WEBVTT

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(MUSIC)

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CLAUDIA LACY:
Lennon was about 18 months here.

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Almost two.

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This is Lennon, the oldest.
Young uncle.

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Think about it

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as if it was your son,
or your daughter.

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If you knew in your
heart and in your mind,

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that someone took your child\'s life,

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and everything that you\'ve
done, as humanly possible

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they\'ve taken it
and twisted it and turned it.

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How far would you go

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to get to the truth?

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How soon would you let it go?

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The neighborhood\'s supposed to be

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a connection of your
extended family.

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If someone in your family
gets hurt, you hurt.

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And until this wound is fixed and heals,

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this neighborhood will always hurt.

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And will always be an open wound.

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(MUSIC)

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(CELLPHONE DIALS AND RINGS)

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If you read
the accounts of lynching,

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the acts themselves
are so horrifying

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that they became a kind
of internal story

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of so many communities.

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And yet like children,
we still hope and pray

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that it\'s far enough in the past

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that maybe we never
have to talk about it.

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(MUSIC)

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This report is
published with the hope

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that its sheer sadism
and abnormal cruelty

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may stir thoughtful
Americans to action.

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If this report does not do so,

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we fear that
the situation is hopeless.

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We have the Moore\'s Ford
lynching from 1946

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and no one has been charged

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and you mean to tell me that
after all these years,

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no one will speak up?

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That angers me.

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Somebody knows something.

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I think that he was murdered.

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I think they hung him up to
make it look like a suicide.

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The group of people in this area,

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some of them are all for
a good show of a lynching.

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It makes you realize that
things like that still happen.

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We might not see them all the time

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but they still happen.

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(DOG BARKING)

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HENRY SINGLETARY:
I grew up here.

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This has always been home.

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It has sort of an Andy Griffith feel.

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A lot of people are
country folks and

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have a laid back attitude.

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I\'ve been in many places
around the country

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where there\'s big cities and towns.

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And I like the small town atmosphere.

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Simply because it\'s a slower pace.

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In my growing up time,

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the cotton mill was the main employer

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but was closed down by the 1980s.

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It was a farming town, as well.

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SPEAKER: Who\'s planning to be part of
the annual Bladenboro Beast Fest!

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(CHEERING)

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CURT VINCENT:
I don\'t know if you\'ve heard of the

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Beast of Bladenboro.
But they have a festival for that

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based on a legend.

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SPEAKER:
In 1954,

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some kind of animal
killed a number of pets

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and some livestock in the area

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They figure in the dark.

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The artist\'s conception is
something almost a human-like,

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cat-like combination.

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REV. GREGORY TAYLOR: You\'ve noticed
about the beast of Bladenboro,

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you\'ll never see black
people in that story.

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That\'s a myth that
was perpetrated by

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our light-skinned brothers and sisters.

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The beast has always been black

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and black people always
had a problem with that.

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RUFUS DUCKWORTH:
We went with the black cat

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because that\'s the way
it had always been

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portrayed in the articles.

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The killer cat... you know, the black cat.

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It was supposed to be
coming out of the swamp

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up into the edge of town.

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Everybody wanted to be
the one to get their picture in

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the newspapers that they
captured the beast.

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REV. GREGORY TAYLOR:
They call it the swamp

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in the quarters down
there for a reason.

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It\'s based upon the slave term,
from the slave quarters.

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Here in Bladenboro,

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most of the African-Americans
live in this particular area.

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DOUG LACY:
So, right here, there was the cleaners.

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Right here was the little feed store.

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They changed it now.

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All these places, I\'m telling you,
you knew where you could come in

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and what time your place was, you know.

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The first part of
the morning was mostly

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the business time,

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and the white people come first,
then the black people came.

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ROSLYN BURDEN:
We had it hard coming up.

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We all have our skeletons.

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But honey, Bladenboro got skeletons

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that if you open the door,
they would scare you to death.

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Some things that you see,
you keep it to yourself.

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You will live longer.

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RUFUS DUCKWORTH:
I haven\'t experienced any

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personal racial division.

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Everybody gets along.

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Of course, we do have the young man

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that was found hanging
here in Bladenboro,

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a couple of years ago.

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Lennon Lacy was found
hanging from a swing

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near his home.

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I think is they way the story went.

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Most people just don\'t
know what happened there.

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DOUG LACY: I\'ll take you by the
cemetery where Lennon\'s at.

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This here is my grandmother
and my grandfather.

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Addie and Benjamin Lacy.

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That\'s my uncle, he was a brickmason.

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And down here...

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This is Lennon\'s grave right here.

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That\'s Lennon\'s grave.

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LITTLE GIRL:
I\'m playing basketball.

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CLAUDIA LACY:
Did your brother show you how to play?

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LITTLE GIRL:
No. I already know how to play.

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CLAUDIA LACY:
Okay.

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LITTLE GIRL:
I\'m good at it.

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CLAUDIA LACY:
Okay.

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Lennon would\'ve never wanted me

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to not know what happened to him.

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You know, he would want me to
have some type of closure

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because we were very close.

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I\'d say to him,

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\"There\'s nothing too insignificant
that you can\'t tell me.\"

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\"Nothing too personal.
I know you. I had you.\"

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\"I know everything about your body.\"

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\"Everything about you.\"

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SPEAKER: Give us Lord
our daily bread. Amen.

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CLAUDIA LACY: For them to
say what they did as far as

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he had taken his own life,

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I couldn\'t see that.

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He had too much to live for.

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Too much.

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And I just want justice and closure.

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Last time I talked to Lennon

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was the day that we buried my uncle.

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So we all came back here

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after the funeral,

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Lennon was dressed down.

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He had on his dark blue sweatpants,

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a sports jersey with Bladen
on the front of it

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and his tennis shoes
stuck out because

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they was that neon green.

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But that\'s the color
he wanted because

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he had a hat that it matched too

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because he bought the whole outfit:

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the hat, the pants and
the shirt and the shoes matched.

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I said, \"Well I\'mma go ahead to bed, \'cause
I\'m tired and I don\'t feel too good, so.\"

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Lennon was like,

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\"I gotta finish
hanging out my things

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for our football game tomorrow.\"

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So he kissed me on
the forehead and I said,

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\"Don\'t forget to take
the stuff off the line.\"

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And I went to bed.

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And that was the last
time I talked to Lennon.

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In the morning, I was talking
to my sister over the phone

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cause she was checking in on me.

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I happened to glance out the window,

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and I said, \"Lennon\'s done left his jersey
and his support socks on the clothesline.\"

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She said, \"Well. I\'mma
let you go,\" she says,

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\"Cause I know you gotta
run to the schoolhouse

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and drop off his things.\"

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And there was a knock at the door.

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Chief Hunt is on the other side.

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He let me know that
I need to go with him.

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I got in my vehicle

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and I followed him over to the park.

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There was a crowd of people
standing on the side of the road

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and I noticed that
the police was rolling up

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crime scene yellow tape from
around one of the swing sets.

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The State Bureau
Investigator told me

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that I need to see
if this was my son.

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I go up the three steps,
sit on the back of the EMT.

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I got close, as close
as you can get,

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other than laying on top of
his body to look and see

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and feel and touch
and smell his body.

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And I rubbed his face.

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And I rubbed his chest.

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And I just looked at him with
amaze cause I was literally...

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disbelief

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that, you know, his
lifeless body was there

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and I just saw him
a couple of hours prior.

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It was unreal.

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I feel like I was
watching a bad movie

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and it was never gonna end.

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And from that point on, it
became like a blur to me.

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And I tried to allow

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my family members,

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other family members to
deal with the police.

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I couldn\'t deal with any more
than what I was dealing with.

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I just couldn\'t.

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PIERRE LACY:
At the time, I was working at Stafford,
Virginia.

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And then..

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My supervisor said, \"Hey,
you got a phone call.\"

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Then my godbrother was uh...

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He was telling
me, \"they found Lennon.\"

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I said, \"They? Who are they?\"

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\"And what are you talking about?\"

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And he was like, \"They
found him dead.\"

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\"They say he hung himself.
He committed suicide.\"

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He wouldn\'t do nothing like that.

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I just... you know

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I just saw him a couple of weeks ago.

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That wasn\'t on his mind.

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I started crying and I was...

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I wanted to stop crying
but I couldn\'t.

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I cried from my job all
the way to my mom\'s house.

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When I walked in the house, I was just...

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I saw my mom.

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I\'m like, \"How?\"

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\"How did this happen?\"

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You know...

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And she...

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She couldn\'t really...

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She couldn\'t even really look at me

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because she was so hurt.

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And I didn\'t take nothing personal.

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It just hurt me to know
that she was that hurt.

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And I couldn\'t imagine

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what was going on through her mind

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when she had to go out there

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and see him like that.

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And then they tell her

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she don\'t know what
she\'s talking about.

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He did this to himself.

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And you\'re gonna force feed a lie

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to my whole entire family

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and make us think we\'re crazy.

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It looked like...

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Honestly, it looked
like it was a display.

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Like it was a message.

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Like it was a back
in the day lynching.

00:15:41.483 --> 00:15:43.942
That\'s how it made me feel.

00:15:43.943 --> 00:15:48.323
That\'s how it made me feel.

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SHERRILYN IFILL:
Lynching, as a form of racial terrorism,

00:16:08.635 --> 00:16:12.430
is a very particular thing.

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And that really began
after the civil war,

00:16:16.685 --> 00:16:19.561
during the reconstruction period,

00:16:19.562 --> 00:16:21.772
when new emancipated
slaves were making

00:16:21.773 --> 00:16:25.902
political gains, economic
gains, educational gains.

00:16:26.653 --> 00:16:29.530
Between the 1890s and 1960,

00:16:29.531 --> 00:16:32.574
there were about 5000 lynching
in the United States,

00:16:32.575 --> 00:16:34.576
most of them of
African-American men.

00:16:34.577 --> 00:16:36.161
Although, there are
a few dozen cases of

00:16:36.162 --> 00:16:38.456
African-American women.

00:16:39.040 --> 00:16:40.749
Mostly they did happen in the South.

00:16:40.750 --> 00:16:42.251
But they happened all over

00:16:42.252 --> 00:16:45.421
throughout the United States.

00:16:45.422 --> 00:16:47.673
And lynchings very
often involved hangings,

00:16:47.674 --> 00:16:50.468
very often involved shooting.

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But also, burning,

00:16:53.346 --> 00:16:56.056
including burning alive of victims.

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But it really was
the character of the murder

00:17:00.353 --> 00:17:02.105
that made it a lynching.

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Those who were involved
in the lynching

00:17:05.066 --> 00:17:08.485
perceive themselves as having
the right to do this.

00:17:08.486 --> 00:17:10.487
And that\'s why it\'s most often done

00:17:10.488 --> 00:17:12.531
openly and notoriously

00:17:12.532 --> 00:17:15.784
with the participation
of average people.

00:17:15.785 --> 00:17:20.331
Not just to punish
the individual person,

00:17:20.332 --> 00:17:22.458
but as a symbol, as a sign,

00:17:22.459 --> 00:17:24.335
to the larger community,

00:17:24.336 --> 00:17:27.463
both the white community
and the black community.

00:17:27.464 --> 00:17:30.300
Lynching was a message crime.

00:17:31.301 --> 00:17:33.552
Sometimes they happened in the woods.

00:17:33.553 --> 00:17:35.346
But most often, they
happened in places

00:17:35.347 --> 00:17:37.514
where the body would be seen,

00:17:37.515 --> 00:17:41.561
sometimes, in a crowd of ten
or fifteen thousand spectators.

00:17:42.854 --> 00:17:44.730
And it\'s the public
nature of lynching

00:17:44.731 --> 00:17:47.691
that really condemns
the white community

00:17:47.692 --> 00:17:50.235
because the idea that
people didn\'t know -

00:17:50.236 --> 00:17:52.071
they did know.

00:17:52.072 --> 00:17:53.698
They did know.

00:18:20.392 --> 00:18:21.850
SPEAKER: At sundown,

00:18:21.851 --> 00:18:25.938
the Negro will be taken to
the farm, two miles from here

00:18:25.939 --> 00:18:29.985
where Miss Lola Kennedy,
the murder victim lived.

00:18:31.069 --> 00:18:35.406
There, he will be mutilated
by the girl\'s father.

00:18:35.407 --> 00:18:39.326
Then, he will be
brought to the pig pen

00:18:39.327 --> 00:18:42.831
and murdered where
the girl\'s body was found.

00:18:44.624 --> 00:18:47.459
Finally, his body will be brought

00:18:47.460 --> 00:18:50.546
to the county seat nine miles from here,

00:18:50.547 --> 00:18:53.215
and hung in the courthouse square

00:18:53.216 --> 00:18:55.468
for all to see.

00:18:56.177 --> 00:18:59.514
All white folks are
invited to the party.

00:19:25.498 --> 00:19:27.082
SPEAKER: We want that nigger Roger!

00:19:27.083 --> 00:19:28.918
Get him out!

00:19:31.338 --> 00:19:34.006
Get out of the car, nigga!

00:19:34.007 --> 00:19:36.051
Who do you think you are?

00:19:40.430 --> 00:19:42.556
Take him down!

00:19:42.557 --> 00:19:44.433
SPEAKER: Why are you doing this to him?

00:19:44.434 --> 00:19:45.435
What are you doing!

00:19:48.271 --> 00:19:50.064
SPEAKER: Please, do something!

00:19:50.065 --> 00:19:51.941
We didn\'t do nothing!

00:19:51.942 --> 00:19:53.693
We didn\'t do nothing!

00:19:57.948 --> 00:20:00.033
SPEAKER: Get those niggers tied up!

00:20:04.537 --> 00:20:06.622
Okay! Get your guns ready!

00:20:06.623 --> 00:20:09.625
(SIREN WAILING)

00:20:09.626 --> 00:20:10.918
SPEAKER: Please!

00:20:10.919 --> 00:20:12.211
Please, don\'t kill him!

00:20:12.212 --> 00:20:14.505
Please, don\'t kill me!

00:20:14.506 --> 00:20:15.506
No!

00:20:15.507 --> 00:20:19.927
(GUNSHOTS FIRED)

00:20:19.928 --> 00:20:22.596
SPEAKER: No!

00:20:22.597 --> 00:20:25.267
(GUNSHOTS FIRED)

00:20:26.351 --> 00:20:27.351
SPEAKER: One more time!

00:20:27.352 --> 00:20:28.894
Let\'s make sure that nigger\'s dead!

00:20:28.895 --> 00:20:30.521
SPEAKER: Please, don\'t kill him!

00:20:30.522 --> 00:20:32.357
(GUNSHOTS FIRED)

00:20:35.590 --> 00:20:37.910
SPEAKER: And then open up when
she gets the baby, open up.

00:20:44.577 --> 00:20:45.911
SPEAKER: This good boss?

00:20:45.912 --> 00:20:49.082
It\'s real good.

00:20:51.960 --> 00:20:54.586
Do you see anybody who know here?

00:20:54.587 --> 00:20:58.007
I\'m asking, do you see
anybody you who know here?

00:20:58.008 --> 00:20:59.967
SPEAKER: No.

00:20:59.968 --> 00:21:01.328
SPEAKER: Get the hell out of here!

00:21:09.519 --> 00:21:13.607
PAULA LOGAN:
Hm.

00:21:21.281 --> 00:21:25.160
I don\'t think I\'ve watched
it since I did it.

00:21:27.954 --> 00:21:29.872
You can feel it out here.

00:21:29.873 --> 00:21:32.833
You can feel the spirit of
those that died out here.

00:21:32.834 --> 00:21:34.752
When we came out and when we did,

00:21:34.753 --> 00:21:37.671
you know, just the rehearsal.

00:21:37.672 --> 00:21:40.132
Since I\'ve been here in this town,

00:21:40.133 --> 00:21:42.968
I see the way that they look at you

00:21:42.969 --> 00:21:45.512
and this feeling of -

00:21:45.513 --> 00:21:47.598
nobody should say anything.

00:21:47.599 --> 00:21:49.016
We don\'t want to talk.

00:21:49.017 --> 00:21:50.769
You know, let\'s not talk about this.

00:21:54.230 --> 00:21:58.401
(MUSIC)

00:22:04.866 --> 00:22:06.408
REPORTER:
Since 2005,

00:22:06.409 --> 00:22:08.410
civil rights activists have returned

00:22:08.411 --> 00:22:11.080
to the Moore\'s Ford Ridge
to recreate the night

00:22:11.081 --> 00:22:14.583
two black couples, Roger
and Dorothy Malcolm and

00:22:14.584 --> 00:22:16.752
George and Mae Murray Dorsey,

00:22:16.753 --> 00:22:20.590
were lynched by the Ku Klux Klan in 1946.

00:22:22.425 --> 00:22:24.635
SPEAKER:
An outraged President Harry Truman

00:22:24.636 --> 00:22:26.220
ordered a federal investigation

00:22:26.221 --> 00:22:27.680
and a grand jury was convened

00:22:27.681 --> 00:22:30.516
yet no indictments were brought
for the killings.

00:22:30.517 --> 00:22:35.729
The FBI reopened its case in 2007.

00:22:35.730 --> 00:22:38.357
The reenactment serves as
a dramatic call to action

00:22:38.358 --> 00:22:40.818
and an annual reminder
to the Monroe community

00:22:40.819 --> 00:22:43.946
that an injustice has
never been corrected.

00:22:43.947 --> 00:22:46.116
Chelsea Bailey, NBC News.

00:22:49.619 --> 00:22:51.912
And this place is
an eerie place, you know.

00:22:51.913 --> 00:22:54.832
I didn\'t remember until

00:22:54.833 --> 00:22:56.875
we came here today.

00:22:56.876 --> 00:23:00.087
That we went up under this bridge,

00:23:00.088 --> 00:23:03.257
and there was writings

00:23:03.258 --> 00:23:07.428
that the Ku Klux Klan had put
under this very bridge

00:23:07.429 --> 00:23:09.138
that we\'re standing on.

00:23:09.139 --> 00:23:10.599
Wow.

00:23:14.019 --> 00:23:16.186
PAULA LOGAN:
It makes me feel sad.

00:23:16.187 --> 00:23:21.442
It makes me feel angry.

00:23:21.443 --> 00:23:26.448
It makes me feel empowered

00:23:27.616 --> 00:23:31.201
because I\'m helping to, hopefully,

00:23:31.202 --> 00:23:33.871
bring some closure to what happened

00:23:33.872 --> 00:23:35.832
with these families.

00:23:38.293 --> 00:23:41.170
It\'s intense just watching
the reenactment.

00:23:41.171 --> 00:23:43.547
It\'s intense thinking
about the fact that

00:23:43.548 --> 00:23:47.594
it\'s getting ready to happen again.

00:23:56.311 --> 00:23:57.728
REENACTMENT DIRECTOR:
Alright, one more time,

00:23:57.729 --> 00:23:59.396
I need you louder, Sharice.
Action!

00:23:59.397 --> 00:24:02.691
REENACTOR 1:
I don\'t care!

00:24:02.692 --> 00:24:04.818
I wanna know.

00:24:04.819 --> 00:24:06.612
REENACTOR 2:
Nigger, what are you doing on my land?

00:24:06.613 --> 00:24:10.574
REENACTOR 1:
You have been with my wife.

00:24:10.575 --> 00:24:12.034
What\'s going on?

00:24:12.035 --> 00:24:15.579
REENACTOR 3: Roger, oh!

00:24:15.580 --> 00:24:17.998
REENACTMENT DIRECTOR: You still hit him on
the back, but that\'s good. OK, good, good.

00:24:17.999 --> 00:24:20.167
REENACTOR 3: You killed him.

00:24:20.168 --> 00:24:22.586
REENACTMENT DIRECTOR: That\'s Mr.
Malcolm to you.

00:24:22.587 --> 00:24:24.588
Good.
Okay.

00:24:24.589 --> 00:24:25.589
You alright Mr Barney?

00:24:25.590 --> 00:24:27.007
(LAUGHS)

00:24:27.008 --> 00:24:28.008
That was good.

00:24:28.009 --> 00:24:29.426
Look! They keep wanting to
stab you in your back.

00:24:29.427 --> 00:24:30.469
But that\'s okay.

00:24:30.470 --> 00:24:32.304
We\'ll get him it in
the front, I think.

00:24:32.305 --> 00:24:34.098
Alright, so that\'s scene one.

00:24:34.099 --> 00:24:36.100
We\'re going to the next scene.

00:24:36.101 --> 00:24:40.312
I will be directing the Moore\'s
Ford Bridge lynching reenactment

00:24:40.313 --> 00:24:42.898
for my third year this year.

00:24:42.899 --> 00:24:44.942
CASSANDRA GREENE:
I\'ve been doing plays for

00:24:44.943 --> 00:24:47.403
about ten or eleven years now.

00:24:47.404 --> 00:24:50.656
It was all because of
social issues that I saw

00:24:50.657 --> 00:24:52.700
that needed to be addressed

00:24:52.701 --> 00:24:54.118
that no one wanted to address.

00:24:54.119 --> 00:24:55.953
And those are the issues that

00:24:55.954 --> 00:24:58.163
that I go for.

00:24:58.164 --> 00:25:01.001
CASSANDRA:
Fire! Pow, pow, pow, pow, pow.

00:25:02.294 --> 00:25:03.669
CASSANDRA:
No more moving.

00:25:03.670 --> 00:25:05.879
It wasn\'t just killing these people.

00:25:05.880 --> 00:25:07.715
It was overkill.

00:25:07.716 --> 00:25:10.759
They were shot so many times.

00:25:10.760 --> 00:25:13.178
Dorothy being pregnant
didn\'t matter.

00:25:13.179 --> 00:25:15.848
Pulls it up, yup, got it, boss!

00:25:15.849 --> 00:25:17.766
Down!

00:25:17.767 --> 00:25:21.020
The baby was taken out of her body.

00:25:21.021 --> 00:25:22.855
A baby.

00:25:22.856 --> 00:25:25.316
Out of a woman\'s body.

00:25:25.317 --> 00:25:27.443
Whether black or white.

00:25:27.444 --> 00:25:30.529
So, we really push that part

00:25:30.530 --> 00:25:35.242
so that they know that
this was some sick stuff.

00:25:35.243 --> 00:25:39.038
CASSANDRA: Alright. Actors, how do y\'all,
how do y\'all...

00:25:39.039 --> 00:25:40.759
Y\'all dead folk, how do y\'all feel about...

00:25:47.547 --> 00:25:50.132
CASSANDRA: This year, we are trying
to bring in more actors

00:25:50.133 --> 00:25:53.010
to play Klansmen.

00:25:53.011 --> 00:25:55.763
Believe it or not, it\'s hard to get

00:25:55.764 --> 00:25:59.850
whites that live in
the area to participate

00:25:59.851 --> 00:26:02.937
because a lot of people
are actually afraid

00:26:02.938 --> 00:26:06.942
of coming out
and facing what happened.

00:26:13.740 --> 00:26:15.616
When we go into Monroe,

00:26:15.617 --> 00:26:18.118
I mean, you can feel, like

00:26:18.119 --> 00:26:20.914
what the heck are
you all doing here?

00:26:24.042 --> 00:26:26.126
ALLISON JACKSON:
Since I\'ve been here,

00:26:26.127 --> 00:26:27.753
every year, they have
the reenactment

00:26:27.754 --> 00:26:30.381
and in my opinion, leave
the past in the past.

00:26:30.382 --> 00:26:32.258
Let these people rest.

00:26:34.010 --> 00:26:36.929
ROBERT HOWARD:
I directed the first two reenactments,

00:26:36.930 --> 00:26:39.765
and I had a whole crew of
white people to play the Klan.

00:26:39.766 --> 00:26:43.978
And it was just two days before we
were supposed to have the reenactment,

00:26:43.979 --> 00:26:48.065
and all these guys backed out
and said that they couldn\'t do it.

00:26:48.066 --> 00:26:53.071
So we used white masks on black people
to play Klan that first year.

00:26:54.239 --> 00:26:56.198
MIKE CASH: They had swastikas drawn
on and there were

00:26:56.199 --> 00:26:58.158
black people that colored
their faces in white.

00:26:58.159 --> 00:27:03.789
And could you imagine,
us doing a blackface reenactment?

00:27:03.790 --> 00:27:07.334
It would be on every news
thing in the entire world.

00:27:07.335 --> 00:27:10.713
When you have a reenactment
of something that horrific,

00:27:10.714 --> 00:27:14.592
every single year, what does
it teach young black people?

00:27:14.593 --> 00:27:16.885
But I think what we need to do is

00:27:16.886 --> 00:27:19.681
say that happened,
but look where we are today.

00:27:22.809 --> 00:27:23.892
REV. NORMAN GARRETT:
I think it\'s

00:27:23.893 --> 00:27:25.561
one of the most greatest things

00:27:25.562 --> 00:27:27.563
that ever happened in Monroe County

00:27:27.564 --> 00:27:29.440
because we want justice.

00:27:29.441 --> 00:27:30.649
We need justice.

00:27:30.650 --> 00:27:34.070
And that has not happened as of yet.

00:27:36.531 --> 00:27:41.910
CASSANDRA: Any injustice affects
everybody that\'s around it.

00:27:41.911 --> 00:27:45.789
So, why are we so afraid
of the truth coming out?

00:27:45.790 --> 00:27:47.791
Why are we so afraid
to talk about it?

00:27:47.792 --> 00:27:51.837
And that\'s what
the reenactment does.

00:27:51.838 --> 00:27:53.005
It keeps it in the light.

00:27:53.006 --> 00:27:54.465
It keeps it in the light.

00:27:54.466 --> 00:27:55.633
We don\'t want anything in the dark.

00:27:55.634 --> 00:27:57.218
Bring it to the light.

00:28:16.071 --> 00:28:17.738
LENNON\'S MOM:
They desecrated the grave

00:28:17.739 --> 00:28:19.782
five days after he was buried.

00:28:19.783 --> 00:28:20.783
They took and...

00:28:20.784 --> 00:28:22.701
They took his flowers off of it

00:28:22.702 --> 00:28:25.120
and threw them way back over here.

00:28:25.121 --> 00:28:26.481
And the West Bladen, styrofoam WB,

00:28:27.832 --> 00:28:30.501
they took and broke it.

00:28:30.502 --> 00:28:32.337
Threw it way over by the street.

00:28:33.129 --> 00:28:35.422
You see how the sand is.

00:28:35.423 --> 00:28:38.259
They had dug a hole deep enough

00:28:38.260 --> 00:28:40.761
where one of his
classmates stuck his arm

00:28:40.762 --> 00:28:42.388
way up here.

00:28:42.389 --> 00:28:43.722
He stuck his arm all
the way in the hole.

00:28:43.723 --> 00:28:44.974
They had dug the grave,

00:28:44.975 --> 00:28:46.100
dug the sand out of it.

00:28:46.101 --> 00:28:48.727
Like they were trying to
dig up his grave, yeah.

00:28:48.728 --> 00:28:50.980
And they said it was not
racial or a hate crime.

00:28:50.981 --> 00:28:53.733
I said I don\'t know why it wouldn\'t be.

00:29:01.199 --> 00:29:03.909
Lennon, as an individual,
losing his uncle

00:29:03.910 --> 00:29:07.538
which is more or
less like a grandfather

00:29:07.539 --> 00:29:10.708
and then having his first
major serious breakup

00:29:10.709 --> 00:29:13.586
with a female...

00:29:14.546 --> 00:29:16.547
I guess people would
say that would be a lot

00:29:16.548 --> 00:29:18.591
for a teenager to deal with.

00:29:18.592 --> 00:29:20.999
But Lennon was not
a typical teenager.

00:29:21.000 --> 00:29:22.120
[TRAIN WHISTLE GROWS LOUDER]

00:29:22.511 --> 00:29:23.999
DIRECTOR: Sorry -

00:29:24.000 --> 00:29:26.349
Oh yeah. I know it.
I hate that thing.

00:29:28.226 --> 00:29:30.978
But Lennon when he was a child,

00:29:30.979 --> 00:29:32.605
he could not stand that thing.

00:29:32.606 --> 00:29:33.606
He would do this.

00:29:33.607 --> 00:29:35.983
Oh! He would scream.

00:29:35.984 --> 00:29:38.277
He would cover his ears.

00:29:38.278 --> 00:29:40.405
He did not like that train.

00:29:48.955 --> 00:29:52.083
(MUSIC)

00:30:05.388 --> 00:30:10.560
CLAUDIA LACY:
He was the biggest kid I had.

00:30:11.394 --> 00:30:14.063
And I\'m like, I gained
a lot of weight

00:30:14.064 --> 00:30:15.940
but trust me, running
around behind Lennon

00:30:15.941 --> 00:30:17.691
it was easy to get rid of

00:30:17.692 --> 00:30:19.568
cause he kept me running.

00:30:19.569 --> 00:30:26.576
(LENNON SINGING)

00:30:29.788 --> 00:30:31.956
I think Lennon was about four.

00:30:31.957 --> 00:30:33.290
Pierre had taught him

00:30:33.291 --> 00:30:35.334
his ABCs by rap.

00:30:35.335 --> 00:30:36.961
He said, \"A, B\"

00:30:36.962 --> 00:30:39.630
It was hilarious.

00:30:39.631 --> 00:30:41.299
And Pierre was like...

00:30:42.342 --> 00:30:45.095
He was like his hero.

00:30:46.346 --> 00:30:49.098
PIERRE LACY:
Me and Lennon\'s relationship was kinda...

00:30:49.099 --> 00:30:53.560
He was my influence as much
as I was his influence.

00:30:53.561 --> 00:30:56.480
I wanted to do better
because he was,

00:30:56.481 --> 00:31:00.192
I knew he was watching me
and paying attention.

00:31:00.193 --> 00:31:01.944
His thing was football.

00:31:01.945 --> 00:31:03.280
And he was really good at it.

00:31:05.490 --> 00:31:08.743
My mom and Lennon moved to
North Carolina in 2012.

00:31:10.453 --> 00:31:13.456
He took it hard cause he
really didn\'t want to leave.

00:31:14.165 --> 00:31:15.165
He was born in Virginia.

00:31:15.166 --> 00:31:16.166
He lived in Virginia.

00:31:16.167 --> 00:31:18.669
He wanted to go to
college in Virginia.

00:31:18.670 --> 00:31:20.796
So, I had to...

00:31:20.797 --> 00:31:23.841
persuade him that it\'ll be okay.

00:31:23.842 --> 00:31:25.260
That you\'re gonna make new friends.

00:31:25.969 --> 00:31:27.094
And then, he would calm down.

00:31:27.095 --> 00:31:28.887
He was like, \"You\'re right.\"

00:31:28.888 --> 00:31:30.222
\"That\'s why I\'m glad I called you.\"

00:31:30.223 --> 00:31:32.516
You know, we would have those...

00:31:32.517 --> 00:31:34.310
I would just be like...

00:31:34.311 --> 00:31:36.896
\"Man, you got a lot of growing
up to do. But you\'ll be alright.\"

00:31:40.191 --> 00:31:42.568
I was born in Bladen
County, Bladenboro.

00:31:42.569 --> 00:31:44.111
Right here in this same town.

00:31:44.112 --> 00:31:47.073
So, he made it his home because
he had a lot of family here.

00:31:50.493 --> 00:31:53.746
The neighbors here -
it was only him and Justin Jones

00:31:53.747 --> 00:31:55.415
and Trey Hudson.

00:31:56.374 --> 00:31:59.084
They were the only three teenage
boys in this neighborhood.

00:31:59.085 --> 00:32:00.294
You wouldn\'t see one
without the other.

00:32:00.295 --> 00:32:02.796
You\'d see Justin coming
down, pass my house,

00:32:02.797 --> 00:32:04.840
he\'d get Lennon and then
they\'d go over to Trey\'s

00:32:04.841 --> 00:32:05.884
or vice versa.

00:32:08.178 --> 00:32:11.597
JUSTIN JONES:
Lennon was a funny, protective...

00:32:11.598 --> 00:32:14.725
Just an all-around good friend.

00:32:14.726 --> 00:32:16.728
You couldn\'t ask for a better friend.

00:32:18.313 --> 00:32:21.441
We\'d hang out like teenagers do.

00:32:22.317 --> 00:32:24.360
Walk to the park at night.

00:32:24.361 --> 00:32:26.236
He had asthma, so he
wanted to walk at night.

00:32:26.237 --> 00:32:27.655
I was like, \"Alright.\"

00:32:27.656 --> 00:32:30.157
He\'d come and get me about
1:00 in the morning.

00:32:30.158 --> 00:32:32.618
Lennon didn\'t drink,
didn\'t smoke, didn\'t do drugs.

00:32:32.619 --> 00:32:37.039
He drank water and Powerade.

00:32:37.040 --> 00:32:39.501
CLAUDIA:
Hey, how you doing?

00:32:41.544 --> 00:32:43.671
SPEAKER:
We\'d talk a lot,
we\'d talk about everything.

00:32:43.672 --> 00:32:45.381
We were like brothers, every day.

00:32:45.382 --> 00:32:47.592
I got a tattoo in my arm. Lennon Lacy.

00:32:54.641 --> 00:32:57.310
JUSTIN JONES:
We had so many good times. It\'s funny.

00:33:09.656 --> 00:33:10.657
But...

00:33:12.951 --> 00:33:14.243
He was a...

00:33:14.244 --> 00:33:15.996
He was like my brother, though.

00:33:21.209 --> 00:33:23.335
DIRECTOR:
Yeah, I know it must be difficult.

00:33:23.336 --> 00:33:25.964
You must miss him.

00:33:31.553 --> 00:33:33.971
JUSTIN JONES:
I only knew him for two years.

00:33:33.972 --> 00:33:34.973
But, uh..

00:33:35.473 --> 00:33:39.769
Those two years, we were like that.

00:33:40.729 --> 00:33:43.523
He\'s still in all of our minds.
We\'re not gonna let it go.

00:33:44.983 --> 00:33:47.110
We just want to know what happened.

00:33:48.028 --> 00:33:50.405
But all of us think
it\'s not a suicide.

00:33:56.661 --> 00:33:58.287
PIERRE LACY: From day one,

00:33:58.288 --> 00:34:01.082
nothing was done right.

00:34:01.750 --> 00:34:03.627
They found my brother on a Friday night.

00:34:04.127 --> 00:34:07.880
They put us on hold
because it was...

00:34:07.881 --> 00:34:12.051
I think it was like Memorial Day,
Labor Day, one of \'em days.

00:34:12.052 --> 00:34:13.427
It didn\'t make no sense.

00:34:13.428 --> 00:34:15.764
The police station was closed.

00:34:18.183 --> 00:34:20.142
We sat there with no answers

00:34:20.143 --> 00:34:22.354
from Friday night until Tuesday.

00:34:25.899 --> 00:34:29.360
Then on Tuesday, they
come to the house

00:34:29.361 --> 00:34:31.862
and then they tell my mom,

00:34:31.863 --> 00:34:33.990
\"Sorry for your loss.
It was suicide.\"

00:34:35.700 --> 00:34:38.203
And then they walk back outside.

00:34:39.621 --> 00:34:42.081
So I asked him, I\'m like...

00:34:42.082 --> 00:34:43.248
But how did you get to that point?

00:34:43.249 --> 00:34:45.918
What did you rule out?

00:34:45.919 --> 00:34:46.961
One of his responses was,

00:34:46.962 --> 00:34:50.631
\"Are you telling me that
I didn\'t do my job?\"

00:34:50.632 --> 00:34:51.632
I said,

00:34:51.633 --> 00:34:53.801
\"Well I\'m not telling you
that you didn\'t do your job.

00:34:53.802 --> 00:34:56.596
I\'m just saying you could
do your job better.\"

00:34:58.181 --> 00:34:59.181
He said,

00:34:59.182 --> 00:35:00.683
\"Well, if you know anything,

00:35:00.684 --> 00:35:05.271
or if you have information, any
information that you come with,

00:35:05.272 --> 00:35:08.108
give me a call and let me know.\"

00:35:09.568 --> 00:35:10.693
I said, \"Okay.\"

00:35:10.694 --> 00:35:12.611
I said, \"If I find out anything,

00:35:12.612 --> 00:35:15.197
I\'ll call you and let you know.\"

00:35:15.198 --> 00:35:16.198
And I did.

00:35:16.199 --> 00:35:19.451
I found out a whole lot of stuff.

00:35:19.452 --> 00:35:22.622
I found out way more
stuff than he found out.

00:35:31.381 --> 00:35:33.173
HEATHER RATTELADE:
I\'ve been working on murder cases

00:35:33.174 --> 00:35:37.220
in the state of North Carolina
for almost 20 years.

00:35:39.389 --> 00:35:43.017
Claudia is a remarkably
strong woman.

00:35:43.018 --> 00:35:47.771
But was so emotionally raw
that Pierre really did step up

00:35:47.772 --> 00:35:51.234
and take on a central role
in the investigation.

00:35:53.820 --> 00:35:56.155
When I started looking at
the steps that law enforcement took,

00:35:56.156 --> 00:35:59.241
and I started interviewing people
like the local medical examiner,

00:35:59.242 --> 00:36:03.370
who told me that he was trying to
take pictures of the death scene.

00:36:03.371 --> 00:36:07.041
And law enforcement seized
his camera from him.

00:36:07.042 --> 00:36:10.669
Which in 16 years of
working in murder cases,

00:36:10.670 --> 00:36:13.465
I have never heard that before.

00:36:16.801 --> 00:36:18.093
The SBI stands for

00:36:18.094 --> 00:36:20.430
the North Carolina State
Bureau of Investigation.

00:36:21.223 --> 00:36:24.391
What concerned me about this case
was that they brought in

00:36:24.392 --> 00:36:27.812
Agent Paul Sanbeluski who had never
investigated a homicide.

00:36:28.438 --> 00:36:33.317
He\'s brought in whenever
there\'s a suspected suicide.

00:36:33.318 --> 00:36:36.904
When you\'re approaching any sort
of death scene investigation,

00:36:36.905 --> 00:36:40.449
you want to make sure that
these are seasoned detectives

00:36:40.450 --> 00:36:43.869
that know the importance of
preserving the forensic evidence

00:36:43.870 --> 00:36:47.248
to ensure that it\'s not
a homicide that is staged

00:36:47.249 --> 00:36:48.500
to look like a suicide.

00:36:51.545 --> 00:36:53.379
Based on my investigation,

00:36:53.380 --> 00:36:56.966
I feel strongly that whoever
made that call to bring him in

00:36:56.967 --> 00:37:01.972
wanted this investigation to
be steered in a certain direction.

00:37:07.686 --> 00:37:11.230
In that part of the state,
particularly all the way across

00:37:11.231 --> 00:37:16.110
along the South Carolina line,
it\'s a belt that is known for

00:37:16.111 --> 00:37:17.862
white supremacist history.

00:37:17.863 --> 00:37:19.822
Particularly during
the civil rights movement,

00:37:19.823 --> 00:37:23.075
because there was still
a very heavy KKK presence

00:37:23.076 --> 00:37:26.245
and a lot of intimidation
by people who were

00:37:26.246 --> 00:37:28.331
in positions of power at that point.

00:37:32.961 --> 00:37:35.421
But that isn\'t ancient history.

00:37:35.422 --> 00:37:38.757
And a lot of the people
involved in lynchings,

00:37:38.758 --> 00:37:40.509
and covering up the lynchings,

00:37:40.510 --> 00:37:41.969
they\'re still around today.

00:37:41.970 --> 00:37:44.513
Some of which are still
in law enforcement,

00:37:44.514 --> 00:37:46.154
and their children are
in law enforcement.

00:37:49.769 --> 00:37:53.230
This black community has felt that

00:37:53.231 --> 00:37:55.316
law enforcement had not
been addressing its needs

00:37:55.317 --> 00:37:58.110
for a long time in Bladenboro.

00:37:58.111 --> 00:38:01.239
They had felt that there was
a lot of police misconduct.

00:38:02.532 --> 00:38:06.827
Between 2002 and 2006, there was
a large federal investigation

00:38:06.828 --> 00:38:09.288
in Bladen County and Robeson County

00:38:09.289 --> 00:38:12.750
that led to the arrest of police
officers who were actually

00:38:12.751 --> 00:38:15.462
heavily involved in
narcotics trafficking.

00:38:16.880 --> 00:38:20.925
They would also pull over drivers
of African-American descent.

00:38:20.926 --> 00:38:22.468
They would harass them for money,

00:38:22.469 --> 00:38:24.428
take the money and them let them go,

00:38:24.429 --> 00:38:26.139
and it would never be documented.

00:38:27.098 --> 00:38:30.309
So, you had concerns from
the African-American community:

00:38:30.310 --> 00:38:32.728
Was there more to this story?

00:38:32.729 --> 00:38:35.148
What happened?
This doesn\'t make sense.

00:38:39.402 --> 00:38:44.114
As I started researching black
males committing suicide in public

00:38:44.115 --> 00:38:46.492
and I realized there had
been almost 20 black males

00:38:46.493 --> 00:38:50.454
found hanging in public parks
over just the last few years.

00:38:50.455 --> 00:38:53.332
And when I realized how quickly

00:38:53.333 --> 00:38:56.043
law enforcement that responded
to those scenes

00:38:56.044 --> 00:38:59.255
deemed those deaths suicide,

00:38:59.256 --> 00:39:02.258
I became quite concerned
that there may be a bigger

00:39:02.259 --> 00:39:05.303
surreptitious movement at play here.

00:39:05.929 --> 00:39:08.556
Evidence, in this case, suggests that

00:39:08.557 --> 00:39:11.892
steps taken by responding
officers and investigators

00:39:11.893 --> 00:39:14.979
failed to meet even the minimum

00:39:14.980 --> 00:39:18.942
accepted guidelines and practices
for death scene investigations.

00:39:21.152 --> 00:39:22.987
That is a large part of the reason

00:39:22.988 --> 00:39:25.906
we have been compelled to ask the

00:39:25.907 --> 00:39:27.950
U.S. Department of
Justice and the FBI

00:39:27.951 --> 00:39:30.787
to conduct its own investigation
into the death of Lennon Lacy.

00:39:35.375 --> 00:39:36.667
REPORTER:
An autopsy for a Bladen County teen

00:39:36.668 --> 00:39:37.877
found dead in August

00:39:37.878 --> 00:39:40.380
shows no indication of foul play.

00:39:40.964 --> 00:39:43.173
DISTRICT ATTORNEY:
The response that occurred in this case

00:39:43.174 --> 00:39:45.175
and the investigation
which has followed

00:39:45.176 --> 00:39:47.344
has been nothing but professional

00:39:47.345 --> 00:39:49.180
and I\'m proud to be
a part of this effort.

00:39:49.848 --> 00:39:51.432
REPORTER:
The family certainly don\'t think so.

00:39:51.433 --> 00:39:53.142
And I have to say having
been down there,

00:39:53.143 --> 00:39:54.977
and spent quite a bit of
time in this story,

00:39:54.978 --> 00:39:56.896
it doesn\'t look very
professional to me.

00:39:56.897 --> 00:40:03.904
(APPLAUSE)

00:40:05.113 --> 00:40:07.616
REV. BARBER:
We march today. Why?

00:40:08.241 --> 00:40:10.492
In the quest for one thing:

00:40:10.493 --> 00:40:13.371
the truth about Lennon\'s death.

00:40:14.873 --> 00:40:16.332
REPORTER:
The medical examiner noted that

00:40:16.333 --> 00:40:17.708
she was not presented

00:40:17.709 --> 00:40:21.378
with any photographs or dimensions
of that swing set in question.

00:40:21.379 --> 00:40:23.380
Meaning that it was
impossible for her to know

00:40:23.381 --> 00:40:24.715
with absolute certainty

00:40:24.716 --> 00:40:26.885
that Lennon Lacy had hung himself.

00:40:27.677 --> 00:40:28.886
REPORTER:
The last time Claudia Lacy

00:40:28.887 --> 00:40:32.598
saw her 17-year-old son Lennon
Lacy was around the time

00:40:32.599 --> 00:40:34.934
he snapped this selfie
with the caption,

00:40:34.935 --> 00:40:37.186
\"Last night pic before the game\"

00:40:37.187 --> 00:40:38.687
CLAUDIA LACY:
That doesn\'t sound like a person that was

00:40:38.688 --> 00:40:40.607
planning on killing himself.

00:40:42.108 --> 00:40:45.236
State Bureau of Investigation
and Bladen Police

00:40:45.237 --> 00:40:47.530
never searched his room for a suicide note.

00:40:47.531 --> 00:40:49.782
They never asked me
for his cellphone.

00:40:49.783 --> 00:40:51.867
REPORTER:
Lacy said she told state
investigators

00:40:51.868 --> 00:40:53.786
the belts used to fashion the news

00:40:53.787 --> 00:40:56.622
did not belong to Lennon
and Lennon\'s family says

00:40:56.623 --> 00:41:00.376
he left home that night
wearing size 12 Air Jordans.

00:41:00.377 --> 00:41:04.672
But he was found wearing these size
10 and a half Air Force ones.

00:41:04.673 --> 00:41:07.007
REV. BARBER: No one knows what
happened that terrible night,

00:41:07.008 --> 00:41:12.012
August 28-29, 59 years to the date

00:41:12.013 --> 00:41:14.015
after the death of Emmett Till.

00:41:15.225 --> 00:41:17.017
REPORTER:
Local news covered a Ku Klux Klan rally

00:41:17.018 --> 00:41:20.563
in a nearby county, just weeks
before Lennon\'s body was found.

00:41:20.564 --> 00:41:25.776
(INAUDIBLE)

00:41:25.777 --> 00:41:27.194
MORTICIAN:
When I saw Lennon Lacy,

00:41:27.195 --> 00:41:30.030
he looked as if he\'d been in a fight.

00:41:30.031 --> 00:41:33.242
I\'ve seen guys that I\'ve dealt
with in mortuary science

00:41:33.243 --> 00:41:35.160
that had been in barroom fights.
And that\'s what it looked like -

00:41:35.161 --> 00:41:39.040
Like somebody who had not
survived a barroom fight.

00:41:40.041 --> 00:41:42.710
He had some bruises along
the side of his temple.

00:41:42.711 --> 00:41:44.837
I saw lacerations.

00:41:44.838 --> 00:41:46.255
He wasn\'t marked up here.

00:41:46.256 --> 00:41:47.715
He was marked up on his forearm,

00:41:47.716 --> 00:41:51.093
on the outside. Consistent
with defending yourself.

00:41:51.094 --> 00:41:52.469
I know this is a murder.

00:41:52.470 --> 00:41:53.470
I believe it.

00:41:53.471 --> 00:41:54.471
I understand it.

00:41:54.472 --> 00:41:55.472
I see it.

00:41:55.473 --> 00:41:56.473
I just thought I was one of the many

00:41:56.474 --> 00:41:58.642
to come to the clear understanding
of what had taken place here.

00:41:58.643 --> 00:41:59.727
(APPLAUSE)

00:41:59.728 --> 00:42:01.812
REV. BARBER:
Claudia Lacy has a right

00:42:01.813 --> 00:42:03.856
to refuse to be comforted.

00:42:03.857 --> 00:42:05.149
She has a right.

00:42:05.150 --> 00:42:06.525
Pierre has a right.

00:42:06.526 --> 00:42:08.152
These young babies have a right.

00:42:08.153 --> 00:42:09.904
This community has a right

00:42:09.905 --> 00:42:12.114
to demand more investigation.

00:42:12.115 --> 00:42:15.784
And refuse to be comforted
by easy answers.

00:42:15.785 --> 00:42:17.786
This was,

00:42:17.787 --> 00:42:19.538
This is,

00:42:19.539 --> 00:42:22.082
Her son.

00:42:22.083 --> 00:42:24.710
We want you to hear his name.

00:42:24.711 --> 00:42:26.587
Somebody say it, \"Lennon!\"

00:42:26.588 --> 00:42:28.505
CROWD: Lennon!
REV. BARBER: Lacy! CROWD: Lacy!

00:42:28.506 --> 00:42:30.341
REV. BARBER: Lennon! CROWD: Lennon!
REV. BARBER: Lacy! CROWD: Lacy!

00:42:30.342 --> 00:42:33.761
REV. BARBER: Lennon! CROWD: Lennon!
REV. BARBER: Lacy! CROWD: Lacy!

00:42:33.762 --> 00:42:36.013
REV. BARBER: Lennon! CROWD: Lennon!
REV. BARBER: Lacy! CROWD: Lacy!

00:42:36.014 --> 00:42:38.390
REV. BARBER: Lennon! CROWD: Lennon!
REV. BARBER: Lacy! CROWD: Lacy!

00:42:38.391 --> 00:42:39.558
REV. BARBER: Justice!
CROWD: Justice!

00:42:39.559 --> 00:42:40.893
REV. BARBER: Now!
CROWD: Now!

00:42:40.894 --> 00:42:42.561
REV. BARBER: Don\'t be calm!

00:42:42.562 --> 00:42:43.938
Be concerned!

00:42:43.939 --> 00:42:46.774
A child has died!

00:42:46.775 --> 00:42:53.490
(APPLAUSE)

00:42:54.574 --> 00:42:57.201
SPEAKER: When do you want it?
SPEAKER: Now!

00:42:57.202 --> 00:42:58.702
SPEAKER: What do you want?
SPEAKER: Justice!

00:42:58.703 --> 00:43:00.162
SPEAKER: When do you want it?
SPEAKER: Now!

00:43:00.163 --> 00:43:01.664
SPEAKER: What do you want?
SPEAKER: Justice!

00:43:01.665 --> 00:43:03.207
SPEAKER: What do you want?
SPEAKER: Justice!

00:43:03.208 --> 00:43:04.708
SPEAKER: What do you want?
SPEAKER: Justice!

00:43:04.709 --> 00:43:07.002
SPEAKER: When do you want it?
SPEAKER: Now!

00:43:07.003 --> 00:43:09.046
SPEAKER: When do you want it?
SPEAKER: Now!

00:43:09.047 --> 00:43:10.798
SPEAKER: When do you want it?
SPEAKER: Now!

00:43:10.799 --> 00:43:12.258
SPEAKER: When do you want it?
SPEAKER: Now!

00:43:12.259 --> 00:43:14.426
REPORTER: The FBI has announced
that it will investigate

00:43:14.427 --> 00:43:15.886
the case of Lennon Lacy

00:43:15.887 --> 00:43:19.181
to determine whether the 17
year old\'s death was a suicide

00:43:19.182 --> 00:43:22.184
or actually the result of a lynching.

00:43:22.185 --> 00:43:24.436
Lacy\'s family and friends
have been pushing

00:43:24.437 --> 00:43:26.105
for the federal investigation.

00:43:26.106 --> 00:43:29.859
The County Coroner also says
he now questions if it was a suicide.

00:43:29.860 --> 00:43:34.030
(MUSIC)

00:43:47.210 --> 00:43:49.880
NARRATOR:
October 26, 1934.

00:43:51.256 --> 00:43:53.424
To the honorable David
Sholtz, Governor

00:43:53.425 --> 00:43:55.635
of Tallahassee, Florida.

00:43:56.303 --> 00:43:58.512
Associated Press just informed us

00:43:58.513 --> 00:44:00.764
that a mob will take Claude Neale,

00:44:00.765 --> 00:44:03.100
tie him to stake,

00:44:03.101 --> 00:44:05.227
and permit the father
of the dead girl

00:44:05.228 --> 00:44:08.398
to light fire to burn
Neale to death.

00:44:09.024 --> 00:44:10.400
Stop.

00:44:11.860 --> 00:44:14.570
We urge upon you to
take immediate steps

00:44:14.571 --> 00:44:18.700
to rescue Negro from mob
and place him in safe custody.

00:44:19.409 --> 00:44:20.535
Stop.

00:44:24.164 --> 00:44:25.372
Walter White

00:44:25.373 --> 00:44:28.125
Secretary, National Association

00:44:28.126 --> 00:44:30.253
For the Advancement
of Colored People.

00:44:38.261 --> 00:44:39.595
Oh well.

00:44:39.596 --> 00:44:44.601
WALTER REEVES:
We moved to Atlanta before I turned three.
So I spent my earliest years here.

00:44:46.728 --> 00:44:49.730
WALTER: My granddaddy Reeves
was a textile mill worker

00:44:49.731 --> 00:44:52.107
in a textile mill in North Georgia.

00:44:52.108 --> 00:44:57.113
He raised five children through
the great depression.

00:44:57.614 --> 00:45:00.699
And I found out many years
later from my grandmother

00:45:00.700 --> 00:45:02.409
something that I never
would have guessed.

00:45:02.410 --> 00:45:05.913
And that was that he
had been at some point

00:45:05.914 --> 00:45:08.123
a member of the Ku Klux Klan.

00:45:08.124 --> 00:45:11.544
And consequently, I got involved
with a local organization

00:45:11.545 --> 00:45:14.129
that monitored hate
groups and I volunteered

00:45:14.130 --> 00:45:17.633
to do infiltration work
at rallies and other gatherings.

00:45:17.634 --> 00:45:20.594
To see what kind of
information I could gather.

00:45:20.595 --> 00:45:25.516
And that\'s when I realized that
Klan and white supremacist groups

00:45:25.517 --> 00:45:28.727
in general, had undergone
a metamorphosis.

00:45:28.728 --> 00:45:32.481
You had newer groups that
were openly worshipful

00:45:32.482 --> 00:45:35.985
of Adolf Hitler
and his whole ideology.

00:45:35.986 --> 00:45:40.114
That indicated that we weren\'t
talking about a moribund group

00:45:40.115 --> 00:45:43.158
that was going to fade away.

00:45:43.159 --> 00:45:45.035
CASSANDRA: While we\'re waiting for
the guys, can you go through your

00:45:45.036 --> 00:45:46.662
speech for us, please?

00:45:46.663 --> 00:45:50.749
WALTER: It is posted online
if you want to get an idea of it.

00:45:50.750 --> 00:45:54.503
There\'s one point at which one
of the people in the crowd

00:45:54.504 --> 00:45:58.591
will call out, \"what about those
lying Atlanta newspapers/\"

00:45:58.592 --> 00:46:00.050
CASSANDRA: Who\'s doing that?
We gonna stop right there.

00:46:00.051 --> 00:46:01.051
Who\'s gonna do that?

00:46:01.052 --> 00:46:02.469
WALTER: We\'re looking for
somebody with a good voice.

00:46:02.470 --> 00:46:07.058
The reason why I felt called upon
to do the Governor Talmadge

00:46:07.601 --> 00:46:10.644
speech at the reenactment is that

00:46:10.645 --> 00:46:14.106
Eugene Talmadge was essentially
the Klan

00:46:14.107 --> 00:46:19.112
candidate for Governor
here in Georgia.

00:46:19.821 --> 00:46:23.616
When I discovered that Governor
Talmadge had actually given one

00:46:23.617 --> 00:46:28.329
of his race-baiting stump
speeches in Monroe, Georgia

00:46:28.330 --> 00:46:31.707
prior to the murders at the Ford.

00:46:31.708 --> 00:46:35.878
I felt it was necessary that we
should have a historically accurate

00:46:35.879 --> 00:46:40.884
presentation of exactly what
the folks in Monroe would have heard.

00:46:41.593 --> 00:46:43.219
(APPLAUSE)

00:46:43.220 --> 00:46:48.225
TALMADGE: I come to the one issue
on which all of my opponents

00:46:49.267 --> 00:46:52.353
and I vitally disagree.

00:46:52.354 --> 00:46:57.359
And that\'s restoring the Democratic
white primary in Georgia.

00:46:59.819 --> 00:47:02.863
And then come on to
the convention in Macon

00:47:02.864 --> 00:47:05.616
and there won\'t be anybody
in that convention

00:47:05.617 --> 00:47:09.411
but white women and white
men if I\'m the Governor.

00:47:09.412 --> 00:47:14.833
Goodbye, I\'m glad to see you.

00:47:14.834 --> 00:47:18.629
WALTER: Just wanna remind you that
the poor dirt farmer\'s got only

00:47:18.630 --> 00:47:20.839
three friends on this earth.

00:47:20.840 --> 00:47:27.722
That\'s God, Sears Roebuck, and Eugene
Talmadge. And Eugene Talmadge.

00:47:30.392 --> 00:47:35.397
WALTER: This state was essentially
run on the basis of terrorism.

00:47:37.899 --> 00:47:41.235
Until we come to grips with
the fact that this has happened

00:47:41.236 --> 00:47:45.948
repeatedly, we\'re always going
to be in danger of relapsing

00:47:45.949 --> 00:47:48.242
into that kind of horror again.

00:47:48.243 --> 00:47:50.995
And it seems to me as a son of
the South

00:47:50.996 --> 00:47:52.204
that I have a responsibility

00:47:52.205 --> 00:47:57.127
to do everything I can to make
sure that doesn\'t happen.

00:47:58.628 --> 00:48:03.633
(MUSIC)

00:48:09.222 --> 00:48:14.227
♪ There\'s a cross that is
burning in the Wildwood.

00:48:15.186 --> 00:48:20.192
♪ Its beauty reflects in the sky.

00:48:21.276 --> 00:48:26.281
♪ At its base you will
find thousands kneeling.

00:48:27.324 --> 00:48:32.329
♪ Praying that its
meaning never dies.

00:48:38.460 --> 00:48:42.838
OLIVIA: I grew up in Henry
county. Dad was Klan.

00:48:42.839 --> 00:48:48.219
We had a big black Lincoln Mercury
and Dad had a tall red cross

00:48:48.220 --> 00:48:51.138
that he mounted on
the hood of the car.

00:48:51.139 --> 00:48:54.642
Had an extra battery under
the hood than ran it.

00:48:54.643 --> 00:48:58.521
And when it was not in use it
was stored in the closet in my room.

00:48:58.522 --> 00:49:01.065
My room was on the very
back part of the house.

00:49:01.066 --> 00:49:05.110
And my closet was the very smallest,
most personal, quiet place

00:49:05.111 --> 00:49:10.116
in the house that nobody
was likely to look.

00:49:10.659 --> 00:49:15.496
My dad was part of
the command of the Klan,

00:49:15.497 --> 00:49:18.707
he worked with Dr. Green.

00:49:18.708 --> 00:49:23.796
We went to a lot of rallies, a lot
of bonfires, a lot of parades.

00:49:23.797 --> 00:49:27.049
A lot of the rallies
were at Stone Mountain.

00:49:27.050 --> 00:49:32.055
At the time it was kind of awesome.
It was like lights and action and

00:49:32.681 --> 00:49:36.016
there were a lot of other children
to play with. That was fun.

00:49:36.017 --> 00:49:41.022
But then it got pretty scary too.

00:49:44.734 --> 00:49:47.194
This was when they were getting
to go away on their trip

00:49:47.195 --> 00:49:49.613
after the wedding.

00:49:49.614 --> 00:49:54.785
I knew the Talmadges. My dad
and Eugene were friends.

00:49:54.786 --> 00:49:58.539
So being one of the ladies that
supported the Talmadges was really

00:49:58.540 --> 00:50:03.502
easy for me. That wasn\'t something
I had to figure out how to do.

00:50:03.503 --> 00:50:08.299
That\'s my favorite
picture of my mother.

00:50:08.300 --> 00:50:10.009
My mother was a kind
and gentle woman.

00:50:10.010 --> 00:50:13.304
She didn\'t know how to deal
with my daddy either.

00:50:13.305 --> 00:50:17.474
There are many times that she\'s
apologized after we got to be adults

00:50:17.475 --> 00:50:21.979
for the things she let
us be subjected to.

00:50:21.980 --> 00:50:26.192
I was three years old when
I saw my father and his friends

00:50:26.193 --> 00:50:31.198
hang a black man.

00:50:32.574 --> 00:50:39.164
It was late and the fire was roaring,
and the men there in their robes.

00:50:43.960 --> 00:50:48.965
Mother and my sister
and I stayed in the car.

00:50:49.966 --> 00:50:54.971
And then some of the men
arrived with the black man.

00:50:58.600 --> 00:51:03.020
The Klan had the man\'s hands bound.

00:51:03.021 --> 00:51:06.982
I could tell there
was something wrong.

00:51:06.983 --> 00:51:12.112
But I didn\'t understand
what. Until they hung him.

00:51:12.113 --> 00:51:16.700
And when I saw it happening
my mother reached around me

00:51:16.701 --> 00:51:19.578
and put her hand over my
mouth and pulled me to her.

00:51:19.579 --> 00:51:24.584
So that I wouldn\'t speak out loud.

00:51:27.295 --> 00:51:30.839
It was hard to believe that that
was really my dad and his friends

00:51:30.840 --> 00:51:35.553
that I knew that ate fish and
hush puppies at the house.

00:51:35.554 --> 00:51:39.890
But it was, it was the same people.

00:51:39.891 --> 00:51:42.351
I never knew any of the details
except what I witnessed

00:51:42.352 --> 00:51:45.145
and I was too afraid to ask.

00:51:45.146 --> 00:51:48.774
I never talked about
it until daddy died.

00:51:48.775 --> 00:51:52.236
WALTER: It\'s all drawn from stuff
that Talmadge actually said.

00:51:52.237 --> 00:51:54.822
OLIVIA: Some of the people
involved in the reenactment

00:51:54.823 --> 00:51:56.448
are involved in it
for the sheer purpose

00:51:56.449 --> 00:51:58.951
of finding the guilty parties.

00:51:58.952 --> 00:52:03.247
But for me, something\'s going to
alter

00:52:03.248 --> 00:52:06.208
the conversation we have about race.

00:52:06.209 --> 00:52:09.837
And if it\'s a reenactment, wonderful!

00:52:09.838 --> 00:52:12.089
We all need to keep
doing whatever it is

00:52:12.090 --> 00:52:14.508
we think will make the difference.

00:52:14.509 --> 00:52:17.261
SPEAKER: Well who had said they\'ll say,
\"four dead niggers are better

00:52:17.262 --> 00:52:20.973
than one\"? John? No, not you?

00:52:20.974 --> 00:52:24.143
Who was supposed to say that? Not you.

00:52:24.144 --> 00:52:29.315
You need to talk to me. Do you
wanna say it? OK, you\'re scared.

00:52:29.316 --> 00:52:34.612
Ok, so I need somebody that will
say, \"four dead niggers are better

00:52:34.613 --> 00:52:36.906
than one.\" You gonna say that?

00:52:36.907 --> 00:52:38.991
SPEAKER: Yeah.
SPEAKER: Yeah say that.

00:52:38.992 --> 00:52:42.870
That makes it easier. Ok Roger.

00:52:42.871 --> 00:52:47.876
(MUSIC)

00:52:55.425 --> 00:52:58.510
SPEAKER: All the way down, thank you.

00:52:58.511 --> 00:52:59.845
Thank you for your cooperation,

00:52:59.846 --> 00:53:04.851
we have over 100 cars
in the motorcade.

00:53:06.311 --> 00:53:08.437
MARTHA: I\'m Martha Dorsey.

00:53:08.438 --> 00:53:11.398
My grandfather
and George were brothers.

00:53:11.399 --> 00:53:16.403
I wish I had came before
but this is my first time and I am

00:53:16.404 --> 00:53:21.743
tremendously enjoying myself
to learn about my history.

00:53:25.080 --> 00:53:26.747
DARRELL: I don\'t know
if it\'s a good thing or not.

00:53:26.748 --> 00:53:31.210
I appreciate what they\'re doing
and hopefully they eventually one day

00:53:31.211 --> 00:53:34.380
bring the remaining
killers to justice.

00:53:34.381 --> 00:53:39.386
ROGER: The hurt is still there.

00:53:54.693 --> 00:53:58.237
REENACTOR: We want that nigger Roger.

00:53:58.238 --> 00:54:00.156
You is a dead man, boy.

00:54:00.323 --> 00:54:00.824
(SCREAMING)

00:54:00.825 --> 00:54:04.326
REENACTOR 2: Let him go.

00:54:04.327 --> 00:54:09.332
CASSANDRA: Please give me everything
y\'all got, every emotion, everything. Okay?

00:54:12.502 --> 00:54:14.962
Because these were people
lives that were lost

00:54:14.963 --> 00:54:19.968
and I need everything y\'all got. Ok.

00:54:24.097 --> 00:54:25.389
Action.

00:54:25.390 --> 00:54:28.100
REENACTOR: Alright boss,
take him down there.

00:54:28.101 --> 00:54:31.563
(SCREAMING)

00:54:39.404 --> 00:54:40.946
Make an example of all

00:54:40.947 --> 00:54:46.118
the niggers in Georgia.
You don\'t touch a white man.

00:54:46.119 --> 00:54:51.457
(SCREAMING)

00:54:51.458 --> 00:54:56.463
(GUNSHOTS FIRED)

00:54:58.131 --> 00:55:01.258
Let\'s go see, check em out.
Shoot another one.

00:55:01.259 --> 00:55:06.138
Alright, alright
now. Ready, aim, fire.

00:55:06.139 --> 00:55:11.144
(GUNSHOTS FIRED)

00:55:17.317 --> 00:55:22.322
That\'s a victory
for white Christianity, good job.

00:55:23.532 --> 00:55:28.537
(INDISTINCT SHOUTING)

00:55:31.623 --> 00:55:33.625
SPEAKER: Is this good, boss?

00:55:36.378 --> 00:55:39.548
SPEAKER: That\'s real nice Johnny,
that\'s real nice.

00:55:52.853 --> 00:55:55.980
DIRECTOR: Some people would
ask, why would you even

00:55:55.981 --> 00:55:57.189
do the reenactments?

00:55:57.190 --> 00:55:59.693
Why even go there? It\'s history.

00:56:01.194 --> 00:56:04.321
PAULA: That\'s why. Because it\'s
history.

00:56:04.322 --> 00:56:07.283
To bring the history to them.

00:56:07.284 --> 00:56:08.952
(HUMMING SOUND)

00:56:36.980 --> 00:56:41.067
NARRATOR: First they cut off his
penis and he was made to eat it.

00:56:46.364 --> 00:56:49.492
Then they sliced his sides
and stomach with knives

00:56:50.160 --> 00:56:54.414
and every now and then somebody
would cut off a finger or a toe.

00:56:56.166 --> 00:56:58.375
From time to time a rope
would be tied around his neck

00:56:58.376 --> 00:57:00.586
and he was pulled over a limb

00:57:00.587 --> 00:57:05.090
and held there until he
almost choked to death.

00:57:05.091 --> 00:57:10.096
After several hours they
decided just to kill him.

00:57:13.225 --> 00:57:15.643
Then the crowd came by and some
kicked him

00:57:15.644 --> 00:57:20.356
and some drove their cars over him.

00:57:20.357 --> 00:57:23.526
After slashing and shooting
him into mincemeat.

00:57:23.527 --> 00:57:28.532
The mob hanged him on a tree on
the east side of the courthouse lawn.

00:57:31.701 --> 00:57:33.536
Photographers said they will soon
have pictures

00:57:33.537 --> 00:57:38.542
of the body for sale
at 50 cents each.

00:57:50.470 --> 00:57:54.640
BRYAN: I think what most people
have a hard time appreciating

00:57:54.641 --> 00:57:58.185
is if you were black and alive
in many parts of this country

00:57:58.186 --> 00:57:59.854
in the 20th century,

00:57:59.855 --> 00:58:04.860
you were always at risk.
You were always a target.

00:58:06.278 --> 00:58:10.990
You were always an object to be victimized,
to be humiliated,

00:58:10.991 --> 00:58:15.494
To be taunted, to be sexually
exploited, to be killed.

00:58:15.495 --> 00:58:18.622
And there was no respite. There
was never a moment when you

00:58:18.623 --> 00:58:22.793
were allowed to feel like you can
be safe for just a little while.

00:58:22.794 --> 00:58:25.588
You were always in season.

00:58:25.589 --> 00:58:30.594
(HUMMING SOUND)

00:58:31.428 --> 00:58:33.846
SHERRILYN: Most black men were
lynched because they were accused

00:58:33.847 --> 00:58:37.433
of having sexually
assaulted a white woman.

00:58:37.434 --> 00:58:42.439
For murder or some violent act
committed, usually against a white man.

00:58:42.898 --> 00:58:46.901
But sometimes it could just
be having violated the rules

00:58:46.902 --> 00:58:49.403
of not having tipped ones hat.

00:58:49.404 --> 00:58:50.821
Or having left
the side of the street

00:58:50.822 --> 00:58:55.367
when a white person
was walking past.

00:58:55.368 --> 00:59:00.414
It could be being
regarded as uppity.

00:59:00.415 --> 00:59:03.751
And it really involves
a process of dehumanization

00:59:03.752 --> 00:59:07.338
that the black man had to
be physically restrained.

00:59:07.339 --> 00:59:10.883
That he was over-sexualised,
that he was naturally

00:59:10.884 --> 00:59:15.889
and inherently violent
or something that\'s not human.

00:59:18.767 --> 00:59:22.061
And it\'s this very insidious
process of dehumanization

00:59:22.062 --> 00:59:25.022
that begins always with words,

00:59:25.023 --> 00:59:28.901
that allows average individuals
to stand and watch.

00:59:28.902 --> 00:59:31.403
And to participate and sometimes
cheer

00:59:31.404 --> 00:59:36.409
while another human being
is brutally murdered.

00:59:43.375 --> 00:59:47.587
(MUSIC)

01:00:47.063 --> 01:00:48.898
I had taken a job

01:00:48.899 --> 01:00:52.109
over at the grocery store
right here in the neighborhood

01:00:52.110 --> 01:00:54.778
at the deli and I was
waiting on a customer

01:00:54.779 --> 01:00:57.364
and I had turned around
with his order.

01:00:57.365 --> 01:01:01.785
And it dawned on me as I looked
to the dining area

01:01:01.786 --> 01:01:05.289
that somewhere in this
crowd, there is a murderer.

01:01:05.290 --> 01:01:08.083
And he knows what he\'s done, or she.

01:01:08.084 --> 01:01:09.836
Or they.

01:01:11.046 --> 01:01:13.631
And that day was
the day that I realized

01:01:13.632 --> 01:01:16.592
there is still someone out here

01:01:16.593 --> 01:01:18.720
that is responsible.

01:01:22.515 --> 01:01:24.058
DIRECTOR:
Have you ever thought about doing

01:01:24.059 --> 01:01:26.477
an in-depth investigation
to find out what happened?

01:01:26.478 --> 01:01:28.229
CURT VINCENT:
Well, there\'s a lot of things

01:01:28.230 --> 01:01:29.438
we would like to be able to do.

01:01:29.439 --> 01:01:30.940
But with such a small staff,

01:01:30.941 --> 01:01:34.777
there\'s things that we
just aren\'t able to do.

01:01:34.778 --> 01:01:37.321
Because we still have
all the other things

01:01:37.322 --> 01:01:39.157
going on in this county.

01:01:40.742 --> 01:01:42.159
I have, honestly, not heard

01:01:42.160 --> 01:01:43.702
anyone talking
about the fact of whether

01:01:43.703 --> 01:01:45.704
there\'s still
a murderer on the loose

01:01:45.705 --> 01:01:47.666
with regards to this.

01:01:48.750 --> 01:01:50.709
Honestly, I think that
majority of the folks

01:01:50.710 --> 01:01:52.169
have just come to grips with the fact that

01:01:52.170 --> 01:01:54.339
this is gonna be ruled
a suicide in the end.

01:01:57.092 --> 01:01:58.092
It\'s been uh,

01:01:58.093 --> 01:01:59.969
several months since
the one year anniversary

01:01:59.970 --> 01:02:01.720
of it.

01:02:01.721 --> 01:02:02.763
But it\'s been quiet.

01:02:02.764 --> 01:02:05.224
And everybody\'s just
kinda waiting now,

01:02:05.225 --> 01:02:07.434
and I think the sooner, the better

01:02:07.435 --> 01:02:09.604
to get this behind us.

01:02:13.817 --> 01:02:16.569
I honestly don\'t believe
that the investigation

01:02:16.570 --> 01:02:19.238
has been lacking from
the very beginning.

01:02:19.239 --> 01:02:20.573
I don\'t think that there\'s been

01:02:20.574 --> 01:02:22.951
any kind of cover-up by
the local law enforcement folks.

01:02:23.493 --> 01:02:25.160
Nobody wants to believe

01:02:25.161 --> 01:02:27.371
that their child could
do such a thing.

01:02:27.372 --> 01:02:29.248
And I would probably want to

01:02:29.249 --> 01:02:30.583
go to all ends of the earth

01:02:30.584 --> 01:02:32.418
to make sure that any

01:02:32.419 --> 01:02:35.713
and all possible investigations and
questions were answered.

01:02:35.714 --> 01:02:37.882
But to that end,

01:02:37.883 --> 01:02:39.842
At some point, you\'ve gotta...

01:02:39.843 --> 01:02:42.137
You\'ve gotta realize that
they\'ve done all they can.

01:02:45.932 --> 01:02:47.808
There is another side to the coin.

01:02:47.809 --> 01:02:50.311
As far as, you know,
the family unit,

01:02:50.312 --> 01:02:53.647
and negligence
and that kind of thing.

01:02:53.648 --> 01:02:55.482
You know the fact that
this teenage boy at

01:02:55.483 --> 01:02:58.694
15 or 16 years old was involved
with a 30-year-old woman

01:02:58.695 --> 01:03:02.489
in the neighborhood, that he was
regularly out after midnight

01:03:02.490 --> 01:03:04.909
on school nights.
So...

01:03:04.910 --> 01:03:07.286
Those are the kinds of things
that started to percolate

01:03:07.287 --> 01:03:12.292
as this went on, during
the first year.

01:03:19.674 --> 01:03:24.178
MICHELLE BRIMHALL:
I was 32 when I met Lennon.

01:03:24.179 --> 01:03:27.015
Lennon and I really didn\'t
look at our age difference.

01:03:30.977 --> 01:03:33.687
From the time I met Lennon,

01:03:33.688 --> 01:03:37.776
it felt like it was meant to be.

01:03:40.487 --> 01:03:41.779
I mean...

01:03:41.780 --> 01:03:43.823
You don\'t choose who
you fall in love with.

01:03:47.786 --> 01:03:49.578
DIRECTOR:
Is that Lennon\'s shirt?

01:03:49.579 --> 01:03:51.413
MICHELLE BRIMHALL:
Mhmm.

01:03:51.414 --> 01:03:52.915
Yeah.

01:03:52.916 --> 01:03:55.834
This is the only thing of
his that I have left.

01:03:55.835 --> 01:03:59.171
They came over and told me they wanted
everything of Lennon\'s

01:03:59.172 --> 01:04:00.799
so I hid this.

01:04:01.675 --> 01:04:03.425
DIRECTOR:
Did they take everything but that?

01:04:03.426 --> 01:04:04.719
MICHELLE BRIMHALL:
Yes.

01:04:11.184 --> 01:04:13.143
REPORTER: His mother
says 17-year-old Lennon

01:04:13.144 --> 01:04:15.312
had been dating a 32
year old white woman.

01:04:15.313 --> 01:04:18.023
The age of consent of
North Carolina is 16.

01:04:18.024 --> 01:04:20.818
Still, some people in
this small southern town

01:04:20.819 --> 01:04:22.362
did not like it.

01:04:22.988 --> 01:04:24.405
In the wake of his hanging,

01:04:24.406 --> 01:04:25.698
some wondered if he was killed

01:04:25.699 --> 01:04:27.659
because he was in
an interracial relationship.

01:04:31.371 --> 01:04:32.872
LENNON\'S MOM:
We never talked about the race thing.

01:04:32.873 --> 01:04:35.457
We talked about the age thing.

01:04:35.458 --> 01:04:37.251
Because of the simple fact that I knew

01:04:37.252 --> 01:04:39.753
that she was a woman of experience.

01:04:39.754 --> 01:04:41.046
She had three kids of her own.

01:04:41.047 --> 01:04:44.717
My son was not compatible with her.

01:04:44.718 --> 01:04:45.718
I said,

01:04:45.719 --> 01:04:46.886
I asked her as a mother.

01:04:46.887 --> 01:04:48.470
I said, \"So you need to end this.\"

01:04:48.471 --> 01:04:51.390
\"Either you end it
or we will end it.\"

01:04:51.391 --> 01:04:53.767
She continued to see him

01:04:53.768 --> 01:04:56.605
as if I hadn\'t even said
anything to her about it.

01:04:58.815 --> 01:05:02.693
PIERRE LACY:
Michelle and Lennon were involved
for about seven months.

01:05:02.694 --> 01:05:06.572
But Lennon didn\'t want
nobody to know for a while.

01:05:06.573 --> 01:05:09.950
Because that whole
Michelle situation...

01:05:09.951 --> 01:05:14.288
I knew it was too much for him.

01:05:14.289 --> 01:05:17.500
There was still stuff that I didn\'t
know about Michelle, myself.

01:05:20.337 --> 01:05:22.463
MICHELLE BRIMHALL:
I had left my husband.

01:05:22.464 --> 01:05:25.549
My children and I had just
came back from Illinois.

01:05:25.550 --> 01:05:27.968
We moved back to North Carolina.

01:05:27.969 --> 01:05:31.889
I was living with Trey\'s mother
Carla Hudson, and Dewey Sykes.

01:05:31.890 --> 01:05:38.646
There was probably, I would say,
a hundred feet at the most

01:05:38.647 --> 01:05:43.150
From Lennon\'s backdoor
to Dewey Sykes

01:05:43.151 --> 01:05:45.654
and Carla Hudson\'s door.

01:05:47.113 --> 01:05:50.282
Lennon was always at Trey\'s
house whenever I was there.

01:05:50.283 --> 01:05:53.244
The first time I met Lennon,

01:05:53.245 --> 01:05:56.580
I didn\'t think that he was a teenager.

01:05:56.581 --> 01:06:01.418
He looked a lot older
than what he was.

01:06:01.419 --> 01:06:05.005
He carried himself like a gentleman.

01:06:05.006 --> 01:06:07.967
He came over with Trey and

01:06:07.968 --> 01:06:09.635
they was hanging out and

01:06:09.636 --> 01:06:12.137
I was there with Carla hanging out.

01:06:12.138 --> 01:06:15.307
I think my kids had went to bed and

01:06:15.308 --> 01:06:17.977
Trey was probably in
the bedroom with his girlfriend.

01:06:17.978 --> 01:06:19.687
He was always in there with her.

01:06:19.688 --> 01:06:22.064
And Lennon was always
out there with us.

01:06:22.065 --> 01:06:24.733
And then he...

01:06:24.734 --> 01:06:26.819
started kissing me on my neck.

01:06:26.820 --> 01:06:29.197
And that\'s how it started.

01:06:31.867 --> 01:06:33.158
JUSTIN JONES:
This is where Lennon lived.

01:06:33.159 --> 01:06:36.996
We\'d go to Trey\'s house
and play football, basketball,

01:06:36.997 --> 01:06:39.039
anything you want to play.

01:06:39.040 --> 01:06:41.375
Walk through this
little path right here.

01:06:41.376 --> 01:06:42.751
This was where

01:06:42.752 --> 01:06:44.712
Trey and them lived right here.

01:06:44.713 --> 01:06:47.006
The house would be right there
in front of the bushes.

01:06:47.007 --> 01:06:50.301
Carla Hudson\'s and Dewey
Sykes and Trey Hudson\'s.

01:06:50.302 --> 01:06:52.595
This is the front door.

01:06:52.596 --> 01:06:55.139
Walking right here in the front door

01:06:55.140 --> 01:06:56.307
You know what I\'m saying?

01:06:56.308 --> 01:06:57.725
I thought it was real funny.

01:06:57.726 --> 01:06:59.435
After a couple of months

01:06:59.436 --> 01:07:00.811
after Lennon died,

01:07:00.812 --> 01:07:02.062
they moved everything out.

01:07:02.063 --> 01:07:03.063
They left the pool.

01:07:03.064 --> 01:07:04.815
They left their dead dog.

01:07:04.816 --> 01:07:06.150
You know what I\'m saying?

01:07:06.151 --> 01:07:07.027
I would\'ve dug my dog up, you feel me?
I would have at least dug my dog up.

01:07:07.903 --> 01:07:09.320
They moved everything out.

01:07:09.321 --> 01:07:12.031
Fast, too.

01:07:12.032 --> 01:07:14.408
Real quick.

01:07:14.409 --> 01:07:15.951
Like they were running
away from something.

01:07:15.952 --> 01:07:17.120
You know what I\'m saying?

01:07:34.054 --> 01:07:35.638
HEATHER RATTELADE:
Carla and Dewey Skyes were

01:07:35.639 --> 01:07:36.972
pill poppers.

01:07:36.973 --> 01:07:40.059
People would come and go
buying and selling narcotics.

01:07:40.060 --> 01:07:42.478
And I believe they
even supplied Michelle with

01:07:42.479 --> 01:07:44.606
narcotics at times.

01:07:52.864 --> 01:07:54.240
JUSTIN JONES:
Dewey Sykes? Oh, he\'s known to be a racist.

01:07:54.241 --> 01:07:59.662
About 2005, he hung a KKK flag
right there on the fence.

01:07:59.663 --> 01:08:01.664
Hung the flag right outside,

01:08:01.665 --> 01:08:04.250
\"Don\'t tread on me\", rebel
flag, stuff like that.

01:08:04.251 --> 01:08:06.044
He was known for it.

01:08:06.628 --> 01:08:08.921
MICHELLE BRIMHALL:
Dewey didn\'t like the fact

01:08:08.922 --> 01:08:11.799
that I was seeing Lennon.

01:08:11.800 --> 01:08:15.636
He would use the N-word
more than often.

01:08:15.637 --> 01:08:18.389
There was one night

01:08:18.390 --> 01:08:21.642
Lennon got upset and he walked
out of Carla Hudson\'s house.

01:08:21.643 --> 01:08:24.687
And Lennon punched the fence.

01:08:24.688 --> 01:08:27.106
And he broke the wood.

01:08:27.107 --> 01:08:31.570
And Dewey had threatened
Lennon with a gun.

01:08:33.530 --> 01:08:35.739
HEATHER RATTELADE:
Dewey Sykes had a cousin

01:08:35.740 --> 01:08:37.950
that is on the Bladenboro
police force.

01:08:37.951 --> 01:08:41.078
But never seemed to
arrest his relatives

01:08:41.079 --> 01:08:43.956
for the apparent illegal activity
going on in their home.

01:08:43.957 --> 01:08:45.667
That was the party spot.

01:08:50.297 --> 01:08:51.589
JUSTIN JONES:
What happened at Carla\'s house

01:08:51.590 --> 01:08:53.966
stayed at Carla\'s house, basically.

01:08:53.967 --> 01:08:57.136
Yeah.
It was like Las Vegas.

01:08:57.137 --> 01:08:59.598
[LAUGHS] It was.

01:09:04.394 --> 01:09:06.353
DIRECTOR:
Were you and Lennon a couple

01:09:06.354 --> 01:09:08.147
and were you seeing each
other exclusively?

01:09:08.148 --> 01:09:09.273
MICHELLE BRIMHALL:
Yeah. We was...

01:09:09.274 --> 01:09:11.776
Lennon and I was committed
to each other. Yes.

01:09:12.736 --> 01:09:15.321
HEATHER RATTELADE:
Michelle Brimhall had a drug problem and

01:09:15.322 --> 01:09:18.324
to support her drug
habit, she would have

01:09:18.325 --> 01:09:20.075
quite a few companions.

01:09:20.076 --> 01:09:24.121
And Lennon would get very
emotional and upset about this.

01:09:24.122 --> 01:09:26.081
They broke up in June.

01:09:26.082 --> 01:09:28.918
He goes to Virginia, spends
a couple of weeks with family,

01:09:28.919 --> 01:09:31.337
has a good time, tries to
get her out of his head.

01:09:31.338 --> 01:09:33.631
By the time he comes back,

01:09:33.632 --> 01:09:37.384
he realized that she was
still seeing other people.

01:09:37.385 --> 01:09:39.553
Even though they had broken up,

01:09:39.554 --> 01:09:42.014
I think Lennon was in love with her.

01:09:42.015 --> 01:09:43.807
And I think he felt
like this relationship

01:09:43.808 --> 01:09:46.394
was going to turn into
something bigger.

01:09:47.938 --> 01:09:52.066
But that night, there was another
man that arrived at her house

01:09:52.067 --> 01:09:54.902
and his first name was Maurice.

01:09:54.903 --> 01:09:57.863
He does have a criminal history.

01:09:57.864 --> 01:10:01.200
Lennon saw Maurice
going to the house.

01:10:01.201 --> 01:10:05.288
And he was quite distraught about it.

01:10:07.499 --> 01:10:12.336
PIERRE LACY:
He was pacing from his house
and Trey\'s house.

01:10:12.337 --> 01:10:14.672
Every now and then, he
would come back to the house

01:10:14.673 --> 01:10:16.215
with different information

01:10:16.216 --> 01:10:20.761
that Carla and Trey was
feeding him about Michelle.

01:10:20.762 --> 01:10:23.139
So it was kinda like,

01:10:23.140 --> 01:10:26.309
they were fueling the anger.

01:10:28.520 --> 01:10:31.856
But in the process of
all of this going on,

01:10:31.857 --> 01:10:35.277
he still was preparing
for the next day.

01:10:36.236 --> 01:10:38.154
The last thing he
pretty much did was

01:10:38.155 --> 01:10:42.117
pack his bag for football practice.

01:10:48.206 --> 01:10:51.208
MICHELLE BRIMHALL:
I don\'t know what happened.

01:10:51.209 --> 01:10:53.002
I\'ve thought about it
and thought about it

01:10:53.003 --> 01:10:55.213
and thought about
so many different things.

01:10:56.882 --> 01:10:59.341
It doesn\'t make any sense.

01:10:59.342 --> 01:11:01.927
Because Lennon has never
done anything to anybody.

01:11:01.928 --> 01:11:05.682
I mean, who would want to hurt him?

01:11:07.392 --> 01:11:09.435
I just... I don\'t know.

01:11:09.436 --> 01:11:11.063
It doesn\'t make any sense to me.

01:11:29.289 --> 01:11:32.041
JUSTIN JONES:
I don\'t know what happened.

01:11:32.042 --> 01:11:35.294
But I wish he came
and knocked on my window

01:11:35.295 --> 01:11:38.214
and asked me to walk that night,

01:11:38.215 --> 01:11:40.383
instead of walking out alone.

01:11:43.178 --> 01:11:45.596
REV. BARBER:
We have been very careful

01:11:45.597 --> 01:11:49.434
to proceed in the search for truth.

01:11:50.560 --> 01:11:52.978
If Lennon was white,

01:11:52.979 --> 01:11:57.942
and found hanging in a predominant
black neighborhood,

01:11:57.943 --> 01:12:01.570
would there have been a rush

01:12:01.571 --> 01:12:05.784
to determine that the cause
of death was suicide?

01:12:07.327 --> 01:12:09.870
What happens that first few hours

01:12:09.871 --> 01:12:12.164
at a scene of death

01:12:12.165 --> 01:12:16.252
has extraordinary impact
on how we are able to

01:12:16.253 --> 01:12:18.337
find the truth.

01:12:18.338 --> 01:12:19.422
(APPLAUSE)

01:12:19.423 --> 01:12:20.798
They ought to be following

01:12:20.799 --> 01:12:24.051
the standards of law
enforcement in every case,

01:12:24.052 --> 01:12:27.471
regardless of race, creed, class.

01:12:27.472 --> 01:12:29.808
One standard of justice.

01:12:31.727 --> 01:12:34.854
DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Lawyers working
on behalf of Lennon\'s family,

01:12:34.855 --> 01:12:36.731
had information which they believe

01:12:36.732 --> 01:12:38.566
was critical for our determination

01:12:38.567 --> 01:12:40.527
which they did not
want to give the SBI.

01:12:41.361 --> 01:12:43.362
HEATHER RATTELADE:
It\'s very disappointing that

01:12:43.363 --> 01:12:47.241
instead of actually
conducting any investigation

01:12:47.242 --> 01:12:50.745
that would\'ve made any
sort of forensic testing

01:12:50.746 --> 01:12:52.955
fruitful and reliable,

01:12:52.956 --> 01:12:57.126
this district attorney allowed
rumors in the community

01:12:57.127 --> 01:13:01.339
to become so rampant, instead
of searching for the truth.

01:13:07.387 --> 01:13:10.306
LENNON\'S MOM:
I should not have had to wait
as long as I have

01:13:10.307 --> 01:13:13.894
to get to the answers that I wanted.

01:13:14.603 --> 01:13:16.020
To me that makes me think

01:13:16.021 --> 01:13:17.605
there was something that had to be

01:13:17.606 --> 01:13:19.983
fixed up, doctored up.

01:13:22.736 --> 01:13:25.404
Tell me. Show it to me.

01:13:25.405 --> 01:13:27.531
You saying it means nothing to me

01:13:27.532 --> 01:13:30.910
if you cannot prove it.

01:13:30.911 --> 01:13:32.411
I wanna know.

01:13:32.412 --> 01:13:33.412
I deserve to know.

01:13:33.413 --> 01:13:34.997
And I have the right to know.

01:13:34.998 --> 01:13:37.292
That\'s all I\'ve asked from day one.

01:14:20.669 --> 01:14:22.294
NARRATOR: My mother was traumatized

01:14:22.295 --> 01:14:24.423
when my brother Claude
Neal was lynched.

01:14:25.924 --> 01:14:29.344
She went through total hell and she
put us through total hell.

01:14:30.721 --> 01:14:35.015
She started talking about what
the man did to her brother.

01:14:35.016 --> 01:14:39.271
She smoked Camels and drank
moonshine.

01:14:39.938 --> 01:14:41.147
(WATER FLOWING)

01:14:41.148 --> 01:14:43.649
NARRATOR: She\'d kick her
daughters and she\'d make the kids

01:14:43.650 --> 01:14:48.655
read the 23rd Psalm out loud
while she drank and cried.

01:14:51.825 --> 01:14:54.286
She just couldn\'t
take what happened.

01:14:56.538 --> 01:14:58.998
She would leave her five
children with relatives

01:14:58.999 --> 01:15:01.960
and disappear for
months, sometimes years.

01:15:03.170 --> 01:15:07.089
She\'s return out of guilt
and whisk us off to some tiny house

01:15:07.090 --> 01:15:09.760
where she tried to make a home.

01:15:11.053 --> 01:15:14.638
When she was sober, she was OK,

01:15:14.639 --> 01:15:18.685
but she always slipped
back into dark places.

01:15:23.857 --> 01:15:26.859
SHERRILYN IFILL: One of the most disturbing
legacies of lynching

01:15:26.860 --> 01:15:32.991
is generational trauma within
the Black and White communities

01:15:33.658 --> 01:15:36.202
and yet very different
reactions to the stories

01:15:36.203 --> 01:15:38.455
in the two different communities.

01:15:39.414 --> 01:15:42.583
Both communities were covered
in a shroud of silence.

01:15:42.584 --> 01:15:44.168
Blacks out of fear.

01:15:44.169 --> 01:15:47.671
Whites out of shame,
I think, and fear also.

01:15:47.672 --> 01:15:51.967
And, that silence was never lifted
and so people are acting out

01:15:51.968 --> 01:15:55.805
in the context of that
passed on relationship

01:15:55.806 --> 01:15:58.350
and they don\'t know what\'s
at the heart of it.

01:15:59.559 --> 01:16:01.602
And, there are all
these institutions

01:16:01.603 --> 01:16:04.481
that need to come clean
about this history.

01:16:06.650 --> 01:16:08.818
This is true of the legal community,

01:16:08.819 --> 01:16:10.903
it\'s true of journalism,

01:16:10.904 --> 01:16:13.073
it\'s true across the board.

01:16:14.408 --> 01:16:16.367
Communities for themselves,
have to come together

01:16:16.368 --> 01:16:19.454
and talk about what they
think would repair the harm.

01:16:21.039 --> 01:16:23.749
But, if together we
face that history,

01:16:23.750 --> 01:16:25.709
it leads to an opening for dialogue,

01:16:25.710 --> 01:16:28.630
it leads to an opening
for reconciliation.

01:16:33.093 --> 01:16:35.594
SPEAKER: Now, ladies and gentleman,
that concludes the last scene.

01:16:35.595 --> 01:16:39.265
We will return to First
African Baptist Church

01:16:39.266 --> 01:16:41.016
for food and fellowship.

01:16:41.017 --> 01:16:43.228
We have food waiting on you.

01:16:43.937 --> 01:16:48.942
ROBERT HOWARD: The Moore\'s Ford Memorial
Committee was started in September of 1997.

01:16:49.985 --> 01:16:53.529
We have a load of people
here for the reenactment

01:16:53.530 --> 01:16:58.242
but you can go around and count the ones
from Walton County on one hand.

01:16:58.243 --> 01:17:03.790
This stigma still touches people
in a negative way.

01:17:13.425 --> 01:17:15.718
So, in areas of Walton County

01:17:15.719 --> 01:17:18.387
you can go through
these subdivisions

01:17:18.388 --> 01:17:20.890
and you look at
the names of the streets

01:17:20.891 --> 01:17:26.730
and it matches the names that
the FBI report says are the suspects.

01:17:28.899 --> 01:17:34.236
So, it would really be important
if we could get justice,

01:17:34.237 --> 01:17:35.906
on this particular case.

01:17:47.959 --> 01:17:51.045
If we get a break, I\'ll make
sure I get your phone number

01:17:51.046 --> 01:17:53.464
before you leave here and you know,

01:17:53.465 --> 01:17:55.591
I\'d be willing to call you
and let you know what\'s happening.

01:17:55.592 --> 01:17:59.720
Hopefully, you know, we\'ll have
closure on this thing pretty soon.

01:17:59.721 --> 01:18:05.394
(PARTICIPANTS CLAPPING)

01:18:06.019 --> 01:18:10.272
SPEAKER: Is Rev. Sammy
still out here?

01:18:10.273 --> 01:18:13.818
Tell him we want him to
bring some words of closure,

01:18:13.819 --> 01:18:17.696
prayer and a message.

01:18:17.697 --> 01:18:22.702
(EMOTIONAL INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC)

01:18:36.216 --> 01:18:37.843
(PAGES TURNING)

01:18:43.765 --> 01:18:49.229
(\'PRECIOUS MEMORIES\'
BY J. B. F. WRIGHT)

01:18:50.939 --> 01:18:57.738
♪ Precious memories

01:19:01.199 --> 01:19:07.956
♪ How they linger

01:19:10.542 --> 01:19:17.549
♪ How they ever

01:19:18.884 --> 01:19:25.891
♪ Flood my soul

01:19:29.394 --> 01:19:36.401
♪ In the stillness

01:19:38.779 --> 01:19:45.786
♪ Of the midnight

01:19:48.080 --> 01:19:54.920
♪ Precious sacred scenes unfold

01:20:00.967 --> 01:20:05.972
♪ Scenes unfold. ♪

01:20:08.600 --> 01:20:11.352
HEATHER RATTELADE (READING): The United
States Attorney\'s Office announced today

01:20:11.353 --> 01:20:14.271
that following its investigation
into the death of Lennon Lacy

01:20:14.272 --> 01:20:18.485
there is no evidence to pursue federal
criminal civil rights charges.

01:20:20.070 --> 01:20:23.697
Officials from the Justice
Department Civil Rights Division,

01:20:23.698 --> 01:20:26.450
the US Attorney\'s Office for
the Eastern District in North Carolina

01:20:26.451 --> 01:20:29.161
and the Federal Bureau of
Investigation met today

01:20:29.162 --> 01:20:33.166
with Lennon Lacy\'s family to
inform them of this decision.

01:20:35.043 --> 01:20:38.839
♪ As I ponder ♪

01:20:39.464 --> 01:20:43.801
PIERRE LACY (READING): The FBI assessment
has confirmed my initial opinion

01:20:43.802 --> 01:20:48.556
that the investigation conducted by
the State Bureau of Investigation

01:20:48.557 --> 01:20:51.851
and the Bladenboro
Police Department was complete,

01:20:51.852 --> 01:20:54.438
thorough, and professional.

01:20:55.272 --> 01:20:58.524
I would like to take this
opportunity to highlight the hard work

01:20:58.525 --> 01:21:00.943
and dedication of the FBI

01:21:00.944 --> 01:21:05.030
special agent who went above
and beyond the call of duty

01:21:05.031 --> 01:21:08.784
to see that justice was
done in this matter.

01:21:08.785 --> 01:21:13.998
♪ Precious memories

01:21:13.999 --> 01:21:17.293
(RUSTLING OF PAPER)

01:21:17.294 --> 01:21:19.712
(BLOWS LIPS)

01:21:19.713 --> 01:21:24.718
♪ How they linger ♪

01:21:26.261 --> 01:21:31.140
CLAUDIA LACY (READING): After a careful
and thorough review by a team of experts

01:21:31.141 --> 01:21:34.560
the Justice Department
found no evidence

01:21:34.561 --> 01:21:38.690
to suggest that Lennon\'s
death was a homicide.

01:21:41.568 --> 01:21:46.073
The investigation into
the incident has been closed.

01:21:53.413 --> 01:22:00.420
CLAUDIA: One page... for 17 years
of a person\'s life.

01:22:14.559 --> 01:22:16.394
HEATHER RATTELADE: Although
the federal authorities

01:22:16.395 --> 01:22:19.021
found there was no
evidence of foul play,

01:22:19.022 --> 01:22:22.400
that\'s not conclusive that
there was not foul play.

01:22:22.401 --> 01:22:26.071
They\'re saying there was
no evidence of foul play.

01:22:30.659 --> 01:22:35.746
The biggest reason that we\'re never
going to be able to know the truth

01:22:35.747 --> 01:22:41.168
is law enforcement just did
not do their job adequately.

01:22:41.169 --> 01:22:46.465
It was a cursory investigation
and they jumped to a conclusion

01:22:46.466 --> 01:22:49.469
and that was all she wrote.

01:22:52.389 --> 01:22:59.104
(EMOTIONAL INSTRUMENTAL
MUSIC STARTS)

01:23:00.981 --> 01:23:05.484
CLAUDIA LACY: His friends, his neighbors,
the kids that he interacted with

01:23:05.485 --> 01:23:09.823
looked at me with disbelief.

01:23:10.657 --> 01:23:13.534
That\'s what made me push

01:23:13.535 --> 01:23:16.120
and I\'m going to continue until
I get the answers for them,

01:23:16.121 --> 01:23:18.623
as well as for myself.

01:23:29.051 --> 01:23:32.846
The more people know about it,
that\'s my way of grieving.

01:23:33.680 --> 01:23:35.890
The more they understand
and hear his story,

01:23:35.891 --> 01:23:38.518
that\'s my way of grieving.

01:23:41.396 --> 01:23:45.108
(INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC ENDS)

01:23:45.650 --> 01:23:50.655
(GUITAR MUSIC STARTS)