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Would you like to inspect the original subtitles? These are the user uploaded subtitles that are being translated: 1 00:00:08,676 --> 00:00:11,376 Someone has taken a young man hung him in a tree. 2 00:00:12,443 --> 00:00:13,243 Who would do something this hideous? 3 00:00:15,143 --> 00:00:17,509 Michael Donald was an innocent, good Samaritan, not a thug. 4 00:00:19,443 --> 00:00:20,643 The crime scene was in the same block 5 00:00:22,276 --> 00:00:24,743 where this group of Klan lived. What better place to start? 6 00:00:26,576 --> 00:00:27,743 The Mobile Police Department just didn't want to believe 7 00:00:29,276 --> 00:00:31,743 that Mobile would still have Klan in it, but they did. 8 00:00:33,176 --> 00:00:34,176 We felt the cops and Klan were working hand-in-hand. 9 00:00:35,443 --> 00:00:36,543 Ain't gonna tolerate this. Thomas Figures, 10 00:00:38,109 --> 00:00:39,209 he's in a position to push and nudge and make sure 11 00:00:40,576 --> 00:00:42,076 that this case does not rest from a criminal standpoint. 12 00:00:43,476 --> 00:00:45,643 I stuck to the Klansmen. The more I asked questions, 13 00:00:46,809 --> 00:00:47,643 the more they talked. 14 00:00:49,076 --> 00:00:51,576 Tiger Knowles finally cracked, 15 00:00:52,409 --> 00:00:54,343 and he names Henry Hays 16 00:00:55,476 --> 00:00:57,043 Gotcha. Got 'em, man, got 'em. 17 00:00:58,143 --> 00:00:58,809 When we think about Michael Donald, 18 00:01:00,276 --> 00:01:02,543 how long will it take for his family to get justice? 19 00:01:04,109 --> 00:01:06,243 How many years? How many decades? How much time? 20 00:01:06,743 --> 00:01:08,143 [dramatic music] 21 00:01:10,609 --> 00:01:11,276 [newsreader] The body of a Black man 22 00:01:12,343 --> 00:01:13,143 has been found hanging from a tree 23 00:01:14,309 --> 00:01:15,343 -in Mobile, Alabama. -Lynching is a tool 24 00:01:16,376 --> 00:01:18,209 to control and oppress Black people. 25 00:01:19,476 --> 00:01:22,343 Racialized violence is as old as the Constitution. 26 00:01:23,609 --> 00:01:24,576 Klans are not running around with white sheets 27 00:01:26,076 --> 00:01:26,643 over their head, but it's still happening. 28 00:01:27,809 --> 00:01:29,376 Today, people are horrified of the Police. 29 00:01:30,176 --> 00:01:30,709 [crowds chanting] 30 00:01:31,643 --> 00:01:32,309 It's the modern-day lynching. 31 00:01:32,809 --> 00:01:34,243 [dramatic music] 32 00:01:35,276 --> 00:01:36,776 What are we going to do about it? 33 00:01:37,776 --> 00:01:39,743 We move forward with people deciding, 34 00:01:41,176 --> 00:01:43,309 I'm bold enough, and I'm gonna make it change. 35 00:01:44,576 --> 00:01:47,076 Beulah Mae Donald took on one of the most violent 36 00:01:48,309 --> 00:01:50,276 criminal organizations in the United States. 37 00:01:51,443 --> 00:01:54,043 This is an incredible story of courage. 38 00:01:59,243 --> 00:02:00,409 [slide projector clicking] 39 00:02:01,576 --> 00:02:03,409 When Beulah Mae Donald discovers that her son 40 00:02:04,443 --> 00:02:06,076 has been hung, strangled and beaten, 41 00:02:08,409 --> 00:02:12,609 she seeks to hold the killers of her child accountable. 42 00:02:14,076 --> 00:02:15,076 The stakes are high, but the only way to get justice, 43 00:02:17,209 --> 00:02:20,776 is to pursue the killers in criminal court. 44 00:02:22,143 --> 00:02:22,676 [slide projector clicking] 45 00:02:25,543 --> 00:02:26,176 I don't know all the negotiations 46 00:02:27,409 --> 00:02:28,176 that were involved. I trusted a lawyer, 47 00:02:28,809 --> 00:02:30,109 who sold me out, 48 00:02:32,109 --> 00:02:34,476 and I ended up getting a plea deal. 49 00:02:35,776 --> 00:02:36,609 It was a hard decision. 50 00:02:38,076 --> 00:02:39,609 There were threats on my life. Everybody hated me. 51 00:02:41,209 --> 00:02:42,043 Everybody hated me. 52 00:02:43,409 --> 00:02:44,743 At that point, we reached an agreement 53 00:02:45,576 --> 00:02:47,476 with Jeff Sessions. 54 00:02:48,309 --> 00:02:49,276 And the agreement was, 55 00:02:50,443 --> 00:02:52,743 since Tiger had incriminated Henry Hays, 56 00:02:54,109 --> 00:02:55,443 Tiger would be allowed to plead guilty 57 00:02:56,709 --> 00:02:59,476 to a civil rights violation in the federal system, 58 00:03:01,143 --> 00:03:03,143 and was to have been sentenced to a life term. 59 00:03:04,076 --> 00:03:06,609 And then we would try Henry 60 00:03:07,709 --> 00:03:10,243 in state court for capital murder. 61 00:03:12,176 --> 00:03:12,776 Promises were made to Tiger Knowles 62 00:03:14,043 --> 00:03:15,543 for his cooperation, and he knew 63 00:03:16,709 --> 00:03:18,776 that he was a dead man in state prison. 64 00:03:20,309 --> 00:03:20,776 If he got convicted in the state court of anything, 65 00:03:22,076 --> 00:03:22,543 and he went to prison in Alabama, 66 00:03:23,343 --> 00:03:24,476 he was done for. 67 00:03:25,409 --> 00:03:26,476 [slide projector clicking] 68 00:03:27,676 --> 00:03:31,043 I'm not a psychologist, but it's my opinion, 69 00:03:32,343 --> 00:03:35,643 Henry murdered Michael Donald to please his father. 70 00:03:36,343 --> 00:03:37,143 [urgent music] 71 00:03:39,509 --> 00:03:43,043 Tiger Knowles and Hays were the product of the people, 72 00:03:44,243 --> 00:03:45,709 and the organization, they associated with. 73 00:03:47,109 --> 00:03:48,676 They wanted to please Bennie Jack Hays. 74 00:03:49,743 --> 00:03:51,543 They wanted to make him understand 75 00:03:53,109 --> 00:03:54,676 that they would do whatever it takes to further the Klan. 76 00:03:56,043 --> 00:03:56,776 It seemed to me that Bennie Jack Hays 77 00:03:58,143 --> 00:03:59,576 had control over whatever they did. 78 00:04:00,776 --> 00:04:02,176 He could have said, "Look, I don't want you 79 00:04:03,543 --> 00:04:05,143 to go out and do anything." I don't think they would have. 80 00:04:07,143 --> 00:04:08,643 They did it with his blessing. 81 00:04:09,609 --> 00:04:11,676 Bennie Hays was a tyrant, 82 00:04:13,276 --> 00:04:14,809 and Henry was deathly afraid of him. 83 00:04:16,443 --> 00:04:19,376 But Henry always tried to please his father. 84 00:04:20,643 --> 00:04:21,176 And it just never seemed to be good enough. 85 00:04:23,309 --> 00:04:25,776 Get it off me, son of a bitch. Get it off. 86 00:04:30,109 --> 00:04:31,276 Mr. Hays probably told him, "We can do this 87 00:04:32,376 --> 00:04:33,543 and nothing will be done to us." 88 00:04:34,709 --> 00:04:36,776 I just really believe, because, typically, 89 00:04:37,509 --> 00:04:38,576 in the south, 90 00:04:40,376 --> 00:04:40,609 white people think they can do things 91 00:04:41,776 --> 00:04:42,409 and nothing will be done to them. 92 00:04:44,309 --> 00:04:45,643 And I think he convinced him, if you do this, 93 00:04:47,109 --> 00:04:47,576 oh, they'll never find out that you done it. 94 00:04:48,509 --> 00:04:49,476 Most people that do crimes, 95 00:04:51,076 --> 00:04:53,209 they feel like they will never get caught. 96 00:04:55,176 --> 00:04:56,743 In the history of the State of Alabama, 97 00:04:57,543 --> 00:04:59,343 only one white man 98 00:05:00,409 --> 00:05:02,643 had ever been sentenced to death 99 00:05:03,676 --> 00:05:05,243 for the murder of a Black person. 100 00:05:06,543 --> 00:05:08,109 The most critical factor 101 00:05:09,376 --> 00:05:14,109 was to create faith in the Black community 102 00:05:14,809 --> 00:05:17,309 that local law enforcement 103 00:05:18,276 --> 00:05:21,809 had both the will and the skill 104 00:05:23,376 --> 00:05:27,609 to prosecute a white man for murdering a Black man. 105 00:05:28,776 --> 00:05:31,776 If we were successful, it would demonstrate 106 00:05:32,809 --> 00:05:35,109 that the life of a Black person 107 00:05:36,443 --> 00:05:41,343 mattered as much as the life of a white person. 108 00:05:42,543 --> 00:05:46,743 So this is Black Lives Matter in 1983. 109 00:05:47,676 --> 00:05:48,643 [slide projector clicking] 110 00:05:50,209 --> 00:05:52,243 When you look at Michael Donald and the fact that his mother, 111 00:05:54,376 --> 00:05:56,143 Beulah Mae Donald had to essentially say, 112 00:05:57,176 --> 00:05:58,476 "Michael Donald's life mattered." 113 00:05:59,543 --> 00:06:01,143 He was Black and his life mattered. 114 00:06:02,043 --> 00:06:02,443 [slide projector clicking] 115 00:06:03,809 --> 00:06:05,343 [crowd chanting] 116 00:06:09,576 --> 00:06:12,243 The moral anthem and political cry, Black Lives Matter, 117 00:06:13,509 --> 00:06:16,676 came into being in the wake of Treyvon Martin's death. 118 00:06:17,609 --> 00:06:19,409 [slide projector clicking] 119 00:06:19,409 --> 00:06:22,709 When it came to Emmett Till, back in 1955, 120 00:06:23,609 --> 00:06:24,276 oh behalf of a 14-year-old boy, 121 00:06:26,409 --> 00:06:30,476 Mamie Till had to say his Black life mattered. 122 00:06:31,743 --> 00:06:34,476 In the case of the 16th Street Baptist Church bombings, 123 00:06:35,609 --> 00:06:37,676 for decades, on behalf of four little girls, 124 00:06:38,743 --> 00:06:39,776 and a fifth girl, who was maimed, 125 00:06:41,343 --> 00:06:46,643 we were literally saying, "Black girls' lives matter." 126 00:06:48,176 --> 00:06:49,509 Early '80s, there was not a sense of security 127 00:06:50,576 --> 00:06:51,709 that history would not repeat itself. 128 00:06:52,809 --> 00:06:54,309 We'd seen the Klan, numerous times, 129 00:06:55,209 --> 00:06:56,343 get away with lynchings, 130 00:06:57,743 --> 00:06:59,343 get away with brazen acts of violence against Blacks, 131 00:07:00,509 --> 00:07:01,076 to which there were no consequences. 132 00:07:01,776 --> 00:07:02,543 No-one was held accountable. 133 00:07:06,643 --> 00:07:07,609 [handcuffs clicking shut] 134 00:07:08,776 --> 00:07:09,376 [newsreader] Henry Hays is the Klansman 135 00:07:10,576 --> 00:07:11,409 who is charged with killing Michael Donald, 136 00:07:12,676 --> 00:07:13,609 then hanging the Black youth's body from a tree, 137 00:07:15,109 --> 00:07:16,443 near downtown Mobile, two-and-a-half years ago. 138 00:07:17,609 --> 00:07:19,809 He was arrested, and per the agreement, 139 00:07:21,176 --> 00:07:23,243 he was turned over to Chris Galanos. 140 00:07:24,576 --> 00:07:26,443 He wanted a capital murder conviction. 141 00:07:27,709 --> 00:07:29,243 He wanted Henry Hays to get the electric chair. 142 00:07:30,509 --> 00:07:31,143 In order to get a capital murder conviction, 143 00:07:32,343 --> 00:07:33,143 we're gonna need Tiger Knowles to show 144 00:07:34,076 --> 00:07:35,043 just how vicious this was. 145 00:07:35,776 --> 00:07:37,043 [slide projector clicking] 146 00:07:38,343 --> 00:07:41,209 Tiger was put in a prison out on the west coast, 147 00:07:42,309 --> 00:07:43,376 under a concealed name, and so forth. 148 00:07:44,276 --> 00:07:45,476 So Chris and I flew out there. 149 00:07:47,409 --> 00:07:50,376 In October of 1983, 150 00:07:51,543 --> 00:07:54,643 we interviewed Tiger together 151 00:07:55,809 --> 00:07:59,343 and I was forceful, but not abusive. 152 00:08:00,143 --> 00:08:02,476 I was very direct, 153 00:08:03,409 --> 00:08:06,776 and I was painfully candid. 154 00:08:08,143 --> 00:08:11,076 I was the one that told him, "In that cell, 155 00:08:12,676 --> 00:08:13,443 you've got an agreement with the federal government. 156 00:08:14,643 --> 00:08:17,576 But if you fail to tell the whole truth, 157 00:08:19,076 --> 00:08:23,076 it does not preclude prosecution by the state. 158 00:08:24,743 --> 00:08:28,176 If successful, we'll put you in the electric chair. 159 00:08:29,743 --> 00:08:32,143 And, sport, you ain't told me the whole truth." 160 00:08:32,643 --> 00:08:34,043 [dramatic music] 161 00:08:42,043 --> 00:08:42,443 [slide projector clicking] 162 00:08:45,709 --> 00:08:48,676 I was the one that told him, "In that cell. 163 00:08:50,509 --> 00:08:53,443 Today is the day, and it is your call. 164 00:08:54,376 --> 00:08:55,543 You can either tell it all, 165 00:08:56,643 --> 00:08:58,343 or I'm going to present your case 166 00:08:59,476 --> 00:09:01,643 to a grand jury when I get back to Alabama." 167 00:09:02,476 --> 00:09:05,076 I just could not fathom 168 00:09:05,709 --> 00:09:09,276 why somebody would kill 169 00:09:10,209 --> 00:09:12,476 and hang someone from a tree. 170 00:09:15,476 --> 00:09:19,043 The motive for the murder of Michael Donald 171 00:09:20,343 --> 00:09:23,809 was not known until Tiger made the connection 172 00:09:24,743 --> 00:09:26,476 between the Anderson Trial 173 00:09:27,609 --> 00:09:31,209 and the killing of Michael Donald. 174 00:09:32,609 --> 00:09:33,676 [newsreader] Josephus Andersen will go on trial, in Mobile, 175 00:09:35,209 --> 00:09:37,776 during the week of March 15 through 20, 1981. 176 00:09:39,276 --> 00:09:42,743 On Monday the 16th, the trial of Josephus Andersen 177 00:09:44,109 --> 00:09:46,243 started in the Mobile County courthouse. 178 00:09:47,509 --> 00:09:48,443 [newsreader] Anderson was accused of killing 179 00:09:49,509 --> 00:09:50,609 a white police officer in Birmingham. 180 00:09:52,209 --> 00:09:53,676 His trial was moved to Mobile because of the publicity 181 00:09:54,776 --> 00:09:55,543 the case received in Birmingham. 182 00:09:56,509 --> 00:09:58,143 The composition of the jury 183 00:09:59,343 --> 00:10:01,809 is 11 Black people and one white person. 184 00:10:03,409 --> 00:10:07,643 So it was a topic of educated speculation, shall we say, 185 00:10:08,809 --> 00:10:12,543 that Mr. Andersen would either be acquitted, 186 00:10:13,709 --> 00:10:16,143 or the case would result in a mistrial. 187 00:10:18,376 --> 00:10:19,476 The Joseph Andersen trial 188 00:10:20,676 --> 00:10:22,543 Started the week before Michael was killed, 189 00:10:23,643 --> 00:10:25,643 and I watched the trial the whole week. 190 00:10:27,276 --> 00:10:30,409 The fifth day of the trial, the case went to the jury. 191 00:10:31,476 --> 00:10:34,576 That evening, all of these people 192 00:10:36,576 --> 00:10:39,209 congregated on Herndon Ave 193 00:10:40,376 --> 00:10:42,576 and waited to see what the 10 o'clock news 194 00:10:43,409 --> 00:10:44,443 was going to report. 195 00:10:45,676 --> 00:10:47,176 [newsreader] The jurors couldn't reach agreement. 196 00:10:48,543 --> 00:10:50,643 Judge Hocklander said he was forced to declare a mistrial 197 00:10:51,576 --> 00:10:52,643 in the five-day-old case. 198 00:10:54,209 --> 00:10:57,376 The news came on and I saw him coming out the courtroom. 199 00:10:58,209 --> 00:10:59,476 I got up from the TV, 200 00:11:00,743 --> 00:11:02,376 and got dressed, and went to my sister's house. 201 00:11:03,809 --> 00:11:06,209 We talked about it for a little while and then it was over. 202 00:11:07,409 --> 00:11:09,343 Never thought we'd be affected by that. 203 00:11:11,809 --> 00:11:13,509 On Wednesday night, 204 00:11:15,309 --> 00:11:18,676 the local Klavern met 205 00:11:20,176 --> 00:11:23,276 on the property of Bennie Hays, who at that time, 206 00:11:24,676 --> 00:11:28,376 was the second ranking Klansman in the State of Alabama. 207 00:11:29,209 --> 00:11:31,543 At that Klan meeting, 208 00:11:32,609 --> 00:11:34,409 they discussed what they thought 209 00:11:35,443 --> 00:11:38,443 would be the outcome of the trial. 210 00:11:39,709 --> 00:11:44,509 and Bennie Hays made a statement to the effect 211 00:11:46,043 --> 00:11:51,243 that if a Black person, and he used another word, 212 00:11:52,476 --> 00:11:54,309 could get away with killing a white cop 213 00:11:55,209 --> 00:11:57,076 then we ought to be able 214 00:11:58,343 --> 00:12:00,443 to get away with killing a Black person, 215 00:12:01,343 --> 00:12:03,109 again, using another term. 216 00:12:09,043 --> 00:12:15,076 So Henry and Tiger left the apartment on Herndon Avenue, 217 00:12:16,343 --> 00:12:19,809 looking for a Black person to kill and to lynch, 218 00:12:21,276 --> 00:12:26,076 solely because the Klan wanted to "send the message". 219 00:12:28,776 --> 00:12:30,043 There was fear the Black community 220 00:12:31,109 --> 00:12:31,709 would start increasing its vote, 221 00:12:33,076 --> 00:12:33,576 legislatures would change in the south, 222 00:12:35,743 --> 00:12:37,609 and, possibly, throughout the country. 223 00:12:38,809 --> 00:12:40,443 And the hierarchy of the Klan viewed it 224 00:12:41,643 --> 00:12:42,576 as, maybe, a spark that started a fire 225 00:12:44,509 --> 00:12:45,509 that couldn't be put out. 226 00:12:48,343 --> 00:12:51,143 What we see in American history, again and again, 227 00:12:52,209 --> 00:12:54,076 is this ugly convergence and correlation 228 00:12:54,776 --> 00:12:57,276 between Black ascendency, 229 00:12:57,776 --> 00:12:58,776 [applause] 230 00:12:59,676 --> 00:13:01,576 and retribution and revenge 231 00:13:02,509 --> 00:13:04,309 at the hands of white supremacy. 232 00:13:07,676 --> 00:13:09,776 We saw in the wake of the civil war and reconstruction, 233 00:13:11,343 --> 00:13:15,143 we saw it in the 1920s with the resurrection of the Klan, 234 00:13:16,043 --> 00:13:19,776 and fears over immigration. 235 00:13:21,343 --> 00:13:23,676 We saw it again on the eve of the civil rights movement 236 00:13:24,376 --> 00:13:25,609 in the 1960s. 237 00:13:26,409 --> 00:13:27,376 What we have seen 238 00:13:28,543 --> 00:13:32,609 is what Cornell Belcher called Blacklash . 239 00:13:34,076 --> 00:13:36,676 This racialized violence always seems to occur 240 00:13:37,609 --> 00:13:39,276 at a moment where, perhaps, 241 00:13:40,543 --> 00:13:44,176 Black America has made an advancement of some kind. 242 00:13:45,509 --> 00:13:47,743 And the racialized violence reminds Black America 243 00:13:48,676 --> 00:13:51,043 of its place in this nation. 244 00:13:51,776 --> 00:13:53,043 [slide projector clicking] 245 00:13:54,209 --> 00:13:56,376 Bennie Hays' motive was, basically, 246 00:13:57,209 --> 00:13:58,243 to cover his backside 247 00:13:59,309 --> 00:14:01,609 and to attempt to protect his son. 248 00:14:03,176 --> 00:14:04,209 [newsreader] Henry's father, Klan leader Bennie Hays, 249 00:14:05,609 --> 00:14:07,709 has denied it all and asserts that his son has been framed 250 00:14:08,509 --> 00:14:09,676 by the communists. 251 00:14:11,276 --> 00:14:14,476 Because a communist don't pick, only if you're in their way. 252 00:14:15,409 --> 00:14:16,543 Right now, I'm in their way. 253 00:14:18,176 --> 00:14:20,776 I'm the one they're picking on. To get to me they got my son. 254 00:14:21,576 --> 00:14:23,609 How could a Klansman 255 00:14:24,476 --> 00:14:27,109 living on a rundown farm 256 00:14:28,209 --> 00:14:30,309 in a rural part of Mobile country 257 00:14:31,209 --> 00:14:33,309 come up with the money to hire 258 00:14:34,509 --> 00:14:37,609 one of the best defense attorneys around? 259 00:14:39,076 --> 00:14:41,309 When these two Klansmen were identified as killers, 260 00:14:42,209 --> 00:14:44,343 the old man, Bennie Jack Hays, 261 00:14:45,476 --> 00:14:47,409 he hired a Klansman to burn his house down 262 00:14:48,576 --> 00:14:49,776 so he could hire a prominent attorney 263 00:14:51,209 --> 00:14:52,343 to defend his son in the state trial. 264 00:14:54,509 --> 00:14:56,076 He did burn the house. 265 00:14:56,809 --> 00:14:57,809 He got an insurance settlement. 266 00:14:59,376 --> 00:15:02,743 He used that to pay the lawyer for his son, Henry Hays. 267 00:15:04,109 --> 00:15:06,476 Bennie Jack Hays raised enough money to hire 268 00:15:08,076 --> 00:15:10,576 one of the best criminal lawyers, M.A. 'Bubba' Marsal. 269 00:15:12,043 --> 00:15:15,409 The defense was to attempt to discredit Tiger 270 00:15:16,343 --> 00:15:18,043 because Mr. Marsal argued 271 00:15:19,343 --> 00:15:22,676 that Tiger had cut his deal to save his life 272 00:15:23,776 --> 00:15:25,409 and, therefore, would say anything 273 00:15:26,343 --> 00:15:27,809 that he was told to say. 274 00:15:32,043 --> 00:15:33,076 [ominous music] 275 00:15:38,376 --> 00:15:38,709 It was sometime before lunch 276 00:15:40,643 --> 00:15:41,743 one of the trial coordinators 277 00:15:43,309 --> 00:15:48,543 came to me and said, "Chris is gonna have to leave the case." 278 00:15:50,043 --> 00:15:50,343 [newsreader] Mobile County District Attorney, 279 00:15:51,409 --> 00:15:52,243 Chris Galanos, has been suspended. 280 00:15:53,643 --> 00:15:54,443 That came from Montgomery Circuit Judge, W. Gordon, 281 00:15:55,643 --> 00:15:57,743 who will preside over the DA's DUI trial. 282 00:15:59,376 --> 00:16:01,609 Assistant DA, Tom Harrison, is taking over for a while. 283 00:16:02,676 --> 00:16:04,409 Chris is going to leave immediately. 284 00:16:05,709 --> 00:16:05,743 He will have no contact with the office, nothing, 285 00:16:08,276 --> 00:16:11,543 and you're gonna have to try the Michael Donald case. 286 00:16:12,143 --> 00:16:13,409 Whoa! 287 00:16:14,109 --> 00:16:14,743 [dramatic music] 288 00:16:20,343 --> 00:16:21,243 [ominous music] 289 00:16:24,076 --> 00:16:25,309 I have been told 290 00:16:26,676 --> 00:16:28,409 that the next grand jury to convene in Mobile country 291 00:16:29,243 --> 00:16:30,276 will consider the issue 292 00:16:31,343 --> 00:16:32,076 of whether or not to impeach me. 293 00:16:33,343 --> 00:16:34,109 [newsreader] Galanos believes that grand jury 294 00:16:35,543 --> 00:16:37,376 will be empaneled December 5th. December 5th also is the date 295 00:16:38,576 --> 00:16:39,376 when the capital murder trial of Henry Hays 296 00:16:40,176 --> 00:16:41,276 is scheduled to begin, 297 00:16:42,443 --> 00:16:43,776 two work days after Galanos' DUI trial 298 00:16:44,576 --> 00:16:46,076 is scheduled to begin. 299 00:16:46,709 --> 00:16:49,043 I went to rehab. 300 00:16:50,309 --> 00:16:51,343 I mean, it's not something that I'm proud of, 301 00:16:52,309 --> 00:16:53,543 but that's what happened. 302 00:16:55,176 --> 00:16:58,143 Chris had been charged with driving under the influence 303 00:16:59,209 --> 00:17:01,409 Chris is gonna leave immediately 304 00:17:02,576 --> 00:17:05,709 and he is gonna go into some kind of rehab 305 00:17:07,243 --> 00:17:10,276 and you're gonna have to try the Michael Donald case. 306 00:17:11,676 --> 00:17:13,143 I knew his case was going on, but I didn't have any idea 307 00:17:14,043 --> 00:17:15,176 what was going on in his case. 308 00:17:16,243 --> 00:17:17,243 Then they told me-- [chuckles] 309 00:17:18,509 --> 00:17:20,176 --that in this case we really need to be careful. 310 00:17:21,476 --> 00:17:23,443 I said, "Why? I'm gonna try the case like whatever. 311 00:17:24,509 --> 00:17:25,109 What do you mean, be careful?" 312 00:17:26,176 --> 00:17:27,309 They said "We've heard some rumors." 313 00:17:28,209 --> 00:17:29,676 I said, "What are the rumors?" 314 00:17:31,143 --> 00:17:35,743 "Well, if you convict, the Klan is gonna riot." 315 00:17:37,176 --> 00:17:40,076 I said, "Oh, okay." "And if you don't convict, 316 00:17:41,209 --> 00:17:44,043 the Black community, they're gonna riot." 317 00:17:44,676 --> 00:17:46,143 I said, "Oh, no." 318 00:17:47,209 --> 00:17:48,176 So they were concerned about me. 319 00:17:49,543 --> 00:17:50,643 They made me go home in a different car every day, 320 00:17:51,709 --> 00:17:52,809 and a different route, and all that. 321 00:17:55,809 --> 00:17:59,543 If prosecutors and law enforcement were afraid, 322 00:18:00,809 --> 00:18:02,176 if they wanted to take a different route home every day 323 00:18:03,209 --> 00:18:04,709 in order to ensure their safety, 324 00:18:05,643 --> 00:18:07,443 what about Beulah Mae Donald? 325 00:18:08,809 --> 00:18:11,309 As a resident of public housing, could she change her address? 326 00:18:12,343 --> 00:18:13,343 Could she take a different car home? 327 00:18:14,509 --> 00:18:17,343 Could she assign security staff to herself? 328 00:18:19,243 --> 00:18:19,709 She demonstrated more courage 329 00:18:21,076 --> 00:18:23,343 than most people I've seen in my life. 330 00:18:24,509 --> 00:18:27,276 Do you believe in your struggle to the point 331 00:18:28,509 --> 00:18:30,409 where you would literally lose your life? 332 00:18:31,709 --> 00:18:33,143 Because, guess what, it's just that dangerous. 333 00:18:34,509 --> 00:18:37,776 It's just that dangerous when I open up my mail, 334 00:18:38,809 --> 00:18:41,543 and someone sends to my home 335 00:18:42,709 --> 00:18:43,809 mail that tells me they're gonna kill me, 336 00:18:45,376 --> 00:18:49,376 or tweets at me, you deserve to be dead, you stupid bitch. 337 00:18:50,176 --> 00:18:51,409 And tweets my address. 338 00:18:52,543 --> 00:18:53,609 You're putting your life in danger 339 00:18:54,776 --> 00:18:57,776 just by speaking up for truth and justice. 340 00:18:58,809 --> 00:19:01,143 When a Black woman has the temerity 341 00:19:02,043 --> 00:19:03,743 to take on any white assailant 342 00:19:05,309 --> 00:19:08,276 any white person who deigns to take the life of a Black person, 343 00:19:09,176 --> 00:19:10,609 particularly in the deep south. 344 00:19:12,076 --> 00:19:13,476 Beulah Mae Donald's life, the life of her family, 345 00:19:14,643 --> 00:19:16,143 the life of her community is at risk. 346 00:19:17,176 --> 00:19:19,576 She had every reason to be afraid. 347 00:19:20,709 --> 00:19:22,476 There was an empirical, historical basis 348 00:19:23,276 --> 00:19:25,343 for absolute terror 349 00:19:26,609 --> 00:19:27,509 Gosh, when the community would just come 350 00:19:28,609 --> 00:19:30,209 and sit in front of my mom's door. 351 00:19:31,509 --> 00:19:33,143 So I think they call this protecting the house 352 00:19:33,776 --> 00:19:35,043 and protecting her. 353 00:19:36,176 --> 00:19:38,043 Because the Klan was still around in Mobile. 354 00:19:39,576 --> 00:19:40,343 [ominous music] 355 00:19:46,309 --> 00:19:48,143 I thought one of the best ways to really catch up 356 00:19:49,309 --> 00:19:51,509 on exactly what had happened that night. 357 00:19:52,709 --> 00:19:53,109 I had the chief investigator, Bob Eddy 358 00:19:55,476 --> 00:19:58,543 and we got with the FBI, and we got Tiger Knowles. 359 00:19:59,576 --> 00:20:01,476 We started out at Herndon Avenue, 360 00:20:03,043 --> 00:20:05,709 and I said, "Okay, we're gonna ride the route that you did, 361 00:20:06,509 --> 00:20:07,609 the best you remember, 362 00:20:08,676 --> 00:20:10,209 because I wanna know what happened. 363 00:20:11,043 --> 00:20:12,376 Tommy had to do that. 364 00:20:13,543 --> 00:20:16,376 He needed to know what Tiger was gonna say 365 00:20:17,309 --> 00:20:18,409 and how he was gonna say it. 366 00:20:20,476 --> 00:20:22,809 They had US marshals with them. 367 00:20:24,076 --> 00:20:26,109 They had an obligation to make sure 368 00:20:27,343 --> 00:20:30,176 that there was no likelihood of any kind of escape. 369 00:20:31,076 --> 00:20:31,409 [slide projector clicking] 370 00:20:32,109 --> 00:20:33,043 [ominous music] 371 00:20:33,676 --> 00:20:34,743 Bennie Hays told me 372 00:20:36,209 --> 00:20:39,076 that I was getting too heavy involved in the Klan, 373 00:20:40,209 --> 00:20:43,376 and I was getting to where I know too much. 374 00:20:44,343 --> 00:20:45,343 If anything ever happened 375 00:20:46,443 --> 00:20:49,476 and I wind up being the fall guy, 376 00:20:50,643 --> 00:20:51,309 he took his hand and done like that. 377 00:20:52,609 --> 00:20:54,176 He said, "Your pockets will be padded with money. 378 00:20:55,376 --> 00:20:56,776 You'll never have to work ever again. 379 00:20:58,176 --> 00:20:59,476 But if you ever open your mouth about the Klan, 380 00:21:01,276 --> 00:21:02,209 you're gonna die. 381 00:21:03,643 --> 00:21:05,576 [urgent music] 382 00:21:06,776 --> 00:21:08,443 We get up to the trial, Tuesday morning, 383 00:21:10,309 --> 00:21:12,543 you went into the courtroom the Klan in this part, 384 00:21:13,376 --> 00:21:14,076 and then you had 385 00:21:15,176 --> 00:21:18,109 all of the NAACP, all over there. 386 00:21:19,476 --> 00:21:21,243 To imagine a criminal court 387 00:21:22,143 --> 00:21:24,609 in the '80s, in Mobile, Alabama, 388 00:21:25,509 --> 00:21:28,109 where you have a jury box 389 00:21:29,443 --> 00:21:31,176 with 11 jurors who were white, and one juror who's Black. 390 00:21:33,343 --> 00:21:35,443 Of white defendants being held accountable 391 00:21:36,376 --> 00:21:39,276 for the death of Michael Donald, 392 00:21:40,176 --> 00:21:40,743 the stakes could not be higher, 393 00:21:42,476 --> 00:21:44,676 the racial tensions could not be higher 394 00:21:46,276 --> 00:21:48,443 The nation is literally watching. 395 00:21:49,376 --> 00:21:50,776 Everyone had to have a sense 396 00:21:51,809 --> 00:21:54,809 of this being a historical aberration. 397 00:21:56,343 --> 00:21:58,543 Black people do not get to hold white people accountable 398 00:21:59,443 --> 00:22:01,043 for the death of Black lives. 399 00:22:01,776 --> 00:22:04,409 A criminal trial for folks 400 00:22:05,543 --> 00:22:07,409 who are card carrying members of the Klan. 401 00:22:08,443 --> 00:22:08,743 You'd have a reason to be afraid, 402 00:22:10,109 --> 00:22:11,476 a reason to be concerned and, particularly, 403 00:22:12,643 --> 00:22:14,143 when the text and the sub-text of the trial 404 00:22:15,309 --> 00:22:17,143 is white supremacy, and American racism. 405 00:22:20,109 --> 00:22:20,676 [newsreader] Today was tense at the courthouse, 406 00:22:22,143 --> 00:22:22,809 a bomb threat was phoned in. 407 00:22:24,309 --> 00:22:24,409 and a prosecution witness said Hays' father 408 00:22:25,243 --> 00:22:26,376 threatened to kill him. 409 00:22:27,476 --> 00:22:28,209 He said if I ever open my mouth 410 00:22:28,709 --> 00:22:29,776 about anything, 411 00:22:31,176 --> 00:22:31,576 that I would be dead within 8 hours, 412 00:22:32,409 --> 00:22:33,476 24 hours at the most. 413 00:22:34,309 --> 00:22:35,709 I was really scared. 414 00:22:37,176 --> 00:22:38,209 I moved out of my mother and father's house 415 00:22:39,309 --> 00:22:40,609 'cause when I was started testifying 416 00:22:42,543 --> 00:22:43,643 Bennie Hays came to my mom and daddy's house, 417 00:22:44,743 --> 00:22:47,209 looking for me, to shut my mouth, 418 00:22:48,076 --> 00:22:49,443 to keep me from talking. 419 00:22:50,343 --> 00:22:51,443 [slide projector clicking] 420 00:22:52,809 --> 00:22:54,409 When my mother and father went to the store to guy groceries 421 00:22:55,576 --> 00:22:58,076 I wrote them a note saying I moved out. 422 00:22:59,376 --> 00:23:01,209 I couldn't live here no more, and I started staying 423 00:23:02,276 --> 00:23:03,576 at the Salvation Army in Pritchard. 424 00:23:05,343 --> 00:23:06,809 I honestly believed that they would have killed 425 00:23:07,643 --> 00:23:08,443 my mom and daddy. 426 00:23:09,476 --> 00:23:10,476 29-year-old Henry Hays looked chipper 427 00:23:11,643 --> 00:23:12,576 as his capital murder trial got under way. 428 00:23:14,409 --> 00:23:15,809 Security is tight at the trial where in his opening argument, 429 00:23:17,209 --> 00:23:17,676 acting District Attorney, Tom Harrison, 430 00:23:18,776 --> 00:23:19,576 charged that Hays and 20-year-old 431 00:23:20,743 --> 00:23:21,676 James 'Tiger' Knowles, went out looking 432 00:23:23,076 --> 00:23:25,176 for a Black man and found Michael Donald. 433 00:23:26,243 --> 00:23:27,509 I put Tiger Knowles on the stand 434 00:23:28,676 --> 00:23:30,776 and we went through, you know, who he is, 435 00:23:32,243 --> 00:23:33,776 did he know Henry Hays and how did he know him, 436 00:23:35,209 --> 00:23:36,776 just asking what happened that night. 437 00:23:37,709 --> 00:23:38,409 [slide projector clicking] 438 00:23:40,743 --> 00:23:41,376 Soon as he leaned over to the car 439 00:23:42,643 --> 00:23:44,209 to give us directions, I put a pistol in his face 440 00:23:45,109 --> 00:23:45,576 and made him get in the car. 441 00:23:46,643 --> 00:23:48,643 Then he started begging for his life. 442 00:23:50,409 --> 00:23:51,343 [ominous music] 443 00:23:56,276 --> 00:23:57,709 [haunting music] 444 00:24:03,809 --> 00:24:04,376 [newsreader] The body of a Black man 445 00:24:05,643 --> 00:24:07,043 was found hanging, lynch style, from a tree 446 00:24:08,243 --> 00:24:09,076 in a residential street in Mobile, Alabama. 447 00:24:10,109 --> 00:24:11,043 That was more than two years ago. 448 00:24:12,309 --> 00:24:13,043 Today, a courtroom heard that the killing 449 00:24:14,143 --> 00:24:14,709 was the work of the Ku Klux Klan. 450 00:24:15,643 --> 00:24:17,343 [slide projector clicking] 451 00:24:18,509 --> 00:24:20,609 Mrs. Donald did not attend the trial 452 00:24:22,109 --> 00:24:25,709 because, I think, that it would have been too painful. 453 00:24:27,176 --> 00:24:32,276 She'd lost a child, and to have to relive that 454 00:24:33,276 --> 00:24:35,376 would be devastating to any parent. 455 00:24:36,076 --> 00:24:37,309 [somber music] 456 00:24:38,409 --> 00:24:42,276 Consider what Beulah Mae Donald was going through 457 00:24:43,509 --> 00:24:46,043 while trying to secure justice for Michael Donald, 458 00:24:46,776 --> 00:24:49,243 while grieving his death. 459 00:24:49,743 --> 00:24:50,676 [somber music] 460 00:24:51,809 --> 00:24:55,609 Consider what Gwen Carr is going through now, 461 00:24:56,643 --> 00:24:59,343 in the wake of Eric Garner's death 462 00:25:00,576 --> 00:25:04,676 Consider all the mothers, behind the hashtags, 463 00:25:06,143 --> 00:25:08,776 who had children we understand to be human beings. 464 00:25:09,476 --> 00:25:10,143 [somber music] 465 00:25:11,076 --> 00:25:13,309 Our child, they die one time. 466 00:25:14,376 --> 00:25:15,376 The mother, the father, the family, 467 00:25:16,309 --> 00:25:16,809 we die a little every day. 468 00:25:18,209 --> 00:25:19,509 [slide projector clicking] 469 00:25:20,443 --> 00:25:21,376 What happened to George Floyd 470 00:25:22,709 --> 00:25:25,343 brought back so vividly of how my son was killed. 471 00:25:26,476 --> 00:25:27,809 There are so many m others and fathers 472 00:25:28,709 --> 00:25:29,576 who's child has been murdered, 473 00:25:30,676 --> 00:25:32,176 and no-one ever heard about them. 474 00:25:33,443 --> 00:25:35,276 They are the nameless, and they are the faceless, 475 00:25:36,176 --> 00:25:37,709 but their pain is the same 476 00:25:40,476 --> 00:25:41,309 [somber music] 477 00:25:42,176 --> 00:25:42,676 [slide projector clicking] 478 00:25:45,809 --> 00:25:46,609 When the trials started, I didn't go to the trials. 479 00:25:47,743 --> 00:25:48,709 I never went to any of the trials, 480 00:25:49,509 --> 00:25:51,276 because at that point, 481 00:25:52,476 --> 00:25:53,776 I don't know what was going on with my body 482 00:25:54,743 --> 00:25:56,176 but I had gotten so little. 483 00:25:57,443 --> 00:26:00,676 And the doctor said what I was doing was no eating. 484 00:26:02,243 --> 00:26:03,776 And I think that what it was, I didn't want anything to eat. 485 00:26:05,309 --> 00:26:07,509 But I had got so small, my ma was worried about me. 486 00:26:09,043 --> 00:26:09,776 She said, "Are you all right? because I dropped 487 00:26:11,043 --> 00:26:13,143 so much weight in so little time. 488 00:26:14,209 --> 00:26:15,276 Our top story, the Henry Hays trial. 489 00:26:16,543 --> 00:26:17,543 Hays admits that he's a member of the Ku Klux Klan. 490 00:26:19,076 --> 00:26:20,509 Now, he's being tried on charges of capital murder, 491 00:26:21,809 --> 00:26:23,209 charges that could send him to the electric chair, 492 00:26:24,409 --> 00:26:25,409 if convicted of killing a young, Black man, 493 00:26:26,109 --> 00:26:27,309 Michael Donald. 494 00:26:28,376 --> 00:26:29,743 The two or three times that I paid 495 00:26:30,576 --> 00:26:32,043 any attention to Henry, 496 00:26:33,443 --> 00:26:36,409 he appeared to be scared to death, justifiably so, 497 00:26:37,276 --> 00:26:38,543 'cause the ship was sinking. 498 00:26:40,176 --> 00:26:43,343 Every witness that I put on was another nail in his coffin. 499 00:26:44,376 --> 00:26:46,109 When Tiger Knowles told the story 500 00:26:47,409 --> 00:26:49,243 I think everybody was just so amazed, 501 00:26:50,309 --> 00:26:51,143 'cause if it hadn't been for him 502 00:26:52,076 --> 00:26:53,243 we never would have known. 503 00:26:54,509 --> 00:26:55,443 [newsreader] Testifying for the prosecution, 504 00:26:56,609 --> 00:26:57,776 James "Tiger' Knowles, pointed at his fellow 505 00:26:59,076 --> 00:26:59,743 Ku Klux Klansman, Henry Hays, 506 00:27:01,109 --> 00:27:02,743 and said that together they killed 19-year-old 507 00:27:04,209 --> 00:27:06,643 Michael Donald in March, 1981, because he was black. 508 00:27:07,376 --> 00:27:08,276 [ominous music] 509 00:27:11,609 --> 00:27:12,743 The Klan wanted the message 510 00:27:13,809 --> 00:27:15,076 to get back to the Black people, 511 00:27:16,376 --> 00:27:17,776 not just of Alabama, of the whole United States, 512 00:27:19,143 --> 00:27:21,443 that we would not stand for a Black person 513 00:27:22,809 --> 00:27:24,509 killing a white police officer and getting away with it, 514 00:27:25,309 --> 00:27:27,443 especially in Alabama. 515 00:27:28,576 --> 00:27:31,176 We had gotten the rope, ad we got the gun. 516 00:27:32,509 --> 00:27:35,276 And then I tied the hangman's noose in Henry's car. 517 00:27:36,076 --> 00:27:37,609 We were out on a hunt. 518 00:27:39,209 --> 00:27:41,543 That's what we were doing, we were hunting Black people. 519 00:27:43,109 --> 00:27:45,309 Klansmen said that they were out hunting Black people. 520 00:27:46,576 --> 00:27:50,409 and they came upon Michael Donald and killed him. 521 00:27:52,043 --> 00:27:52,776 They literally mean they were out hunting Black people. 522 00:27:54,343 --> 00:27:57,509 Just go watch the tape of what happened to Ahmaud Arbery 523 00:27:59,443 --> 00:28:01,043 when they killed him on the streets in Georgia. 524 00:28:02,576 --> 00:28:05,543 Watch men, who are not police officers, 525 00:28:06,576 --> 00:28:09,776 who have no authority, drive around, 526 00:28:11,243 --> 00:28:16,043 and literally corner off this young man. 527 00:28:17,276 --> 00:28:18,176 And then shoot him, with a shotgun, 528 00:28:19,109 --> 00:28:20,543 in his hand, in his body. 529 00:28:21,443 --> 00:28:22,143 [slide projector clicking] 530 00:28:25,343 --> 00:28:28,076 He was an easy target because he was by himself, 531 00:28:29,243 --> 00:28:32,576 and so that's the reason we chose him. 532 00:28:34,043 --> 00:28:34,809 I called him over to the car for directions. 533 00:28:36,276 --> 00:28:37,443 I think it was for directions, I don't remember. 534 00:28:38,609 --> 00:28:39,743 Henry pulled the car right against the curb, 535 00:28:41,076 --> 00:28:44,776 and I asked Mike where Butt Nightclub was, 536 00:28:46,409 --> 00:28:47,443 and he went to give me directions to it, 537 00:28:48,743 --> 00:28:49,609 and I put the gun in his face and told him, 538 00:28:50,443 --> 00:28:51,476 "Don't say anything." 539 00:28:52,743 --> 00:28:53,576 I pulled the gun and told him to get in the car. 540 00:28:55,176 --> 00:28:56,409 He got in the back seat, and I got in it with him. 541 00:28:57,643 --> 00:28:58,776 The guy had no idea we was gonna kill him. 542 00:29:00,276 --> 00:29:01,809 We brought him-- took him to Baldwin County. 543 00:29:03,109 --> 00:29:03,809 I asked him if he had a girlfriend. 544 00:29:05,043 --> 00:29:05,609 He said, "Yeah." 545 00:29:07,743 --> 00:29:09,209 The last thing he said, as far as I can remember, 546 00:29:10,476 --> 00:29:11,376 was in the car when he said, "Please don't kill me. 547 00:29:12,676 --> 00:29:13,776 I'll do anything you want, just don't kill me." 548 00:29:15,776 --> 00:29:18,509 When we got out of the car is when he attacked me 549 00:29:19,276 --> 00:29:20,276 and tried to get away. 550 00:29:21,443 --> 00:29:22,476 It's like he just completely changed 551 00:29:23,676 --> 00:29:26,276 and went from a calm person to a mad dog, 552 00:29:27,109 --> 00:29:27,543 a raging animal. 553 00:29:30,643 --> 00:29:32,443 When I think about Tiger Knowles 554 00:29:33,776 --> 00:29:38,509 describing Michael Donald fighting like a mad dog, 555 00:29:40,776 --> 00:29:43,743 I think about the fact that the killer 556 00:29:45,409 --> 00:29:48,243 is describing the victim as non-human. 557 00:29:50,343 --> 00:29:54,309 That says everything we need to know about hate crime. 558 00:29:55,576 --> 00:29:59,243 Tiger Knowles is so detached from his own humanity, 559 00:30:00,543 --> 00:30:01,376 he's lost sight of the fact 560 00:30:02,543 --> 00:30:04,376 that he's behaving in a beastly manner, 561 00:30:05,743 --> 00:30:09,076 in an animal-like manner, in an animalistic-like manner. 562 00:30:10,209 --> 00:30:13,076 That he's providing moral commentary 563 00:30:13,809 --> 00:30:15,643 on Michael Donald's behavior 564 00:30:17,176 --> 00:30:19,776 as someone desperately trying to fight for their life. 565 00:30:20,776 --> 00:30:22,209 [somber music] 566 00:30:23,409 --> 00:30:24,743 Michael was a strong person. 567 00:30:25,576 --> 00:30:26,509 He was a strong person. 568 00:30:28,209 --> 00:30:29,309 So he was just overpowered, he probably got tired. 569 00:30:30,709 --> 00:30:32,709 But he was a strong person and I know that for a fact. 570 00:30:34,343 --> 00:30:35,243 He fought 'em. I knew he fought 'em. 571 00:30:35,743 --> 00:30:37,309 I knew he did. 572 00:30:39,376 --> 00:30:42,043 He was hit way over a hundred-- at least two hundred times, 573 00:30:42,776 --> 00:30:44,309 with a limb that was found. 574 00:30:45,143 --> 00:30:48,409 And then we killed him. 575 00:30:50,309 --> 00:30:52,076 Henry went and got the rope. We put the rope round his neck. 576 00:30:53,243 --> 00:30:54,476 Henry put his foot on Mike's head, 577 00:30:55,709 --> 00:30:56,476 and was pulling on it to hold it secure 578 00:30:57,409 --> 00:30:58,543 while we tied the noose. 579 00:31:00,176 --> 00:31:01,443 Henry and I put him in the trunk of the car. 580 00:31:01,443 --> 00:31:02,576 Henry cut his throat. 581 00:31:05,043 --> 00:31:06,609 And we took him back to Mobile, 582 00:31:08,509 --> 00:31:09,743 and lynched him. 583 00:31:16,176 --> 00:31:17,276 Just image that. 584 00:31:18,609 --> 00:31:23,609 A person was brutally beaten, their throat was cut, 585 00:31:24,476 --> 00:31:25,809 and then hung from a tree. 586 00:31:27,276 --> 00:31:30,776 My God, I mean, your heart just-- just drops. 587 00:31:31,609 --> 00:31:32,776 My heart just dropped. 588 00:31:34,143 --> 00:31:34,576 Then you're thinking about the family 589 00:31:35,743 --> 00:31:38,276 of that child, 'cause he was 19-years-old. 590 00:31:39,543 --> 00:31:41,509 When Tiger Knowles described what he had done 591 00:31:43,043 --> 00:31:45,609 He told us how he fought them and they had got tired. 592 00:31:46,776 --> 00:31:48,276 Henry said, "We not gonna let this nigger 593 00:31:49,443 --> 00:31:50,776 fight us like this and not kill him," 594 00:31:51,743 --> 00:31:52,709 and that's what happened. 595 00:31:53,609 --> 00:31:55,143 [slide projector clicking] 596 00:31:56,543 --> 00:32:01,243 They really play on this young man's courtesy to them. 597 00:32:04,243 --> 00:32:06,076 They ask this young man for directions 598 00:32:07,343 --> 00:32:09,276 to get somewhere. He stopped what he was doing 599 00:32:10,443 --> 00:32:12,509 to try to show them where they needed to go 600 00:32:13,309 --> 00:32:14,243 in that community. 601 00:32:15,443 --> 00:32:16,543 He was brought up to respect people 602 00:32:17,709 --> 00:32:18,576 and try to help people where he could. 603 00:32:20,143 --> 00:32:22,276 That's what he was doing, and they took advantage of it. 604 00:32:25,109 --> 00:32:26,243 And to me, that's as low as you can get. 605 00:32:27,809 --> 00:32:29,043 Some people would have just kept walking, 606 00:32:30,543 --> 00:32:31,409 but he wasn't brought up that way. 607 00:32:32,343 --> 00:32:33,476 [slide projector clicking] 608 00:32:38,476 --> 00:32:39,743 [somber music] 609 00:32:41,809 --> 00:32:43,543 [slide projector clicking] 610 00:32:45,143 --> 00:32:47,709 He was an easy target because he was walking by himself. 611 00:32:49,143 --> 00:32:49,643 I called him over to the car for directions. 612 00:32:51,109 --> 00:32:52,709 I think it was for directions, I don't remember. 613 00:32:54,143 --> 00:32:55,409 I pulled a gun and told him to get into the car. 614 00:32:56,109 --> 00:32:57,509 [ominous music] 615 00:32:58,709 --> 00:33:00,476 When they first got Michael into the car, 616 00:33:01,643 --> 00:33:02,343 Tiger had held a gun on him, and said, 617 00:33:03,443 --> 00:33:04,609 "Take everything out of your pocket." 618 00:33:06,209 --> 00:33:09,609 In his pocket was his wallet that had a dollar bill in it. 619 00:33:10,776 --> 00:33:11,443 The sister testified he had a dollar 620 00:33:12,643 --> 00:33:14,476 when he left the house. And when we found him, 621 00:33:15,309 --> 00:33:16,409 that dollar was gone. 622 00:33:17,609 --> 00:33:19,176 That constituted, obviously, robbery, 623 00:33:20,109 --> 00:33:21,343 we could prove kidnapping. 624 00:33:22,543 --> 00:33:25,176 So those two, combined with his murder, 625 00:33:25,809 --> 00:33:28,076 made it capital murder. 626 00:33:29,409 --> 00:33:32,676 Michael Donald is abducted, he's brutally beaten, 627 00:33:33,609 --> 00:33:36,076 and then, post mortem, lynched. 628 00:33:37,343 --> 00:33:39,076 After all of that, lawyers have to, ultimately, 629 00:33:40,276 --> 00:33:43,076 hold one of the killers accountable for murder 630 00:33:43,709 --> 00:33:45,543 by legal acrobatics, 631 00:33:47,176 --> 00:33:49,409 where you have to, essentially, establish the theft of a dollar 632 00:33:50,676 --> 00:33:53,443 in order to establish the theft of a life. 633 00:33:54,143 --> 00:33:55,309 [ominous music] 634 00:33:56,343 --> 00:33:58,376 There have been over 200 attempts, 635 00:33:59,076 --> 00:34:00,443 over 100 years, 636 00:34:01,576 --> 00:34:05,409 to pass federal anti-lynching legislation. 637 00:34:06,576 --> 00:34:08,609 Until this very day, we have not done so. 638 00:34:09,743 --> 00:34:12,176 Lynching is not a relic of a bygone era, 639 00:34:13,343 --> 00:34:15,509 but, literally, manifests and metastasizes 640 00:34:16,576 --> 00:34:18,409 in new forms of racial terrorism, 641 00:34:19,543 --> 00:34:22,109 literally as we speak and as we Tweet. 642 00:34:23,276 --> 00:34:24,709 Look what they did to George Floyd on TV, 643 00:34:26,076 --> 00:34:27,609 Everybody can see it. Where's the remorse? 644 00:34:28,743 --> 00:34:29,576 They lynched him, that's what I call it, 645 00:34:31,076 --> 00:34:32,243 a lynching, still, maybe a different tactic. 646 00:34:33,309 --> 00:34:34,409 Some 30 years later, and you go, 647 00:34:35,343 --> 00:34:36,109 this is still happening. 648 00:34:37,176 --> 00:34:38,743 A Black life still has no value. 649 00:34:42,176 --> 00:34:43,276 [somber music] 650 00:34:47,743 --> 00:34:49,676 In this trial, the final jury 651 00:34:50,776 --> 00:34:52,043 was 11 whites and one Black lady. 652 00:34:54,443 --> 00:34:57,376 I still had some concerns about the makeup of the jury. 653 00:34:58,543 --> 00:34:59,476 White and Black people see things differently. 654 00:35:00,409 --> 00:35:01,776 I mean, we show Black folks 655 00:35:03,309 --> 00:35:05,509 the film where the police was beating Rodney King in LA, 656 00:35:06,443 --> 00:35:09,043 and we say, "Police brutality." 657 00:35:10,109 --> 00:35:11,109 And white folks see that same film 658 00:35:12,276 --> 00:35:14,676 say to the jury, "He resisted arrest". 659 00:35:16,143 --> 00:35:17,476 They figure they can kill a Black person, 660 00:35:19,176 --> 00:35:21,043 the all white jury, they'll find him not guilty. 661 00:35:23,276 --> 00:35:25,076 And that's been the practice over the years. 662 00:35:26,443 --> 00:35:27,543 [newsreader] The admitted Klansman stood stone-faced 663 00:35:29,176 --> 00:35:30,609 as the verdict was read, but moments later turned ashen, 664 00:35:32,176 --> 00:35:33,176 as the words, guilty of capital murder, sank in. 665 00:35:34,776 --> 00:35:36,476 There were gasps and muffled cries in the packed courtroom, 666 00:35:37,676 --> 00:35:38,476 not only from Hays' family, but the family 667 00:35:40,076 --> 00:35:42,076 of Michael Donald as well. It took the jury 26 minutes 668 00:35:43,143 --> 00:35:43,776 to recommend life without parole. 669 00:35:45,143 --> 00:35:46,076 Judge Braxton Kittrell will sentence Hays 670 00:35:46,676 --> 00:35:47,076 on January 19th. 671 00:35:49,309 --> 00:35:50,309 In the State of Alabama, the way the law works 672 00:35:51,576 --> 00:35:52,576 is the jury gets to make the recommendation 673 00:35:53,676 --> 00:35:54,776 for sentencing in a capital crime. 674 00:35:56,276 --> 00:35:56,309 They can either recommend life without parole 675 00:35:57,776 --> 00:35:58,643 or they can recommend death. 676 00:35:59,676 --> 00:36:01,076 This particular jury for Henry Hays 677 00:36:02,143 --> 00:36:03,209 recommended life without parole. 678 00:36:04,409 --> 00:36:06,143 However, a white judge, in the mid '80s, 679 00:36:07,409 --> 00:36:09,509 in Mobile Alabama, rejected that recommendation 680 00:36:11,043 --> 00:36:13,109 from the jury and, instead, sentenced him to death. 681 00:36:14,409 --> 00:36:17,043 It was the first time, since at least the early 1900s, 682 00:36:18,043 --> 00:36:19,109 and possibly longer, that a white 683 00:36:20,043 --> 00:36:21,076 had been sentenced to death 684 00:36:22,176 --> 00:36:22,776 for a crime committed against a Black person 685 00:36:24,243 --> 00:36:25,109 in the state of Alabama. As a young man, 686 00:36:26,209 --> 00:36:27,276 who was born and raised in the south, 687 00:36:28,576 --> 00:36:30,409 I am just proud to be in this chair, on this day, 688 00:36:31,709 --> 00:36:32,509 when a white man has been sentenced to die 689 00:36:33,309 --> 00:36:34,476 for murdering a Black. 690 00:36:35,809 --> 00:36:38,143 Nobody, 691 00:36:39,309 --> 00:36:44,543 not then, not today, 39 years later, 692 00:36:45,709 --> 00:36:49,776 ought to be, you know, running a victory lap. 693 00:36:51,109 --> 00:36:54,243 The only conclusion you can reach 694 00:36:55,076 --> 00:36:57,509 is that everybody lost. 695 00:36:59,109 --> 00:37:02,243 Two families was destroyed from the hatred that went on. 696 00:37:03,409 --> 00:37:05,076 It was just a sad situation, it was. 697 00:37:05,743 --> 00:37:07,209 Two families were destroyed. 698 00:37:10,743 --> 00:37:15,509 Bennie Hays, obviously, felt that he was so powerful 699 00:37:16,443 --> 00:37:18,676 that he was above the law. 700 00:37:20,143 --> 00:37:24,576 But in the end, he was brought to his knees, 701 00:37:26,243 --> 00:37:28,343 and caused the death of his son. 702 00:37:33,109 --> 00:37:35,443 You can't give life, so why take it? 703 00:37:36,376 --> 00:37:37,176 You kill an innocent person, 704 00:37:38,343 --> 00:37:39,476 that person stays with you day and night. 705 00:37:41,743 --> 00:37:42,509 [slide projector clicking] 706 00:37:52,509 --> 00:37:54,143 It seemed like a long time coming, 707 00:37:55,376 --> 00:37:57,343 but just the fact that it ended up coming, 708 00:37:58,543 --> 00:38:01,076 it was like everybody was praising God, 709 00:38:02,343 --> 00:38:05,276 and just thanking God, and just really, really happy. 710 00:38:06,443 --> 00:38:08,076 I think the jubilation was not so much 711 00:38:09,243 --> 00:38:11,309 that he received the death penalty, 712 00:38:11,309 --> 00:38:14,276 it was that the life of a Black man in 1984 713 00:38:15,343 --> 00:38:16,643 was determined to have mattered, 714 00:38:18,143 --> 00:38:20,709 to the extent that what was said to apply to all 715 00:38:21,643 --> 00:38:22,276 on the dignity, and respect, 716 00:38:23,443 --> 00:38:24,176 and the right to life and liberty, 717 00:38:25,409 --> 00:38:28,176 the right not to be targeted for race and killed. 718 00:38:28,776 --> 00:38:29,643 that it was realized, 719 00:38:30,743 --> 00:38:32,676 in that moment, in that courtroom 720 00:38:33,809 --> 00:38:34,343 We were pleased with the arrest. 721 00:38:35,509 --> 00:38:36,743 We were more pleased with the outcome. 722 00:38:38,276 --> 00:38:42,176 Mike was a young kid, 19, going to the store, 723 00:38:43,543 --> 00:38:45,443 minding his own business, just going to the store. 724 00:38:46,709 --> 00:38:50,109 It's extraordinarily unusual for any white person 725 00:38:50,709 --> 00:38:51,409 to be held accountable 726 00:38:52,543 --> 00:38:54,109 for taking the life of a Black person. 727 00:38:55,376 --> 00:38:59,109 So to the extent that you have a member of the Klan 728 00:39:00,043 --> 00:39:01,576 being given the death penalty 729 00:39:02,609 --> 00:39:04,176 for taking the life of a Black person, 730 00:39:05,409 --> 00:39:07,543 t may not be moral progress, but it is progress 731 00:39:08,676 --> 00:39:11,043 in terms of the recognition of Black life. 732 00:39:13,309 --> 00:39:15,043 Beulah Mae Donald, in many ways, 733 00:39:16,176 --> 00:39:18,343 embodies, personifies, the moral nuance, 734 00:39:19,409 --> 00:39:21,276 the complexity in the Black community 735 00:39:22,076 --> 00:39:23,309 about the death penalty. 736 00:39:24,209 --> 00:39:26,643 She grieves over her son, 737 00:39:28,109 --> 00:39:30,143 but as a woman of faith is opposed to the death penalty, 738 00:39:31,043 --> 00:39:31,243 and has a forgiving heart. 739 00:39:33,476 --> 00:39:36,609 This is a moral calculus that can only be performed 740 00:39:37,776 --> 00:39:40,076 by someone who should be eligible for sainthood. 741 00:39:43,343 --> 00:39:45,076 We were getting letters from all over the world. 742 00:39:46,176 --> 00:39:46,743 The postman would just get mad, 743 00:39:47,809 --> 00:39:49,109 beause we were getting, like crates, 744 00:39:50,309 --> 00:39:53,309 10 and 12 crates a day, per day, of mail 745 00:39:54,576 --> 00:39:58,376 from all around the world. All around the world. 746 00:39:59,309 --> 00:40:00,243 [slide projector clicking] 747 00:40:02,476 --> 00:40:03,709 Beulah Mae Donald, having endured 748 00:40:05,076 --> 00:40:07,809 the emotional rigors of a criminal trial, 749 00:40:08,743 --> 00:40:10,409 knew that she wasn't done. 750 00:40:11,676 --> 00:40:14,743 It wasn't enough to hold a few individuals accountable, 751 00:40:16,209 --> 00:40:19,676 she had to hold the whole United Klans of America 752 00:40:21,076 --> 00:40:24,509 accountable for the death of Michael. 753 00:40:25,509 --> 00:40:28,276 She wanted a victory to a civil trial, 754 00:40:29,509 --> 00:40:33,409 on behalf of her child, her son, but also other children, 755 00:40:34,576 --> 00:40:37,376 on behalf of them and their mothers. 756 00:40:38,076 --> 00:40:39,776 [somber music] 757 00:40:43,643 --> 00:40:45,609 It was not enough to have a guilty verdict. 758 00:40:46,809 --> 00:40:49,109 She understood that there was something 759 00:40:49,809 --> 00:40:52,676 much more nefarious at play. 760 00:40:54,276 --> 00:41:00,609 And so she brought a civil suit against the Klan in Alabama. 761 00:41:01,709 --> 00:41:04,209 This was an opportunity to take down 762 00:41:05,509 --> 00:41:08,643 one of the longest-standing white supremacist, 763 00:41:09,676 --> 00:41:11,476 domestic terrorist organizations 764 00:41:12,409 --> 00:41:12,443 that existed in the nation. 765 00:41:14,543 --> 00:41:15,676 Think about this, this is a Black woman 766 00:41:17,043 --> 00:41:18,609 who has just lost her son to lynching, 767 00:41:20,109 --> 00:41:23,276 finds the strength to move forward in a civil suit 768 00:41:24,143 --> 00:41:28,076 against the Klan in Alabama. 769 00:41:28,809 --> 00:41:30,676 It's almost unimaginable. 770 00:41:33,509 --> 00:41:34,476 [dramatic music] 59598

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