James Byrd Jr. - Walk for Respect

ADL and Other Civil Rights Organizations Mark Hate Crime Anniversary with Walk for Respect

Date: June 17, 2008

An array of civil rights organizations, members of the Anti-Defamation League's (ADL's) Coalition for Mutual Respect, Community of Respect™ organizations, public officials and interested citizens took a symbolic, three-mile stroll around Memorial Park to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the dragging death of James Byrd, Jr.

The Walk for Respect, coordinated by ADL, brought nearly 100 people together to mark the anniversary and rededicated themselves to fighting hatred in Byrd's name. Before the walk, James Byrd, Jr.'s sister Clara Taylor, hate crime survivor Maria Ross, ADL Regional Director Martin B. Cominsky, representatives of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), the Organization of Chinese Americans (OCA), Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG), the Institute for Interfaith Dialog (IID), and State Representative Scott Hochberg (D-Houston) talked about the impact of hate crimes on their constituents, and the importance of the hate crime law sponsored by Hochberg and named after Byrd. Father Phil Lloyd of St. Theresa Catholic Church, which hosted the news conference, also spoke about the need for everyone to fight prejudice, racism, and hatred.

On June 7, 1998, James Byrd, Jr., an African-American, was dragged to death behind a truck by three white men: John William King, Lawrence Brewer, and Shawn Berry. Two of the young men were self-avowed white supremacists, who later bragged about the murder. They dragged Byrd for three miles—a brutal assault which resulted in his gruesome death—and the city of Jasper, Texas, where the murder occurred, has never been the same.

Byrd's sister, Clara Taylor, told the crowd gathered before the walk that the crime galvanized her family in their efforts to fight hatred, and asked that participants in the walk join her family in remembering her brother, and in dedicating the rest of their lives to fighting the hatred that killed Byrd.

In addition to the Walk for Respect, ADL and its Coalition for Mutual Respect created a short service that was read in many religious institutions over the June 6-8 weekend, wrote an Op-Ed piece that appeared in the Houston Chronicle, and another of Byrd's sisters, Mylinda Washington, spoke to ADL's National Executive Committee about the impact the crime had on her family, and how ADL responded.