On June 7, 1998, James Byrd accepted a ride from Shawn Berry, Lawrence Russel Brewer, and John King in Jasper Texas. The three men took James to a remote location where they beat him, urinated and defecated on him. Then they chained his feet to their truck and dragged him for three miles on asphalt. James died about halfway through the ordeal when his body hit a culvert and ripped his head and arm off. The autopsy determined that James was alive and conscious right up to the point of the impact. James Byrd was a black man, that's why he was murdered, and the other three were white.
Shawn Allen Berry received a life sentence for the murder.
John King is scheduled to be executed on April 24, 2019, at 6 p.m.
Lawrence Russell Brewer was executed on September 21, 2011. His last words before the execution were "As far as any regrets, no, I have no regrets. No, I'd do it all over again, to tell you the truth."
This is the face of White Nationalism. It is not a political position, it is not free speech, it is the definition of the absolute worst form of domestic terrorism. This is what our current president is promoting by his own word and actions.