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DERIC'S DEBATE: Racial Injustice in Paris, Texas: My letter to the U.S. Atty. General
- By Deric Muhammad
- Published 06/23/2009
- Editorial and Opinion
- Unrated
Deric Muhammad
Deric Muhammad is a Houston-based community activist who blogs at http://www.askbroderic.blogspot.com.
Dear Attorney General Holder:
I pray this letter reaches you in the best of health and spirits.
I write this letter in deep contemplative humility and with deep concern for the residents of Paris, Texas. In September 2008, the body of 24-year-old Brandon McClelland was found on a rural road near Paris. Brandon, a Black man, was last seen with two White males, Shannon Finley and Charles Crostley.
According to law enforcement authorities, his body had been dragged at least 70 feet and was dismembered, mangled and torn to pieces. This dragging death created a firestorm of outrage throughout the south, from Blacks, Whites, Hispanics and many others. It clearly appeared to by a lynching and a “copy cat” crime of the 1998 dragging death of James Byrd in Jasper, Texas.
After pressure from the McClelland family and community organizing efforts, the local District Attorney “tapped” a “special prosecutor” to come in and try the case. Trial was set for late July when a gravel truck driver mysteriously appeared and signed a sworn affidavit stating that he “may have” run over “something” the night Brandon was murdered. The “special prosecutor” then filed a motion to dismiss the case citing a lack of evidence. Crostley and Finley were set free within hours.
For the sake of expediency, I will not go into the intimate specific details of the case. I am well aware of the capability of your office to obtain this information. But I am writing this letter to ask that the authority of your good office be marshaled to thoroughly investigate this and other injustices in Paris, Texas. I am not a resident of Paris. I live in Houston, Texas. But, Dr. Martin Luther King is often quoted having said “injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” In your speech during Black History month at the Department of Justice, you respectfully called for honest dialogue about race relations in America.
You stated that we in the United States must confront our racial past and our racial present. In my genuine opinion, Paris is a small town in Texas where the racial present doesn’t look much different than the racial past.
Your intervention into this affair is needed desperately. This letter is a request for an independent federal investigation into the justice system in Lamar County and the case of Brandon McClelland. It is also a request that you come to Paris, Texas and talk to the residents about their concerns. In my opinion, injustice is the albatross around the neck of race relations in this country. If we can improve race relations in Paris, Texas there is a chance of improving race relations anywhere.
Thank you and may God bless you with success in the oversight of justice.
Humbly Submitted,
Deric C. Muhammad
askbrotherderic@yahoo.com
To read more about the dragging death of Brandon McClelland visit our online edition at www.aframnews.com.
I pray this letter reaches you in the best of health and spirits.
I write this letter in deep contemplative humility and with deep concern for the residents of Paris, Texas. In September 2008, the body of 24-year-old Brandon McClelland was found on a rural road near Paris. Brandon, a Black man, was last seen with two White males, Shannon Finley and Charles Crostley.
According to law enforcement authorities, his body had been dragged at least 70 feet and was dismembered, mangled and torn to pieces. This dragging death created a firestorm of outrage throughout the south, from Blacks, Whites, Hispanics and many others. It clearly appeared to by a lynching and a “copy cat” crime of the 1998 dragging death of James Byrd in Jasper, Texas.
After pressure from the McClelland family and community organizing efforts, the local District Attorney “tapped” a “special prosecutor” to come in and try the case. Trial was set for late July when a gravel truck driver mysteriously appeared and signed a sworn affidavit stating that he “may have” run over “something” the night Brandon was murdered. The “special prosecutor” then filed a motion to dismiss the case citing a lack of evidence. Crostley and Finley were set free within hours.
For the sake of expediency, I will not go into the intimate specific details of the case. I am well aware of the capability of your office to obtain this information. But I am writing this letter to ask that the authority of your good office be marshaled to thoroughly investigate this and other injustices in Paris, Texas. I am not a resident of Paris. I live in Houston, Texas. But, Dr. Martin Luther King is often quoted having said “injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” In your speech during Black History month at the Department of Justice, you respectfully called for honest dialogue about race relations in America.
You stated that we in the United States must confront our racial past and our racial present. In my genuine opinion, Paris is a small town in Texas where the racial present doesn’t look much different than the racial past.
Your intervention into this affair is needed desperately. This letter is a request for an independent federal investigation into the justice system in Lamar County and the case of Brandon McClelland. It is also a request that you come to Paris, Texas and talk to the residents about their concerns. In my opinion, injustice is the albatross around the neck of race relations in this country. If we can improve race relations in Paris, Texas there is a chance of improving race relations anywhere.
Thank you and may God bless you with success in the oversight of justice.
Humbly Submitted,
Deric C. Muhammad
askbrotherderic@yahoo.com
To read more about the dragging death of Brandon McClelland visit our online edition at www.aframnews.com.