Born on May 2, 1949, in Beaumont, Texas to Stella and James Byrd, Sr., Byrd was one of eight children. He was raised in Jasper, an East Texas town with a history of racial strife. The Greater New Bethel Baptist Church was a central part of the family’s life. James, Sr., was a deacon and Stella taught Sunday School. James, Jr. excelled in school but did not attend college. Shortly after graduating from high school, he married and had three children.
Hundreds of grievers gathered in and outside the funeral home on the day Byrd’s family laid him to rest. Among the mourners were Kweisi Mfume, the President of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), basketball legend Dennis Rodman who covered the cost of Byrd’s funeral and made a donation to the family, and boxing promoter Don King who provided $100,000 to Byrd’s family for living expenses.
Terry Anne Scott. “James Byrd, Jr. (1949-1998) • BlackPast.” BlackPast, 12 Oct. 2017, www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/byrd-jr-james-1949-1998/.
I chose to make the focus of my Turner Diaries post about Mr. James Byrd Jr, whose lynching was partly the result of a group of barely human but entirely human men, with opinions fueled and almost justified by information such as the Turner Diaries. I didn’t even want to talk about his lynching, I don’t think I can. So instead I’ll leave the summary of his life there, something that was hard to find within itself because of how stained the Byrd family’s name is with these three men’s inhuman act.
It is easy to say that these ideals are not present in this society, or that access to these ideals is not a threat to the safety of the oppressed subjects these texts choose to focus on. But this is not the case. The Turner Diaries, and resources like it, fuel white supremacy, validate white supremacy, and give permission for these sick individuals and groups to lash out against the harmless, innocent, fathers, husbands, brothers, friends, human beings such as James Byrd Jr, (who was described as witty, the life of the party, and free-spirited). This information is dangerous, it’s violent, it goes against human morality. I know this post is all over the place, but I’ve never been so deeply disturbed by something before in my life. I can’t really handle writing more, but I’m angry I had to read this, I’m angry it’s so easy for rothers to read it, I’m angry that it’s so absolutely similar to the capital raid that took place on January 6th of 2021. It’s sick, America is sick, and my people are suffering.