Saturday, May 3, 2008

“They Killed One Nigger, One Jew, and a White Man”


"I gave them all what I thought they deserved."
by Charlie Leck

In a little over a month, I'll be going back to Mississippi for a memorial service for those three civil rights workers who were murdered there in 1964 by a cruel and ignorant mob of white supremacists. The event has haunted me throughout my life. I think of those three guys very regularly and try not to think about the horrible fear they must have felt as the mob was chasing them down.

My wife and one of my daughters will join me on the trip. They are both aware of how this story affects me and they want to be there to support me. I wouldn't go without such support.

To prepare for the trip, I just finished reading two books about the incident. One is a fairly lightweight novel, Mississippi Burning, and I don't particularly recommend it. I don't remember ever before reading a fictional account that is actually based on the screenplay. I've not seen the movie, but the book is not particularly helpful or factual. I've been told Gerolmo's screenplay is much better.

The book by Seth Cagin and Philip Dray, however, is well worth the time one spends with it. We Are Not Afraid is a very historical and well documented work and a superb account of just how the incident went down and just who was involved in it. The account of June 21, 1964 is not emotionally easy to read. I was on a train that day, bound for Canton, Mississippi, and I certainly read this moment by moment narration of the day from that perspective.

I'm not going to go over the details of that day. I recommend the book to you. You can buy it through on-line used-book outlets. I do an awful lot of shopping with the American Book Exchange (ABE) and I think I picked up the hardcover edition for only a dollar (plus shipping, of course).

What startles me about the history surrounding this event is that so many of the people who were co-conspirators in this gruesome murder have never been brought to justice. No one has ever been convicted of murder. No murder trial has ever been held. One man was convicted of manslaughter in 2005, fully 40 years after the incident and will likely die in prison. Several others were convicted on federal civil rights charges and spent anywhere from two to seven years in prison.

The federal judge who presided over the case, which finally brought in those convictions, ran a good and fair courtroom and only because of him were those few sent away for, at least, a short time. A statement by the judge, William Harold Cox, a Mississippian, underscores for me how lightly that state regarded this entire incident.

"They killed one nigger, one Jew, and a white man. I gave them what I thought they deserved."

Part of the reason for gathering in Mississippi this summer, on the anniversary of that murder, is to cry out for justice – for simple, deserved justice in this very old case. Many of the murderers remain alive and walk the streets. There are signed confessions that relate the details of the events and identify the parties involved. To this day, the legal system in Mississippi just doesn't consider it a very big deal. In the eyes of Neshoba County, Mississippi, the young men murdered, all about my age at the time, were just not worth the fuss that's been made.

END

In 2007 I wrote a 6 part series about my Mississippi experience in 1964. Click here for Part I.

Cagin, Seth and Dray, Philip: We Are Not Afraid (The story of Goodman, Schwerner and Chaney and the civil rights campaign for Mississippi) [Macmillan Publishing, New York, 1988]

Norst, Joel (based on a screenplay by Gerolmo, Chris): Mississippi Burning [New American Library, New York, 1988]

Obituary of Judge William Harold Cox (NY Times)

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