Jackson Free Press

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.

After the shootings, Lynch Street was closed to through traffic and replaced by a pedestrian plaza. Today just north of the plaza and directly in front of Alexander Hall is the Gibbs-Green Monument, a permanent memorial to the slain students. You can still see the bullet holes in Alexander Hall.

Read more about the tragedy.

Previous Comments

ID

131389

Comment

In reply to your post on "Johnson Camp," thanks for the story on Jackson State. I remember studying this in school many moons ago. Yet, it had slipped from my memory too. These events are extremely important and useful for our future.

Author

tortoise

Date

2005-05-15T11:16:51-06:00

ID

131390

Comment

No problem, tortoise. It's also important for understanding how bad the police department was and why it was so important to ensure that the black community was/is well represented in the leadership of law enforcement. You can't understand things you don't know. And that explains a lot about the ignorant things many people say about crime and it being "racist" to want solid black representation in positions of power. But ignorance isn't an excuse, just an explanation. And it was just shameful for media to twist that whole Obadele episode all out of whack without bringing this context into the picture. Both sides in the RNA shooting were whacked a bitófrom the police (this was a mere 15 months after JSU shootings) to the RNA members who actually thought they could carve out a safe and separate place for black people in Mississippi and then armed themselves to the hilt to "defend" themselves against a police raid (which came and left both sides very hurt). The whole thing was tragic, and smart people can see that when given all the information instead of just small (and inaccurate) bits of it.

Author

DonnaLadd

Date

2005-05-15T11:25:13-06:00

ID

131391

Comment

The Mississippi Link did an article on this. I no longer have the printed copy, and I cannot locate the link on the Web site. Does anyone else have it?

Author

LatashaWillis

Date

2005-05-18T06:53:43-06:00