At Final Call press time, jury selection was underway for
the trial of Shawn Allen Berry, the third and final person accused of
the horrific murder of James Byrd, Jr., on a dark East Texas road. Mr.
Byrd hitched a ride with Mr. Berry and two of Mr. Berry�s friends,
but was beaten, chained to the back of pick-up truck and driven along
a road, according to prosecutors. Mr. Byrd�s mangled and decapitated
body was later found, his head had been torn from his body.
During the trial, many will rightly condemn the cowardly and
dastardly killing of Mr. Byrd, and the alleged hate that prosecutors
say drove the trio to murder him. But in truth, the hatred cited in
Mr. Byrd�s death is the fruit of a bitter tree deeply rooted in
white supremacy.
And it is those roots that allow for condemnation of the Byrd death
but justification of policies that keep Black men and Black women
disproportionately in prison and on death row, ignore the high infant
mortality rate for Black babies and the high maternal death rate for
Black mothers, skyrocketing AIDS cases without needed funding,
inferior education, violence, police brutality, scapegoating of Black
men, negative images of Black women and exploitation and interference
in Africa.
The roots of white supremacy allow for police officers to get away
with killing and brutalizing innocent people and allows prosecutors to
seek harsh penalties, public defenders to seek weak plea bargains, and
judges to ignore pleas for mercy or cries of innocence at sentencing.
Condemnation of the Byrd murder, which is the type of crime that
has brought divine retribution and God�s wrath upon America, is a
very good and necessary step. His family has been deprived of a loved
one and Black America was offered another chilling reminder that the
bad old days are still around today. America was reminded that for all
the talk, nice words, integrated commercials and TV sit-coms, just
being Black is hazardous to your health in a racist society.
But most of all, until the roots of hatred and white supremacy are
uprooted, the bitter fruit of the Byrd murder will be reproduced again
and again. Other families will share grief and Blacks will ask
"why," again and again. A tree can only bear the fruit that
it was made to yield and America�s origin was rooted in the
suffering Black people. Kind words won�t kill the roots of white
supremacy, photo ops won�t kill white supremacy, ignoring the
problem won�t kill white supremacy. Only a true look in the mirror
of America�s soul, confrontation with the ugly truth and an honest
confession of guilt and willingness to atone can kill white supremacy.
And when white supremacy dies, there were be no more bitter fruit and
no more mourning for James Byrd.
