"Remember His Name" documents two events: the heinous murder of James Byrd, Jr., a 49-year-old black resident of Jasper, Texas, and the struggle to pass the James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Act in Texas.  The story of the murder is related mainly through interviews: Billy Rowles, Sheriff of Jasper, Guy James Gray, the District Attorney from Jasper, Dr. Tommy Brown, the Forensic Pathologist in Beaumont who conducted Byrd's autopsy, Sonny Cribbs, defense attorney for convicted murderer John William King, Ronald King, father of John William King and interviews with local residents from Jasper, Texas and with prison officials in Huntsville.

When I first started this documentary in December 1998, my plan was to document three recent and notable hate crimes in America:  Oumar Dia, the Mauritanian man who was shot to death at a bus stop in Denver; Matthew Shepard, the young gay man who was beaten and left to die while tied to a fence in Laramie, WY; and James Byrd, Jr., the black man who was dragged to his death behind a pick up truck by three white men who needed to kill a "nigger" or a "Jew" for an initiation rite into their newly formed two-member white supremacist group.

I am sad to acknowledge that since this production began, numerous violent hate crimes that have resulted in wounding and killing many people have occurred in the United States.  Such inexplicable outbreaks of random violence throughout this country have caused me to refocus on the intended outcome of this documentary.  I will pay tribute to hate-crime victims and their survivors during a special memorial segment of this program, but concentrate the body of the documentary on one specific hate crime: the murder of James Byrd Jr. 

As a result of Byrd's murder, there were two attempts at passing the James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Act in Texas.  The 1999 attempt passed in the house but failed to pass in the senate when Governor George W. Bush was in office and running for President.   In May of 2001, the James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Act was signed into law by Governor Rick Perry after narrow passage in the Texas Senate.  The story of this legislation is told through interviews with sponsors of the bill Rep. Senfronia Thompson and Senator Rodney Ellis, as well as with numerous other activists and citizens who mounted the campaign for the bill's passage.

Lizard Productions, founded by documentary filmmaker and activist Liz Latham, is a Seattle based film company that produced "We're Here To Stay", a documentary film about the History of Hands Off Washington and the Politics of Hate in Washington State.  The film premiered at Seattle's Historic Paramount Theatre in May of 1998 and is currently in distribution to national public libraries and universities for their social studies collections. This film is a "primer" for political activists and is a story about Hands Off Washington (HOW).  To this day, the Hands Off Washington model serves as the primary paradigm in statewide community grassroots organizing.

Liz Latham - Executive Producer and Director.  In 1998, Latham produced, directed and shot her first documentary, "We're Here To Stay" about the history of Hands Off Washington and the Politics of Hate in Washington State.  Latham produced a short video on Hands Off Washington entitled Heroes Are Everywhere, for Hands Off Washington's annual breakfast in 1996.  She was executive director, producer and host for the cable television series Seattle Commons - It's a Park, and also programmed a weekly television series for the Seattle Public Schools Instructional Broadcast Center.  In addition, Latham has worked for the acclaimed Seattle Weekly.  A former legislative aide to King County Councilmember Maggi Fimia, Latham brings extraordinary organizational, management and political skills to this project.  An accomplished pianist, she holds a BS in Radio, Television, and Film from the University of Maryland.  Latham's past community/political activities include a term as Board President of Seattle's Lesbian Resource Center, Commissioner with the Seattle Commission for Lesbians and Gays and as Precinct Committee Officer in Seattle's "eclectic" 43rd District. Latham has been a campaign worker for Seattle City Councilmember Jan Drago, Seattle Mayor Norm Rice, and for the past King County Executive campaign of present Washington State Governor Gary Locke.  She is also a past board member of Hands Off Washington.  She has organized numerous large events including the 1995 Washington State Democratic Annual Banquet featuring the former Governor of Texas, Ann Richards.  

Corbis, one of the world's leading providers of digital images and other media, has donated the use of their online image gallery to the documentary. This in-kind gift is worth well over $50,000 and we are delighted to have them as a corporate sponsor! Please see the press release dated 12/13/02 for more information.