James Byrd, Jr.
1949-1998
FROM HATE TO HEALING: THE LONG ROAD HOME
A documentary about how the murder of James Byrd, Jr.
opened the eyes of the Texas legislature to hate crime.
Watch the
Remember His Name
trailer directed by Rich Thorne
and Liz Latham.
CONTRIBUTE TO THE FILM
PURPOSE OF
"Remember His Name"
This documentary is being created as a tool that promotes education and dialogue toward ending violence and hate crime in the United States.
| PROMOTION / DISTRIBUTION |
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The video, entitled "Remember His Name," will be a tool to promote education and dialogue toward ending hate crime in America. The documentary is intended to air on national television, and will include a curriculum guide for all ages to promote discussion, training, and basic education about the subject of hate crime. This documentary also works to ensure that children and adults from all backgrounds are made aware of the issues surrounding Mr. Byrd's death, and helps viewers gain knowledge about U.S. hate crime legislation at the state and national levels. "Remember His Name" will be packaged for distribution to the global video market, first targeting public schools and libraries, universities, and social studies curriculum for all ages. We will be seeking television and film festival audiences once the documentary is completed. |
| THE EVOLUTION OF "Remember His Name" |
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"Remember His Name" documents two events: the heinous murder of James
Byrd, Jr., a 49-year-old black resident of Jasper, Texas, and the
struggle to pass the James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Act in Texas.
The story of the murder is related mainly through interviews:
Billy Rowles, Sheriff of Jasper, Guy James Gray, the District
Attorney from Jasper, Dr. Tommy Brown, the Forensic Pathologist in
Beaumont who conducted Byrd's autopsy, Sonny Cribbs, defense
attorney for convicted murderer John William King, Ronald King,
father of John William King and interviews with local residents from
Jasper, Texas and with prison officials in Huntsville. When
I first started this documentary in December 1998, my plan was to
document three recent and notable hate crimes in America:
Oumar Dia, the Mauritanian man who was shot to death at a bus
stop in Denver; Matthew Shepard, the young gay man who was beaten
and left to die while tied to a fence in Laramie, WY; and James
Byrd, Jr., the black man who was dragged to his death behind a pick
up truck by three white men who needed to kill a "nigger" or a
"Jew" for an initiation rite into their newly formed two-member
white supremacist group. I
am sad to acknowledge that since this production began, numerous
violent hate crimes that have resulted in wounding and killing many
people have occurred in the United States.
Such inexplicable outbreaks of random violence throughout
this country have caused me to refocus on the intended outcome of
this documentary. I
will pay tribute to hate-crime victims and their survivors during a
special memorial segment of this program, but concentrate the body
of the documentary on one specific hate crime: the murder of James
Byrd Jr.
As
a result of Byrd's murder, there were two attempts at passing the
James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Act in Texas.
The 1999 attempt passed in the house but failed to pass in
the senate when Governor George W. Bush was in office and running
for President. In
May of 2001, the James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Act was signed into law
by Governor Rick Perry after narrow passage in the Texas Senate.
The story of this legislation is told through interviews with
sponsors of the bill Rep. Senfronia Thompson and Senator Rodney
Ellis, as well as with numerous other activists and citizens who
mounted the campaign for the bill's passage. |
| THE TEAM |
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Lizard
Productions, founded
by documentary filmmaker and activist Liz Latham, is a Seattle based film company that produced
"We're Here To Stay", a documentary film about the History of
Hands Off Washington and the Politics of Hate in Washington State.
The film premiered at Seattle's Historic Paramount Theatre
in May of 1998 and is currently in distribution to national public
libraries and universities for their social studies collections.
This film is a "primer" for political activists and is a story
about Hands Off Washington (HOW).
To this day, the Hands Off Washington model serves as the
primary paradigm in statewide community grassroots organizing. Liz
Latham - Executive Producer and Director.
In 1998, Latham produced, directed and shot her first
documentary, "We're Here To Stay" about the history of Hands
Off Washington and the Politics of Hate in Washington State.
Latham produced a short video on Hands Off Washington
entitled Heroes Are Everywhere, for Hands Off Washington's annual
breakfast in 1996. She
was executive director, producer and host for the cable television
series Seattle Commons - It's a Park, and also programmed
a weekly television series for the Seattle Public Schools
Instructional Broadcast Center.
In addition, Latham has worked for the acclaimed Seattle
Weekly. A former
legislative aide to King County Councilmember Maggi Fimia, Latham
brings extraordinary organizational, management and political skills
to this project. An
accomplished pianist, she holds a BS in Radio, Television, and Film
from the University of Maryland.
Latham's past community/political activities include a term
as Board President of Seattle's Lesbian Resource Center,
Commissioner with the Seattle Commission for Lesbians and Gays and
as Precinct Committee Officer in Seattle's "eclectic" 43rd
District. Latham has been a campaign worker for Seattle City
Councilmember Jan Drago, Seattle Mayor Norm Rice, and for the past
King County Executive campaign of present Washington State Governor
Gary Locke. She is also
a past board member of Hands Off Washington.
She has organized numerous large events including the 1995
Washington State Democratic Annual Banquet featuring the former
Governor of Texas, Ann Richards. Seattle
Public Schools Media Alternatives Project:
Aki Kurose Middle School Academy, Brighton Elementary, and
Rainier Beach High School are currently involved in a grant which
fosters media literacy and violence prevention to at-risk youth.
The schools are under Title One, are high poverty schools and
are located in the Rainier Beach neighborhood.
All three schools have a very diverse ethnic population.
The violence prevention curriculum has been developed to
target at-risk youth to solve their problems through non-violent
means, through producing public service announcements, and
documentaries centered around violence.
Aki Kurose Middle School has a state-of-the-art television
studio and editing facilities.
They have made an in-kind donation for Latham to complete the
final edit on the documentary, and she has already begun mentoring
two Rainier Beach students as part of the after-school grants
program. These students
are gaining invaluable school-to-work experience as they assist her
with her edit and curriculum supplement planning of the James Byrd,
Jr. documentary. Latham
also serves on the Media Alternatives Project board of directors and
advises staff and students on production and promotion of their
original media projects. Students
have already won local and national awards for their work, which
include interviews with former U.S. President Bill Clinton and U.S.
Senator Patty Murray, and artist Jacob Lawrence.
The students' work has been featured on local Seattle
television stations FOX13, and KING 5. |
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Continental Airlines, Inc. is based in Houston, Texas and most graciously contributed all production crew airline transportation during the entirety of this project. The Yip Harburg Foundation was founded in the name of Yip Harburg - a nationally acclaimed theatre and film lyricist who was blacklisted during the McCarthy era. This family foundation contributes funding to documentary and film projects focusing on human rights topics and social justice issues. To date, the Yip Harburg Foundation has contributed $13,000 to the production of "Remember His Name." Representative
Senfronia Thompson is a 30-year member of the Texas State
House of Representatives and is the chief sponsor of the James Byrd
Jr. Hate Crimes Act. Her
staff member Patrick Johnson and partner Kelly "Key-Gripe"
Martino provided Latham with housing, meals and ground
transportation for her 10 trips to Austin while she documented the
legislative process, and interviewed citizens and activists. Donors
* Corporate * Foundation * In-Kind: Karrie Baas - Baas Gallery, Rockville United Methodist
Church, Doug Kamm - Bexel, Rockville United Methodist Women,
K&L Distributors, George Suyama and the George Suyama Gallery,
Christine Keff - Flying Fish Restaurant, Uncle Roy's Catering, Marco - Lush Life, University Congregational Church of Christ,
Geoff Manasse Photography, Doug Vanderhoof - Modern Media,
Gabi Clayton,
ClaytonWorks Web Design, Mercer Island United Methodist Church, Patrinell
Wright and the Total Experience Gospel Choir, Pacific Northwest
Conference - United Methodist Church, And many wonderful
individuals! |
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At the White House - by Alec Clayton, November 1, 2009 Filmmaker's focus is hate crimes - Puget Sound Business Journal, 2/28/03 (opens in a new window) School project teaches hard lessons about hate - Seattle Times, 12/19/02 (no longer on line) Press release: Aki Kurose Middle School students work with independent filmmaker and Corbis on the production of educational documentary about hate crime - 12/13/02 Remember His Name - Seattle filmmaker Liz Latham documents the killing of James Byrd, Jr. - Seattle Gay News, 4/20/01 (no longer on line) |