John William King (pictured), 44, who killed James Byrd Jr, 49, in 1998 by tying him to a truck and dragging him three miles down a Texas road, will be executed Wednesday

An avowed racist, who murdered a black man in 1998 by tying him to a truck and dragging him three miles down a Texas road, will be executed this week.

John William King, 44, who is inked in racist tattoos, orchestrated the attack on James Byrd Jr in Jasper, Texas, is slated to be put to death Wednesday.

His tattoos include a woodpecker in KKK garb, a silhouette of a black man lynched from a cross, the lightning-bolt SS of the Nazi Schutzstaffel, and the words "Aryan Pride." There also is a crest with a Confederate flag and a burning cross.

He will be the second man executed in the case.

Lawrence Russell Brewer was executed in 2011.

The third participant, Shawn Allen Berry, was sentenced to life in prison and is still serving his sentence.

In the early morning hours of June 7, 1998, three white men beat Byrd after offering him a ride.

They then chained the 49-year-old to the back of a truck and dragged his body for nearly three miles along a secluded road in the piney woods outside Jasper.

Byrd was alive for at least two miles before his body was ripped to pieces.

The 1998 death of Byrd was one of the most gruesome hate crimes in US history.

In the years since the dragging, Byrd's relatives created the Byrd Foundation for Racial Healing.

Louvon Byrd Harris, 61, one of Byrd's sisters, said her family still hopes to build a multicultural center and museum in Jasper to promote diversity and education.

King sports a number of racist tattoos which were shown as evidence in the capital murder trial against him

In the early morning hours of June 7, 1998, three white men beat Byrd (left, and on a poster of a protester, right) after offering him a ride. They then chained him to the back of a truck and dragged his body for nearly three miles along a secluded road outside Jasper

Byrd's death was one of the most gruesome hate crimes in US history. In the years since the dragging, Byrd's relatives created the Byrd Foundation for Racial Healing. His sisters Mylinda Washington (right), 66, and Louvon Harris (left), 61, hold photographs of their brother

Harris and Byrd's other sister, Mylinda Washington, 66, who live in Houston, said they hope their brother's death continues to spur people to combat hate, wherever it may occur.

'Hate has not gone away,' Washington said. 'Every week in the news, we're reminded of that.'

Recently, a technology company was almost ready to bring up to 300 new jobs to Jasper, Texas, but in the final stages of recent negotiations, the potential deal-breaker of Byrd's death emerged.

His tattoos include a woodpecker in KKK garb, a silhouette of a black man lynched from a cross, the lightning-bolt SS of the Nazi Schutzstaffel, and the words "Aryan Pride." There also is a crest with a Confederate flag and a burning cross

Byrd's death gave the company president pause in the discussions about where to locate his firm's newest facility.

Local clergy and community leaders made their case that the town of 7,600 people is not defined by a murder that happened almost 21 years ago.

They were able to convince the executive 'that we are a lot different than what the world sees us as,' said Eddie Hopkins, head of the Jasper Economic Development Corporation.

King will be the second man executed in the case. Lawrence Russell Brewer (left) was executed in 2011. The third participant, Shawn Allen Berry (right), was sentenced to life in prison and is still serving his sentence

King, center, is seen above being escorted from the Jasper County Courthouse after being sentenced to die by lethal injection for the capital murder on Thursday, February 25, 1999, in Jasper, Texas

Smile of a killer: King is escorted from the Jasper County Courthouse during his February 1999 trial

John William King, front, and Lawrence Russell Brewer are escorted from the Jasper County Jail Tuesday, June 9, 1998, in Jasper, Texas

The town's past will be revisited this coming week, King, the convicted ringleader in Byrd's slaying, is executed.

Local leaders insist Jasper is a welcoming place that punished Byrd's killers and will never forget what happened to him.

But other townspeople, as well as members of Byrd's family, believe Jasper has never fully accepted the crime's place in its history.

They say some tensions between the white and black communities remain unresolved.

'I think, quite frankly, people in Jasper are tired of talking about it. They want to forget it,' Washington said.

'It happened here, and we need to always have that in front of us.'

Before Byrd's death, the community about 140 miles northeast of Houston, near the Texas-Louisiana border, was known more for the timber industry and for tourism at nearby Sam Rayburn Lake.

Byrd was alive for at least two miles before his body was ripped to pieces. Pictured is the truck used in the murder

This photo shows a section of Huff Creek Road in Jasper, Texas, where Byrd Jr, was dragged to death by three white men

The gravesite of James Byrd Jr in Jasper, Texas, is surrounded by a fence after being twice desecrated

In front of Byrd's gravesite sit the burial plots for his mother and father. Byrd's mother, Stella, died in 2010, while his father, James Sr,, is still alive and resides in Jasper

Back in 1998, the city was 'incredibly progressive' as it was led by an African American mayor and had other African Americans in local leadership positions, said Cassy Burleson, a researcher at Baylor University who has been studying Jasper since the dragging.

The current interim mayor, Gary Gatlin, recalled how community leaders of all races came together and helped the town heal.

'It certainly doesn't go away, and we certainly remember what happened,' Gatlin said.

But racial tension resurfaced after Jasper's first black police chief was fired in 2012, and two of the three black city council members who hired the chief were ousted in a recall election. The recall effort was marred by racial slurs.

City council member Rashad Lewis, who is black, was 12 when Byrd was killed.

John Brewer, right, comforts his father, Lawrence Russell Brewer Sr., center, and mother, Helen after Brewers's brother Lawrence Russell Brewer Jr. was sentenced to death in 1999

He said the dragging death unearthed racial hostility in his hometown. He remembers classmates wearing Confederate belt buckles and shirts right after Byrd was killed.

When he moved back to Jasper several years ago, Lewis said he ran for office because of a lack of minority representation.

He is the only African American on the five-member council, which runs a community that is more than half African American. About 34 per cent of the African American population lives below the poverty line.

Lewis, 33, is now running against Gatlin, hoping to become the second African American mayor in Jasper history. The election is May 4.

This park was named after Byrd following his horrific death

'As long as we keep a blindfold to the incident, we will never be able to move forward,' he said.

During his mayoral campaign, Lewis said, he's had at least one online racial slur directed at him.

One of Jasper's religious leaders, the Rev Ronald Foshage, acknowledges that there is some prejudice in the town. But he said 'you are going to find that anywhere.'

'It's not the majority of our people, and it's not who we are,' Foshage said.

Lewis said he proposed an annual day to come together in honor of Byrd, but his idea was rejected.

While a park was named for Byrd and a bench in his honor was placed outside the courthouse where two of his killers were tried, nothing in Jasper memorializes the dragging death itself.

Gatlin said Jasper has not minimized Byrd's death but 'we've just tried to move on'.