Man, hung him in a tree. Who would do something this hideous . In my vision, a brownskinned man in a gray casket, i couldnt tell who he was. And thats when i began to call all my children. When i think about the hurt my mom went through, i cant talk about it. The mobile Police Department just didnt want to believe that mobile would still have klan in it. But they did. The fact that klansmen lived across the street from where this happened, it was something that the Police Officers found more to be a coincidence. Michael donald was an innocent, good samaritan, not a thug. The likely suspects were identified. But we had the wrong people. We felt the cops and the klan working hand in hand. Were calling upon mobiles black community to be as cool as possible in response to this murder. Let there be no doubt, the klan is behind this. But you gotta prove it first. The body of a black man has been found hanging from a tree in mobile, alabama. Lynching is a tool to control and oppress black people. Racialized violence is as old as the constitution. Klans are not running around with white sheets over their head, but its still happening. Today, people are horrified of the police. Its the modern day lynching. What are we going to do about it . We move forward with people deciding, im bold enough and im going to make it change. Hewlett mcdonald took on one of the most violent criminal organizations in the United States. This is an incredible story of courage. Here we are in 2020 without a federal antilynching statute. I believe were at a point of reckoning. Lynching today is at the end of a rope, the end of a gun, at the end of a baton, at the end of a taser. Its not merely about the white hood or the blue uniform. Its about us. Its about red, white and blue. We need to declare as a country these acts that were used to instill terror must never be treated as acceptable. Breonna taylors killing saw her through the eyes of a dad that would give up everything to keep his daughter safe. I dont want my daughters to have their door kicked in. Just the idea they took him and hung him, just hung him up, they beat him unmercifully. I wondered, did he have time to know he was going to die . Did he have time to say, lord, have mercy on me . It took courage. It took strength. Because you didnt know who to trust and who not to trust. The mobile Police Department, they sat on it. They would just call and say, were still working on the case. My mom would say, it really gets on my nerves. I dont want them to call me, just tell me that theyve got the person that killed my son. We asked god to send us somebody thats going to help us along the way. The opportunity to come back and to work with the criminal Justice System here in mobile is a good opportunity. Thomas figures, who was the first black assistant u. S. Attorney, hes in a position to push and nudge and keep knocking on doors and making sure that this case does not rest from a criminal standpoint. My uncle felt deep in his heart and soul, just as my father did, that this was a racially motivated attack and the federal government should step in and be involved in the investigation. Jeff sessions was the u. S. Attorney for the Southern District of alabama. We worked with the fbi and the local people, too, to investigate it, and it was difficult to move forward. We just were not making much progress. Jim bodman was appointed by the fbi to get to the bottom of this case. January of 1983, the head of the fbi office came up to me and laid a paper file on my desk, and he said, jim, take this case. The justice department, they will not allow us to close the case. And i asked him, i said, sir, what do you think im going to do with it . I understand everybody in towns been interviewed three times. He said, you take this case and you work it. And he used, i think, maybe even a little stronger terminology, but i sure got the message. So, okay, january of 1983, i get the case. They supposedly kept saying it was a drug case gone bad. It was not a racial case. It was a drug case gone bad. That was not the issue. That case was being reassigned to me because i had experience and background specifically with the klan. As a daughter of the south who was raised in the heart of dixie, Beulan Mae Donald understood what it meant to take on the klan. She understood what it meant in terms of the legacy of racial terrorism by the klan. 1963, the 16th Street Baptist Church was targeted by klan members because it was an Organizing Ground for Civil Rights Activity. It was a place from which Martin Luther king organized. The worship hour was chosen to maximize terrorism. I was standing across from the girls over by the sink, and they was a few feet away from me. Addie reached her hand out. Thats when i heard this loud boom. And i said, jesus, addie, addie. But she didnt answer. Everything went dark. I was the only survivor, and i lost my right eye. Those Beautiful Girls was killed for nothing, just for being black. Everybody was klansmen back then in the 60s. The police knew who did it, but they werent going to bring them to the bar of justice, so they just kept it quiet. They even gave these men nicknames. They called cherry, cherry bomb, and they called chambliss, dynamite bomb. They knew who it was. The birmingham Police Department and the Jefferson County sheriffs office, their investigation of the bombing was aimed at this crazy, nutty theory that the blacks themselves had set the bomb, being that they wanted to bomb their own church so that theyd bring sympathy to their cause. In 1963 and in 1981, Black Scapegoats were killed, victims were brutalized, and we as a country have to learn the lesson. There are no scapegoats. Theres only justice. When i went down to mobile, i never went to the local authorities. They never volunteered anything to me. Donald had been hung on a tree, the same block where this group of klan lived, and im thinking, gee whiz, what better place to start . So i started interviewing these people, and i approached them with the idea they were not the subject of that investigation other than the fact that i want your information. I want to know what you know, and the more i asked questions, the more they talked. I had some photographs of some individuals standing beside a pickup truck looking at the individual when he was hanging on his tree. I identified a klansman. His names teddy kyzar, and i went and talked to him, and i told him, i said, look, teddy, i know you live on Herndon Avenue. Youre there. Tell me what you saw. Well, when the neighbor in apartment one was knocking on the door, i asked him what was the problem. He said there was a black man hanging from a tree out here. I said, you kidding . He said, no. So i went out on the front porch. Sure enough, it was. I stuck to the klansman because i was on the right trail. You said close your eyes dont look down fall into me and ill catch you, darlin well dance in the street like nobodys watching its just you and me celebrate every kiss. Get zero down special financing with the kay jewelers credit card. Somethings happening at ihop. Something. Huge. Antman and the wasp have arrived. Spend 30 on your next visit to ihop and get a fandango movie ticket to see Marvel Studios antman and the wasp quantumania. Out here, youre a landowner, a gardner, a landscaper, and a hunter. Thats why you need versatile, durable kubota equipment. Only at vanguard, youre more than just an investor youre an owner. That means that your goals are ours too. And Vanguard Retirement tools and advice can help you get there. Thats the value of ownership. [sfx stomach gurgling] its nothing. Sounds like something. When you have nausea, heartburn, indigestion, upset stomach, diarrhea. Pepto bismol coats and soothes for fast relief. When you need it most. Where theres a pet theres always. This. Thats why we have the maytag pet pro laundry pair. Save up to 750 on select major appliances free delivery on items over 396. Shop appliances now backed by the lowes price promise. People were telling me, there aint no such thing as the klan. Michael must have been doing something wrong. The truth will come out, because we aint going to let it rest. We originally arrested the wrong people. It was my mistake. Eventually, mr. Galanos realized, he said, look, were going to go back, and were going to investigate the Michael Donald case from day one. Behind the scenes, there was a lot going on. There were two separate investigations. One track was the federal track, the other was the state track. We were both trying to get to the same place, following different paths. On the state side, i went to Jeff Sessions and said, ive got this guy named bob eddy. He was Chief Investigator for the da. Bob had investigated the klan successfully. Bob eddy solved the 63 Church Bombing in birmingham. The klan felt that they were either protected or purely invincible. Their influence and sympathizers were embedded throughout government, throughout law enforcement, in both the city and the state level. In spite of the fact that four innocent negro girls were brutally murdered in a church in birmingham, alabama, not a single arrest had been made. Well, over six years after the bombing, i was elected attorney general of alabama. That meant i had the real position where i could do something about it. So, i got a terrific investigator named bob eddy. One great witness bob eddy found was chamblisss niece. She testified that two or three days before the bomb went off, robert was ranting and raving about the blacks and demonstrations. And he said, you just wait till sunday, theyll beg us to segregate. Somebody said, what do you mean . Well, he said, youll find out, youll find out. And so, that was pretty powerful, that made an impact on the jury. So baxley and bob eddy and a new light put the pieces of a puzzle together that resulted in the conviction of robert chambliss. But the community knew that there were still others out there other than chambliss that were involved. Justice, freedom and truth and gods people, on the move. The 16th Street Baptist Church bombing was carried out by members of the united klan of america, the same organization who killed Michael Donald. Again and again, we have seen white racists take the lives of black people and do so with impunity, with the legitimization and the seeming permission of law enforcement. Bob eddy, he said, chris, this is a klan killing. You not only have the noose, but the typical Klan Diversionary tactic, burning a cross on the lawn of the county courthouse. Bob eddy, in the course of interviewing witnesses, learned that there had been a meeting on wednesday night preceding the friday abduction of Michael Donald. Three days before Michael Donald was murdered, we had a private meeting which we would have every wednesday for just klan members. Bob eddy knew who was at that klan meeting, Tiger Knowles, frank cox, teddy kyzar, henry hayes and benny hayes, the second highest ranking klansman in the state of alabama. Benny hayes was a great titan, which is the third highest ranking official in the united klans. Benny jack hayes wasnt a hardnosed businessman. He could drop a dime in his pocket and pull out a quarter. Benny jack was a very detailed man. He was pure evil when he set his mind to it. Henry hayes was benny hayes son. He was a lifetime member. He was secretary and treasurer. He collected the dues and the minutes and stuff like that. He was a holdover from the late 60s. He was doing his best to be a hippie. He loved to smoke dope. Hed do any drug he could get his hands on. Henry was a very lovable young man, but he made sure to please daddy. And if daddy caught on to some of the stuff he was doing, his daddy would discipline him harshly. It would usually come down to beatings. Even at his adult life, hed let his daddy do to him what he wanted to. Tiger knowles was an entrepreneur on the equal of benny jack hayes. He was very ambitious. I mean, he had his hands in everything. If he could make a dollar, by golly, he was going after it. At 17, i was a regional officer in the klan for south alabama. But yeah, i was second in command. I aspired to be the grand dragon of the state. I thought it would give me political contact, and thats what i was looking for. Tiger was the most volatile of the bunch. I think he mentored under benny jack. You could talk him off the ledge, but he got up on the ledge in a hurry. They were klansmen. They were at that meeting on wednesday night. 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But i wasnt fearful of that. I felt like nothing man could do to me now would affect me as much as michaels death affected me. Im a strong believer. I dont know about man, but i know what god can do. Theres a difference between what you know and what you can prove. The investigation was evolving. Bob eddy was on the case. He was interviewing people. He never took his foot off the gas. Agent bodman, under the direction of Thomas Figures, was out there interviewing klansmen. We knew who committed this crime. We, however, could not prove it without a break. I never once thought that i was not being looked at seriously as a suspect. Law enforcement started to zero in on us more and more. I was bound and determined that i wasnt going to talk to nobody. They were building that narrative, and i just wasnt going to give anybody the satisfaction. Everybody thought i was hiding something. I felt like i was being harassed. My mom and dads phone has gotten tapped twice. My biggest concern was someone saying Something Like henry. Henry had a big mouth. Henrys never said it one way or the other. Of course, he denied it. Teddy kyzar, when interviewed by bob eddy, implicated frank cox in the crossburning. Crossburning . Yeah. Teddy and i burned a cross on the Courthouse Lawn that night. Did we do it to promote a notion . No. But it could have been that jack said, go do it. I said, man, i need a break. I need a break. And teddy, he was hit. I was told that it was a felony and i could be getting 10 years in the penitentiary for that crossburning. It was scary. I am zeroed in. Got my target. Teddy kyzar was the least educated, least intelligent one of the group. The other members of the group made fun of him. They lashed him for doing something in violation of one of unit 900s bylaws. I was whipped with a leather strap that was five inches wide and about six foot long. It was bringing tears to my eyes. But the more i thought about it, the madder i got. And i got where i couldnt feel it. I always showed him respect. So i dont know if treating him as a person had any effect on his wanting to talk to me or confiding in me. But he did. He did. Jim bodman, he said, if youre telling the truth that you had no knowledge of it before or during, you have nothing to worry about, now do you . I said, well, no, youre right. And thats when i started settling down and incorporating with people. The night that Michael Donald was murdered, we had a card game going there in henry hayes apartment, and we was drinking beer. And about 12 oclock, i looked up. Tiger had a blue jeantype shirt on his sleeve, and he was soaked down in blood. I said, i dont know what yall been doing, but tiger, youre soaked down in blood. He looked down at his shirt and saw the blood, so he just ripped it off of himself. I said, what yall been doing . They said they beat up a queer, and they laughed. So i laughed with them. And i said, well, the next thing yall do, i want in on it. He said, well, he had blood on him. Well, now, thats the first time that had come out to my knowledge in the investigation. I found another klansman. So i just asked him, whered the blood come from . That was on tiger that night. He said, oh, he had a nosebleed. And im think