A Seldom Published Fact of Civil Rights
I
was reading an article titled “Convict
in 1964 civil-rights deaths won't confess” written by Jack Elliott Jr.
for the Associated Press. In the article
it talked about a man who was imprisoned for his role in the death of a staple
in the movie “Mississippi Burning”. The
article seemed to be fixed on this guy confessing which really makes no sense
if he has not done so by now. He, apparently,
has found his peace with what actions or inaction he took back in those days
and is not afraid of the upcoming meeting he will have with his maker. No, I was not too interested in the subject
of the article but I was intrigued by something that was mentioned within
it. Now to appease that itch that some
of you may be feeling, let me give you a little bit of that article mentioned
above. It states “Craggy-faced and
ornery, Edgar Ray Killen bears the signs of his 89 years. His hands are still
scarred and rough from decades in the east Mississippi sawmills. He has a
muscular build even as he maneuvers in his wheelchair. Time has not softened
his views and he remains an ardent segregationist. And he steadfastly refuses to discuss the
"Freedom Summer" slayings of three civil-rights workers, which
sparked national outrage, helped spur passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act and
landed him behind bars. Killen was
interviewed by The Associated Press inside the Mississippi State Penitentiary,
where he is serving a 60-year sentence; it was his first interview since his
conviction on state charges of manslaughter in 2005, 41 years to the day after
James Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner were killed and buried in a
red clay dam. An earlier trial in 1967, on federal charges, resulted in a
mistrial. Killen wouldn't say much about
the 1964 killings. He said he remains a segregationist who does not believe in
race equality but contends he bears no ill will toward blacks”.
The
part that intrigued me was finding that the names of those murdered were not
household names. James Chaney, Andrew
Goodman and Michael Schwerner should be as well-known as Emmett Till and Martin
Luther King. Think about the courage it
took or depending on whom you talk to the stupidity to go down there and
attempt to register black people to vote.
You see the Ku Klux Klan really wasn’t afraid of the blacks then, they
had them pretty well under control, they felt afraid of the vote. The names James Chaney, Andrew Goodman and
Michael Schwerner should be raised each and every time we hear of any elected
body gerrymandering lines or passing any
laws which are designed to limited the right to vote for any American,
naturalized or not. There should be
monuments and statues erected of those three, right near monuments of our
military who fought to make that and all rights available to everyone. There should be movies made about them and
days set aside so that those who try to repeat the sins of our past are blatantly
reminded of those attempts and the cost so long ago.
Comments
Post a Comment