Just didnt want to believe that mobile would still have klan in it. But they did. The fact that klansmen lived across the street from where this happened, it was something that the Police Officers found more to be a coincidence. Michael donald was an innocent good samaritan, not a thug. The likely suspects were identified, but we had the wrong people. We felt the cops were working hand in hand. Were calling on mobiles black community to be as cool as possible in response to this murder. Let there be no doubt the klan is behind this. But you gotta prove it first. The body of a black man has been found hanging from a tree in mobile, alabama. 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 its still happening. Today, people are horrified of the police. Its the modernday lynching. What are we going to do about it . We move forward with people deciding, im bold enough and im 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. Here we are in 2020 without a federal antilynching statute. I believe were at a point of reckoning. Lynching today is at the end of a rope, at the end of a gun, at the end of a baton, at the end of a taser. Its not merely about the white hood or the blue uniform. Its about us. Its about red, white, and blue. We need to declare as a country these acts that were used to instill terror must never be treated as acceptable. Breonna taylors killing saw her through the eyes of a dad that would give up everything to keep his daughter safe. I wdont want my daughters to have their door kicked in. Just the idea they took him and hung him, just hung him up, they beat him unmercifully. I wondered, did he have time to know he was going to die . Did he have time to say, lord, have mercy on me . It took courage. It took strength because you didnt know who to trust and who not to trust. The mobile police department, they sat on it. They would just call and say, were still working on the case. My mom would say, it really gets on my nerves. I dont want them to call me. Just tell me that theyve got the person that killed my son. We have got to center somebody thats going to help us along the way. The opportunity to come back and to work with the criminal Justice System here in mobile is a good opportunity. Thomas figures, who was the first black assistant u. S. Attorney, hes in a position to push and nudge and keep knocking on doors and making sure that this case does not rest from a criminal standpoint. My uncle felt deep in his heart and soul, just as my father did, that this was a racially motivated attack, and the federal government should step in and be involved in the investigation. Jeff sessions was the u. S. Attorney for the Southern District of alabama. We worked with the fbi and the local people too to investigate it, and it was difficult to move forward. We just were not making much progress. Jim bodman was appointed by the fbi to get to the bottom of this case. January of 1983, the head of the fbi office came up to me and laid a paper file on my desk, and he said, jim, take this case. The justice department, they will not allow us to close the case. And i asked him, i said, sir, what do you think im going to do with it . I understand everybody in towns been interviewed three times. He said, you take this case, and you work it. And he used, i think, maybe even a little stronger terminology, but i sure got the message. So, okay, i get the case. They supposedly kept saying it was a drug case gone bad. It was not a racial case. It was a drug case gone bad. That was not the issue. That case was being reassigned to me because i had experience and background specifically with the klan. As a daughter of the south who was raised in the heart of dixie, Beulah Mae Donald understood what it meant to take on the klan. She understood what it meant into the legacy of racial terrorism by the klan. In to the legacy of racial terrorism by the klan. To the le terrorism by the klan. Eto the l terrorism by the klan. Rmto the terrorism by the klan. Sto the l terrorism by the klan. To the l terrorism by the klan. Oto the l terrorism by the klan. Fto the l terrorism by the klan. To the ll terrorism by the klan. O the leg terrorism by the klan. The Lega Terrorism by the klan. The legac terrorism by the klan. 1963. The 16th Street Baptist Church was targeted by clanl members because it was an Organizing Ground for Civil Rights Activity. It was a place from which Martin Luther king organized. The worship hour was chosen to maximize terrorism. I was standing across from the girls over by the sink, and they was a few feet away from me. Thats when i heard this loud boom, and i said, jesus, addie, addie. But she didnt answer. Everything went dark. I was the only survivor, and i lost my right eye. Those Beautiful Girls was killed for nothing, just for being black. Everybody was klansmen back there in the 60s. The police knew who did it but they werent going to bring them to the bar of justice, so they just kept it quiet. They even gave these men nicknames. They called cherry cherry bomb, and they called exam bliss dynamite bomb. Their investigation of the bombing was aimed at this crazy, nutty theory that the blacks themselves had set the bomb being that they wanted to bomb their own church so that theyd bring sympathy to their cause. In 1963 and in 1981, Black Scapegoats were killed. Victims were brutalized, and we as a country had to learn the lesson. There are no scapegoats. Theres only justice. When i went down to mobile, i never went to the local authorities. They never volunteered anything to me. Donald had been hung on a tree in the same block where this group of klan lived. And im thinking, gee whiz, what better place to start . So i started interviewing these people, and i approached them with the idea they were not the subject of that investigation other than the fact i want your information. I want to know what you know. And the more i asked questions, the more they talked. I had some photographs of some individuals standing beside a pickup truck, looking at the individual when he was hanging in this tree. I identified a klansman. His name is teddy kaiser. And i went and talked to him. I told him, i said, look, teddy, i know you live on herndon avenue. Youre there. Tell me what you saw. Well, the neighbor in apartment 1 was knocking on the door. I asked him what was the problem. He said there was a black man hanging from a tree out here. I said, youre kidding. He said, no. So i went out on the front porch. Sure enough, it was. I stuck to the klansmen because i was on the right trail. New tattoo studio brow pencil. From maybelline new york. Now, defined brows. Up to 36 hours. Waterproof. Smudgeresistant. Powerpacked pigments. New tattoo studio brow pencil. Only from maybelline new york. Kinder bueno . Woooooow. Its crispy. Its creamy. Its not your average chocolate bar. Smooth Milk Chocolate, crispy wafer and creamy hazelnut filling. Its kinder bueno. vo conventional thinking doesnt disrupt the status quo. Which is why tmobile for Business Crispy Wafer and creamy hazelnut filling. Uses unconventional thinking to help your business realize new possibilities. Only one 5g partner offers unmatched network, support, and valuewithout any trade offs. People were telling me, there aint no such thing as the klan. Michael must have been doing something wrong. The truth will come out because we aint going to let it rest. We originally arrested the wrong people. It was my mistake. Eventually mr. Galanos realized, he said, look, we going to go back and we going to investigate the Michael Donald case from day one. Behind the scenes, there was a lot going on. There were two separate investigations. One track was the federal track. The other was the state track. We were both trying to get to the same place following different paths. On the state side, i went to Jeff Sessions and said, ive got this guy named bob eddie. He was Chief Investigator for the d. A. Bob had investigated the klan successfully bob eddy saw the 16th Street Church bombing in birmingham. The klan felt that they were either protected or purely invincible. Their influence in sympathizers were embedded throughout government, throughout Law Enforcement in both the city and the state level. In spite of the fact that four innocent negro girls were brutally murdered in a church in birmingham, alabama, not a single arrest has been made. Six years after the bombing, i was elected attorney general of alabama. That meant i had the real position where i could do something about it. So i got a terrific investigator named bob eddy. One great witness bob eddy found was sham bliss niece. She testified two or three days before the bomb went off, robert was ranting and raving about the blacks and the demonstrations. And he said, you just wait till sunday. Theyll beg us to segregate. Somebody said, what do you mean . He said, youll find out. Youll find out. And so that was pretty powerful. That made an impact on the jury. So backly and bob eddy in a new light put the pieces of a puzzle together that resulted in the conviction of robert chambliss, but the community knew there were still others out there other than chambliss that were involved. Justice, freedom and truth and gods people are on the move. The 16th Street Baptist Church bombing was carried out by members of the united klan of america, the same organization who killed Michael Donald. Again and again we have seen white racists take the lives of black people and do so with impunity, with the legitimatization and the seeming permission of Law Enforcement. Bob eddy, he said, chris, this is a klan killing. You not only had the noose but the typical Klan Diversionary tactic, burning a cross on the lawn of the county courthouse. Bob eddy, in the course of interviewing witnesses, learned that there had been a meeting on wednesday night preceding the friday abduction of Michael Donald. Three days before Michael Donald was murdered, we had a private meeting which we would have every wednesday for just klan members. Bob eddy knew who was at that klan meeting. Tiger knowles, frank cox, teddy kyzar, henry hayes, and bennie hayes, the second highest ranking klansmen in the state of alabama. Bennie hayes was a grand titan, which is the third highest ranking official in the united klan. Bennie jack hayes was a hardnosed businessman, and he could drop a mine in his pocket and pull out a quarter. Bennie jack was a very detailed man. He was pure evil when he set his mind to it. Henry hayes was bennie hayes son. He was a lifetime member. He was secretary treasurer. He collected the dues and the minutes and stuff like that. He was a holdover from the 60s. He was doing his best to be a hippie. He loved to smoke dope. But henry was a very lovable young man. He made sure to please daddy. If daddy caught on to some stuff he was doing, his daddy would discipline him harsh. Even in his adult life, he let his daddy do with him what he wanted to. Taylor knowles was an entrepreneur on the equal of bennie jack hayes. He was very ambitious. He had his hands in everything. If he can make a dollar, by god he was going after it. At 17, i was a regional officer in the klan for south alabama. But, yeah, i was the second in command. I aspired to be the grand dragon over the state. I thought it would give me political contact, and thats what i was looking for. Tiger was the most volatile of the bunch. I think he mentored under bennie jack. You could talk him off the ledge, but he got up on the ledge in a hurry. They were klansmen. They were at that meeting on wednesday night. Out of that motley crew, more than one we strongly suspected had participated in that murder and that lynching. And id like your best new smartphone deal. Oh do ya . Actually its for both new and existing customers. I feel silly. But i do want nationwide 5g. I want nationwide 5g. Are we actually doing this again . Its not complicated. Only at t gives new existing customers the same great deals. Like the Samsung Galaxy s21 5g for free when you trade in. New tattoo studio brow pencil. From maybelline new york. Now, defined brows. Up to 36 hours. Waterproof. Smudgeresistant. Powerpacked pigments. New tattoo studio brow pencil. Only from maybelline new york. The klan, they were still around because they were hanging nooses everywhere they could in mobile. And my mom would say to me, dont you go there because you know people are looking at you. I would tell her, i dont care. And she would be like, yes, you do care. You got your children to raise. But i wasnt fearful of that. I felt like nothing man could do to me now would affect me as much as michaels death affected me. Im a strong believer. I dont know about man, but i know what god can do. Theres a difference between what you know and what you can prove. The investigation was evolving. Bob eddy was on the case. He was interviewing people. He never took his foot off the gas. Agent bodman, under the direction of Thomas Figures, was out there interviewing klansmen. We knew who committed this crime. We, however, could not prove it without a break. I never once thought that i was not being looked at seriously as a suspect. Law enforcement started to zero in on us more and more. I was bound and determined that i wasnt going to talk to nobody. They were building that narrative, and i just wasnt going to give anybody the satisfaction. Everybody thought i was hiding something. I felt like i was being harassed. My mamas phone has gotten tapped twice. My biggest concern was someone saying Something Like henry. Henry had a big mouth. Henrys never said it one way or the other. Of course he denied it. Teddy kyzar, when interviewed by bob eddy, implicated frank cox in the cross burning. The cross burning. Yeah, teddy and i burned a cross on the Courthouse Lawn that night. Did we do it to promote a notion . No. We did it because bennie jack said go do it. I said, man, i need a break. I need a break. And teddy, he was it. I was told that it was a felony and i could be getting ten years in the federal penitentiary for that cross burning. And it was scary. I am zeroed in. I got my target. Teddy kyzar was the least educated, least intelligent one of the group. The other members of the group made fun of him. They lashed him for doing something in violation of one of unit 900s bylaws. I was whipped with a leather strap that was five inches wide and about six foot long. It was bringing tears to my eyes, but the more i thought about it, the madder i got. And i got where i couldnt feel it. I always showed him respect. So i dont know if treating him as a person had any effect on his wanting to talk to me or confide in me, but he did. He did. Jim bodman, he said, if you are telling the truth that you had no knowledge of it before or during, you have nothing to worry about now, do you . I said, well, no. Youre right. And thats when i started settling down and cooperating with people. The night that Michael Donald was murdered, we had a card game. Wed go there in henry hayes apartment, and we were drinking beer. And about 12 00, i looked up. Tiger had a blue jeantype shirt, longsleeved, and he was soaked down in blood. I said, i dont know what yall been doing, but, tiger, youre soaked down in blood. He looked down at his shirt and saw the blood, so he just ripped it off of his self. I said, what yall been doing . They said they beat up a queer, and they laughed. So i laughed with them. And i said, well, next time yall do, i want in on it. He said, well, he had blood on him. Thats the first time that had come out to my knowledge in the investigation. I found another klansman, so i just asked him, where did the blood come from that was on tiger that night . He said, oh, he had a nosebleed. And im thinking, sure he did. I didnt know there was anybody murdered till the next morning. I never did leave the porch to go to look at the body. But my attitude back then, i thought it was funny. I laughed. Its six times filtered. Has zero grams of sugar. No artificial aftertaste. And is usda certified organic. Anything else is just built on sand. New peach pear Michelob Ultra organic seltzer. As real as it tastes. New tattoo studio brow pencil. From maybelline new york. Now, defined brows. Up to 36 hours. Waterproof. Smudgeresistant. Powerpacked pigments. New tattoo studio brow pencil. Only from maybelline new york. Beulah mae donald sought justice for her son. In 1963 and in 1981, justice means that we hold organizations like the klan, individuals like those murderers accountable. Black citizens and other minorities have absolutely no protection, no representation in government. Theyd be left to the mercy of local officials. All the time the investigation was going on, we was really trying to dedicate ourselves to keep that from ever happening again in mobile, alabama. And the only way we could do that is try to bring about some change, someone to represent the interests of all the people in the city because before that, we didnt have that at all. We get talked at. We get talked about. We are stats. We are stereotypes. We are made a mockery of. We are dismissed. Nobody ever asks us. Nobody ever listens to us. How we rectify generations of gross, gross injustice, and how do we do that knowing that if we right those wrongs, its going to be better for everyone . In 1963, the 16th Street Baptist Church, Four Little Girls were killed. Sarah collins was maimed and continues to suffer till this very day. I never received any restitution. I didnt receive any counseling going back to school. I was angry for a long time. Why would they kill those innocent girls . They didnt even get a chance to live their life. But these men, they did. They lived a good life. It was just wrong. The men who took the lives of Four Little Girls had decades to escape accountability. The investigation was reopened. We indicted blanton and cherry in may of 2000. This verdict today sends a message that the people that bomb and kill our innocent citizens and children, we will never give up. Justice delayed does not have to be justice denied. Those decades can not be taken back. They cannot be given to those Four Little Girls. So when we think about Michael Donald, we have to ask ourselves how long will it take for his family to get justice . Thomas figures believed that the klan was responsible for this and that we should pursue it. So the idea was that we would call a grand jury. Wed haul every witness that was relevant in any way, put them under oath and question them aggressively. The reason we needed a Federal Grand Jury is because a State Grand Jury convenes for a single session. The Life Span Of A Federal Grand Jury can run months. So Federal Grand Jury convenes in may of 1983. Now that we think we know who did it, well bring them in. Theyll lie. You bring them back. Theyll lie again. But sooner or later, if you keep hauling them in, somebodys going to break. I had to go before the grand jury. I didnt have the money for a lawyer, and i knew a public defender wouldnt do all that much. They did not get attorneys who advised them to take the fifth amendment. And so they testified before the grand jury. When youre interviewed about a murder before a Federal Grand Jury, youre going to be uncomfortable. Thomas figures was a grinder, in this case simply tenacious. Thomas peters was really wanting to have me locked up. They kept pushing that point, pushing that point. It makes the pot boil. I was saying the same thing over and over and over again. They often contradicted one another, and they would back up, and they would acknowledge things they hadnt acknowledged before. The klansmen lie. We knew they lied, so we brought them back a second time. And then youd go back to somebody else that said, well, this man just told us this. You better tell us the truth now. And then theyd tell you more. And then some of them lied a second time, and we brought them back a third time. It was a game at that point between the accused and the powers that were trying to convict me or henry or tiger, teddy or bennie jack. You could just begin to see the evidence start developing, the kind of evidence you would need to have to have a successful prosecution. Thomas was a prosecutor. He was dedicated to it, very dedicated to it. But he was also the kind of person that did not bite his tongue. If he thought something was wrong, he was going to say it was wrong. Sometimes this created some friction. Thomas could be very abrupt, and he was riding this departmental attorney bigtime. I mean bigtime riding him. Finally this attorney looked up at thomas. He told thomas, he said, you know, i could always use a good boot black. Thomas blew up. Thomas figures is a black prosecutor in a federal office in the 1980s. Hes Fighting Discrimination from without and discrimination from within. And he has to listen to his colleagues speak to him in condescending ways, including his boss, Jeff Sessions, who says to him, you need to watch the way you speak to white people. And he has to secure the trust of Law Enforcement, and so Thomas Figures has to walk a tightrope. He wasnt going to ever give up. They may have thought he would. But he was never going to give up on it. I think the culprits became sensitive to the possibility that among them, someone would start pointing fingers. I continued to testify more and more. It was such a blur, not just from me but from everyone all around. I felt i was way in over my head. I guess it was a combination of grand juries, other klansmen talking. And it was in june of 1983 that Tiger Knowles cracked. New tattoo studio brow pencil. From maybelline new york. Now, defined brows. Up to 36 hours. Waterproof. Smudgeresistant. Powerpacked pigments. New tattoo studio brow pencil. Only from maybelline new york. 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Next thing you know, hes contacted someone with mobile police department, has me come in and tell the whole story to them. He admitted that he had participated but was light years away from telling the whole truth and sought a deal. Tiger would assume a demeanor that you dont normally see in a 17yearold murderer. You might as well have been sitting in this restaurant having a coke with him and hearing what he recently did. There was no remorse. There was no contrition. There was no emotion. I thought he was a sociopath. So i said, im not giving him a deal. My attorney, you know, instead of trying to help me figure out how to get this over and done with and try to make amends as much as we could, he pretty much sold me out. I think Tiger Knowles, he thought it was a good thing to do until he did it. Mr. Hayes probably told him, oh, we can do this, and nothing will be done to us. And i think he convinced him if you do this, oh, theyll never find out that you done it. So then he went across town to the federal side, was interviewed by agent jim bodman. June the 10th, 1983, i get a call about midnight, and its from tiger. He wanted to meet me that night. He was going to put me straight. He was tired of me leaning on him. I said, okay with some concern, and we agreed to meet in mobile. I go early for our agreed time, ride through the shadows and around the cars looking at all these places, trying to see if i or we are being set up. I didnt know what would happen. They had already killed one person. So i parked back in the shadows where they couldnt necessarily see me. There was a white man with tiger, and i looked at him, and it was his attorney, and i know him. Im thinking, what is he doing here . So we start talking, and tiger starts saying ive been before the grand jury. Ive had enough of this. You know, get off my back. I said, tiger, wait a minute. Dont Start Feeding me that same old crap. If thats the best you can do, i said, im going to go home and go to bed. But i said, ill tell you what. I know what happened. You picked up this young man. You took him out to an area. He was scared to death. He was afraid for his life. He started fighting both of you. You couldnt handle him, and you proceeded to beat him to the ground, and you killed him. You killed him. Tiger, i dont think you meant to do it. And to so help me, his response was, honest, mr. Bodman, we didnt mean to do it. And i thought, gotcha. Okay. He said, mr. Bodman, you know. I said, yes, but you got to tell me. I said i have more one question. How did you get him up in a tree . You couldnt get him up there by yourself. And he names henry, henry hayes. Got him. Man, got him. I said, ill tell you what. I want you to go home. Dont run off. Dont hide. Dont flee. I said, because you confessed to me, i can save your life. Because in the federal system, the maximum for Death State Law . They put your butt in an electric chair. So he saw the light. Monday we will get together and do everything necessary to take care of it. Tiger walks off into the night. If i am lucky enough to get to heaven, i will say, lord, thank you, i solved the case. My boss said solve the case . I said, its solved. Im glad it all has come to light. Michael did no wrong. We knew that my brother had died, the klan had killed him. People had come to me and said they never found out who killed my sibling, my father, my brother, and my brother died and nobody ever found out, and yall are blessed. I said, thank you, god, because we could be like them wondering. Actually its for both new and existing customers. I feel silly. But i do want nationwide 5g. I want nationwide 5g. Are we actually doing this again . Its not complicated. Only at t gives new existing customers the same great deals. Like the Samsung Galaxy s21 5g for free when you trade in. New tattoo studio brow pencil. From maybelline new york. Now, defined brows. Up to 36 hours. Waterproof. Smudgeresistant. Powerpacked pigments. New tattoo studio brow pencil. Only from maybelline new york. Hey xfinity, show me disney plus. Im here on business. I need your help. Powerpacked pigments. Ive been quested to bring this one back to its kind. Now you can access Exclusive Disney originals. We are an unusual couple. Oh i dont think that was ever in question. And stream mustsee disney new releases people need this symbol. Where do we start . Find the best in entertainment all in one place, with disney plus now on xfinity a way better way to watch. 19yearold Michael Donalds body was found on march 1st of 1981. Mr. noles plead guilty to a civil rights charge. If the fbi agent, jim bodman recorded the information up their Chain Of Command to the u. S. Attorneys office when he was told that he had to cooperate fully to save his life, thomas and myself met in one of the courtrooms with tiger. He showed up at that. Point in time, and i said, tiger, tell again exactly what you told him and he starts telling him. I dont know all the negotiations involved, i trusted the lawyer and end up gaving a plea deal. I was the one that said, no, were not going to give this guy a deal. He confessed. And it was a free knowing and intelligent incriminating statement. Then the question was what to do about henry hayes, who was 26 years old. I thought it was a Death Penalty case. This will not be tolerated. We cannot allow that kind of violent brutal murder and a hateful group, we decided a decision was reached that it would be tried by the state District Attorney and alabama had a Death Penalty at that time. I wanted the Africanamerican Community to know that the United States Attorneys Office in mobile, alabama, was not going to back away from tough civil rights cases. I know Jeff Sessions, and i think i know him pretty well. If i had to say the amount of effort he put into this, i would say by position, his name came up. He was the u. S. Attorney. Period at the end of that. When Jeff Sessions was nominated to be a federal judge back in the 1980s, the Michael Donald case was used as a kind of racial shield. I am not a racists, i am not insensitive to blacks and i supported Civil Rights Activity in my state. Thomas figures testified against his boss in congress under oath that Jeff Sessions initially tried to dissuade him from bringing the case. I think thomas said it best in his own words, while its literally true that Jeff Sessions did not i believe he said obstruct the investigation, he certainly did not promote this investigation. If the only thing you can point to is that you were the u. S. Attorney when Michael Donalds case was solved, then you dont have much to offer as it relates to working to make sure that all people are treated equal. What we do have is more prosecutions in the First District on Crack Cocaine Convictions than people getting life without parole, i think, than here in los angeles thats where the time was spent. Im real thankful that Thomas Figures was there. I try to do the right thing all the time, every day, every decision i make, and i have been unfairly accused involving the Michael Donald case, unfairly accused of not supporting this case, which is not true. I mean, we we advanced it well and so i just would say i dont i Tell The Truth and somebody else can write the history. We would try henry in state court for capital murder, but benny hayes, the number two man, would attempt to protect his son. Benny hayes came to my momma and daddys house looking for me, and the only reason he would come looking for me is to shut my mouth, to keep me from telling. Hi, welcome to the news here in the United States and all around the world. Thank you for joining me. 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