One of the most shocking racial crimes ever to occur in the United States occurred on October 17, 1981. That week a jury had struggled to reach a verdict in the case of a black man, Josephus Anderson , accused of killing a white police officer. The murder had taken place in Birmingham, Alabama, but the trial had been moved to Mobile, Alabama. Francis Hays, the second highest Klan official in Alabama, and his fellow members of United Klan Unit 900, knew that the presence of blacks on the jury meant that a guilty party would be released. According to Klansmen, who attended the unit's weekly meeting, Hays had preached this on Wednesday, saying, "If a black man can get away with killing a white man, we should be able to get away with killing a black man" (Kornbluth). A black male, Michael Donald, was kidnapped in downtown Mobile, Alabama and taken somewhere across the bay. Two Ku Klux Klan members, Francis Hays and James "Tiger" Knowles, were arrested and charged with the murder. A third individual, Benjamin Cox, was also charged as an accessory. The three were tried and one, Hayes, was executed, while the other two are serving time in prison. The Klansmen gathered that Friday night at Bennie's house after the trial. According to James "Tiger" Knowles, Tiger brought a borrowed firearm. Henry Francis Hays took part in the crime by bringing supplies to help with the murder. The group of men devised a plan and drove around the city looking for a black man to kill. Michael Donald was walking home alone when the two saw him. They stopped, asked him a few questions, then pulled out their firearm and pointed it at Michael and asked him to get into the vehicle. They continued driving… halfway through the paper… before it could be retried. Henry Hays continued to protest his innocence until his execution on June 6, 1997. The works cite "Lagniappe: Something Extra For Mobile". Lagniappe: something more for your mobile phone. Np, nd Web. 29 January 2014. .Kornbluth, Jesse. "The Woman Who Beat the Klan." The New York Times. The New York Times, October 31, 1987. Network. March 20, 2014. http://www.nytimes.com/1987/11/01/magazine/the-woman-who-beat-the-klan.html "Henry Francis Hays |. Murderpedia, the encyclopedia of murderers." Henry Francis Hays | Murderpedia, the encyclopedia of murderers. Np, nd Web. 29 January 2014. henry-francis.htm>. "Michael Donald lynching." Atom of the KKK history website. Np, nd Web. March 20, 2014.recent-news/michael_donald_lynching>