On a dark summer night in East Texas in June 1998, a brutal crime unfolded that would horrify the United States and become one of the most infamous hate crimes in modern American history. The victim was James Byrd Jr., a 49-year-old Black man from the small town of Jasper, Texas. Friendly, known around town, and described by family as gentle and sociable, Byrd had no idea that accepting a ride from three strangers would end in unimaginable violence. The murder was so savage t