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Black Mississippi judge to 3 white murderers
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Here's an astonishing
speech by U.S. District
Judge Carlton Reeves, who
in 2010 became the second
African-American appoint
ed as federal judge in
Mississippi. He read it to
three young white men
before sentencing them for
the death of a 48-year-old
black man named James
Craig Anderson in a park
ing lot in Jackson, Miss.,
one night in 2011. They
were part of a group that
beat Anderson and then
killed .him by running over
his body with a truck,
yelling "white power" as
they drove off.
The speech is long;
Reeves
asked
t h e
young
men to
sit down
while he
read it
aloud in
t h e
court
room.
And it's
breathtaking, in both the
moral force of its argu
ments and the palpable sad
ness with which they are
delivered. We have decided
to publish the speech,
which we got from the blog
Breach of Peace, in its
entirety below. A warning
to readers: He uses the
word "nigger" 11 times.
Reeves
Speech follows
One of my former his
tory professors, Dennis
Mitchell, recently released
a history book entitled, "A
New History of
Mississippi."
"Mississippi," he says, "is a
place and a state of mind.
The name evokes strong
reactions from those who
live here and from those
who do not, but who think
they know something about
its people and their past."
Because of its past, as
described by Anthony
Walton in his book,
"Mississippi: An American
Journey," Mississippi "can
be considered one of the
most prominent scars on
the map" of these United
States.
Walton goes on to
explain that "there is some
thing different about
Mississippi; something
almost unspeakably primal
and vicious; something
savage unleashed there that
has yet to come to rest." To
prove his point, he notes
that, "[o]f the 40 martyrs
whose names are inscribed
in the national Civil Rights
Memorial in Montgomery
AL, 19 were killed in
Mississippi." "How was it,"
Walton asks, "that half whc
died did so in one state?"
? my Mississippi, youi
Mississippi and out
Mississippi.
Mississippi has
expressed its savagery in a
number of ways throughout
its history ? slavery being
the cruelest example, but a
close second being
Mississippi's infatuation
with lynchings. Lynchings
were prevalent, prominent
and participatory. A lynch
ing was a public ritual ?
even carnival-like ? with
in many states in our great
nation. While other states
engaged in these atrocities,
those in the Deep South
took a leadership role,
especially that scar on the
map of America ? those
82 counties between the
Tennessee line and the Gulf
of Mexico and bordered by
Louisiana, Arkansas and
Alabama.
Vivid accounts of brutal
and terrifying lynchings in
Mississippi are chronicled
in various sources: Ralph
Ginzbuig's "100 Years of
Lynching" and "Without
Sanctuary: Lynching
Photography in America,"
just to name two. But I note
that today, the Equal
Justice Initiative released
"Lynching in America:
Confronting the Legacy of
Racial Terror"; apparently,
it too is a must-read.
Lynch mobs
In "Without
Sanctuary," historian Leon
Litwack writes that
between 1882 and 1968, an
estimated 4,742 blacks met
their deaths at the hands of
lynch mobs. The impact
this campaign of terror had
on black families is impos
sible to explain so many
years later. That number
contrasts with the 1,401
prisoners who have been
executed legally in the
United States since 1976.
In modern terms, that nurti
ber represents more than
those killed in Operation
Iraqi Freedom and more
than twice the number of
American casualties in
Operation Enduring
Freedom ? the
Afghanistan conflict.
Turning to honie, this num
ber also represents 1,700
more than who were killed
on Sept. 11. Those who
died at the hands of mobs,
Litwack notes, some were
the victims of "legal"
lynchings -r- having been
accused of a crime, subject
ed to a "speedy" trial and
even speedier execution.
Some were victims of pri
vate white violence and
some were merely the vic
tims of "nigger hunts" ?
murdered by a variety of
means in isolated rural sec
tions and dumped into
rivers and creeks.
z"Back in those
days," according to black
i Mississippians describing
the violence of the 1930s,
i "to kill a Negro wasn't
nothing. It was like killing
a chicken or killing a
snake. The whites would
say, 'niggers jest supposed
to die, ain't no damn good
anyway ? so jest go an'
kill 'em.' ... They had to
have a license to kill any
thing but a nigger. We was
always in season." Said one
white Mississippian, "A
white man ain't a-going to
be able to live in this coun
try if we let niggers start
getting biggity." And, even
when lynchings had
decreased in and around
Oxford, one white resident
told a visitor of the reaf
firming quality of lynch
ings: "It's about time to
have another [one]," he
explained, "[w]hen the nig
gers get so that they are
afraid of being lynched, it
is time to put the fear in
them."
Crimes of
the past
How could hate, fear or
whatever it was transform
genteel. God-fearing, God
loving Mississippians into
mindless murderers and
sadistic torturers? I ask that
same question about the
events which bring us
together on this day. Those
crimes of the past, as well
as these, have so damaged
the psyche and reputation
of this great state.
Mississippi soil has
been stained with the blood
of folk whose names have
become synonymous with
the Civil Rights Movement
like Emmett Till, Willie
McGee, James Cheney,
Andrew Goodman,
Michael Schwerner,
Vernon Dahmer, George W.
Lee, Medgar Evers and
Mack Charles Parker. But
the blood of the lesser
known people like Luther
Holbert and his wife, Elmo
Curl, Lloyd Clay, John
Hartfield, Nelse Patton,
Lamar Smith, Clinton
Melton, Ben Chester
White, Wharlest Jackson
and countless others, satu
rates these 48,434 square
miles of Mississippi soil.
On June 26, 2011, four
-One white Mississippian
days short of his 49th birth
day, the blood of James
Anderson was added to
Mississippi's soil.
The common denomi
nator of the deaths of these
individuals was not their
race. It was not that they all
were engaged in freedom
fighting. It was not that
they had been engaged in
criminal activity, trumped
up or otherwise. No, the
common denominator was
that the last thing that each
of these individuals saw
was the inhumanity of
racism.
The last thing that each
felt was the audacity and
agony of hate, senseless
hate: crippling, maiming
them and finally taking
away their lives.
Mississippi has a tor
tured past, and it has strug
gled mightily to reinvent
itself and become a New
Mississippi. New genera
"A white man ain't a-going to
be able to live in this country if we
let niggers start getting biggity."
tions have attempted to pull
Mississippi from the abyss
of moral depravity in
which it once so proudly
floundered in. Despite
much progress and the
efforts of the new genera
tions, these three defen
dants are before me today:
Deryl Paul Dedmon, Dylan
Wade Butler and John
Aaron Rice. They and their
co-conspirators ripped off
.the scab of the healing
scars of Mississippi ...
causing her (our
Mississippi) to bleed again.
Hate comes in all
shapes, sizes, colors, and
from this case, we know it
comes in different sexes
and ages. A toxic mix of
alcohol, foolishness and
unadulterated hatred
caused these young people
to resurrect the nightmarish
specter of lynchings and
lynch mobs from the
Mississippi we long to for
get. Like the marauders of
ages past, these young folk
conspired, planned, and
coordinated a plan of attack
on certain neighborhoods
in the city of Jackson for
the sole purpose of harass
ing, ter
rorizing,
physi
cally
assault
ing and
causing
bodily
injury to
black
folk.
They
punched
and kicked them about
their bodies ? their heads,
their facer They prowled.
They came ready to hurt.
They used dangerous
weapons; they targeted the
weak; they, recruited and
encouraged others to join
in the coordinated chaos;
and they boasted about
their shameful activity.
This was a 2011 version of
the nigger hunts.
Anderson
June 26,2011
Though the media and
the public attention of these
crimes have been focused
almost exclusively on the
early morning hours of
June 26, 2011, the defen
dants' terror campaign is
not limited to this one inci
dent. There were many
scenes and many actors in
this sordid tale which
played out over days,
weeks and months.
There are unknown vic
tims like the John Doe at
the golf course who begged
for his life and the John
Doe at the service station.
Like a lynching, for
these young folk going out
to "Jafrica" was like a car
nival outing. It was funny
to them ? an excursion
which culminated in the
death of innocent, African
American James Craig
Anderson. On June 26,
2011, the fun ended.
But Syen af'er
Anderson's ^murder, the
conspiracy \continued ...
And, only Because of a
video, which tokl_a differ
ent story from that which
had been concocted by
these defendants, and the
investigation of law
enforcement ? state and
federal law enforcement
working together ? was
the truth uncovered.
Our children
What is so disturbing ...
so shocking ... so numbing
... is that these nigger hunts
were perpetrated by our
children ... students who
live among us ... educated
in our public schools ... in
our private academies ...
students who played foot
ball lined up on the same
side of scrimmage line with
black teammates... average
students and honor stu
dents. Kids who worked
during school and in the
summers; kids who now
had full-time jobs and
some of whom were even
unemployed. Some were
pursuing higher education
and the Court believes they
each had dreams to pursue.
These children were from
two-parent homes and
? some of whom were the
children of divorced par
ents, and yes some even
raised by-a single parent.
No doubt, they all had Lov
ing parents and loving fam
ilies.
In letters received on
his behalf, Dylan Butler,
whose outing on the night
of June 26 was not his first,
has been described as "a
fine young man," "a caring
person," "a well mannered
man" who is truly remorse
ful and wants to move on
with his life ... a very
respectful ... a good man ...
a good person ... a lovable,
kindhearted teddy bear
who stands in front of bul
lies ... and who is now
ashamed of what he did.
Butler's family is a mixed
race family: For the last 15
years, it has consisted of an
African-American stepfa- ^
ther and stepsister, plus his
mother and two sisters. The
family, according to the
stepfather, understandably
is "saddened and heartbro
ken."
These were everyday
students like John Aaron
Rice, who got out of his
truck, struck James
Anderson in the face and
kept him occupied until
others arrived. ... Rice was
involved in multiple excur
sions to so-called "Jafrica",
but he, for some time,
according to him and his
mother, and an African
American friend shared his
home address. And, sadly,
Deryl Dedmon, who strad
dled James Anderson and
struck him repeatedly in
the face and head with his
See Speech on A6
As we mark Bloody Sunday, North Carolina is our Selma
Dr.
William
J.Barber
Guest
Columnist
In 1950, fifteen years
before the Selma-to
Montgomery march,
William Faulkner, one of
the South's greatest
authors, wrote, "The past is
never dead. It's not even
past." In 2015, as we com
memorate the 50th anniver
sary of Bloody Sunday,
Faulkner's insight is as hue
as ever. /
Nearly two years ago,
the United States Supreme
Court ruled to hollow out
the Voting Rights Act of
1965, allowing several
state legislatures, mostly in
the South, to open their
bags of disenfranchisement
tricks and pass voter sup
pression laws aimed at
curbing the progressive
vote. Chief Justice John
Roberts tried to justify the
Court's 5-4 decision by
writing, "Our country has
changed, and while any
racial discrimination in
voting is too much.
Congress must ensure that
the legislation it passes to
remedy the problem speaks
to current conditions."
Underscoring the naive.
nature of that statement,
then-North Carolina House
Speaker Thorn Tillis and
his regressive coalition in
the General Assembly
promptly signed into law
the worst voter suppression
bill since Jim Crow. The
Supreme Court gutted the
VRA on June 25 , 2013.
Forty-eight days later, on
Aug. 12, North Carolina's
elected leaders enacted a
law that not only requires a
government-issued photo
I.D. to vote in 2016 and
after, but also reduced the
early voting and Sunday
voting period and eliminat
ed same-day-registration,
out-of-precinct voting, and
pre-registration for 16- and
17-year-old voters who
would be 18 on Election
Day.
Last fall. Justice Ruth
Bader Ginsburg wrote,
"These measures likely
would not have survived
federal preclearance,"
which had been maintained
for nearly five decades to
prevent exactly the sort of
legislation we saw passed
in North Carolina weeks
after the Shelby ruling.
In our state, the voter
suppression law has often
been referred to as a Voter
a
I.D. law, thereby giving it
an air of "common sense,"
as our legislators like to
say. But it has done so
much more to disenfran
chise North Carolinians
than merely require a photo
I.D. ? although that has
been proven to be discrim
inatory enough in itself.
Isaiah 10 states:
"Woe to those who
make unjust laws,
to those who issue
oppressive decrees,
to deprive the poor of
their rights
and withhold justice
from the oppressed of my
people,
making widows their
prey
and robbing the father
less."
This summer, two years
after the Supreme Court
ruling and the enactment of
North Carolina's voter sup
pression law, the North
Carolina NAACP and other
progressive constituencies
? along with the U.S.
Department of Justice ?
will challenge the discrimi
natory motives and effects
of the Tillis law aimed at
obstructing progressive
votes in North Carolina.
We are confident that we
will win our case, which
we filed 47 minutes after
the legislation was passed
in 2013.
We should never have
had to prosecute it in the
first place. We should
never have had to file this
lawsuit.
And our work would be
much more difficult were it
not for the tireless, pro
bono work of the
Advancement Project.
But our own legislators
forced us into this corner.
Instead of finding ways to
make voting easier for all
North Carolinians, they
spent their time building
new barriers around our
right to vote.
We are glad that Ava
DuVernay made a powerful
movie ["Selma"] based on
a very powerful moment
? and movement ? in
this nation's history.
But Selma is much more
than a movie.
It is a symbol of chal
lenging those who would
limit access to the most fun
damental practice of a
democracy.
In North Carolina, we
are called to challenge those
who, in the 21st century,
have decided to make voting
much more difficult for
thousands of people.
Selma is not dead. It's .
not even past. It is alive in
North Carolina.
Dr. Barber is president
of the N.C. NAACP.
T