Jackson Free Press

photo by Kate Medley: Edgar Ray Killen is helped into his car as his wife and supporters look on.

I've been thinking about Monday afternoon now for nearly two days. We were waiting outside the courthouse for Edgar Ray (as my family used to refer to him when I was a kid) to come out about 4 p.m. after being there all day for jury selection. When he did, there was a small crowd of law enforcement around him, as well as his wife and, we believe, his stepson. The reporters -- mostly photographers and filmmakers -- crowded around him. Then the small circle moved toward his car, barely making a sound. You could just hear lots of clicking and low voices like we were in a funeral parlor. No one yelled out to him or asked him anything. It felt as if people don't really know what to say to him, even reporters.

To me and many others, he is such a symbol these days -- of a horrific past, of people who live in denial, of people who fill empty lives with hatred and fear of others, of people who seemingly do not want to come to terms with the past. Looking at this little, frail man, it's hard to believe that he planned and ordered these executions, but then again, you can believe it. I can believe it. I know where I grew up, and I know the mixture of confusion and bigotry and pride and shame that has permeated my hometown my entire life.

Being there, I feel my town's pain and embarassment and defensiveness, even as I know how badly it needs to face all this and send the message that certain people are not above the law, that crimes of hate and bigotry are just as bad as any other. Our people must face that the desire to protect their "way of life" is not an excuse for a damn thing that ever happened.

It is so time to break the cycle; yet, the refusal of Sens. Lott and Cochran to sign onto that lynching apology resolution on Monday -- the day Killen's trial began -- says so much. The best spin you can put on that is that they believe they can't do it politically in the state. But what kind of excuse is that? We desperately need heroes in Mississippi -- people who will stand up and do what is right even if it means they won't get as many votes, or might lose. Dick Molpus and William Winter were heroes, but we need more. And the rest of us must demand this heroism. I hear way too many political strategists make excuses for this race coding and fear. The good people of Mississippi just so deserve better. We've allowed these kind of cowardly people to speak for us for too long.

Previous Comments

ID

141398

Comment

ladd: The best spin you can put on that is that they believe they can't do it politically in the state. -- I don't believe a US Senator from MS that has served in 4 different decades is so unpopular that he couldn't get away with a non-binding vote that would defame mob violence. to give him the 'benefit of the doubt' is to simply entertain a fiction. objectivity requires these senators to be called on their irresponsibility and the embarassment they bring upon us back home.

Author

jp!

Date

2005-06-16T08:07:32-06:00