Mississippi Burns: The brutal murder of three activists who exposed the horror of the Ku Klux Klan’s crimes

60 years ago, three young activists of the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) disappeared in the United States state of Mississippi.,

African-Americans James Chaney (21), a Mississippian, and Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner, both from New York, went to speak to members of a church in the town of Longdale.

A few weeks earlier, Cheney and Schwerner had been there, and encouraged the congregation to register to vote, one of the rights that white locals routinely denied them.

Schwerner said, “You have been slaves too long; we can help you.”

Shortly after, the racist group White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan (KKK), popular at the time for its disapproval of social integration policies, They destroyed and burned churches, and attacked believers,

On June 21, 1964, Cheney, Goodman, and Schwerner went to investigate what had happened.

The next day, the FBI received a report of a car on fire near a highway.

Then-Director John Edgar Hoover ordered a search, and Attorney General Robert Kennedy, brother of the recently assassinated John F. Kennedy and a staunch supporter of civil rights, dispatched 150 more agents from New Orleans.

Investigations continued even after smoke was found coming out of the car as no trace of the passengers was found.

It took six weeks to confirm what was suspected,

Their bodies were eventually discovered when an informant reported they were buried on a local farm.

The case, which the FBI named “Burning Mississippi(“Mississippi Burns” or “Mississippi on Fire”) stunned the United States.

And, in a twist that white supremacists never expected, helped win the fight for civil rights,

But, what is the experience of families regarding this type of incident?

“Andrew was a very popular boy and loved to laugh, go to parties and dance.

“He wasn’t aggressive or loud, but a very calm person.

“He was handsome and strong, and I truly believe in what you, I, and most people call justice.So if there was any bully Seeing a small child being killed, he will intervene.

Andrew’s sense of justice came from his middle-class New York family that was always politically active.

“He was the middle child, and the one most interested in social issues.

“From time to time, there are people who want to do something practical. I think that’s one of the keys in Andy’s case: he wanted to contribute to change, even if it was just with a grain of sand on the proverbial beach of life.

,This is a very important concept in our family.,

“‘Ordinary people do extraordinary things,’ my grandfather liked to say about getting up in the morning and doing something; it doesn’t have to be the biggest thing in the world, just something positive.”

Andrew Goodman’s chance to do something positive came in June 1964.

In what became known as Freedom Summer, white college students traveled from the North to help register black voters in the South.

his parents, Even though I know it’s dangerous Due to the Ku Klux Klan’s fury over federal policy favoring racial integration, they decided to let him go.

“He felt that everything he taught us was to serve the public interest They couldn’t say that They didn’t want that because it was in the public interest that people should have the right to vote and they did that,

“But they were very upset, as I think all the parents were.”

Just a day after arriving in Mississippi, Andrew disappeared along with two of his companions.

When the car they were traveling in was found burned, the Goodman family remained hopeful.

“It was like, ‘We have to find him.’ We didn’t even know he was dead.

“It turns out they killed him on June 21, but they didn’t find him until August 4. It’s been 44 days.

“Your mind keeps you from fearing the possible reality.

“It was there, but it was very, very, very much in the back of your mind.

“Nobody mentioned it except a few newspapers and we read them and we didn’t believe them.”

Press interest was on a scale not seen in previous attacks on civil rights activists.

“We had news reporters camped out in front of our building and the police were there 24 hours a day to control the crowd.”

The reason for this, in David Goodman’s opinion, was that two of the missing people were white.

“This shocked white people in America, because the sentiment was: ‘How could this happen to two young white men?,

“That’s a part of the story that’s not often told.

“When most people see their own people being attacked, they become alert and say, ‘Wow, this could happen to my kids or me,’ and I think that makes people more aware.

“This creates an environment for change.

“And that was a sensitivity the president understood.

“He was a smart politician, and he used that to get the Civil Rights Act passed.

,It’s kind of a miracle that it got approved. But it happened and it changed our country,

President Lyndon Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act into law on July 2, while Andrew Goodman and his two companions remained missing.

A month later, he received a call from FBI Deputy Director Cartha DeLoach:

DeLoach – “Mr. Hoover wanted me to call him right away and tell you that the FBI has found three bodies 6 miles southwest of Philadelphia, Mississippi. A group of search agents found the bodies about 15 minutes ago while digging in the woods. Weeds (…)”.

PRESIDENT – “When are they going to make the announcement.”

DeLoach – “In 10 minutes, sir, if that’s all right.”

President – “If you can, Wait for about 15 minutes. I have to inform the families,

“August 4 was the eve of my father’s 50th birthday, so my parents went to a concert – he loved music – and I was home alone.

“The phone rang, I picked it up and a voice came from the other end:

THE PRESIDENT: ‘Who am I talking to?’

David: ‘With David Goodman.’

The President: ‘Oh, you’re Andy’s brother, right?’

THE PRESIDENT: ‘Where are your parents? I’d like to speak to them. I’m President Johnson.’

“And the phone went on hold.

Then he said: “I have bad news for you. We found your brother’s body,

“It was 44 days of suspense. I was 17. I was two weeks away from starting college. And my father died two weeks before I graduated.

FBI arrests 18 Mississippi residents for murders: members of the Ku Klux Klan, who executed them, and local police, who set up a trap,

The van the activists were traveling in was known to be one of CORE’s vehicles, and Schwerner was being targeted.

Through the confession it was learned that he had been arrested for allegedly speeding while driving in Neshoba County.

The Philadelphia sheriff put them in jail while he called Edgar Ray Killen, one of the local KKK leaders, and gave him time to arrange for two carloads of group members to arrive in the neighborhood.

Once everything was ready, he released the workers from prison, ordered them to leave the city, and joined the pursuit.

When they caught them, they forced them into their cars, and took them to another place to shoot them.

Those responsible were brought to justice, but due to local resistance, they were only tried on minor charges and it took until 2005 for Killen, accused of carrying out the murders, to be finally convicted.

As for Andrew Goodman, he became a hero of the civil rights movement, and his brother David believes he remains an example of moral courage.

“It was a story of horror and deep-rooted evil in our country.

“There is nothing we can do to change the past, but there are things we can do today and learn from the past in all our countries.

“I think it’s a story that resonates around the world all the time, and If you are one of those who think that all people are created equal, at some point you may be called upon as a citizen to fight for your beliefs.,

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