Whatever happened to Billy Ray Johnson? He used to be a familiar face around town: the middle-aged and mentally challenged black man who was always walking the back roads of Linden.
On a September night in 2003, he was picked up and driven to a pasture party where four young white men gave him beer and told him to dance. They laughed and called him a nigger. Then one of them beat Billy Ray into unconsciousness. Afterward, his body was dumped on the side of a country road.
Johnson nearly died.
The collective shoulder shrug of Linden’s residents drew national outrage. “Old South racism lives in Texas town,” read one headline in the Chicago Tribune.
High-powered civil rights lawyer Morris Dees took up Johnson’s case, and in April 2007, a civil jury awarded a $9 million verdict. “After the case was over, they sat in the jury box and talked about how it had changed the community and the whole region,” Dees said in a recent phone interview.
“They felt the attention brought on the case by the news media was making their town look bad, but when they saw the facts brought out, they showed the nation they weren’t racially biased or bigoted and they could do justice.”
With the trial’s conclusion, the media glare turned elsewhere, and life as usual returned to most of Linden’s 2,100 residents. But Johnson’s story didn’t end there. The fight for his money was only beginning.
4,949 responses to “The ballad of Billy Ray”
Nice i really enjoyed reading your blogs. Keep on posting. Thanks
A great post without any doubt.
A great post without any doubt.
In case you are considering shopping for real property in the Playa del Carmen – Tulum space, considered one of many nice choices you would possibly consider is shopping for in a resort.
Simply accessible by road and metro, this hotel in Nanjing street is an ideal base resulting from its proximity to all the occurring locations in the city.
Before you should use a special attack although, it’s essential to ensure that your Pokemon?? special meter is full (the meter is located beneath the well being bar).
However in films where cars play an necessary function, we often see them in the way in which the director would like them portrayed.
If you answer just a few of our questions, your responses will inform us which part of the United Kingdom you hail from!
It’s also good for dog-friendly holidays, Dorset and its heritage providing an inviting environment for you and your pet to discover.
A great post without any doubt.
Attractive section of content. I just stumbled upon your blog and in accession capital to assert that I get actually enjoyed account your blog posts. Anyway I will be subscribing to your augment and even I achievement you access consistently quickly.
A great post without any doubt.
Thank you for sharing indeed great looking !
Thank you for sharing indeed great looking !
That includes a mixture of Galaga-esque ship fight and 2D platforming levels, Velocity 2X is, at its name implies, a recreation focused on velocity.
They’ll go together with any piece of furniture, including the dining table.
A great post without any doubt.
Thank you so much for sharing this wonderful post with us.
In the flex plan, foods are assigned a sure number of factors based on their calorie rely, the number of fat grams they include, and their fiber content material.
Cotton is pure cellulose, a naturally occurring polymer.
In case you lose your job and gather state or federal unemployment compensation for not less than 12 consecutive weeks, you can use IRA cash to cowl your medical insurance coverage premiums penalty-free.
You can allow or disable them one at a time, modify or install system drivers, and even direct Home windows to disregard units that aren’t working correctly.
Due to this fact, corporations and their bankers spend a number of time contemplating the IPO price.
Otherwise, expansion can be a big problem but franchising makes it easy.
While black remains the muse, incorporating shades of pink, purple, and blue can add a captivating touch to your look.
The forex options trading works for twenty four hours for seven hours in the day for the new binary affiliate and he has so much to gain from this market.
Look around the house for objects your cats may climb on or stroll via, like laundry baskets, hula hoops, bins and stacks of books.
Nice i really enjoyed reading your blogs. Keep on posting. Thanks
The key of the budget is surely an overemphasis on things related to the middle class in one way or the other.
We’ve got specialised printing tools and make use of high-quality edible ink that permits us to achieve good photos on the cakes.
Sweet blog! I found it while searching on Yahoo News. Do you have any suggestions on how to get listed in Yahoo News? I’ve been trying for a while but I never seem to get there! Many thanks|
The Goophone Smart Watch is a wholly independent device; that is, it actually has built-in antennas so that you can use it to make calls sans your smartphone.
Saved Films allows you to save lots of sport data, which you then can replay at a later time.
Valuable info. Lucky me I found your website by accident, and I am shocked why this accident did not happened earlier! I bookmarked it.
hey there and thank you for your information ? I have certainly picked up something new from right here. I did however expertise a few technical points using this web site, since I experienced to reload the website many times previous to I could get it to load correctly. I had been wondering if your web hosting is OK? Not that I am complaining, but sluggish loading instances times will often affect your placement in google and can damage your high quality score if advertising and marketing with Adwords. Well I?m adding this RSS to my email and could look out for a lot more of your respective exciting content. Ensure that you update this again soon..
Transfer vhs tapes
times-standard.com
I simply could not depart your site prior to suggesting that I extremely loved the usual info a person supply on your guests? Is gonna be again frequently in order to check out new posts|
Very good information. Lucky me I discovered your site by accident (stumbleupon). I’ve bookmarked it for later!|
Transfer vhs tapes
Transfer vhs tapes
The world is just not always a logical place.
Few things are less fun than figuring out one’s taxes.
If that sounds like you, then take a look at her feed for extra.
Town’s designation as a global Darkish Sky Metropolis was on October 24, 2001, by the International Dark-Sky Affiliation, after a proposal by the Flagstaff Darkish Skies Coalition to start the recognition program.
21 February 2, 1945 Malta Floriana Attended Malta Convention with Prime Minister Winston Churchill.
It is perfect time to make a few plans for the longer term and it is time to be happy. I have read this put up and if I may just I desire to suggest you some fascinating things or tips. Maybe you can write next articles regarding this article. I desire to read more issues approximately it!
I’m really enjoying the design and layout of your website. It’s a very easy on the eyes which makes it much more pleasant for me to come here and visit more often. Did you hire out a designer to create your theme? Excellent work!
you’re in reality a good webmaster. The web site loading pace is amazing. It sort of feels that you are doing any distinctive trick. In addition, The contents are masterpiece. you’ve performed a wonderful process in this topic!
It started out with only one race a 12 months, but added a second date in 1997.