Murders Around Mississippi

HungryBlues: "The defense rested Monday after a former mayor testified that the Klan was a 'peaceful organization.' Harlan Majure, who was mayor of this Mississippi town in the 1990s, said Killen was a good man and that the part-time preacher's Klan membership would not change his opinion.

Majure said the Klan 'did a lot of good up here' and said he was not personally aware of the organization's bloody past.

'As far as I know it's a peaceful organization,' Majure said. His comment was met with murmurs in the packed courtroom.

Between the time when I started this post and when I'm finishing it now, the Killen verdict came in: guilty on three counts of manslaughter, not murder. That is, he is guilty of kidnapping them and that they died after they were kidnapped, not for murdering with intent. As both Ben Chaney and Rita Schwerner Bender said in the news conference that I caught on TV, it is a significant first step that Killen has been convicted and held responsible for Chaney, Schwerner and Goodman's deaths, and for that I am happy. But it is only a small first step.
Why is Mississippi protecting white, racist murderers? "

Continues on HungryBlues blog ...