Two horrific events happened in 1998 ...

One event was the death of Matthew Shepard ...professed to be 'gay'.  He was beaten, tortured, and left to die.  The responsible parties were given consecutive life sentences.

The other event was the death of James Byrd Jr. ...born with skin the color which varies, just like eye color and hair color.  He was dragged for miles behind a pickup truck ...and the rest of the details I don't even want to describe.  Two men, Brewer and King, were given death penalties.