‘Mississippi Burning’ case, now closed, exposed KKK terror

Federal and state investigators say they’ve exhausted every avenue in investigating the 1964 murders of three civil rights workers in Mississippi.

“Goodman’s brother, David, of New York City, quoted author William Faulkner as saying, “The past is never dead”. Now it’s going cold again.

“I am convinced that during the last 52 years, investigators have done everything possible under the law to find those responsible and hold them accountable”, said Attorney General Jim Hood.

Exactly 52 years ago, on June 21, 1964, the men disappeared after working to register black voters.

The Mississippi Sovereignty Commission, a state-funded agency that sought to preserve segregation from 1956 until it was dismantled in 1977, sent its own investigator, A.L. Hopkins, to Philadelphia to monitor the Federal Bureau of Investigation probe around the time the workers’ charred station wagon was found near a swamp. But while the men were missing, MS officials downplayed the significance of the case. She said she believes state leaders haven’t learned the lesson of the slayings, because MS is still flying a state flag with the Confederate battle emblem, legislators recently passed a bill that Bender says enables discrimination against gay people, and she said the state does a poor job in providing services to African-American citizens.

Shortly after the men left city limits, KKK members ambushed and shot them dead at point blank range. “It took 44 days to find their bodies and 41 years to prosecute their killings”.

Seven others were tried and convicted of federal civil rights violations.

That year, however, the plot leader Edgar Ray Killen, a part-time Baptist minister, avoided prison in a trial in which the jury hung 11-1 for conviction.

In the 11 years since Killen was convicted, no other suspect has been brought to court.

Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood said that investigation ran up against a stonewall 18 months ago when a witness backed out at the last minute after pledging to sign a sworn statement that would have implicated a suspect.

“I think that everything has been done that could possibly be done”, Hood said.

“The passage of time means that memories have faded”. Many of these elderly witnesses have understandably imperfect recollections. Evidence hasn’t been preserved.

The decision didn’t surprise Schwerner’s widow, Rita Bender of Seattle.

“The state of MS was committed to seeing this investigation through to fruition and to moving forward”, said Hood.

“We sincerely appreciate the blood, sweat, and tears of the Federal Bureau of Investigation agents, Department of Justice officials, Navy Seabees, the U.S. Attorney’s Office, and local court offices that assisted in this case”, Attorney General Hood said. She hopes the Justice Department report will provide an opportunity for MS officials to reflect on the larger unmet needs, such as education, and “to face up to the past and for the people of MS and all of our country to find the resolve to move forward”.

“For those participants, the good Lord will have to deal with that”, Hood said.

Closing the investigation, Hood said, “sort of closes the chapter on an era that we didn’t want to have in public view”.

Missing some content? Care to comment? “We were ashamed of that”.