There were new calls for an end to racial violence at the funeral of the black man who was brutally murdered in Texas last week.
"Turn a crucifixion into a resurrection," the Rev Jesse Jackson told the congregation at the funeral service for Mr James Byrd jnr whose dismembered body was found on a road several miles from his home in Jasper, in eastern Texas. Three local men believed to be white supremacists have been charged with the murder.
Mr Jackson also suggested that a memorial should be erected to Mr Byrd as "a place for blacks and whites to rally, a tomb that says `choose redemption over retaliation' ".
But the attempts to make the funeral an occasion for closer relations between the two communities of the 8,000 population of Japser were marred to some extent by the presence of armed Black Muslims and members of the New Black Panther Party from Dallas who said that they would train local blacks to defend themselves. About 20 of these black militants marched through the town carrying shotguns and rifles.
"We are here to say that violence and race hatred by whites is just as American as apple and cherry pie," one Black Panther was reported as saying. But Mr Byrd's deeply religious family has rejected all talk of vengeance or division while demanding justice.
Meanwhile, 700 miles away in Belleville, Illinois, police are investigating a claim by a black teenager, Mr Baron Manning, that he was dragged alongside a truck driven by white youths who assaulted him and shouted racial slurs. Local black leaders have asked the FBI to join the investigation to see if the incident was an attempted copycat of the murder of Mr Byrd, who was dragged behind a truck for two miles.
During Mr Byrd's funeral, yellow ribbons signifying mourning were draped over homes, trees, street corners and businesses. Mr Jackson told the 300 mourners in the church, and the hundreds more outside: "There is power in the blood of innocents. His innocent blood could well be blood that changes the course of our country's history."
The Secretary of Transport, Mr Rodney Slater, read a letter from President Clinton in which he said that people across the country had been "shocked and saddened by this tragedy".
He said he knew that Mr Byrd's family had not wanted such publicity surrounding the funeral, but, "We have to be here in Jasper because we can ill afford to have what has happened here happen any place else across this land."
The funeral expenses were paid by the Chicago Bulls basketball star, Denis Rodman. He has also pledged $25,000 (£17,800) to help Mr Byrd's three grown children.
The New York Times in an editorial says that it is just a year since Mr Clinton called for "a great and unprecedented conversation about race", but the promised report by the President has now been put off until the end of the year.