This is sad.

Don't fool yourself: these sentiments aren't isolated. What's even worse is that there are plenty of politicians out there more than willing to cater to this type of sensibility.

Don't forget: the lynchers of Emmet Till never went to jail even though two of them confessed to killing Till to "Life" magazine back in the day; and don't forget Trent Lott honored Strom Thurmond's retirement by "joking" that his election to President in 1948 would have "solved a lot of problems"; and don't forget that Haley Barbour was photographed at the Blackhawk Barbecue cavorting with members of the CCC (read "KKK") and never bothered to issue an explanation; and don't forget that an overwhelming majority of white Mississippians voted to retain the old state flag with its Confederate symbol even though the whole fugging world thinks that symbol is synonymous with racism and genocide; and don't forget that the Harrison County board of supervisors voted along racial lines to retain the Confederate battle flag at county expense on the beach in Biloxi/Gulfport .

Just don't forget . . .

Off the Plantation,
You're absolutely correct!

Here is another--Do you remember that Ronald Reagan kicked off his 1980 presidential bid at the Neshoba Co. fair--just so those there wansn't any doubt about where he stood.
Made me sick then; still does.

One minor correction: It was LOOK magazine in which Milam and Bryant made their confessions. There's a nice essay in Slate.com magazine here that explains how that story came to be written.

You can read the original article here

off the plantation wrote:

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Don't fool yourself: these sentiments aren't isolated. What's even worse is that there are plenty of politicians out there more than willing to cater to this type of sensibility. Don't forget: the lynchers of Emmet Till never went to jail even though two of them confessed to killing Till to "Life" magazine back in the day; and don't forget Trent Lott honored Strom Thurmond's retirement by "joking" that his election to President in 1948 would have "solved a lot of problems"; and don't forget that Haley Barbour was photographed at the Blackhawk Barbecue cavorting with members of the CCC (read "KKK") and never bothered to issue an explanation; and don't forget that an overwhelming majority of white Mississippians voted to retain the old state flag with its Confederate symbol even though the whole fugging world thinks that symbol is synonymous with racism and genocide; and don't forget that the Harrison County board of supervisors voted along racial lines to retain the Confederate battle flag at county expense on the beach in Biloxi/Gulfport . Just don't forget . . .

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You're right -- those sentiment's aren't isolated.  Moreover, they aren't isolated to Mississippi, as you seem to suggest.  There are racists in every city, in every county, and in every state in this country.  Thus, perhaps you should put down the broad brush with which you're trying to paint the citizens of this state. 

Those same Mississippians who voted to retain the old state flag are the same Mississippians who brought Emmet Till to justice in court of law after all these years.  And those same Mississippians are also the ones that just convicted him.  Furthermore, those same Mississippians have brought others like Till to justice in the past few years.  That would have never happened in Mississippi 40 years ago.  In fact, I didn't.

And you want to base your little diatribe on the symbolism you attribute to a state flag?  Or a photo of the governor at a barbeque?

Next time, before you're so quick to paint Mississippians with such a broad brush, keep in mind that the very thing that gave rise to this discussion in the first place--the trial and conviction of Emmet Till--suggests that Mississippi isn't quite what you're making it out to be.

Eagle@Tulane,

Before you try to recreate the masterpiece, you might want to identify the subjects.  Emmett Till was the victim of another of these racist acts.  "After all these years" his body was just exhumed in an effort to bring justice to others like Edgar Ray Killen. 

Eagle@Tulane wrote:

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Those same Mississippians who voted to retain the old state flag are the same Mississippians who brought Emmet Till to justice in court of law after all these years.  And those same Mississippians are also the ones that just convicted him.  Furthermore, those same Mississippians have brought others like Till to justice in the past few years.  That would have never happened in Mississippi 40 years ago.  In fact, I didn't. And you want to base your little diatribe on the symbolism you attribute to a state flag?  Or a photo of the governor at a barbeque? Next time, before you're so quick to paint Mississippians with such a broad brush, keep in mind that the very thing that gave rise to this discussion in the first place--the trial and conviction of Emmet Till--suggests that Mississippi isn't quite what you're making it out to be.

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Tell me that this is just poorly worded and that an "eagle" could not possibly be this ill-informed or callous.

You're absolutely right -- I totally misread the topic in my haste to make a reply, and confused Emmet Till with Edgar Ray Killen.  My mistake--and a very embarrassing one at that.

However, my point does stand, to an extent.  The questions about the racism of Mississippians, especially as it pertains to the state flag vote, is mitigated by the very nature of the things we've seen happeing in Mississippi's courts involving Killen, and others of that ilk.

off the plantation wrote:

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Don't fool yourself: these sentiments aren't isolated. What's even worse is that there are plenty of politicians out there more than willing to cater to this type of sensibility. Don't forget: the lynchers of Emmet Till never went to jail even though two of them confessed to killing Till to "Life" magazine back in the day; and don't forget Trent Lott honored Strom Thurmond's retirement by "joking" that his election to President in 1948 would have "solved a lot of problems"; and don't forget that Haley Barbour was photographed at the Blackhawk Barbecue cavorting with members of the CCC (read "KKK") and never bothered to issue an explanation; and don't forget that an overwhelming majority of white Mississippians voted to retain the old state flag with its Confederate symbol even though the whole fugging world thinks that symbol is synonymous with racism and genocide; and don't forget that the Harrison County board of supervisors voted along racial lines to retain the Confederate battle flag at county expense on the beach in Biloxi/Gulfport . Just don't forget . . .

 

You forgot to add that Trent Lott recently voted against the bill to apologize for not passing the lunching law.

FPM - + wrote:

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Whether you agree with it or not, she at least has the guts to put her name to her opinion.

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You make a good point.

These recent prosecutions of elderly men for actions taken many decades ago have revealed to me the true merits of statutes of limitation, even in criminal matters. According to my old copy of Black’s Law Dictionary

“In criminal cases, however, a statute of limitation is an act of grace, a surrendering by sovereign of its right to prosecute.”

The people behind these prosecutions are devoid of grace, and their motivations are patently self-serving. The spectacle of pseudo-witnesses reading aloud in court the ancient testimony of the deceased shakes whatever faith I have left in our judicial system. Yes, these trials do say a lot about Mississippi.

Could any of our legal scholars cite similar cases of prosecution of elderly subjects for crimes committed so long ago?

Afraid to say wrote:
Could any of our legal scholars cite similar cases of prosecution of elderly subjects for crimes committed so long ago?

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Our friends elsewhere just sweep such matters under the rug and go about their merry way. But Mississippi is the state that always gets the blame.

Afraid to say wrote:

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Could any of our legal scholars cite similar cases of prosecution of elderly subjects for crimes committed so long ago?

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The numerous Nazi war crimes trials of the 1970s and 1980s. Klaus Barbie is but one example.

Afraid to say wrote:

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 Could any of our legal scholars cite similar cases of prosecution of elderly subjects for crimes committed so long ago?

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Now that the obvious cases of Nazi war crimes have been mentioned, can anybody cite an instance within the United States but outside the borders of Mississippi?

LeftASAP wrote:

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Isn't murder against "state law"?  The "anti-lynching law" was/is a federal law.  It would have allowed the murderers to be tried in federal court instead of state court.  As it was the feds could only try the murders for violation civil rights and I believe none convicted served over 6 years. 
Why are we fighting terrorists in Iraq yet still debating this terrorism forty years later?
 

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In case you haven't read it lately, any powers not expressly granted to the federal government were reserved for the states in the Constitution. Murder on federal property is a federal deal. Otherwise, it's a state deal. The "lynching law" was just another attempt by an activist federal system to grab power from the states.

As has been pointed out, 11 of the 12 white jurors voted to convict Killen years ago. I defy you to give me a reason why a whole state gets this reputation based on the actions of 8.33% of the people.

This looks like just another way to harp on how backward Mississippi is. Why don't you just dig through the MS Constitution and find some outdated law prohibiting eating popcorn in church or riding a mule through town? Last time I looked, majority white juries were doing the right thing in Mississippi.

Also, I believe more than 50% of Mississippians weren't even alive when the Killen case took place (they either weren't born or have moved here recently in retirement). You're characterizing a whole state based on a small portion of less than half of the citizens. Bad logic, there.

Laws, Laws, Laws wrote:

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... I defy you to give me a reason why a whole state gets this reputation based on the actions of 8.33% of the people. ...

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Maybe because 80% of the population supported what the 8% did.  Terrorists don't live in a vacuum.  The population must support them.  Like the insurgents in Iraq get the support of a large part of the population in certain parts of Iraq, so were the terrorists in Mississippi. 

Did you notice how few spoke out when the KKK used the confederate battle flag as their symbol?  Sure is WAS the symbol for southern independence. But when it was stolen and desecrated by the KKK in their terrorism, why did no one complain about the misuse of that flag?  That is why that flag has lost the symbolism that justifies its existence.