Behind the Scenes with Filmmaker Keith Beauchamp

Links:

• Read: Injustice Files Past Cases
• Video: The William Lewis Moore Case
• Video: The O'Neal Moore Case
• Video: The Wharlest Jackson Case

As I sit in my Hotel Room in Washington D.C. promoting the release of the new installment of the Injustice files, I can't stop thinking about how far I've come since my first film, "The Untold Story of Emmett Louis Till."

It was in 2000, when I first learned about the hanging death of 17-year old Raynard Johnson, of Kokomo, Mississippi. I can remember, getting a phone call from Emmett Till's mother, the late Mamie Till-Mobley who told me about a young man being hung because he may have been dating a white girl. By the sound of her voice, I can hear her living the nightmare of the loss of her son all over again. Mrs. Mobley was soon asked by Rev. Jesse Jackson and his Rainbow Push Organization to join them in Kokomo to participate in a protest march about Raynard's death. It was at this point, where many publications began to compare the Rayard Johnson case to one of the greatest injustices ever committed, the Emmett Till Murder.

Raynard Johnson was considered the 21st Century Emmett Till. Before there was Jena Six movement in Jena, Louisiana in 2006, there was an international rally cry for justice in the death of Raynard Johnson in 2000, which ended with an official ruling of suicide. 12-years later, the family continues to believe that Raynard did not kill himself.

In 2003, during the production of the Till documentary, I continued to hear about mysterious hanging deaths of African American men and begin making a list of the victims vowing to tell their stories one day, in hopes of helping the families get closure. In 2006, I was fortunate to receive a $35,000 Media Arts Fellowship grant to pursue these cases and quickly ran out of funds when the death toll continued to rise. Time and time again, I raised the question, are Black men, who have the lowest suicide rate, suddenly killing themselves? Or could modern day Lynchings be happening in the United States? That same year, the FBI began talking about their Civil Rights Cold Case Initiative — in which I was diverted to work on.

Last year, for the launch of the 1st Season of the 'The Injustice Files,' during a Congressional Luncheon promoting the series, I would be introduced to these cases again, by a family member and a friend of two victims (Keith Warren and Raynard Johnson) we will be profiling in the show.