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. living in mobile was a quiet town. it s nothing but old trees. but after march 1981, it was kind of, like, creepy to me to just look at the trees. the hurt is still there. the hurt my mom went through, i just visualize her face and i go, like, i can t talk about it today. my mama, beulah mae donald, was a quiet woman. she was a good-hearted person. all the neighbor
ralph told them that he had quote jumped a black dude. and ralph has a spot of blood this big on his t-shirt, and one of the edgar boys is literally cleaning blood out from under his fingernails with a pocket knife. this was evidence that was piling up, so four days later we arrested and charged them for the murder of michael donald. we have them in jail. we re starting to pick up pieces here and there. we determined that there had been a burglary that had occurred at the end of herndon avenue. when we finally figured out who the burglar was, he admits that he saw two guys fighting with a black guy at the tree. they weren t fighting.