Bible verse that he often quoted:

"Although I walk

in the valley of the shadow of death,

I will not fear evil

for the Lord my God is with me.”

Today it is you who pronounces these words.

For us to move forward.

Even though our hearts are broken

we have to move forward.

Brother,

we'll never say goodbye

for you are alive in our hearts and spirit.

May peace go with you until our next meeting.

We love you James.

You walk by our side, Lord.

You walk by my side

While reading

this creed

You have watched over me.

Now I pray.

I want to say to the Byrd family, to those who knew him,

what the Bible says in Isaiah 31.

"If we serve the Lord,

He will give us strength.

We can soar like the eagle.

We can run without getting tired.

We can walk without exhausting ourselves.”

Jasper, in Texas, is rural America.

It is a very small city.

Here there is...

about 30 or 35,000 inhabitants in the entire region.

The people here are hardworking.

Probably, our region is composed of...

75% white and 25% black.

In Jasper, it's 60% white.

and 40% black.

The inhabitants have grown up here, they have gone to school here.

Blacks and whites go to school and play sports together.

In Jasper we get along well.

And it must be said that...

in Jasper we have some problems,

racial, but few.

The same as in the rest of the country.

I think we have fewer racial problems

than in the rest of the country.

Most of the problems are financial.

as in the rest of the country.

Many industries have closed and left Jasper.

Our problems are basically economic.

In the case of a man with a stable job,

when the end of the month arrives,

he still has money in his pocket.

On Monday, he has work.

You can take care of your family and feed it.

That avoids many problems.

The racial problems and also others.

Now, in Jasper,

we have lost companies, we have a lot of unemployment.

Some believe that we have racial problems, but we do not.

They are cheap. And that is a problem.

I can't look at the camera

and say that we do not have racial problems here.

The "Aryan Nation" has grown a lot

in our country in the last 15 years.

It started to grow around 1960,

but in the last 15 years they have been renewed

organizations like the Ku Klux Klan

and other pro-white supremacist groups,

under the motto of "Christian identity".

According to which, the white Aryan

or the white man is the heir to the Old Testament.

In reality, they are white Israel.

The easiest way to explain it to people

is to use the expression "white Aryan"

at times when "Jewish" is often used.

Thus it is understood how the Aryan Fraternity

and the Aryan Nation declare themselves children of Israel

and why the Jew is the seed of Satan

and the sworn enemy of the white race.

This movement trains them to take advantage of any occasion

to hurt or harm

to people of other races,

because, for them, any black, Mexican,

U oriental,

any person of color who comes here,

must be thrown.

For them, the race is the nation and the nation is the race.

In the US, for example,

for the defenders of white supremacy, in America

there are as many nations as there are races.

They believe...

that non-white Aryan races should be expelled

from the USA

to return to what, according to them,

is the white nation under the authority of God,

and not under that of man.

They believe in leaderless resistance:

the leader of the organization indicates, indirectly,

blow up a building,

kill such a person, burn a church,

desecrate a synagogue, attack such a Jew.

They talk about all this in a very general way.

in his speeches, meetings and tapes.

They believe that by simply doing

these statements,

without giving specific indications,

conditioned individuals will take action

And they will seize every opportunity.

Each individual must decide

the best way to apply divine law.

Thus, it is impossible for the leader of the organization

be accused in his name of plot

since it does not give any specific instructions.

best examples

are the oklahoma city bombing

and the murder of James Byrd.

In these types of criminal cases,

no one has given a direct order

for the events that have occurred.

But his indoctrination

carries supporters of Christian Identity,

04 the separatists of the Aryan Nation,

to take the initiative and take action.

Christian Identity has found a very effective method

to spread your ideas

and its ideology among the white population.

Basically, it consists of infiltrating

in independent churches.

When they have managed to be accepted by the church,

lead to new converts that they form.

Under US law,

and that of each of the States

where these churches are organized, the majority vote prevails.

So, in the end,

they have the majority.

They disavow the pastor,

they take control of the power, the walls, the terrain,

with bank money.

They spread not only

creating new churches,

but rather by harvesting other churches in the region.

They beat him near the bridge

and on this road.

They dragged him here.

And they took him down there, where he lost his keys,

there where the circles are on the road.

There, they lost pieces of meat...

and so on to the cemetery.

There they untied it.

They lost their heads before reaching the cemetery.

I didn't see that, but I did see the pieces of cane.