FINAL 11-2-2015

© AABANY 2015

The Vietnamese Fishermen v. The Ku Klux Klan

I. Introduction

NARRATOR 1: At dusk on February 14, 1981, several hundred people gathered in Santa

Fe, Texas, a few miles from the town of Seabrook on Galveston Bay. Many were local

fishermen. Some were members of the Ku Klux Klan. The local fishermen faced stiff

competition from Vietnamese refugees who had resettled in the Gulf Coast in the late 1970s, and

they had asked the Klan for assistance. Louis Beam, the Grand Dragon of the Texas Knights of

the Ku Klux Klan, addressed the crowd in his white Klan robe. He gave the federal and state

authorities what he called a “Grand Dragon’s Dispensation” -- ninety days to resolve the issues

in the Bay. Ninety days coincided with the start of the shrimping season on May 15, 1981.1

Beam explained:

[BEAM takes center stage.]

BEAM: If the authorities do nothing, this entire Gulf Coast is going to be a difficult place

to live. It’s going to be a hell of a lot more violent than it was in Korea or Vietnam. If you want

our country for the whites, you’re going to have to get it the way our founding fathers got it --

with blood, blood, blood.2 . . . . The Ku Klux Klan is more than willing to select out of the ranks

of American fishermen some of your more hardy souls and send them through our training

camps. And when they come out, they’ll be ready for the Vietnamese.3

NARRATOR 2: An old shrimp boat had been brought to the rally. On it were painted the

words “USS Vietcong.” Someone poured diesel fuel on the boat. With the crowd chanting

“fight, fight, fight,” Beam set the boat on fire, shouting:

[BEAM SUPPORTERS off stage chant “Fight, fight, fight.”]

BEAM: This is the right way to burn a shrimp boat. This is in-service training.4

[BEAM exits.]

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NARRATOR 1: In the weeks that followed, there was more violence and threats of

violence, directed not just against the Vietnamese but also against those who did business with

them. And on March 15, 1981, a group of local fishermen and Klansmen, some wearing robes

and hoods, some carrying shotguns and assault weapons, steered a shrimp boat up to the dock of

the leader of the Vietnamese fishermen, Colonel Nam. They had on board a cannon and a

human figure hanged in effigy on the rigging of the boat’s stern.5

NARRATOR 2: Tensions had been rising in Galveston Bay since the late 1970s with the

influx of Vietnamese refugees. The Vietnamese population grew until there were more

Vietnamese than American-born fishermen trying to earn a living from the limited resources of

the Bay. Here are Gene Fisher, the president of the American Fishermen’s Association, and

Colonel Nam.

[FISHER and NAM take center stage.]

FISHER: I served in Vietnam, was wounded six times in combat. And now my

government, the Federal Government, is helping these Vietnamese destroy my livelihood. We

asked the Government agencies to help us resolve this. They didn’t do anything, so, yes, I called

in the Ku Klux Klan so people would know what was happening here.6 What I want to know is:

when are the refugees going to stop coming? You say you’ve never seen a good thing come

from violence? Once upon a time, some men put on Indian clothes and dumped some tea off

some boats, and that’s how this country came about.7

NAM: I was a colonel in the South Vietnamese Army. I have tried to work with Mr.

Fisher. We signed rules of the water with him when he complained that we were not honoring

the unwritten rules of the bay. I know the bay is overcrowded. If they do not want us to stay, we

would go, but we cannot sell our boats by May 15, when the shrimping season begins. We need

to earn a livelihood, too.8

[FISHER and NAM exit.]

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NARRATOR 1: The story of the conflict was covered in a series of articles in the New

York Times. When the chief trial counsel and co-founder of the Southern Poverty Law Center,

Morris Dees, learned that the Ku Klux Klan had been invited to help the American fishermen, he

dialed information for Seabrook, and soon reached Colonel Nam.9

NARRATOR 2: Just a few weeks later, the Vietnamese Fishermen’s Association filed suit

in federal court in Houston seeking an injunction to stop the acts of violence and intimidation. In

our reenactment today, we will draw on transcripts of the court proceedings and other historic

documents and photographs to tell the story of the Vietnamese Fishermen versus the Ku Klux

Klan.

II. The Vietnamese Fishermen

NARRATOR 1: First, some history. In 1975, after the fall of Saigon, the South

Vietnamese government surrendered and the Vietnam War came to an end. Hundreds of

thousands of South Vietnamese fled, often by sea in small fishing vessels. Many of these boat

people were lost to drowning, pirates, and dehydration. Some neighboring nations were

overwhelmed, and pushed the boats back out to sea. 10

NARRATOR 2: Many Vietnamese refugees were relocated to the United States, with

thousands resettling along the Gulf Coast. Many settled in the New Orleans area, drawn by the

tropical climate and assisted by the Catholic church.11 Another attraction was the commercial

fishing industry of the Gulf Coast.12 Some refugees worked in seafood processing plants while

others fished in the Gulf of Mexico in tiny boats so small that local fishermen were amazed.13

Some refugees had worked as shrimpers in Vietnam. They pooled their resources, each family

contributing to the larger efforts of the group and, gradually,14 the boats grew in size and

number. Here are the Director of Shellfish Programs for the Texas Bureau of Coastal Fisheries

and the police chief of Seabrook, Texas:

[DIRECTOR and POLICE CHIEF take center stage.]

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DIRECTOR: The problem is that the number of boats continues to increase, while the

shrimp crop generally stays the same. More people are cutting up the pie into smaller pieces.15

POLICE CHIEF: The American fisherman feels he can’t compete. The Vietnamese live off

rice and fish. The American fisherman can, too, but he’s not going to.16

[DIRECTOR and POLICE CHIEF exit.]

NARRATOR 1: As the number of Vietnamese fishermen grew, so did the resentment of

established shrimpers. Violence erupted in August 1979 when an American fisherman was shot

and killed by Sam Van Nguyen in Seadrift, Texas, not far from Seabrook.17 In the aftermath,

Vietnamese boats were burned, a trailer home was firebombed, and almost all the refugee

families fled, only to return when the fisherman’s own brother turned in a group of men in

possession of explosives intended for use against the Vietnamese. Arguing self-defense, Sam

was acquitted. At the end of November 1979, the Seadrift City Council unanimously passed a

resolution rejecting intervention by the Ku Klux Klan.18 The Klan did not succeed in taking a

prominent role in the Texas coast issues for more than another year.19

III. The Ku Klux Klan

NARRATOR 2: The Ku Klux Klan was founded in 1865 by six veterans of the

Confederate Army. It grew rapidly and evolved into a paramilitary vigilante force, drawing on

the many bitter Confederate veterans in the population. Wearing white robes and hooded masks

and riding at night, Klansmen engaged in acts of intimidation and violence as they sought to

advance their agenda of white supremacy. At its height in the mid-1920s, the so-called

“Invisible Empire” included from four to five million members.20

NARRATOR 1: Membership declined in the 1940s, only to revive in the 1950s and 60s, a

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reaction, historians believe, to the beginning of the civil rights movement and the integration of

blacks into white neighborhoods. Homes of African Americans were firebombed and civil rights

workers were killed.21 In July 1978, more than 3,000 men and women attended a Klan rally,22 at

which Imperial Wizard Bill Wilkinson called for the repeal of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and

the execution of federal judges for treason.23 The Klan first appeared in Texas in 1868. The

Texas Knights of the Ku Klux Klan was started by Louis Beam in the mid-1970s.24

IV. The Filing of the Lawsuit

NARRATOR 2: The Southern Poverty Law Center was founded in 1971 in Montgomery,

Alabama. Its primary goal was to fight the effects of poverty with innovative litigation and

education programs.25 In the wake of the resurgence of Klan activity in the late 1970s, the

Center set up a system designed to track Klan activities and then bring suit against groups who

violated the rights of others. They called it Klanwatch.26

NARRATOR 1: When Morris Dees called Colonel Nam in March 1981, Klanwatch was

still in its infancy; to that point, it had filed only one case against the Klan. Nevertheless, it had

begun to track Louis Beam. He was one of a new breed of Klansmen, a college-educated

extremist with his own paramilitary organization, the Texas Emergency Reserve. Members of

the group trained two Sundays a month. They were taught military tactics, including ambush

and counter ambush27. When Gene Fisher decided to call in the Klan, he contacted Louis Beam.

NARRATOR 2: When Dees first met with Colonel Nam and his lawyer, John Hayslip, he

described his legal strategy: they would seek a preliminary injunction before the shrimping

season began on May 15 to prevent Beam and the Klan from carrying out their threats of

violence. They would rely on not only civil rights statutes and the U.S. Constitution, but the

Sherman Antitrust Act and its prohibitions against restraint of trade. The complaint was filed on

April 16, three weeks after the meeting with Colonel Nam.

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NARRATOR 1: Judge Gabrielle Kirk McDonald was the first African American appointed

to the federal bench in Texas, and only the third in the country. She had graduated first in her

class from Howard Law School, and then joined the NAACP Legal Defense & Education Fund

as a Staff Attorney.28 She had been a judge for only two years when the suit brought by the

Vietnamese fishermen was randomly assigned to her. She promptly granted plaintiffs’ request

for expedited discovery and scheduled the hearing on their motion for preliminary injunctive

relief for May 11, four days before the start of the shrimping season.

[As Narrator 2 is speaking, DEES, HAYSLIP, BERG, ZELIKOW enter and stand by Plaintiffs’ counsel table.

ADAMO AND COBB enter and stand by defense table.]

NARRATOR 2: Plaintiffs were represented by Dees, Hayslip, and by two Houston trial

lawyers, David Berg and Philip Zelikow. Defendants were represented by Sam Adamo and

Richard Cobb of the Houston law firm Adamo & Cobb. The morning after the lawsuit was filed,

Berg found an unmarked envelope outside his office door. Inside was a Klan calling card,

warning him not to let this “social visit” by the Klan be followed by a “business call.” Shortly

thereafter, he found another such envelope at his home. 29 Berg tried to joke about the threats:

[BERG takes center stage.]

BERG: Beam’s facing his worst nightmare: a black judge and a Jewish lawyer.

V. Pre-Trial Proceedings

A. The Start of Discovery

[As Narrator 1 is speaking, BERG, ZELIKOW, ADAMO and HAYSLIP exit; NAM enters to sit with DEES; COBB sits; THATCHER enters to sit in witness chair.]

NARRATOR 1: The three and a half weeks before the preliminary injunction hearing

would be action packed. Depositions were scheduled to begin on April 30, 1981, at the offices

of defense counsel. But before the first witness could be sworn, a young photographer entered

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the conference room and started taking pictures of Colonel Nam and the other plaintiffs present.

Dees put on the record what had happened, and later questioned the photographer. He identified

himself as Russell Gregory Thatcher, a friend of Louis Beam. He refused to say whether he had

trained in Beam’s Texas Emergency Reserve. Why?

THATCHER: I’m a survivalist, and as a survivalist I minimize my contact with the

enemy under such circumstances as this right here.

DEES: And who do you perceive to be your enemy here?

THATCHER: I perceive you as one of my enemies. . . . You’re a tool of the system

which I find oppressive to basic human rights, those human rights as founded by the

Constitution. . . .

DEES: Are you a Nazi?

THATCHER: Yes.

DEES: Why were you taking pictures?

THATCHER: This is a historical event. Any confrontation between the supposed

authorities of the country and those that are subverting our land as opposed to a person like Louis

Beam, I consider it a historical event, and it should be recorded for posterity.

[THATCHER exits. BEAM enters wearing white robe.]

NARRATOR 2: Louis Beam arrived for his deposition wearing his white Klan robe. The

deposition did not begin well:

DEES: State your name, please.

BEAM: I respectfully decline to answer on the basis of the protection afforded by the Fifth

Amendment of the Constitution of the United States of America.

NARRATOR 2: As Gene Fisher had also refused to answer any questions, the lawyers

agreed to appear before Judge McDonald the next day. But before the deposition ended, Beam

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wanted to say something, and Dees also wanted to raise an issue: Colonel Nam had noticed a gun

underneath Beam’s robe.

BEAM: May I make a statement?

DEES: Yes, you can.

COBB: No, I advise you not to make any statement at this time.

DEES: All right. Let the record show that the witness is refusing to testify, but he read

some statement, inaudible statement, in the presence of the plaintiffs. Let the record show that

he said “Morris Dees, antichrist Jew.”

COBB: He’s ready to recess from the point of origin of the deposition.

DEES: Let’s go. We’d like counsel at this time to determine whether this witness came

into the deposition armed. Mr. Cobb, would you determine whether your witness is armed?

BEAM: You don’t have permission to search my body unless you’ve got a permit.

DEES: Let the record show that this witness has a weapon under his Klan robe. He’s in

here in full regalia Klan robe, and obviously he has a shoulder holster with a weapon sticking out

under it. I want the record to show it, unless his counsel refutes it, and he says he refuses to

admit it.

COBB: It’s not up to counsel to admit or deny what’s under somebody’s clothing. I’m

not clairvoyant, nor do I have X-ray vision, and I am certainly not in a position to grant anybody

permission to search someone else’s body. And I see no weapon.

DEES: Okay. Let the record show it is obviously clear and goes without dispute in my

mind, and that’s the end of the deposition.

COBB: In your mind it goes without dispute. Not in my mind. That’s all, thank you.

[ALL exit except BEAM, who takes off his robe and puts it in a tote bag, moves to center stage.]

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B. The Motion for A Protective Order and To Compel

NARRATOR 1: That evening, plaintiffs prepared a motion for a protective order and to

compel testimony. The next morning, a hearing was held in chambers with federal marshals at

the door, allowing only counsel to enter. Beam waited outside, chatting with the reporters. He

told them what was in his tote bag, and what he thought of Mr. Dees.

BEAM: I carry my robe like a soldier carries his uniform. When I make a public

appearance, I put it on. . . . Thank God it’s permanent press. . . . Dees is a wizard. He’s

concocted in his black pot all these fancy words and phrases. These Alabama lawyers care

nothing about the Vietnamese fishermen. I care more than they do, and I’m going to prove it.

They’re just concerned about getting the Klan.30

[BEAM exits.]

NARRATOR 2: On May 1, 1981, Judge McDonald ordered all further depositions to be

taken at the office of the U.S. Attorney, with a U.S. Marshal in attendance, and further ruled that

no witnesses could carry weapons into depositions. No one would be allowed to attend the

depositions except named parties, deponents, counsel for the parties and their legal assistants.31

[DEES, COBB, FISHER enter and sit.]

The depositions of Fisher and Beam were to continue on May 2 and 3, respectively. Fisher was

examined by Dees.

C. The Depositions

DIRECT EXAMINATION OF FISHER BY DEES

Q. Now, Mr. Fisher, did you make any calls to any individual identified in any way with the

Ku Klux Klan?

A. Oh, yes.

Q. Tell me who.

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A. Louis Beam.

Q. Would you tell me for what reason you sought out Mr. Louis Beam?

A. To aid the American Fishermen’s Association in its effort to limit the number of

Vietnamese fishermen. Well, I gave consideration to different organizations. Me being white, I

went to Mr. Louis Beam. His organization represents white Americans, his ideals not being

wholly mine, but I didn’t think I would have much help from the NAACP.

Q. What, if anything, did Mr. Beam say concerning your request for help?

A. He said that he would do whatever he could, he specified within the bounds of the

Constitution of the United States, which was in agreement with me, and that was all.

Q. Now, let’s talk about the February 14 meeting between the American Fishermen’s

Association and the Ku Klux Klan. Where did that meeting take place?

A. Santa Fe, Texas.

COBB: I’m going to object to the use of the word meeting as Mr. Fisher stated it was a

fish fry.

Q. Was a cross burned at this meeting?

A. No.

Q. No cross burned on February 14?

A. A cross was lit.

Q. Lit, okay, lit, pardon me. What’s the difference between burning and lighting?

A. The way the Klan explained it to me, or Mr. Louis Beam, that the lighting of the cross

was part of a religious ceremony. Light dispels darkness. And I accepted this. This did not

sound sacrilegious to me. So, I allowed this to be done.

Q. Now, did Mr. Beam address the group of fishermen, American fisherman and Klansmen

there?

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A. Yes, he did.

Q. Did you hear Mr. Beam make an offer to American fisherman to train in his military

camps?

A. Yes, I did.

Q. Did you make a statement that the shrimpers plan to participate in the military training

camps?

A. Yes, at one time I did.

Q. Was that in February of 1981?

A. Could have been.

Q. Did you make a statement that “We’re going to train a squadron of shrimpers almost

immediately and then train in squad sizes for better logistics?”

A. I don’t recall using those exact words, but that was my intent, yes.

Q. Has any, to your knowledge, American fisherman participated in any way in any military

training exercises sponsored by the Klan?

A. No.

Q. You’ve never told anybody that they were participating?

A. Yes, I’ve told somebody that they were participating, but they didn’t.

Q. Tell us who you told.

A. Oh, I think I made a statement to the press. They asked me if anyone was going to the

camps, and I said, “Sure, we’ve got a squad there right now.”

Q. You were lying to the press?

A. Definitely.

Q. Now, prior to the Ku Klux Klan getting involved in this matter, did you tell Colonel Nam

that you were going to see that boats were burned?

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A. No.

Q. You never got on television and stated that you were going to see that boats were burned,

or that boats would be burned?

A. I’ve possibly made the statement that boats would be burned.

[COBB exits, BEAM enters with ADAMO. FISHER becomes BEAM SUPPORTER 1 and with BEAM SUPPORTER 2 sits behind defense counsel table.

STENOGRAPHER enters and sits at end of plaintiffs’ counsel table.]

NARRATOR 1: The next day, Sunday, May 3, Beam appeared for his deposition carrying

his Bible. Dees returned to the issue of the intrusive photographer.

EXAMINATION OF BEAM BY DEES

Q. Did you tell the photographer about the deposition?

A. Of course I did.

Q. All right. After telling him about the deposition, did you approve his coming to the

deposition?

A. I approved of him coming down to my attorney’s office for two reasons, to make a

historical record and to give me moral support.

Q. Do you know him to be a Nazi?

A. There are no Nazis. World War II is over. You suffer from paranoia. You see, people

are always trying to erroneously link the Klan with the Nazis, and I’m opposed to the Nazis.

They’re National Socialists. I’m a Constitutionalist. God’s law is in the Constitution. A

National Socialist is fine for Germany; this is Texas. We’ve got the Constitution.

NARRATOR 2: Dees also explored Beam’s Klan background and his role in the February

14th rally and March 15th boat ride.

Q. Would you tell us the officers of your Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, their names?

A. No, I won’t. I’m under oath not to reveal the names of Klan members. That oath was

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taken in 1969. I’ve never violated it, and never have any intention of violating it.

Q. Is this an oath that you took with the Klan itself?

A. It’s an oath I took on this Bible here.

Q. That’s a Christian Bible there?

A. Yes, that’s the Old and the New Testament.

Q. Can you show me anything in there that says anything about the Klan?

ADAMO: I object to that.

A. I can show you a whole Bible that talks about racial purity and God establishing the

various races, which if you were a true Christian you would know that any attempt to subvert the

races is an attempt against God’s plans.

Q. And, so, you are telling this Court that you refuse to tell the names of the officers of the

Texas Knights of the Ku Klux Klan?

A. You can bet on that.

Q. Now, at the February 14th meeting, did you set a 90-day deadline concerning the

Vietnamese fishermen’s situation?

A. I gave what I have termed a Grand Dragon’s dispensation to the federal and state

authorities, which means they have 90 days to begin enforcing the laws on the books.

Q. Okay. What was the significance of 90 days from February 14?

A. I thought that was how much time they needed. I later found out, by the way, that it

ended about a week before the shrimping season begins.

Q. Didn’t it end on the exact date the shrimping season begins?

A. That goes to show you how God works miracles. I had no idea when the shrimping

season begins. I just said 90 days, and it comes out beautiful. . . . The reason I gave the 90 days,

people are very upset along the Texas coast. There is a great potential for violence there. I want

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to avert that, if it’s all possible. So, I served as a moderating influence. That cannot be disputed.

Q. Now, your statement, I believe, is, “We’ll be willing to enlist any of our American

fishermen to send to our training camps, and then you’ll be ready to handle the Vietnamese.”

Did you make that statement there?

A. That is correct except for the last word. I believe I said Viet Cong.

Q. Now, do you operate military training camps?

ADAMO: Just a second.

A. I have to take the Fifth Amendment on that. I’m already under indictment in the

Northern District of Texas for activities related to paramilitary activities there. And, therefore, I

cannot say anything. And I stand upon the Fifth Amendment rights granted me by the blood of

my forefathers.

Q. At that same February 14 meeting did you light a match or a torch or something to a boat

that you had put five gallons of diesel fuel in and state that this was in-service training on how to

burn a shrimp boat?

A. No.

Q. Who put the fuel on the shrimp boat?

A. Someone did, but it was not I.

Q. Did you light a torch to this boat with fuel?

A. Yes, I did.

Q. Did you state this was in-service training on how to burn a shrimp boat?

A. No, that’s not what I said at that time.

Q. Did you tell a reporter with the Texas City Daily that this was in-service training on how

to burn a shrimp boat?

A. I would like to answer the previous question yes.

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Q. Are you aware, Mr. Beam, that in approximately the middle of March, 1981, a boat

loaded with people dressed in Klan uniforms and American fishermen took a boat trip up and

down Clear Lake Creek?

A. Yes, I am.

Q. Did you know anything about it before it happened?

A. About 20 minutes before it happened.

NARRATOR 1: Dees completed his questioning, and after a short recess, the deposition

continued:

ADAMO: We’re back on the record. Mr. Beam has a statement to make.

DEES: Is this part of your cross examination?

ADAMO: You may ask more questions after we’re finished, if that’s what you desire.

DEES: I don’t intend to pay for transcribing the speech Mr. Beam makes.

ADAMO: It’s part of cross-examination.

DEES: Why don’t you ask him to respond to a question.

CROSS EXAMINATION BY MR. ADAMO:

Q. You have a speech to make?

A. I have a statement to make that will clearly delineate what is happening here in this

dispute.

Q. Would you please make it?

A. Yes. From the outset I think that it should be made clear that what is happening here

today is proof of the Klan’s claim that this country is disintegrating and degenerating.

Anytime --

DEES: Talk slower now. The lady has to take it down. She can’t write as fast as you can

talk. You have to talk slow. Come ahead.

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A. -- anytime an out-of-state agitator, anti-Christ Jew person is allowed to come into the

state like yourself, Demon Dees, to come into the state and ferment discourse between Texas

people, some of whom are citizens and some of whom are guests in this state, it is proof of our

claim. No anti-Christ Jew should be allowed to ask a Christian anything for a court of law.

But why am I in this dispute? Why did I enter into the conflict between American

fishermen and South Vietnamese? Because I love my country, too, and I feel that American

citizens have a right. I’m in it for one reason, to see that the Americans, who have had their

government turn their back on them just like our government turned our back on South Vietnam

May 1, 1975; our government defeated South Vietnam, not the North Vietnamese. The soldier in

the field won the war. Wherever we met the enemy, we defeated him.

[Clapping from Two Beam Supporters.]

ADAMO: Add that in the record.

[STENOGRAPHER nods and keeps typing.]

BEAM: So, let’s give peace a chance. Agitators like yourself need to go back where they

came from. Let us work it out among ourselves. And I ask the Lord to look over us and direct

us in our current dispute. Let each man use reason. As the Bible says: “Come, let us reason

together,” in Jesus’ name, amen.

TWO BEAM SUPPORTERS: Amen.

ADAMO: No further questions.

[SUPPORTERS and STENOGRAPHER exit, BEAM moves to a SUPPORTER seat. NAM enters and takes witness seat.]

NARRATOR 1: Two days later, on May 5, Colonel Nam was the first plaintiff to be

deposed.

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EXAMINATION OF NAM BY ADAMO

Q. There have been two boat burnings, right?

A. Two times, sir. The first time two boat burn, one in Seabrook, one in Kemah. Second

time burn in Seabrook only, burn one boat. But another boat scorched and burned.

Q. And how did that affect the normal everyday fishing activities of the Vietnamese men?

A. That’s not normal effect. Make them sad, make them angry, you know, and make them

feel bad for this free trade over there.

Q. They continued to fish, though, didn’t they?

A. They continued to fish, but they afraid.

Q. Now, on May 15, do you expect violence?

A. Yes, sir.

Q. And is that because of the KKK?

A. One reason.

Q. What is the other reason, sir?

A. The other reason, Gene Fisher told me Vietnam boat will be burned.

Q. Will be burned if what?

A. They said they’ll burn the boat.

Q. If what?

A. No. He didn’t say if.

Q. What was it about the March 15th boat ride that made you feel intimidated and afraid to

go fishing on May 15?

A. On the boat have a lot of weapons on there, including automatic rifle weapon. . . . I think

that, because they burn the Vietnamese boat. They say USS VIET CONG. They would light the

boat and hang the man. We know that.

Q. What was it specifically that the Ku Klux Klan did that caused you to be intimidated?

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A. They give the 90 days to the government.

Q. Ninety days for what?

A. To the government to resolve the problem. If after 90 day, May 15, the government

cannot relocate the people from there to resolve the problem, the KKK will take action against

us.

Q. Okay. You understood them to say they were taking action against you, meaning you

and the Vietnamese?

A. Vietnamese, yes.

Q. I think you mentioned the boat burning, the USS VIET CONG.

A. The Klan show how to burn the boat. They make us feel worry. We worry, all the

Vietnamese fishermen that have their boat. They afraid who will burn their boat. And so they

feel intimidated. . . . If you’re in our position, you afraid, too, sir.

NARRATOR 2: The transcripts do not include a description of Louis Beam’s conduct

during the depositions, but it was described in plaintiffs’ second motion for protection:

[NAM exits. HAYSLIP takes center stage. JUDGE takes the bench.]

HAYSLIP: On May 5, 1981, the defendants took the depositions of the four named plaintiffs

in the Jury Room of Judge McDonald’s court. Mr. Louis Beam . . . attended portions of the

depositions. While in the room, Mr. Beam sat in a chair against the wall opposite plaintiffs’

counsel, Morris Dees, and held in front of him a book with the word “EXORCISM” printed in

very large type on the front cover. Mr. Beam chanted something from the book or from memory

while staring at Mr. Dees. He did this for a period of approximately one hour. Occasionally,

Mr. Beam pointed his finger at Mr. Dees. After nearly an hour of this activity, Mr. Beam’s eyes

became transfixed upon Mr. Dees and it appeared that he was in a semi-conscious state. He

began to mouth in a clear and distinct manner, the following words in the direction of Mr. Dees:

BEAM: You die, you die, you die, you die. . . .

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JUDGE MCDONALD: Gentlemen, I am not going to grant your request for protection by

U.S. Marshals. However, I am going to enjoin Mr. Beam and the other defendants from

contacting plaintiffs and their counsel and from making threatening and vile remarks, unsolicited

hand gestures, and other distracting actions toward the plaintiff’s counsel. Mr. Beam, if you fail

to comply, I will find you in contempt.

D. The Motion To Disqualify

NARRATOR 1: Also on May 5th, the day of Colonel Nam’s deposition, the defendants

moved to disqualify Judge McDonald on the grounds that she was personally biased against

them.32 At the hearing on the motion, Beam referred to the judge as a “negress,”33 and stated as

follows:

BEAM : I no more have the confidence that I could get any fairer trial here in front of you than

you would feel were you to go as a defendant before a Ku Klux Klansman who was a judge. I

know the prejudice your people have had against the Klansmen.34

NARRATOR 2: Judge McDonald denied the motion, ruling from the bench at the conclusion of

the hearing. She told the Klan leaders:

JUDGE MCDONALD: You are not entitled to a judge of your choice. You are entitled to a

judge who will give you a fair trial. I am deeply committed to equal justice under the law and

you will get it. You are entitled to nothing more and nothing less.35

NARRATOR 1: In her written opinion, Judge McDonald quoted from a decision of Judge

Constance Baker Motley, addressing a similar motion by a law firm in a gender discrimination

case. Judge Motley denied the motion, writing that if a judge’s background or sex or race were

by definition sufficient grounds for removal, no judge could have heard the case before her.36

[BEAM exits, PHUONG enters.]

20

E. The Completion of Pretrial Proceedings

NARRATOR 2: On May 8, the day after deciding the recusal motion and the same day she

decided the motion for protection, Judge McDonald attended the deposition of Phuong Pham,

Colonel Nam’s 13-year-old sister-in-law.37 She initially was too frightened to appear, but agreed

once special conditions were imposed.

JUDGE McDONALD: For the record, I think it should be made known that I am present,

and I am Judge Gabrielle McDonald, the Judge presiding in this case. My presence has been

requested by the attorney for the plaintiffs, and I have spoken with the attorney for the

defendants, who is also here, Mr. Adamo. He has no objection to my presence. Is that correct,

Mr. Adamo?

[ADAMO stands to address the Court.]

ADAMO: That’s correct, Your Honor. And may I add for the record, I have been requested

by Mr. Dees to have defendants not be in the room during the testimony. We have agreed to

that.

JUDGE McDONALD: Fine.

[ADAMO sits. Both counsel sit for remainder of deposition.]

Direct Examination by Mr. Dees

Q. I am going to ask you some questions, and you just talk to us just like you talked to me

last night. Now, speak real loud so the Judge can hear you. Speak as loud as you can.

A. Okay.

Q. Where do you live? Whose house do you live in in Seabrook?

A. Mr. Nam.

Q. Do you remember that a boat did come up behind your house on March 15?

A. Yes.

21

Q. When you first saw the boat, what were you doing then?

A. Oh, I guess I looked out for a while. I was talking on the phone. I hang it up, and I went

to my room. And I take my niece with me, went outside. I was scared. That’s all.

Q. Now, would you tell me first what did you see on the boat?

A. These people wearing a white robe.

Q. Did they stop in front of the dock there?

A. No, not really. They just quit going on, and then one person point in the house. That’s

all I know.

Q. Okay. Then, what did you do?

A. I run in the room. . . . and I took my niece. She was asleep now. I run outside.

Q. How old is she?

A. She, I think right now, she’s five months.

Q. And then where did you go?

A. I went outside, because no one was home with me.

Q. And what did you do when you went outside?

A. Bill was painting the house. He work for us, and he asked me what is happening. I saw

some boats in the dock, was KKK, because they wear their white robe, you know. And, so, he

went. He just jump inside the house, and he called the police.

Q. And how long did you stay away from the house?

A. Since now, three weeks.

Q. Okay. Now, are you afraid of the KKK?

A. Yeah.

Q. Why?

A. Because I’m study history about them. You know, the history I’m taking, American

22

history. This my first year, and I know little bit about them.

Q. What have you learned that frightened you?

A. Well, they against black, you know. And I watch television. I saw Luther King, and he’s

kind of a leader of black. I’m scared, you know, when that happen long time ago.

Q. Are you afraid to go back there now?

A. Yeah.

CROSS EXAMINATION BY ADAMO

Q. And the boat that you are talking about that had some KKK robes on there, men wearing

those robes, did that ever tie up at your dock?

A. No, just went by. And the man point the house.

Q. It never touched the dock, did it?

A. No.

Q. No one on the boat ever got off the boat?

A. No.

Q. Now, did anyone shout anything to you or say anything to you?

A. No, they just – they haven’t seen me, because I was inside the house. They can’t see me,

but I can see them. But they didn’t do anything. I kind of scared. I run out the house. That’s all

I do.

[ALL exit.]

NARRATOR 1: Also on Friday, May 8th, plaintiffs were granted leave to amend their

complaint to add one more claim. Thanks to an anonymous tip, plaintiffs had learned that a

student filmmaker had filmed Beam’s paramilitary camps and the February 14th rally. They

subpoenaed the tapes and sought leave to amend the complaint to include a request to enjoin

Beam and the other defendants from conducting any guerilla operations in Texas, a violation,

23

they contended, of a Texas statute prohibiting private paramilitary training.38 When Judge

McDonald granted the request, she gave defendants until Monday, May 11, the first day of the

hearing, to respond. The stage was set for the preliminary injunction hearing.

VI. The Preliminary Injunction Hearing

[ADAMO and BERG enter and take their seats.]

NARRATOR 2: The hearing continued for four days. Twenty-seven witnesses testified, and

the parties presented deposition testimony as well. Only a small portion of the hearing itself was

transcribed. We reenact portions of the hearing, drawing from the few available hearing

transcripts, court records, and Morris Dees’s book, A Season for Justice.

[JUDGE takes the bench. All rise as she enters, sit when she sits.]

NARRATOR 1: The courtroom was full when Judge McDonald took the bench. The

plaintiffs, all refugees from Vietnam, had arrived in suits and ties; on the side of the defendant

American citizens, only Louis Beam bothered to wear a jacket and tie.39 Other individual

defendants and their supporters in the audience wore work shirts, blue jeans, black Ku Klux Klan

shirts, army fatigues, and Nazi arm bands.

NARRATOR 2: Plaintiffs’ first witnesses included an ATF agent who showed the Court

pictures of burned boats; American dock owners who testified about the threats they had

received for doing business with the Vietnamese; and the Vietnamese fishermen, who testified to

the acts of intimidation and their own fear. One fisherman’s testimony was translated by his ten-

year-old son, who wanted to be a lawyer and was allowed to sit in the empty jury box for the

remainder of the proceedings.40

[ANDERWALL takes stand.]

NARRATOR 1: A critical witness was Margaret Anderwall, who initially was afraid to

testify. Accompanied by her priest on the day of the hearing, she told Dees her heart couldn’t

24

take it. But when the time came, she took the stand.41

DIRECT EXAMINATION BY BERG42

Q. Mrs. Anderwall, where do you live?

A. Galveston Bay.

Q. Do you know Truc Khang?

A. Yes. He’s a fisherman who used one of our docks for about two years. He never gave us

trouble. He’s a nice man. He has a good family.

Q. Tell me what happened over the last year?

A. First, in January, we received a card in the mail, signed by the Klan.

Q. What did it say?

A. “You have been paid a ‘friendly visit’ -- do you want the next one to be a ‘real one?’“

Q. Why do you think you got this note?

A. We allowed a Vietnamese boat to be docked at our house.

Q. Then what happened?

A. We got three threatening phone calls.

Q. What did they say?

A. The first asked if I knew where my children were; the next threatened to burn our

house;43 and in the third, the man said I would die that night.

Q. How did you feel when you got these calls?

A. Afraid and upset.

Q. What did you do?

A. We didn’t want to make Mr. Khang move, but we had no choice. We didn’t want to hurt

his feelings so we said he had to move his boat so we could prepare for our daughter’s wedding.

But no one wants to have their house burned down or receive threats against their life.44

[ANDERWALL exits with BERG. WILKINSON enters with ZELIKOW.]

25

NARRATOR 2: On the second day of the hearing, plaintiffs called Walter Wilkinson, a

security consultant who was an expert on military operations and a former Green Beret. He had

reviewed the student filmmaker’s videotapes. He was examined by Phillip Zelikow, and cross-

examined by Sam Adamo.

DIRECT EXAMINATION OF WALTER THOMAS WILKINSON (Phillip Zelikow, Esq.)

Q. Have you reviewed videos of military training conducted by the defendant Louis Beam?

A. Yes, I reviewed four hours of the video depicting Louis Beam providing both classroom

and field training to a group of armed men.

Q. Have you formed an opinion on whether Louis Beam has used his training to form a

military organization?

A. Yes, most emphatically.

Q. And what is your opinion?

A. He is training a viable military organization.

Q. What examples of discipline did you observe on the tapes?

A. They followed his orders. When he was head of the class, the only time they took their

seats was when Mr. Beam gave them a command to do so.

Q. What did you observe regarding training to act as a military unit?

A. He was teaching the team certain aspects of an ambush and discussed each member’s

responsibilities in a combat role, not a support role.

CROSS EXAMINATION BY ADAMO

Q. In addition to command structure, discipline and training, what other elements are found

in a military organization?

A. There is also a mission, equipment, and uniforms, although they are not necessary.

26

Q. Don’t all of those elements fit an organization known as the Boy Scouts of America?

A. No.

Q. They’re trained, aren’t they, sir?

A. Yes.

Q. They have discipline?

A. Yes.

Q. And they have command structure?

A. Yes.

Q. They have uniforms?

A. Yes.

Q. They have a mission?

A. They don’t have a mission in support of a combat role, sir.

Q. Would you consider learning first aid in support of combat?

A. In a military unit, yes.

Q. You are aware the Boy Scouts of America are taught first aid training, aren’t you sir?

A. Very much so. I taught Boy Scouts of America.

Q. Isn’t it true that an attack from either China or Russia, a nuclear attack, is a possibility

and a grave concern to this country?

A. Yes, that’s a possibility.

Q. In observing the films of training conducted by Mr. Beam, did you observe any weapons?

A. Yes, predominately the AR-15, a semi-automatic weapon.

Q. And isn’t the AR-15 a lawful weapon for a citizen to possess in the state of Texas?

A. Yes.

27

REDIRECT (by Zelikow)

Q. Did you train the Boy Scouts to deliver first aid in a combat role?

A. Negative.

Q. These tactics that Mr. Beam was training the men to use can be used against Soviet

troops, I suppose; can they also be used against civilians?

A. Yes, they could.

[WILKINSON exits with ZELIKOW. DEES enters. BEAM enters and takes the stand.]

NARRATOR 1: Fisher and Beam both testified at the hearing, but only Beam’s testimony

was transcribed. Fisher at trial equivocated about some of his earlier statements, telling the

judge that he no longer felt that way.45 As for Beam, he provided additional testimony over the

course of two days. Although he had testified at his deposition that he learned about the boat

ride only a few minutes before it happened, Dees was able to establish that a Beam lieutenant,

Big Al, was aboard. He showed Beam a photograph taken at the February 14th rally.

EXAMINATION OF BEAM BY DEES

Q. Do you know any of those people? [pointing at photo]

A. I recognize the first, second, third, the fifth man.

Q. What’s his name? [pointing at photo]

A. Big Al.

Q. Is this the meeting between the Klan and the American fishermen at Mr. Collins’

property you’re talking about?

A. Yes. They were at the February 14 rally.

Q. That’s Big Al with the bushy hair?

A. Doesn’t look bushy to me.

Q. Just looking at him, he’s the one that has kind of a pot belly. Stomach sticks out?

28

A. He’s definitely overweight.

JUDGE McDONALD: May I see?

DEES: Let the Judge see Big Al. Now let’s see if we can see Big Al here again. I show

you another photograph, plaintiff’s Exhibit 26. And you know Big Al pretty well, don’t you?

A. That’s him.

Q. He’s on that shrimp boat?

A. Well, I don’t know if that’s taken on a shrimp boat or not.

Q. Okay. Well, I think the record will speak for itself on that. All right. . . . . Now,

yesterday when we broke up, I think we left it with your saying that you were really opposed to

the Viet Cong. This was the real thrust of everything you had done in this fishermen’s dispute.

Is that right?

A. No. I never said no such thing as that. I -- where did you get that? You may need to

read the record.

Q. Did you offer to use your Texas emergency reserve military organization to train able-

bodied fishermen? You made that offer, didn’t you?

A. I did.

Q. And then did you state publicly that you would train them so that they could take care

and be ready for the Vietnamese or the Viet Cong?

A. I don’t know what I said at that point. And if you’ve got some kind of documentation

and want to prove it up, we can establish what I did say for the Court.

NARRATOR 2: Dees then played the tape of the February 14th rally. And although Beam

had maintained at his deposition that he had been talking about the “Vietcong,” the tape showed

him referring to the “Vietnamese.” Dees continued with his examination.

Q. Did you make that statement?

29

A. Obviously, I made that statement. It’s recorded right there.

I would like to qualify the statement, if the Court would allow me.

Q. Just come ahead and qualify it.

A. The statement was directed at a specific class of people, okay, not Vietnamese in general.

That couldn’t be, because I’m on record as wanting, offering to train Vietnamese to go back to

Vietnam, okay? The statement was directed at Vietnamese who the American fishermen told me

were threatening their lives, and those who might in any way violate the law and somehow injure

American fishermen.

Q. Now the Klan sea patrol is something you discussed setting up by May 15th if the

problem wasn’t solved. Would it be something similar to the last Klan patrol boat?

A. No. Actually, I was going to escalate a little more because, you understand, in tension

resolving, the same techniques that Martin Luther King used to use, he would go into an area and

create tension, and that would force the local community to act. I’m not saying that I’m

emulating him. I’m just saying that as a student of politics, history, and science, I know it works.

Whatever works, I’m going to use.

Q. You said you would do everything the last Klan boat did, except you would just escalate

it more. Is that it?

A. Well, I wasn’t in charge of that mission. I didn’t authorize it, in the sense of doing so

ahead of time. It would have been different if I was handling it, I believe. Number 1, I wouldn’t

put women on a boat with men. I think the women should be at home taking care of the children.

And I would have organized it in a more professional manner.

Q. I see. Now, concerning your military operation, you have actually had United States

Army non-coms and officers training with you, haven’t you?

A. Yes, we have. The reason is, they say they’re not getting any good training in the

30

government forces because they have become so weak, inefficient, the quality of the troops is

very, very low, and they feel that by coming around a group of highly motivated white men who

want to learn and have a desire to train to defend this country, they can get better training and

they do.

DEES: Your witness.

ADAMO: I have no questions.

JUDGE McDONALD: Are there persons who are actually in the United States Army who

received training at your camps?

BEAM: They have participated in the camps, yes. And they are active duty.

JUDGE McDONALD: Those are the ones who you say have told you that they have not

received sufficient training?

BEAM: I’ve had a First Sergeant that came down and trained with us that said he’s not

even allowed to give orders anymore to the black soldiers, that they ignore him and threaten to

file complaints on him, if he gives them orders. And he says it’s a disorganized mob that will

break in the face of the enemy.

JUDGE McDONALD: Do you have any more questions, Mr. Adamo?

ADAMO: No, Your Honor.

DEES: I do. Just one question. Camp Fuller is located in what County?

BEAM: Chambers, I believe.

JUDGE McDONALD: Mr. Beam, the other two camps about which you testified, where

are they located within the State of Texas?

BEAM: Okay. When I say camps, I’m using that word for the sake of convenience. We

have no permanently-established locations. We train wherever we can train. Just depends.

JUDGE McDONALD: And in what County are they located?

31

ADAMO: Excuse me, Your Honor.

BEAM: I don’t know.

ADAMO: May I consult with the witness before we answer any further questions about the

location of the training camps?

BEAM: I don’t know what counties they’re in.

NARRATOR 1: Under further questioning from the judge, Beam admitted that all three

camps were in Texas, but took the Fifth on their exact location.

[BEAM exits.]

NARRATOR 2: When the defense presented their case, they focused on recently passed

state legislation that severely limited the number of persons eligible for shrimping licenses in

1982 and 1983.46 Defendants claimed that the tensions in the bay had largely been defused;

therefore, there was no longer any need for an injunction.

VII. The Preliminary Injunction Decision

NARRATOR 1: On May 14th, the fourth and final day of the hearing and the day before the

fishing season was scheduled to begin, the court ruled from the bench, granting the motion in

part and denying it in part.47 Most importantly for the Vietnamese fishermen, Judge McDonald

temporarily enjoined defendants from engaging in acts of violence against the Vietnamese. On

July 15, 1981, the Court filed its opinion.48

JUDGE McDONALD: The Court has heard testimony from several defendants that certain

provocative and threatening statements admittedly made by them should not, for one reason or

another, be taken as an expression of their true feelings. These statements, say some of the

defendants, were made only for effect, to impress or deliberately mislead the press, or merely for

purposes of calling attention to the problems they perceived. The defendants assert that the

recently enacted “limited entry” bill has quelled all tension between the American and

32

Vietnamese fishermen. This legislation may indeed ease many of the problems once perceived

by American fishermen. The Court, however, remains frankly skeptical of the wholesale

reversal of positions taken, in some instances, only days before their repudiation in open court.

Here the very ability of the plaintiff class to earn a living is being severely jeopardized by

the defendants’ alleged unlawful actions. Clearly it is in the public interest to enjoin self-help

tactics of threats of violence and intimidation and permit individuals to pursue their chosen

occupation free of racial animus.

[ALL exit except JUDGE.]

VIII. The Permanent Injunction

NARRATOR 2: On June 8, 1981, the State of Texas intervened in the action.49 The Texas

Attorney General took the position that Beam’s Texas Emergency Reserve violated the State’s

ban on private paramilitary organizations.50 On August 13, 1981, upon agreement of the parties,

the Court entered an order that converted the preliminary injunction into a permanent injunction

and reserved for decision the “only remaining issue” in the case -- whether to enjoin the military

operations of the Texas Emergency Reserve.51

NARRATOR 1: As the case proceeded, Beam’s supporters received a letter from him that

claimed victory at the May preliminary injunction hearing and asked for money to continue the

Klan’s defense. Here two supporters read from the letter:

[SUPPORTERS take center stage.]

BEAM SUPPORTER 1: Of course no victory is obtained without cost and sacrifice. As a

result of our newfound power, I have come under attack by the forces of evil . . . by Morris Dees,

an Antichrist Communist Jew who has founded a con game known as ‘The Klan Watch’ . . .

BEAM SUPPORTER 2: The cost to this point of two weeks of court battle in front of a

Carter-appointed Negress ‘Judge’ has been substantial . . . I’m asking you to donate just one hour

33

of wages out of every work week to race and country.52

[SUPPORTERS exit.]

NARRATOR 1: We do not know how successful Beam’s fund-raising efforts were, but

Judge McDonald ruled against the Klan on June 3, 1982.

JUDGE MCDONALD: Over the years, members of various Klan organizations have engaged

in acts of racial intimidation, harassment, and terrorism. . . . Members of the Ku Klux Klan are

now engaged in military training programs in Texas and apparently throughout the country. The

existence of Klan sponsored military organizations which train people in the use of violence

presents a new and more serious threat to individual’s civil rights. Regardless of whether it is

called “defense training” or “survival courses,” it is clear to this Court that the proliferation of

military/paramilitary organizations can only serve to sow the seeds of future domestic violence

and tragedy. For the reasons discussed above, the Court is compelled to grant the injunctive

relief sought by plaintiffs and the State of Texas.53

NARRATOR 2: The Klan did not appeal any of Judge McDonald’s decisions.

[JUDGE exits.]

IX. Aftermath

NARRATOR 1: Judge McDonald later revealed that while she presided over the case, she

and her family received death threats and one-way tickets to Africa.54 In 1988, after just nine

years on the federal bench, Judge McDonald resigned her position and returned to private

practice and teaching. She later returned to judicial service, as a judge on the International

Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia and as an arbitrator on the Iran-United States

Claims Tribunal in The Hague, serving until her retirement in 2013.55

NARRATOR 2: Colonel Nam became a successful businessman in Houston, where he

owned real estate and ran a Vietnamese-language newspaper.56 In 2005, Nam was still returning

34

to Seabrook regularly to visit his mother and local shrimpers, both Asian and white, and was

praised as a peacemaker, still respected as a leader of his people.57

NARRATOR 1: Over the years, Louis Beam was charged with a number of crimes. In

each instance, he was acquitted or the charges were dropped, except in one case; there, his

conviction was reversed on appeal.58 He later became affiliated with the Aryan Nations, and in

the early 1990s wrote about the concept of “leaderless resistance” -- a precursor to the lone wolf

terrorist phenomenon that is of concern today.59

NARRATOR 2: As for the Klan, it still exists, still fighting for white power. There are

active chapters in 41 states, with an estimated 5,000 to 8,000 members. They still do cross-

burnings, but as explained by Gene Fisher at his deposition, they refer to them now as “cross-

lightings,” because they are not meant to intimidate people, they say, but to symbolize their faith

in Christ.60

NARRATOR 1: Early in 1983, a letter arrived at the Southern Poverty Law Center. It is

read here by a staff member.

[STAFF MEMBER takes center stage.]

SPLC STAFF: Mr. Dees:

It has been brought to my attention that you are still travelling the country

practicing perfidy. . . . I personally feel this behavior should no longer be allowed to go

unchecked. . . . I therefore challenge you to a duel to the death. You against me. No federal

judges, no federal marshals, no F.B.I. agents, not anyone except yourself and I.

We go to the woods (your state or mine) and settle once and for all the enmity

that exists between us. Two go in -- one comes out.

For a White America,

Louis R. Beam, Jr.61

[STAFF MEMBER exits.]

35

NARRATOR 2: Dees did not accept the invitation. Six months later, Klansmen burned the

offices of the Southern Poverty Law Center, and Dees found himself on a Klan hit list.

NARRATOR 1: The Center survived the fire, and Morris Dees is still trying cases.

Although still based in Montgomery, Alabama, the Center now has offices in Atlanta, Miami,

New Orleans and Jackson, Mississippi. In the years since its founding, it has shut down

activities of some of the nation’s most violent hate groups by winning multi-million dollar

verdicts on behalf of their victims. Klanwatch is now known as the Intelligence Project, and

tracks and exposes a wide variety of hate and extremist organizations throughout the United

States. Earlier this year, the Center won a verdict against a New Jersey provider of “conversion

therapy” that claimed it could turn gay people straight.62

X. Conclusion

NARRATOR 2: In a speech Morris Dees gave in 2013, he described the start of the shrimping

season on May 15, 1981. Once Judge McDonald issued the preliminary injunction, the

Vietnamese were ready to launch their boats, but first, there was a custom of their country they

wished to observe, the blessing of the fleet. They invited their lawyer to attend.

[DEES takes center stage.]

DEES: I got there about five in the morning, and I was standing there in the fog. On the

dock there were fifty or a hundred or so family members waiting for the boats to come out. After

about half an hour, the sun still hadn’t come out. Then we heard a diesel engine, and a boat

popped out through the fog and came by the reviewing stand. The priest blessed that boat, and

another, and then another, until about fifteen or twenty boats had gone out into the open waters.

As I stood there that morning and the sun began to burn through the fog, I could

see the sun glistening off the badges of the United States Marshals sent there to protect these

American immigrants. As I looked at those officers, I thought about the majesty of our justice

system at work.

36

As I looked into the faces of these immigrants, I saw pride. Pride as they took a

place at America’s table. Not just finding a place at America’s table, but building that table, to

make this nation great like other immigrants who’ve come into this country time and time again,

and made this nation a great nation.

I not only felt proud to be a lawyer for these people, I felt proud to be an

American. For the first time, I understood that our nation is great because of our diversity and

not in spite of it.63

[APPLAUSE from cast members off stage.]

1 Season for Justice at 18; Beam Dep. at . 2 Season for Justice at 18; Beam Dep. at . 3 543 F. Supp. at 207. 4 Season for Justice at 18; Beam Dep. at . 5 Season for Justice at 19. 6 Ibid. 7 Season for Justice at 17. 8 Ibid. NY Times, 5/1/81 9 Season for Justice. 10 See Phillips Lytle memo footnotes, 8/3/2015. 11 http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/06/24/vietnamese.fishermen.gulf.coast/; http://www.nationaljournal.com/next-america/population-2043/is-this-the-end-of-the-line-for-louisiana-s-vietnamese-shrimpers-20141030; http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/06/24/vietnamese.fishermen.gulf.coast/ 12 http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/06/26/AR2010062604298.html 13 Still Shrimping article (asianweek.com). 14 Nat’l Geographic. 15 New York Times, 4/25/81 16 Ibid. 17 Irwin Tang, Still Shrimping: Vietnamese American Shrimpers 25 Years After the Second Wave, AsianWeek ((2003), available at http://www.asianweek.com/2003/08/29/still-shrimping-vietnamese-american-shrimpers-25-years-after-the-second-wave/ (last visited Aug. 11, 2015); but see Molly Ivins, Killing Sharpens Texas Feud on Vietnamese Fishing, N.Y. Times, Aug. 9, 1979. 18 AP, Fishing Town in Texas Tells the Klan to Stay Away, N.Y. Times, Nov. 22, 1979. 19 Still Shrimping. 20 Season for Justice at 12. 21 Wikipedia, Ku Klux Klan, available at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ku_Klux_Klan (last visited Aug. 22, 2015). 22 Season for Justice at 12. 23 Season for Justice at 13. 24 518 F. Supp. at 1002-03; Beam Testimony at 63-66. 25 Season for Justice at 132. 26 Season for Justice at 13-14. 27 Season for Justice at 7; 518 F. Supp. at 1004; 543 F. Supp. at 204. 28 518 F. Supp. at 1017; The History Makers, Lawmakers: The Honorable Gabrielle Kirk McDonald, available at http://www.thehistorymakers.com/biography/honorable-gabrielle-kirk-mcdonald (last visited Aug. 23, 2015). 29 Season for Justice at 27.

37

30 Season for Justice at 29-30. 31 Dkt. Sheet No. 22. 32 Dkt. Sheet, No. 33; 518 F. Supp. at 1017. 33 Andrew Chin article; Season for Justice at 26. 34 518 F. Supp. at 1019. 35 Barbara Canetti, Vietnamese Fishermen Confronted the Ku Klux Klan, UPI (May 11, 1981), available at http://www.upi.com/Archives/1981/05/11/Vietnamese-fishermen-confronted-the-Ku-Klux-Klan-and-Texas/2090358401600/ (last visited Aug. 22, 2015). 36 518 F. Supp. at 1020 (quoting Blank v. Sullivan & Cromwell, 418 F. Supp. 1, 4 (S.D.N.Y 1975)). 37 Transcript of Dep. of Phuong Pham, taken May 8, 1981, at the Federal Courthouse, Houston, Texas. 38 Season for Justice at 36; 518 F. Supp. at 1004 (citing Tex. Rev. Civ. Stat. Ann. art. 5780 § 6 (Vernon)). 39 Season for Justice at 37. 40 Season for Justice at 40. 41 There is no transcript of Mrs. Anderwall’s testimony. We have reconstructed her testimony from the Season for Justice, pp. 41-43, Judge McDonald’s decision, 518 F. Supp. at 1004, and Mrs. Anderwall’s handwritten statement from SPLC. The testimony was taken by Dees, but we have changed this to have the testimony taken by Berg. 42 Actually Dees, not Berg. 43 Season for Justice and Anderwall statement say “house”; judge’s opinion says “boat.” 44 Season for Justice at 43. 45 518 F. Supp. at 1004. 46 Season for Justice at 47-48; http://www.lrl.state.tx.us/scanned/sessionOverviews/summary/soe67.pdf. 47 Dkt. Sheet No. 77. 48 518 F. Supp. 993. 49 543 F. Supp. at 202. 50 Season for Justice at 48; 518 F. Supp. at 1004 (citing Tex. Rev. Civ. Stat. Ann. art. 5780 § 6 (Vernon)). 51 Dkt. Sheet No. 98; 543 F. Supp. at 202. 52 Season for Justice, 49 53 543 F. Supp. at 219. 54 Andrew Chin. 55 The History Makers, Lawmakers: The Honorable Gabrielle Kirk McDonald, available at http://www.thehistorymakers.com/biography/honorable-gabrielle-kirk-mcdonald (last visited Aug. 23, 2015). 56 David Kaplan, Vietnam Refugee A True Success Story: 30 Years After Saigon, Houston Chronicle, April 29, 2005. 57 David Kaplan, “Vietnam Refugee a True Success Story”, Houston Chronicle, April 29, 2005. 58 United States v. Beam, 686 F.2d 252 (5th Cir. 1982); Southern Poverty Law Center, Louis Beam, https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/extremist-files/individual/louis-beam. 59 https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/extremist-files/individual/louis-beam; Mark Thompson, The Danger of the Lone Wolf Terrorist, Time, Feb. 27, 2013, available at http://nation.time.com/2013/02/27/the-danger-of-the-lone-wolf-terrrorist/ 60 Harrison Jacobs, What The Ku Klux Klan Looks Like Today, Business Insider, Apr. 4, 2014, available at http://www.businessinsider.com/anthony-karens-photos-of-the-modern-day-ku-klux-klan-2014-4 (last visited Aug. 22, 2015). 61 Season for Justice at 191. 62 SPLC website. 63 Morris S. Dees, Jr., With Justice For All In A Changing America, 50 Idaho L. Rev. 101 (2013).