What took them so long… the jury that is?
Michael Schwerner, 24, of New York, James Chaney, 21, from Mississippi, and Andrew Goodman, 20, of New York are profiles in courage. They remain the haunting images of murderous racism in recent American history that claimed the lives of so many innocent and courageous people involved in the struggle for black civil rights.
Ku Klux Klansman (and appropriately named) Edgar Ray Killen was found guilty yesterday on three counts of manslaughter in connection with them in 1964. The facts clearly indicate that this was a case of justice delayed but not denied.
It is curious, however, that only 24 hours before reaching their verdict, the 12-member jury informed the presiding judge that they were deadlocked 6-6 on Killen’s guilt. One has to wonder: what gave the doubting 6 their reasonable doubts? And what evidence persuaded them to overcome those doubts, literally, overnight?
The 1988 movie Mississippi Burning dramatized these murders. Yet the end of the story was never (and may never be) told. But the facts as they are known are simple enough.
Schwerner, Goodman, and Chaney joined a corps of hundreds of young people who volunteered for the SNCC Mississippi Summer Project in the fall of 1964. Their mission was to register blacks to vote in the die-hard segregationist state of Mississippi. But the “God-fearing” white folks there were not at all pleased by the “meddlesome interference by outsiders with Mississippi’s state-enforced policy of segregation.”
In fact, Schwerner earned the special enmity of whites in Mississippi by organizing a black boycott of their business to break their segregation practices. He followed the precedent set by the Montgomery Bus Boycott that virtually crippled white businesses in Montgomery, Alabama, a decade earlier. For this reason, he was specifically targeted.
Unfortunately, when the KKK mob that Killen – as Klan Kleagle (official recruiter) – summoned finally caught up with him, Goodman and Chaney were present. They were simply murdered along with Schwerner in a 3 for 1 racial coup (Ku…).
Of course, since Klansmen were notorious for bragging about their dastardly deeds, it took the FBI little time to round up the men involved. It also helped that the bureau had informants planted throughout the KKK for years prior to these murders. Nevertheless, for reasons that are no longer relevant today, of the nineteen men who were originally charged and tried in 1967, only seven were convicted.
But, coincidentally, back then the jury proved hopelessly deadlocked on the charges against Killen. And thus his cold case remained – until yesterday.
Edgar Ray Killen: Now really, can anyone imagine this genial old man being responsible for murdering three civil rights workers? Of course, the fact is that the face of the KKK in 1964 looked as ordinary as this inveterate and unrepentant old KKK recruiter looks today.
Indeed, it was the ordinariness of Southern racists that made their visceral hatred of and crimes against blacks seem so surreal.
Rest assured, that instead of sympathy, Killen deserves nothing but revulsion and condemnation for having escaped justice for so many years.
That’s why iPINIONS prays long may he rot in his cell and then in hell!
Legacy Note: With over 5,600 posts spanning 20 years, I am easily the most prolific blogger on the most eclectic array of topics on the web. That makes The iPINIONS Journal an unparalleled archive of informed political and cultural commentary. Visit the ARCHIVES section in the sidebar or search by topic. You won’t find a more consistent, independent voice on world affairs.
Anonymous says
He won’t last a year in prison. But I wonder how many more like him are still free.
The Fat Girl says
i agree with the other guy. i hope they put him in solitary confinement, or he’s dust.
Anonymous says
these cases only open up old wounds. if they already convicted all those folks years ago why come after this old man. let dying dogs lie.
Anonymous says
wounds dont heal correctly if they are not properly cleaned….