Human or Not

In the late 1900s, racial tension was considered by society, to be non-existent until James Byrd Jr. was murdered. In 1998, James Byrd Jr, an African American male age of 49 was kidnapped. Byrd was not kidnapped for ransom but for an outcome of death. After leaving a family gathering Byrd was manipulated into getting a ride home from three white men. The three men included John King, Shawn Berry, and Lawrence Brewer, whom “…established ties to racist organizations during previous prison terms.”(Brookfield). The men took an unexpected turn into the deserted country and began the torturing of James Byrd Junior. The men started to severely beat him, and then chained him by his ankles to the back of their pick-up truck. The three men than drove off and dragged him while conscious for three and a half miles. “The driver swerved from side to side to bounce Byrd across the road, the asphalt tore away parts of his body.”(Miller) and when slammed into a channel Byrd was beheaded. The three killers took what was left of him, threw his torso in front of a church and left.

After hearing the tragic story from one of her own, Lucille Clifton wrote the poem, “Jasper Texas 1998”, she did what she knew best and turned his story into a work of art. Clifton in all her work emphasizes endurance and strength through adversity, focusing particularly on African American experience as well as family life. Lucille Clifton traced her family's roots to the West African Kingdom of Dahomey, now the Republic of Benin. Growing up she was told by her mother, "Be proud, you're from Dahomey women!”. She cites as one of her ancestors the first black woman to be "legally hanged" for manslaughter in the state of Kentucky during the time of Slavery in the United...

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... hate towards another race but because she stands for minorities resistance of oppression and tries to find a way to create a bond for all people.

Clifton demonstrates that there is a quiet struggle between the communities but there is a solution for any underlying issues that have failed to be resolved. All of Clifton’s work define who she is and what she stands for undeniably, whether for justice or unfair treatment. She recognizes it is important to discuss issues that may be hard to discuss in a public setting but need to addressed for the sake of humanity. It is only up to the people who fail to come to realization of reality that we are in a society and need to become one, in order to be successful in the future. Being able to identify that people should function as a whole will dramatically reduce the violence and more importantly the need to be segregated.