Mississippi Burning: 50th Anniversary of KKK Murder of 3 Civil Rights Workers | Democracy Now!
Mississippi Burning: 50th Anniversary of KKK Murder of 3 Civil Rights Workers | Democracy Now!:
Saturday marks the 50th anniversary of the killing of three civil rights workers in Mississippi, a pivotal moment in the 1960s struggle for equality.
On June 21, 1964, James Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner were ambushed by a gang of Klansmen. The three were beaten and shot, their bodies found weeks later buried in an earthen dam. They had come to Mississippi to register African-American voters as part of the Freedom Summer campaign.
A number of Klan members were convicted on minor charges, with none serving more than six years. It took 41 years before a murder conviction was handed down in the case, with former Ku Klux Klansman Edgar Ray Killen found guilty of manslaughter in 2005.
Democracy Now! aired a special report on the murder case in 2010, which was featured in the documentary, "Neshoba: The Price of Freedom." Although dozens of white men are believed to have been involved in the murders and cover-up, only one man, a Baptist preacher named Edgar Ray Killen, is behind bars today. Four suspects are still alive in the case.
