RESEARCH

 

Citation: Burleson, C. & Moody (2014). Sixteen Ain’t So Sweet: Longitudinal Study of Jasper Texas. Journal of the American Studies Association of Texas (45).

  

Sixteen Ain’t So Sweet: Jasper Dragging Longitudinal Study

By

Cassy Burleson, Baylor University

Mia Moody-Ramirez, Baylor University

 

Abstract

This 16-year study uses Critical Race Theory to examine how people connected to Jasper, Texas, view the long-lasting effects of the 1998 murder of James Byrd, Jr., and recent events there that include turmoil related to the suspicious death of a young Black family man. This study places Jasper residents at the core and examines the subject within the nexus of race, population, politics, and economics. In-depth, interpretive analysis is a precise tool useful in evaluating historical events when the goal is exploration of respondents’ points of view, feelings, and perspectives. Our findings indicate Jasper residents reached “interest convergence” four times: immediately following the Byrd murder in 1998 and during the three subsequent trials in 1999, after the Columbia space shuttle exploded over Jasper in 2003, and during Hurricane Rita’s aftermath in 2005. However, one murderer’s execution and three racially charged crises from 2011 on, coupled with the absence of a strong leadership team to inspire community cohesiveness, have reopened wounds and resulted in a more pronounced racial divide 16 years later than existed prior to the Byrd murder in 1998.

 

Keywords: race, framing, James Byrd, Jr.; interest convergence; critical race theory; Jasper, Texas

Acknowledgements: We wish to thank graduate assistants, Danielle Kilgo and Tonya B. Lewis, for their contributions to this article. Earlier versions of this article were presented at conferences sponsored by the American Studies Association of Texas and the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication.

 

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