Revolution #171, August 2, 2009
Paris, Texas
On September 16, 2008, the mangled body of 26-year-old Brandon McClelland was found on a country road outside Paris, in East Texas. Two white men were charged with murder for running over McClelland with a pickup truck and then dragging him down the road. On June 5, 2009 both men were released from prison when charges were dropped against them.
The horrible murder of Brandon McClelland brought to mind the 1998 the road-lynching of another Black man, 49-year-old James Byrd. In Jasper, another East Texas town, Byrd was beaten by 3 white racists, who then killed Byrd by chaining him to the back of a pickup truck and dragging him for 3 miles.
On July 21, about 200 people, including members of the New Black Panther Party, Nation of Islam, and others, rallied at the Paris courthouse. This was the latest in a series of protests against the dropping of the charges against the two white men. The protesters confronted a group of white supremacists who had shown up at the courthouse.
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