A Q&A With Joyce King
A brutal, racially-motivated murder called her to Jasper. She was reluctant to answer. But when she arrived, nothing could have prepared her for the way Jasper would affect her or the way she would affect Jasper. Here, veteran journalist and first-time author Joyce King shares her experiences writing the book that would educate a nation and heal a small town in East Texas.
texasmonthly.com: As a journalist, you were assigned to cover the trials of all three defendants. What were your thoughts and assumptions going in? Did they change at all as the trials progressed?
Joyce King: There is a bit of background. I had just lost my job as a news anchor for CBS radio, and I was very bitter going to Jasper. I thought it was a demotion to be made a street reporter again after being an anchor so long. I felt rusty, I felt frightened. I did not want to go to Jasper. I had racial issues of my own. I knew this story would break my heart, and it did. The pivotal thing that changed my attitude was a trip I took out to Huff Creek, where James Byrd, Jr., was dragged. I walked the three-mile route; that instantly changed my perspective. I knew that the mission was greater than me. I wasn’t sure what it was, but I knew that I was there for more than just reporting.
texasmonthly.com: As the trials came to a close, what made you decide that you needed to write this book?
JK: Some of the reporters and I were joking around saying, “Who’s going to do this? Who’s going to tell this story?” My good friend Monique Nation, who was a television reporter for the Fox station in Houston, said, “King, if you don’t do it, it’s not going to get done. None of us are going to write it.” She really believed and encouraged me. When I got home, I began to look at my notes from the trial, and I thought, “I should do this.” And so, I started. After 22 years in broadcasting, I resigned my position with CBS and moved to Jasper in January 2000, which was a little more than a month after the last trial ended. A lot of people were stunned.
texasmonthly.com: How long did you live there?
JK: I lived in Jasper for a month. I wanted to see what these people were like up close. I wanted to see what they were like without a trial, without television cameras, without the international scrutiny. They were friendly, but very suspicious. I don’t blame them because a lot of people in the media had gotten the story wrong. There were people who said things about their town that were unforgivable. A lot of them thought I was from New York, which I found hysterical being that I’m a native Texan, born in Houston. I was always justifying myself as being a real Texan. I think I won most of them over with my integrity, my professionalism, and with just reassuring them all through it—”I don’t have an agent; I don’t have a publisher; I don’t even have a job anymore; I’m just stepping out on faith because I believe this town needs someone to put the truth down in black and white.” And that’s what I set out to do, to give an accurate account so people would know.
texasmonthly.com: Did you get a good response from residents of Jasper after the book was published?
JK: Because of my national tour, it took me a while to get back to Jasper. I was nervous and apprehensive. I wondered how they would receive me. Well, when I got there, it was a lot of love. Everyone was hugging me. The book helped the town in its healing process. They felt like my book told the truth, and I agree. There was compassion and sensitivity. I simply gave readers a walk in my shoes. I didn’t try to get into the minds of the killers. There wasn’t much there anyway. I didn’t try to tell you that this sort of thing will never happen again. That’s not for me to say. But what I did do is defend the justice that was served in this case. We’ve had large cities get it wrong in the case of racial justice, and this little town got it right. And I think for a black woman, a black journalist to stand up and say that, caught a lot of people off guard.
texasmonthly.com: Were the killers an anomaly in Jasper, or is racial tension more common there then one might think?
JK: Jasper bills itself the “Jewel of the Forest.” It is peaceful and serene. It’s got a Mayberry quality about it, except I never saw any black people in Mayberry. But in this case, Jasper is almost half black, half white. There was something different about Jasperites and how they related to one another. The mayor was black. That was shocking to me at first. The school superintendent was black. The sheriff and the district attorney were white. But these people got along. Jasper was completely the opposite of everything I knew to be true about East Texas. I think one of the last questions I asked in my first interview with the sheriff was, “What would you like the outcome of this case to be?” He paused a long time and he said, “Well, justice for the blacks and the whites.” I took my mother to the book signing there. She was stunned at the outpouring of love. She has already threatened to buy a piece of land in Jasper. She wants to move there, if that gives you any indication.
texasmonthly.com: You talk about the role prison played in forming the racist murderous mentalities of two of the killers. What kind of reforms could be made to prevent the forming of racial gangs?
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