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FBI Presents DA with Report on Emmett Till
The Associated Press is reporting:
The long awaited report into the 1955 killing of Emmett Till concludes no federal charges will be filed in the case, but District Attorney Joyce L. Chiles will make the decision on state charges, the FBI says. The FBI turned the report over to Chiles' office on Thursday. Chiles, who was trying a case in Leflore County, was not immediately available for comment.
Mississippians Standing Up for Justice
Welcome to the JFP's new Justice Blog. This blog is dedicated to the quest for justice in old Mississippi civil rights cases. It is also a place we can collect our own work toward that goal to date — the work of a group of native Mississippians who are investigating and publicizing both well-known and little-known civil rights cases of the past. This effort began in earnest when the JFP led an online petition drive, called "Real Mississippians Aren't Racist," calling for the prosecution of the murderers of James Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner, and then picked up steam when the JFP team reported and blogged about the Killen trial in a personal and immediate way that no other media outlet did. Our efforts really paid off when we joined with the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. and published an in-depth story that kicked off a national media frenzy about the long-forgotten Henry Dee-Charles Moore killings, and revealed that one of the primary suspects is still alive, contrary to reporting by The Clarion-Ledger and The Los Angeles Times.
Killen's Bad Week Worsens
After a Neshoba County jury found Edgar Ray Killen guilty of three counts of manslaughter on June 21 for orchestrating the deaths of James Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner, his week went from bad to worse. Being rolled out of the courtroom that day, the Baptist preacher struck and shoved a WAPT cameraman, showing a less genteel side of himself than the jury had seen in the courtroom, where he often dozed when they were in the room (and took notes when they weren't).
One-third of Jury Pool Black Today
Emily Wagster Pettus reports today:
New Gallery of Killen Trial Photos Just Posted
Photographer Kate Medley has just posted a full gallery of 87 photos from the Edgar Ray Killen trial last week. Don't miss them! Kate—a Jacksonian and Murrah grad—did some amazing work over there and by Thursday was shooting for the New York Times, not to mention other publications and wire services around the world. Kate makes Jackson very proud.
AG Gonzales to Old Klansmen: ‘We Are Still on Your Trail'
The U.S. Department of Justice held a press conference this morning in Washington to announce the formation of a cold-cases division to pursue old civil-rights murders, such as the case of Charles Moore and Henry Dee. Here are his verbatim remarks:
‘Philadelphia Coalition' Calls for Justice
The Neshoba Democrat is reporting that a multi-racial coalition of leader, business owners, newspaper editors and citizens in Neshoba County today issued a long-overdue statement, calling for justice for the murders of James Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner. The group—whites, blacks and Choctaws—also issued an apology on behalf of the citizens of Neshoba County to the families of the three men:
Edgar Ray Killen Back In Prison
AP is reporting:
A judge Friday revoked the bond that allowed Edgar Ray Killen to stay out of prison while he appealed his manslaughter conviction for the 1964 slayings of three civil rights workers. Circuit Judge Marcus Gordon ordered Killen returned to prison after a court hearing where District Attorney Mark Duncan said the 80-year-old Killen may have misrepresented his physical condition.
Archive of the JFP's Coverage of the Dee-Moore Case
Following are links to the Jackson Free Press' full, and ongoing, package of stories about 1960s Klan activity in the Natchez-Meadville-Roxie, Miss., area, starting with the award-winning investigative story by Donna Ladd and a team of young Mississippians, working with David Ridgen, a documentary filmmaker from the Canadian Broadcasting Corp., to chronicle Thomas' Moore's 2005 return to Mississippi to seek justice for his brother's murder.
Neshoba County Coalition Calls for Justice
The newly formed Philadelphia Coalition of blacks, whites and Choctaws released the following statement calling for justice and issuing a long-overdue apology for the tragic murders that happened there on Father's Day 40 years ago. See http://neshobajustice.com for a schedule of the memorial service on Sunday, June 20.
HRC to Use Obadele Incident to Further Understanding
JACKSON – The firestorm that surrounded Richard Barrett's attempt to bring Edgar Ray Killen to the State Fair, and the one that has now swirled around Councilman Kenneth Stokes' Stokes' invitation to Imari Obadele to speak at a Black History Program at Jackson City Hall, highlight something very significant. Although race relations in Jackson, and in Mississippi as a whole, have improved, the fact is we still have a lot of work to do. The emotional outpourings generated by these events clearly demonstrate the depth of hurt, pain and division that still exists. Our hearts go out to the Skinner family, because you have had to endure this very painful episode.
Day 8: Franklin County Editors, Past and Present
This morning, Judge Henry Wingate agreed to allow the government to show the jury a racial epithet-filled letter that James Ford Seale allegedly wrote to the Franklin Advocate on July 23, 1964—two and a half months after he is accused of abducting and helping kill Henry Dee and Charles Moore, and six days after then-Franklin Advocate Editor and Publisher David Webb was announced as the publicity director of the Americans for the Preservation of the White Race, a Natchez-based front organization for the Ku Klux Klan, according to Mississippi Sovereignty Commission files.
The Scene of the Crime ... and a Klansman
After leaving Mt. Zion, I took the women reporters to Road 515, also known as Rock Cut Road, to show them where the three men were taken and killed.
[Breaking] Killen Sentenced to 60 Years
Moments ago in Neshoba County, Judge Marcus Gordon has sentenced Edgar Ray Killen, 80, to the full 60 years possible for his guilty verdict for manslaughter in the James Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner case. The judge sentenced Killen to the maximum 20 years for each count of the indictment—or for the death of each young man. Gordon could have sentenced Killen to as little as one year for each count.
Barnett Confession Alleges Role of Burrage
Horace Doyle Barnett's Nov. 20, 1964, confession to the FBI
I was just provided this confession from 1964 by one of the alleged conspiractors in the murders. I have not verified its authenticity. It is pasted verbatim.
‘A Wider Examination'?
Journalist Oliver Staley is writing good stories in the Commercial Appeal in Memphis, trying to address larger questions along the way. He walked up to me today on the court square and told me that one of my old columns for the Progressive Populist (about Charles Pickering) inspired him to look into the investigative reports in the Sovereignty Files that fed information, including the station wagon's license plate number, to the local law enforcement and the Klan. He had a copy of my column printed out.
Barbour Supports Civil Rights Museum
[The following letter is verbatim from Gov. Barbour to the Civil Rights Museum Federation Committee at the Mississippi Department of Archives and History]
In Memory: Phillip Gibbs and James Earl Green
Thirty-five years ago today, Jackson police opened fire on a crowd of students at Jackson State University, killing Phillip Lafayette Gibbs, 21, a junior pre-law major and father of an 18-month-old son. Two Double-0 buckshot pellets entered his head and a third just beneath his left eye and a fourth just under his left armpit. Also killed was James Earl Green, 17, a senior at Jim Hill High School in Jackson, who was walking home from work at local grocery store. A single buckshot pierced the right side of his chest. Twleve other students were injured by gunfire, and more than 460 rounds of gunfire punctured a women's dormitory. Ambulances were not called until after police officers picked up their shell casings. The police later claimed that they had taken fire from the direction of B. F. Roberts Hall, but that was never proved.
Updates - Days 5 and 6
There was much—or little—activity in the courtroom on Friday and Saturday, depending on how you look at it. But we've either been in the courtroom, and thus no connection, or scrambling to get our bigger package ready to go to press. We will be posting details on our observations on here, hopefully by mid-day Monday, so keep an eye out.
Day 5: Of Guns and Freedom
By his own admission in court on Tuesday, it was Charles Marcus Edwards who first fingered Henry Dee. The young man who lived near him had come back to Chicago and was wearing a black bandana around Franklin County. That was a sign of trouble to the members of the White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, Edwards' friends and adopted family.