[News] James Byrd Tribute - Snday 6/22 SF

[Anti-Imperialist News]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Brutal Jasper Texas, Hate Crime
Remembered Ten Years Later in San Francisco

Herbst Theatre Event Honors James Byrd Jr., Who Was Chained To a 
Truck and Dragged Three Miles to His Death by Three White 
Supremacists in the Outskirts of Jasper, Texas, on June 7, 1998

CONTACT:  Laurie Huff, 925-943-6388, huff.laurie at gmail.com
                          Lani Silver, 415-485-4208 byrdproject at aol.com


WHAT:    The 10th Anniversary Tribute to James Byrd Jr.
                     Working Together to Reduce Racism

WHEN:  2 p.m. Sunday, June 22

WHERE:  Herbst Theatre, 401 Van Ness Ave., San Francisco

WHAT:  Two of James Byrd Jr.'s sisters, Clara Byrd Taylor and Louvon 
Byrd Harris, and his niece, Tiffany Taylor, will join in a tribute to 
Byrd.  The former Sheriff of Jasper County, Billy Rowles, will join 
us.  More than a dozen well-known Bay Area authors, politicians and 
civic leaders will give short tributes to Byrd and his family, 
leading the audience in a discussion about how racism affects each of 
us and our community.

Speakers include: San Francisco Public Defender Jeff Adachi; author 
Susan Griffin; dancer Justin Flores; Danish Holocaust rescuer Knud 
Dyby; performer Rhodessa Jones; San Francisco Supervisor Jake 
McGoldrick, San Francisco Board of Education member Eric Mar; Bill 
Hoskins, Executive Director, African American Historical and Cultural 
Society; Oakland Post Publisher Paul Cobb; Rabbi Michael Lerner; Donn 
Harris, Executive Director, Oakland School for the Arts; James Bell, 
Executive Director, W. Haywood Burns Institute; longshoreman and 
minister, the Rev. Ted Frazier; Toni Gill, Dean, June Jordan High 
School; defense attorney and comedian Aundre Herron; Willie Ratcliff, 
Editor, San Francisco Bayview; Jessica Juarez, Program Director, 
James Byrd Jr. Racism Oral History Project;  China Galland, author of 
Love Cemetary, Unburying the Secret History of Slaves and Martin G. 
Reynolds, Editor, Oakland Tribune.

Performances by: Linda Tillery and the Cultural Heritage Choir and 
music legend Bill Spooner.

TICKETS: $10, $20 and $35 - City Box Office (415-392-4400 or 
www.cityboxoffice.com).

SPONSOR: The San Francisco-based James Byrd Jr. Racism Oral History 
Project, a project of the Houston-based Byrd Foundation for Racial 
Healing, has conducted approximately 2,600 oral histories on racism 
in America. Project Director Lani Silver says the tribute will 
acknowledge how far we have come and how far we have to go to 
eliminate racism in our communities. "What happened to James Byrd Jr. 
must never be forgotten," Silver said. "To ensure this does not 
happen again, our community needs to engage in the issue of racism 
and share their experiences." Clara Byrd Taylor, the President of the 
Byrd Foundation for Racial Healing said, "It's wonderful to feel the 
outpouring of love and concern from the Bay Area."

Co-Sponsors: ACLU of Northern California, Adopt International, 
African American Historical and Cultural Society, American Friends 
Service Committee, Burmese American Democratic Alliance, Equal Rights 
Advocates, Freedom Archives, Equal Justice Society, Facing History 
and Ourselves, Global Exchange, Holocaust Center of Northern 
California, Dolores Huerta Foundation, Hunters Point Family, Japanese 
American Citizens League, Japanese American Historical Society, 
Justice Matters, National Center for Lesbian Rights,  National 
Council of Negro Women (Golden Gate), United Farm Workers of America, 
Women's Building,  Women's Intercultural Network and Youth 
Speaks.  Interfaith Co-Sponsors:  First Baptist Church, Grace 
Tabernacle Community Church, Islamic Society of San Francisco, 
Network of Spiritual Progressives, Congregation Sha'ar Zahav, Temple 
Beth Israel and Voice of Pentecost Church.  Media Co-Sponsors: Asian 
Week, Bay Area Black Journalists Association, El Tecolote, Hokubei 
Mainichi, Robert C. Maynard Institute for Journalism Education, 
Oakland Post, Oakland Tribune, Radio Bilingue, San Francisco Bay 
Guardian, San Francisco Bay View, Sun Reporter, Tikkun and the 
Society of Professional Journalists (Northern California).

Other National Tributes: The San Francisco event follows two programs 
in Texas. On June 2 in Houston, the Center for Healing Racism will 
sponsor "Nooses, A History of Lynching, From Trees to Trucks" at 7 
p.m. at the Cullen Oaks Community Center, 4600 Cullen Blvd. The event 
is co-sponsored by the Byrd Foundation for Racial Healing, the Byrd 
family and the James Byrd Jr. Racism Oral History Project, a project 
of the Byrd Foundation for Racial Healing. On June 7 in Jasper, 
Texas, exactly ten years after Byrd was murdered, a program titled 
"Make a Difference" will take place at the James Byrd Jr. Memorial Park.

MEDIA NOTE: Byrd family members are available for phone interviews 
prior to the event and will be in San Francisco from June 21 and June 
26. To reach Clara Byrd Taylor, call the Byrd Foundation for Racial 
Healing at 888-654-6414. Lani Silver may be reached at 415-485-4208 
or byrdproject at aol.com. Additional information about the work of the 
James Byrd Jr. Racism Oral History Project is available at www.lanisilver.com.

PHOTOGRAPHS: Byrd photographs available upon request.








Freedom Archives
522 Valencia Street
San Francisco, CA 94110

415 863-9977

www.Freedomarchives.org  
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