Investigating the 1958 Death of James Brazier

1A

NPR

News

4.3 • 4.5K Ratings

🗓️ 23 March 2023

⏱️ 32 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The fourth season of "Buried Truths" investigates the death of a Black man in a town known for its violent, racist treatment of people of color. In 1958, James Brazier died of brain damage days after police beat him on his front lawn.

A local police officer, Weyman B. Cherry, was notoriously violent with Black residents. His Georgia County earned the moniker "Terrible Terrell."

We talk to Klibanoff about investigating the cold case and "Terrible Terrell."

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Down in Dawson during the late 1950s, at least 12 black men were beaten or shot by white
0:15.0	police.
0:16.5	The people of Dawson didn't read a word of this in their local weekly paper, The Dawson
0:20.8	News.
0:22.0	Nor was there a line of coverage in the Albany Herald, the killing of black people, even
0:27.5	by police.
0:29.1	Simply wasn't news.
0:31.8	That's a clip from Buried Truths, a podcast from W.A.B.E. in Atlanta.
0:37.2	In the new season, host Hank Clibinoff investigates the 1958 death of James Brasier in Dawson,
0:43.0	Georgia.
0:44.0	Dawson is in the southwest part of the state in a county known as Terrible Terrell.
0:49.0	It earned that nickname for its violent racist treatment of black residents.
0:53.2	James Brasier was beaten by police on his front lawn before they hauled him off to jail
0:57.8	and beat him again.
0:59.3	He died of brain trauma days later.
1:01.5	But no one was held accountable, and his killing was never officially deemed a murder.
1:06.3	I'm Jen White.
1:07.3	You're listening to the W.A.B.E. podcast where we get to the heart of the story.
1:11.1	65 years after Brasier's death, what justice can there be and what can investigate long
1:16.5	cold cases tell us about today?
1:19.2	We talk about that in more after the break.
1:21.3	Stay with us.
	...

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