I wasn't watching the Edgar Ray Killen trial very closely but I was still aware of it. Killen was convicted of manslaughter on June 22 for the "Mississippi Burning" killings of civil rights workers James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner in 1964.
I was happy justice finally prevailed in this case, and have little sympathy for the elderly Killen--who never showed or admitted remorse in the case--even though this might mean he dies in prison. But what I've really been thinking about is the media representations of the case, namely two films, one in the mid 70s, and the other in 1988, with Gene Hackman and Willem Dafoe.
The latter film (Mississippi Burning) was entertaining but also an egregious whitewash of the FBI, who, it is now known, fumbled the case badly.
But the lesser-known mid-70s made-for-TV movie (with Peter Strauss--the only actor I remember in it; don't know the name: I've Googled but haven't found anything on the web about it) is much more memorable to me because it impacted my life in a major way. In fact, I can say it was a media-event that changed my life.
I can remember being fascinated and horrified by the case, held in suspense as the three civil rights workers were pulled over by Mississippi police, jailed, and then released to be tracked by Klansmen and, in effect, lynched. I was an impressionable age, 11, and affected, to the point of tears, by the vulnerable and very human heroism of the three murdered men. I can remember clearly thinking that I wanted to be that kind of hero, to follow in their footsteps.
And I did, though not to the point of becoming a martyr for the cause. From that moment, through high school, and then college, and then especially in my hard-core activist days in my 20s, I dedicated myself to working for peace and justice.
Now of course, I am like many of those who were galvanized by the civil rights movement, and then the anti-Vietnam War movement, and were now watching the conviction of an elderly racist on the news, wondering where that passion for justice went.
To be fair to myself, I still occasionally find myself on the barricades these days, though usually I'm beating on a drum, and doing my best to steer clear of the hotheads.
The next time I'm in the streets for a protest (probably the September anti-war mobilization, though maybe before that, who knows), I'll be particularly mindful of Chaney, Goodman, and Schwerner, and grateful for their sacrifice.
I'll also be mindful of the fact that for all my carping about television, once upon a time a made-for-TV movie changed my life.
Posted by jeb at July 6, 2005 9:04 PM | TrackBack