Race in America: The legacy of the murder of James Byrd Jr

Warning: This video contains some upsetting scenes.

On a Saturday night in a small Texas town, three white men offered James Byrd Jr a ride home. The next morning, a little boy found Byrd’s body. He’d been beaten, chained to the back of a truck and dragged alive until he was decapitated – all because he was black.

The BBC went to Jasper, Texas to see how the brutal murder in 1998 changed the Byrd family – and the town.

Video by Angélica M Casas and Chelsea Bailey

Special thanks to KFDM News for archival material