Mississippi Goddam Chapter 1: The Promise
Reveal
The Center for Investigative Reporting and PRX
4.7 • 8.7K Ratings
🗓️ 16 October 2021
⏱️ 51 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Billey Joe Johnson Jr. was a high school football star headed for the big time. Then, early one morning in 2008, the Black teenager died during a traffic stop with a White deputy. His family’s been searching for answers ever since.
Ten years ago, Reveal host Al Letson traveled to Lucedale, Mississippi, to report on the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. While there, locals told him there was another story he should be looking into: Johnson’s suspicious death.
During a traffic stop with a White deputy, police say Johnson died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. But for Johnson’s family, that explanation never made sense.
In the first episode of this seven-part series, Letson returns to Mississippi with reporter Jonathan Jones to explore what happened to Johnson – and what justice means in a place haunted by its history.
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| 0:00.0 | Hey folks, this is Outlet's, and before we get started with today's episode of Reveal, I have to give you a heads up. |
| 0:06.7 | So today's show is the beginning of a multi-part series that covers some intense issues related to racism. |
| 0:13.6 | Because of that, within the first two minutes, you'll hear me repeat a racial slur that has been used against me. |
| 0:20.0 | This is an incredibly personal |
| 0:22.2 | show for me. It took a long time for us to get it together, so I just wanted to thank you for |
| 0:27.1 | listening, but also give you a heads up. Okay, here we go. |
| 0:37.2 | From the Center for Investigative Reporting and PRX, this is Reveal. |
| 0:42.0 | I'm Al Leutson, and the year is 1991. |
| 0:47.3 | I'm a senior in high school, living in a little town outside Jacksonville, Florida, |
| 0:53.5 | a middle class, black family, and a mostly white neighborhood. |
| 0:57.7 | On the surface, this is the American dream. |
| 1:01.5 | A big house, corner lot, manicure lawn, and a pool, but if you know what to look for, you can see the cracks. |
| 1:10.0 | Confederate flags are everywhere you turn. Neighb neighbors who refuse to talk to you because of your blackness, and the occasional racial slur you hear in the wind or spray painted on the street. |
| 1:22.9 | Racial intimidation, both large and small, was just a part of life. So much so you don't even think or reflect |
| 1:29.1 | on it. You just bury it deep so you can live. And then one day, the oppression you've been living |
| 1:36.4 | with is reflected at you, and you just can't deny it anymore. Now the story that might never have |
| 1:41.5 | surfaced if someone hadn't picked up his home video camera. |
| 1:49.1 | We've all seen the pictures of Los Angeles police officers beating a man they had just pulled over. |
| 2:02.3 | When the footage of Rodney King's assault by Los Angeles police officers made the news, The entire country had to take note. Los Angeles Police Chief Darrell Gates looked at the tape and said he thinks |
| 2:07.2 | assault with a deadly weapon will be one of the charges. In our review, we find that the officers |
| 2:13.3 | struck him with batons between 53 and 56 times. |
| 2:18.8 | I remember watching it, and though I'd never personally seen cops be that brutal, |
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