59 years ago in 1964, a local sheriff in Neshoba County, Mississippi (Cecil Price) assisted the Ku Klux Klan in murdering three young civil rights activists. What the lawman and klan had in common was their southern bred belief in white supremacy.
What catapulted this southern killing of civil rights activists into a national story, unfortunately, is two of the three young men were non-black (Jewish). Adolph Hitler's Nazi war regime was nineteen-years in the mirror, and the world was still desperately trying to heal from atrocities the Jews of Europe had suffered at the hands of German Monsters.
Author William Bradford Huie was a son of the south, growing up in neighboring Alabama and resettling there with his wife in the late 1950's. The investigative reporter in Huie led him toward many of the civil rights headline stories of the 50's-60's era. He was a conservative who as a World War II war correspondent had seen enough killing and injustices abroad to make him abhor the hatred and injustices being inflicted on minorities and others at home.
Huie's book, "Three Lives for Mississippi," was published in 1965, a year after the three young activists were killed. Below, I share a link to an interview the author gives upon the release of his book. I found the interview revealing of William Bradford Huie, the man and his beliefs. But most importantly, I found in the interview reasons for WHY Southern White Men Can Kill Innocent People of Color or Others, feeling justified in doing so, and not be held accountable for it.
WHY? Because Southern Justice had written into the Constitution's bylaws a rule stating, "blacks had no rights which the white man was bound to respect." (1857 Supreme Court Ruling, "Dred Scott vs Sanford)
What I get from Huie is white supremacists who perpetrate violence against peoples of color believe they are protecting home, family, country, and way of life. When white supremacists see a successful and/or wealthy person of color or other, it distorts and disturbs their false belief of white supremacy. So, they act to erase the truth staring them in the face, replacing it with hatred, anger, and violence, the white supremacy kind.
Huie's interview is a great educational tool for anyone needing to understand American Racism and the fears and ignorance of white supremacy. He says he's more a realist than an optimist when it comes to man's cruel and warring ways toward fellow men. "It's been going on since the ancient Greeks," he says.
Although Huie says he's lost faith in men treating all men respectfully as equals, he believes in the American experiment of a Democracy of Laws; "a government of the people, by the people, and for the people." But which "people?"
In a Democracy where only convicted felons are barred from voting, the road to fair and just laws governing its citizens can be rocky and full of crippling potholes. Governing leadership cannot be unfair or unjust in their duty. A government of the people, by the people and for the people, needs be represented by all the diverse democratic society it serves. It Takes a U-n-i-t-e-d States to raise and serve all America.
William Bradford Huie discusses his book "Three Lives for Mississippi"
Excerpt
William Bradford Huie: Yes, this actually, this conversation actually occurred.
Momentarily, I comforted one of the murderers and then left him confused. I said, well you were correct on one point. You killed Schwerner because, you said, he was an agitating, troublemaking, nigger loving, communist, atheistic, Jew, outsider. It's true that he called himself an atheist.
He did, huh? I was asked. He didn't believe in nothing?
Oh Yes, I said, he believed in something.
He believed devoutly.
What did he believe in?
He believed in you. I said.
In me? What the hell?
Yeah, I said. He believed in you. He believed love could conquer hate. He believed love could change even you. He didn't think you were hopeless. That's what got him killed.
As I say, that left the murderer somewhat confused.
