Johnny Baker
On Sept. 6, 2008, 24 year old Brandon McCelland was dragged to death under a pickup truck in Paris, TX. Ten years after James Byrd Jr. was killed in Jasper, TX by three white men. The men dragged his body two miles down a back road until he was beheaded. His body left a brown stain eched in that road. America the home of the free and the brave has a race problem.
We have a black President for the first time in history and his name is Barack Obama. This book deals with the issue of being black in Jasper, Texas. This book will open your eyes and it will touch your heart. The people of Jasper,TX kept it together and called for prayer.
The preachers prayed and taught forgiveness to their congregations. Hate was in the air and instead of revenge,guns, and violence. we prayed together. Now, Dec. 10, 2008 and Paris, TX has a problem with the same type of crime. Was the crime a hate crime or not is the question. Brandon was killed by his two white friends on a late night beer run. James Byrd Jr. was killed by three men that he didn't know. Both men are dead and their families are dealing with the race issue.
The stories are true and they will sometimes make you want to cry. The fact that some things are still going on in America the home of the free. Every man and woman in America should read this book to get an understanding on what really happened in Jasper, TX. It was uncovered by God for us to see racism at it’s worst. Read it and it will change your life forever. It will change the way you look at other races.
The author of this book is a young black man who has loved Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. since he was a youth. He is a writer that writes his thoughts on paper and wishes America would become a non-racist world. He grew up in a small town that was predominantly white and he was treated well most of the time by those in his town. He became a minister in 1984 shortly after he graduated from high school. He married his wife of 22 years and they have two daughters. He attended Jarvis Christian College in Hawkins, TX and started a career in the field of education. He graduated from college in 1994 and became the head baseball coach for the Big Sandy Wildcats in Big Sandy, Texas. He began coaching boys and girls’ basketball, football for the Wildcats. He worked in the elementary school teaching science and social studies to sixth grade students. He taught school for three years in Big Sandy,TX. During his second year of teaching, he opened his own Bar-B-Que Restaurant in the downtown area.
It was near the only traffic light in town. He hired about six of his students, players, and family members to open the restaurant. There he faced racism at his business in downtown Big Sandy, TX. In the summer of 1997, he moved out the area to Jasper, TX to teach 4th grade at Rowe Elementary School. While in Jasper, he started a church out of his apartment called Spiritual Temple Powerhouse C.O.G.I.C. It later grew to over 100 members. He is presently teaching and coaching at Palestine Middle School in Palestine, TX, . He pastors the Spiritual Temple Church of God in Christ in Frankston, TX.
William King then hit James Byrd with something and Brewer helped him hit and kick Mr. Byrd while he was on the ground helpless against the two younger men. Berry was afraid so he ran down the road and left the two men with Byrd and his truck.
He did not want to be a part of the beating of Mr. Byrd a man he saw around town walking. King and Brewer took Berry's log chain off the back of his truck and tied it around Byrd's ankles. Next, they hooked the chain to the back of the truck and ran and jumped in the truck and started to drive up the road to pick up Berry.
Jasper was the same way when we prayed and walked the streets with our white brother and sisters. The ministers played a great role when we began to preach forgiveness in our churches. There were over 50 churches in the city of Jasper. The prayer vigils were very important at the start of everything.
This brought blacks and whites together at a crucial time. Whites ministers and blacks ministers walked and sang those old gospel songs.We went from finding a man, minus the head and right arm to holding hands with whites and praying with them.
