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Billey Joe Johnson Jr. was a high school football star headed for the big time. Then, early one morning in 2008, the Black teenager suffered a fatal gunshot wound during a traffic stop with a White deputy. His family’s been searching for answers ever since.
Reveal host Al Letson first learned about Johnson when he was in Lucedale, Mississippi, to report on the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. But some folks there wanted to talk about Johnson and how the law enforcement narrative of his death never made any sense. Letson left knowing he had to look into Johnson’s suspicious death.
Over the next seven weeks, we’re revisiting our award-winning series Mississippi Goddam. With a title inspired by Nina Simone’s civil rights anthem, we weave the history of the criminal justice system with Johnson’s case.
In the first episode, 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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