Murders Around Mississippi

Authors suggest White Knights of Ku Klux Klan may have played role in civil-rights leader's 1968 slaying

Jerry Mitchell • jmitchell@clarionle dger.com • December 30, 2007

Could the White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan in Mississippi have played a role in the 1968 assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.?

Nobody wanted King dead more than the White Knights, which referred to the civil rights leader in their literature as "Martin Lucifer Coon."

"King was the ultimate prize," said Philip Dray, co-author of We Are Not Afraid: The Story of Goodman, Schwerner and Chaney, and the Civil Rights Campaign for Mississippi.

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Labels: civil rights movement, Cleve McDowelll, KKK, Martin Luther King, Mississippi cold cases, White Knights

MARY SANCHEZ COMMENTARY


Civil-rights era injustices still haunt us
By MARY SANCHEZ


Anyone who has ever uttered an apology knows the power of these three words: “I am sorry.”

Apologies are the precursors to forgiveness, to healing. They’re necessary to put bitterness behind us and let us move on with our lives. This came to mind when I heard the news that more evidence had been uncovered in three of the most infamous unsolved civil rights murders.

In 1964, civil rights workers James Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner were working to register black voters in Mississippi when they were abducted by Klan members near the town of Philadelphia. All three were shot to death, then buried to hide the crimes. Chaney, the only black man in the group, was also severely beaten.

Now, a December series of newspaper articles in The Clarion-Ledger of Jackson, Miss., has uncovered witnesses and evidence that could lead to new charges. Previously sealed FBI documents show that one vote kept a man from facing charges two years ago when a grand jury re-examined the case. One vote of innocence came from the man’s relative — clearly a violation of justice.

The last time new evidence in this case was uncovered, a then 80-year-old former Klansman was convicted. Stooped, on oxygen and confined to a wheelchair during much of the 2005 proceedings, Edgar Ray Killen was sentenced to 60 years for manslaughter.

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Labels: Chaney, cold cases, Goodman, James Chaney, Meridian, Mississippi murders, Schwerner, voting rights