lynching is a tool to control and oppress black people. racialized violence is as old as the constitution. klans are not running around with white sheets over their head, but it s still happening. today, people are horrified of the police. it s the modern day lynching. what are we going to do about it? we move forward with people deciding i m bold enough, and i m going to make it change. beulah mae donald took on one of the most violent criminal organizations in the united states. this is an incredible story of courage. the body of a black man has been found hanging from a tree in mobile, alabama.
when i had tiger knowles testify, i got some help from the attorney general of the united states at the time, and they broke every rule you could break to get him brought down to mobile. i concentrated on information that he could give me about who was involved in this planning session down there in mobile the week before this all happened. he got on the stand and in detail told exactly what happened. he pointed out people sitting out there, the individuals who were at that meeting that night, and their knowledge of everything. he talked about the united klans of america head, robert shelton. i showed him that photograph of the face of michael donald, and you could see on the photograph a boot print, because when they put the rope around his neck, they put the boot against both sides of his face, pulled on it until there was no breath left in him.
suspected were klan members, but very few of them were actually apprehended. i thought to myself, if i ever get an opportunity to get on the other side of the fighting those that did it, i d do it in a minute. i decided i d go down to mobile and watch michael donald s criminal trial. i wanted to know everything i could. so following the criminal trial, that s when my father, michael figures, and morris dees teamed up to bring a $10 million civil suit against the klan. morris dees came and he talked to my mother. he says, i m going to get everything that you want for you, mrs. donald, because you have been good through this. i don t think i could go through this. he told her that. morris dees and senator michael figures went after the organization rather than the individuals. and a lot of people questioned whether he was going to be successful. the michael donald civil case was the first time that a jury
it would have been too painful. she d lost a child, and to have to relive that would be devastating to any parent. consider what beulah mae donald was going through while trying to secure justice for michael donald, while grieving his death. consider what gwen carr is going through now in the wake of eric garner s death. consider all the mothers behind the hashtags who had children we understand to be human beings. our child, they die one time. the mother, the father, the family, we die a little every day. what happened to george floyd brought back so vividly of how
was very strong, and she was very dedicated, and she was not scared. i believe that the whole united states is mourning with me. for him to have died a hero would mean more to me than for him just to have died. if the features of that boy, whose picture you see there, does not die an inconspicuous death. and that his face will be remembered and something will be done about it. we think of mamie till, the courageous black mother of emmett till and the courage of beulah mae donald, who was unrelenting in trying to get justice for her son, is part of a tradition of black women, and black mothers in particular, who have fought to get their children s death vindicated but have often been ignored.