Murders Around Mississippi

Web Mail Message: "Friends,

A leader of the African American community in Benton Harbor, Michigan needs our support, and he needs it now! Please read, respond and widely circulate this email.

Ted Glick


Help Defend the People's Voice in Benton Harbor, Michigan!

In Benton Harbor, Michigan, residents last year won a recall vote of a corrupt
city commissioner through a successful campaign led by BANCO (Black
Autonomy Network Community Organization). Then, in an attempt to
circumvent the will of the people, the vote was overturned by a local
judge. In a further outrage, community leader Rev. Edward Pinkney of
BANCO was arrested on trumped-up charges of alleged vote fraud. He faces
a possible sentence of twenty years. His trial is set for March 15,
2006. BANCO won't back down and we need your help. We can't let
authorities disenfranchise voters and squash dissent in Benton Harbor,
or anywhere


*** 10 REASONS TO DONATE $10 TO BANCO'S LEGAL DEFENSE FUND ***

1) Support the right of Benton Harbor citizens to take a stand against a
corrupt political and judicial system

2) Defend the right of Benton Harbor residents to speak out against
injustice without intimidation and reprisals (two key witnesses for the
defense were recently arrested and imprisoned)

3) Stop the disenfranchisement of Benton Harbor voters (a valid recall
election was overturned)

4) Support BANCO's fight against brutality and sexual harassment by police

5) Help balance the odds for activists in a community with 90%
unemployment and under-employment (material aid is needed)

6) Defend our friend and colleague Rev. Pinkney from an unjust tria"

Web Mail Message: "Friends,

A leader of the African American community in Benton Harbor, Michigan needs our support, and he needs it now! Please read, respond and widely circulate this email.

Ted Glick


Help Defend the People's Voice in Benton Harbor, Michigan!

In Benton Harbor, Michigan, residents last year won a recall vote of a corrupt
city commissioner through a successful campaign led by BANCO (Black
Autonomy Network Community Organization). Then, in an attempt to
circumvent the will of the people, the vote was overturned by a local
judge. In a further outrage, community leader Rev. Edward Pinkney of
BANCO was arrested on trumped-up charges of alleged vote fraud. He faces
a possible sentence of twenty years. His trial is set for March 15,
2006. BANCO won't back down and we need your help. We can't let
authorities disenfranchise voters and squash dissent in Benton Harbor,
or anywhere


*** 10 REASONS TO DONATE $10 TO BANCO'S LEGAL DEFENSE FUND ***

1) Support the right of Benton Harbor citizens to take a stand against a
corrupt political and judicial system

2) Defend the right of Benton Harbor residents to speak out against
injustice without intimidation and reprisals (two key witnesses for the
defense were recently arrested and imprisoned)

3) Stop the disenfranchisement of Benton Harbor voters (a valid recall
election was overturned)

4) Support BANCO's fight against brutality and sexual harassment by police

5) Help balance the odds for activists in a community with 90%
unemployment and under-employment (material aid is needed)

6) Defend our friend and colleague Rev. Pinkney from an unjust tria"

Billy Wayne Posey
in 2005, far left,
and Posey in 1964

The federal government had enough evidence to indict and convict Billy Wayne Posey back in the 1960s on conspiracy to deny civil rights charges in the murders of the three civil rights workers in Neshoba County, Mississippi. But the state of Mississippi today says it does not have enough evidence to indict on state charges and refuses to do so. So why did Mississippi prosecute only Edgar Ray Killen?

From an AP article dated last January 11, 2005

PHILADELPHIA, Miss. (AP) — A Mississippi grand jury met Thursday to decide whether sufficient evidence still exists after 40 years to bring state charges in the slayings of three civil rights workers whose bodies were found in an earthen dam.
Neshoba County District Attorney Mark Duncan, who joined state Attorney General Jim Hood in presenting the case to the grand jury, said the panel could complete its work as early as Friday

He declined further comment, including whether indictments were anticipated. Hood would say only that he also expected the process to be completed quickly.

Mississippi, meanwhile, has experienced some success reopening old civil rights murder cases, including the 1994 conviction of Byron de la Beckwith for the 1963 assassination of NAACP field secretary Medgar Evers in Jackson. (Yet some civil rights observers continue to question Beckwith's role, citing evidence that Beckwith was "falling on his sword" for Klansmen Gordon Lackey, Beckwith's Klan mentor.)

Until this past summer, there had been little progress in trying to build murder cases against those involved with the 1964 Ku Klux Klan slayings of civil rights workers James Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner.

“After 40 years to come back and do something like this is ridiculous ... like a nightmare,” Billy Wayne Posey of Meridian, one of seven people convicted of federal conspiracy charges in the killings, told the AP reporter. The graying Posey, supported by a cane, refused to say if he expected to be indicted by the grand jury.

Some forty years ago, in 1967, a federal grand jury indicted 19 men on civil rights violations in the three mens' deaths. One of seven defendants, Posey was convicted and ordered to serve prison terms ranging from three years to 10 years. Thursday in a phone interview with the Associated Press, Carolyn Goodman, 89-year-old mother of Andrew Goodman, expressed optimism, that in the end, the right thing would happen. Goodman said she remains to look for justice and not revenge.

Jackson attorney James D. McIntyre, who did not identify his client but said he was on the defense team during the 1967 trial, was critical of prosecutors.“It appears to be a sad day for the state of Mississippi,” McIntyre said to AP reporters.“The investigation that has being brought forth — the prosecutors, news media — I just hate to see it happen."

Yahoo! Audio Search Results for Mississippi murders: "Unknown - 'Mississippi Burning,' 41 Years Too Late


*Alleged Klan Member Charged with 1964 Murders
*Rep. John Lewis on Prosecuting the Past
*Mississippi Civil Rights Trial Testimony Begins
*Mississippi Reporter Heats up Cold Cases
*Trial to Begin in 1964 Killing of Rights Workers
*White Supremacists and the Mississippi State Fair
*Civil-Rights Murder Trial Begins
*Letters: Civil Rights, Taco Bell and a Small School


Nice feature offered by Yahoo Search

Posted by the Arkansas Delta Peace & Justice Center
arkansasdeltapeaceandjusticectr@yahoo.com
Subject: [CCProject] 1 yr later & only Killen prosecuted - Why only Killen?
Date: Jan 6, 2006 2:19 PM


Philadelphia, Mississippi
Civil Rights Murders Case

One year ago on January 6, 2005, Edgar Ray Killen was indicted on state murder charges . He was convicted on three counts of manslaughter on June 21, 2005.

None of the many others who were complicit in the murders of the three civil rights workers, James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner, have been indicted by the state of Mississippi.

Why only Killen prosecuted?


Ten people who faced federal conspiracy to deny civil rights or other charges in the 1960s related to the murders of the three civil rights workers in Neshoba County, Mississippi are still living.



But only Edgar Ray "Preacher" Killen finally faced state charges.



Why only Killen?



What about the others?





Jimmy Arledge - presently living, Meridian, MS



Sam Bowers - presently living, Central MS Correctional Facility



Olen Burrage - presently living, Philadelphia, MS





James Thomas "Pete" Harris - presently living, Meridian, MS





Tommy Horne - presently living, Meridian, MS





Billy Wayne Posey - presently living, Meridian, MS





Jimmy Snowden - presently living, Hickory, MS





Jimmy Lee Townsend - presently living, Philadelphia, MS



Richard Willis - presently living, Noxapater, MS