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ARREST IN A 1964 Introduction The Southern U.S. state of Mississippi picked up the young men and took them Focus was a seething cauldron of racial tension to a remote wooded area in the Homoch- This CBC News in and violence in the late spring of 1964. It itto National Forest. Here they were tied Review story focus- was the beginning of , to trees and brutally beaten and tortured, es on the remark- able investigative a determined effort by local black civil while the perpetrators demanded infor- documentary of a rights organizations and their Northern mation about an alleged black plot to CBC reporter. It also supporters to flood the state with activ- smuggle firearms into the area in order to profiles the coura- ists from all over the country. Their foment a violent uprising. Neither Moore geous struggle of non-violent campaign’s purpose was to nor Dee knew anything about such a the brother of an achieve racial equality and bring an end plan, which proved to be completely fic- African American to the system of segregation (enforced titious. Despite their denials, their violent who, along with his friend, was separation of races) that had denied local ordeal did not end. Nearly dead, Moore brutally murdered African Americans basic rights such as and Dee were thrown into the trunk of in Mississippi in voting for almost a century. a car, while the perpetrators drove them 1964. Together they Pitted against them were the state’s across the Mississippi River to an island. expose the racist entirely white political power structure, At this point, their nearly lifeless bod- terror that led to racist forces, federal authorities ies were tied to an army jeep engine and the killings and the 40-year cover-up. reluctant to act, and most importantly, some old train rails and flywheels, and an even more dangerous, hidden enemy. dumped into the river. Six months later, This was the proudly racist Ku Klux Navy divers found their remains, with Klan (KKK), a secret white-supremacist obvious marks of the brutal to organization that had been terrorizing which they had been subjected. YV Sections blacks brave enough to demand their Despite the fact that Seale and Ed- marked with wards were arrested within days of this symbol indicate rights across the South since the end of content suitable for the U.S. Civil War. These forces were the deaths of Moore and Dee, and that younger viewers. extremely powerful and totally resistant Seale actually confessed to the , no to any change in the Southern way of charges were ever laid against them, and life that included complete white domi- the killings of these two young African- nance of the region’s economic, social, American men went unpunished. There and political life and the total subservi- was almost no media or public attention directed at this crime at the time. The ence of African Americans to a funda- two white KKK members believed to mentally unjust and undemocratic state have been responsible for the of affairs. This is what the civil rights were allowed to go free and never stood movement, under the inspirational lead- trial for their brutal acts. One reason for ership of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., this almost incredible lapse in the U.S. was determined to end. judicial system is the likelihood that the On May 2, 1964, the eve of Freedom murders of Moore and Dee were soon Summer, two Mississippi black youths, overshadowed by a similar crime: the Charles Moore and Henry Dee, who had killings of three civil rights workers, two absolutely no involvement in the civil of them whites from . Their rights struggle, were hitching a ride near deaths in Mississippi, just over a month the ice cream store in the small town of later, formed the basis for the 1988 Meadville. Local members of the Ku filmMississippi Burning and aroused Klux Klan, including a national and international outcry. By and Charles Marcus Edwards, allegedly

CBC News in Review • April 2007 • Page 33 contrast, the brutal torture and After months of determined investiga- of two Mississippi black men, neither of tion and many setbacks, Moore’s and whom had any association with the civil Ridgen’s efforts finally paid off. In early rights struggle, quickly became forgot- 2007, U.S. Attorney General Alberto ten. Their deaths were relegated to the Gonzalez announced in , “cold case” files of unsolved that D.C., that Seale was to be indicted by a law enforcement agencies were no lon- federal grand jury on two counts of kid- ger actively investigating. napping resulting in the deaths of Moore However, over four decades later, in and Dee. Edwards, who was not indicted, 2006, Thomas Moore, a retired U.S. was believed to be co-operating with the army sergeant-major, and CBC reporter FBI in order to avoid criminal prosecu- and documentary filmmaker David Rid- tion. After almost four decades of neglect gen collaborated in an effort to crack this and inaction, the murders of two inno- long-unsolved and forgotten cold case. cent 19-year-olds, whose only offence They travelled to Mississippi, where was being black in the wrong place at the they tracked down Edwards, and even wrong time, were receiving the atten- more surprisingly Seale, who was widely tion they should have been given years believed to have died. Using FBI docu- ago. And for Thomas Moore, whose life ments from the time and the testimony of has been haunted by the trauma of his eyewitnesses who had been reluctant to brother’s brutal killing and the 42-year- come forward, they pressured local and old cover-up that followed, justice was national law enforcement agencies to re- finally achieved. It took the remarkable open the case. At the same time, Moore efforts of a brave and determined Afri- spoke to black church groups in the area, can-American man and the journalistic who staged peaceful demonstrations and investigative skills of a Canadian reminiscent of the days of the civil rights reporter to achieve what local and federal era, demanding justice and the laying of law enforcement agencies in the United charges against Edwards and Seale. At States had been unable or unwilling to long last, national media outlets such as do over the course of four decades. The and CNN started Mississippi cold-case file of 1964 was reporting on the case, raising public finally closed, and those accused of the awareness of it and pressuring authorities brutal, senseless murder of two young to act. men would at last face the justice system.

To Consider 1. Why were racial tensions at such a high pitch in the Southern U.S. state of Mississippi in 1964? How did this situation affect what happened to Charles Moore and Henry Dee?

2. Why were the murders of Moore and Dee not solved, despite the fact that those allegedly responsible for them were well known locally and to law- enforcement agencies?

3. How did Thomas Moore and CBC reporter succeed in having the case re-opened and the alleged perpetrators of the crime brought to justice?

4. Before reading this News in Review story, how aware were you personally of the deep racial hatred in the Southern U.S. during this period?

CBC News in Review • April 2007 • Page 34 ARREST IN A 1964 YV Video Review

1. What were the names of two young African-American men who were kid- Watch the video napped, tortured, and murdered in Mississippi in ? and answer the questions in the spaces provided. 2. What are the names of the two white Mississippi residents who are be- lieved to have been the ringleaders in the killings of these two young men? Further Research To stay informed about this case, 3. How did CBC reporter David Ridgen come to be involved in trying to solve consider visiting the this cold-case file? official Web site of the Attorney Gen- eral of the United 4. a) What is the name of the brother of one of the murdered young men? States at www. usdoj.gov/ag. b) Why was finding those responsible for his brother’s death so important to him?

5. What motive could local whites have for killing these two young African- American men? Why were their killings so brutal and cruel?

6. How did both local and national law-enforcement agencies work to stall the case and prevent it from going to trial in 1964?

7. What remarkable discovery did Ridgen and Moore make shortly after arriv- ing in Mississippi to investigate the case in 2006?

8. How did this discovery reawaken media interest and attention in the case?

CBC News in Review • April 2007 • Page 35 9. How did Thomas Moore confront one of the two men he believed was re- sponsible for the murder of his brother? What effect did this confrontation have on solving the case?

10. Where does the case stand as of spring 2007?

For Discussion 1. Why do you think a murder case such as this one could have remained an uninvestigated cold case in Mississippi for over four decades? Do you think a similar situation could have occurred in Canada? Why or why not?

2. The video contains a number of powerful scenes involving confrontations involving Thomas Moore, the brother of one of the murdered youths. Which of them do you find most dramatic, and why?

3. As a Canadian, how do you feel about the fact that it took the journalistic efforts of a CBC reporter to crack a murder case that both local and federal judicial authorities in the had been either unable or unwill- ing to solve for over 40 years?

4. Why do you think the was such a powerful and feared orga- nization in Mississippi and across the U.S. South during the 1960s? Why is it no longer such an influential group there?

5. How do features such as the photography, accompanying music, and in- terviews with local residents create an atmosphere or mood for this story? How does this mood affect your viewing of the video?

6. At one point in the video, Thomas Moore expresses his deep desire for revenge for the killing of his brother, including plans to attack innocent white people in retaliation. How was he able to overcome this rage and channel it into a more constructive and positive direction?

CBC News in Review • April 2007 • Page 36 ARREST IN A 1964 MISSISSIPPI COLD CASE Martyrs for Civil Rights Although the brutal kidnapping, torture, and killing of Charles Moore and Henry Dee was not directly related to the for the Advancement of Colored People), Further Research U.S. that was Moore dedicated his life to the struggle To learn more sweeping the South during the 1960s, for racial justice. He campaigned for about the past and present work of the their deaths were undoubtedly racially equal salaries for black and white NAACP consider a motivated. The individuals allegedly teachers, an end to racially segregated visit to the official responsible were members of the Ku schools, and voting rights for ’s Web site at www. Klux Klan, a violent white supremacist black population, winning many vic- .org. organization determined to halt racial tories on these fronts. In 1949, he took integration and keep Southern blacks the lead in investigating the notorious in an inferior position to the dominant Groveland case, where four young whites. Since the end of Second World black men had been charged with raping War, a civil rights movement emerged a white woman, provoking a white mob in the , deter- rampage in the town. The U.S. Supreme mined to put an end to racial injustice Court overturned the in 1951 and achieve equality for the region’s after finding that the defendants had been blacks. With the enactment of the Civil brutally beaten and tortured by local Rights Act (1964) and Voting Rights police. Shortly after, two of them were Act (1965), their largely non-violent shot, and one killed, by Lake County efforts achieved some measure of suc- Sheriff Willis McCall, a notorious racist cess. and discrimination against and supporter of the Ku Klux Klan. The blacks did not entirely disappear, and in shootings triggered a national outcry for fact still exist today. But because of the justice, and Moore called for McCall’s efforts of the civil rights movement it is dismissal and for murder. no longer possible for Southern states to On Christmas Day 1951, a bomb maintain the legal system of segregation exploded just beneath the bedroom of that prevented blacks from voting, at- Henry and ’s house in tending the same schools as whites, and Jacksonville, Florida. Moore died on his using public facilities such as restau- way to hospital, and his wife succumbed rants, buses, and washrooms. to her injuries nine days later. The kill- Over the course of this epic struggle ings of these two civil rights workers for civil rights in the U.S., a country caused nationwide protests. Both Florida that supposedly stands for democracy governor Fuller Warren and President and freedom and promotes these values Harry S Truman were deluged with tele- worldwide, many people, black and grams calling for an FBI investigation of white alike, paid with their lives for the the case. One year later this happened, victory over prejudice and injustice. and it quickly became clear that agents Here are profiles of some of them: of the Florida Ku Klux Klan may have been responsible for the bombing. Three Harry T. and Harriette Moore Klan members were identified, one of Harry T. Moore and his wife Harriette whom committed suicide shortly after are two of the unsung heroes of the U.S. his name was made public. But despite civil rights movement. As a teacher, many subsequent investigations, the case school principal, and later state organiz- of the murders of Henry and Harriette er of the NAACP (National Association Moore remains unsolved, a “cold case”

CBC News in Review • April 2007 • Page 37 similar to the one involving Charles In early June, a local television sta- Definition Moore and Henry Dee in Mississippi tion took the unprecedented step of Molotov cocktail over a decade later. inviting Evers to present the goals of usually refers to a crude incendiary Source: The Legacy of Harry T. and Har- the civil rights movement on air. It was device such as a riette Moore. www.naacp.org/about/his- the first time a black spokesperson had bottle filled with an tory/moores_story/ ever been given such an opportunity. inflammatory liquid Evers rose to the challenge, presenting such as gasoline. the case for justice and an end to racial A lit wick causes a burst of flame A native of Mississippi, Medgar Evers segregation in a moving, persuasive when the device is was a distinguished Second World War way. This was the last speech he ever broken after be- veteran who became actively involved was to make, however. Just days later, ing thrown. It was in the civil rights movement in his on June 12, 1963, as he was returning named after Soviet home state after the end of the war. home from a meeting with NAACP Foreign Minister lawyers, a bullet struck him in the back. Molotov when He became president of the Regional used by Hungarians Council of Negro Leadership (RCNL), He managed to stagger into his home during a national- an organization dedicated to promot- before collapsing and dying in the local ist rising against ing civil rights and self-help for African hospital less than an hour later. On that the Russian-backed Americans. In this role he staged a suc- same evening, President John F. Ken- Communist regime cessful boycott of local service stations nedy made his first national television in 1956. that prevented blacks from using their address dealing with the civil-rights restrooms, and attracted the attention issue. of the NAACP. In 1954, he applied for Evers was buried with full military admission to the all-white law school honours in Washington’s Arlington Na- of the University of Mississippi, but tional Cemetery at a service attended by was rejected. However, as a result of his over 3 000 people. Within days of his ongoing campaign to desegregate the murder, a local fertilizer salesman and state’s schools and institutions of higher active member of the Ku Klux Klan, learning, the university was finally com- Byron de la Beckwith, was arrested and pelled to admit , its first charged with the crime. During his first black student, in 1962. trial, de la Beckworth received many As the first NAACP field officer in distinguished visitors while in jail, Mississippi, Evers was the target of including Mississippi Governor Ross many death threats from the Ku Klux Barnett and Major Edwin A. Walker, a Klan and other white supremacist prominent U.S. military commander. organizations. But this did not stop him Despite overwhelming evidence, the from speaking out for justice and an end jury in the trial was unable to reach a to . He publicly called verdict, and de la Beckworth went free. for the re-opening of the murder case of Outrage over the assassination of , a young African-American Medgar Evers, perhaps one of the teenager from who had been most gifted leaders the U.S. civil rights brutally beaten and killed in Mississippi movement ever produced, was wide- in 1955 while visiting his relatives. On spread. A number of songs, including May 28, 1963, a Molotov cocktail was ’s haunting ballad, “Only a thrown into the carport of Evers’ home Pawn in Their Game,” kept the memory in Jackson, Mississippi. Days later he of Evers and his tragic death alive for narrowly escaped being run over by a years afterward. Finally, in 1994, a new car after leaving the local NAACP trial was convened based on evidence office.

CBC News in Review • April 2007 • Page 38 that de la Beckwith had confessed to the prehended. Prior to their arrest, the men crime decades before. Evers’ body was had informed a local civil rights group exhumed for an autopsy, and on Febru- that they believed the White Citizens ary 5, 1994, de la Beckwith was finally Council, a pro-segregation organization convicted of his murder. He appealed with close ties to the Ku Klux Klan, had unsuccessfully and died in prison in recorded their licence number. After January 2001. being detained briefly and fined, they After Evers’ body was exhumed, he were ordered to leave the county. Price was given a new funeral, permitting his followed them to the edge of town, in now-grown children, who were toddlers the direction of Meridian. at the time of their father’s murder, to The next day, the burned remains of know and appreciate what he had done. the station wagon were found with three In 1970, Medgar Evers College was hubcaps missing, in the opposite direc- opened in Brooklyn, New York, as part tion to where the trio had been heading of the City University. Ghosts of Missis- after they were released from custody. sippi, a movie based on the 1994 trial, But Chaney, Goodman, and Schwer- received critical and box office success. ner were nowhere to be found. Despite Evers’ brother Charles succeeded him pleas for a police investigation of their as NAACP field officer, and his wife, disappearance, Neshoba County Sheriff Myrlie, also became a noted civil rights Lawrence Rainey dismissed public con- activist. cerns, claiming that the three men were Source: Wikipedia entry, “Medgar just hiding in order to create negative Evers,” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ publicity about the state of Mississippi. Medgar_Evers Even worse, Governor Paul Johnson speculated that they could be “in Cuba.” The Case However, on August 4, 1964, po- Just over a month after the killings of lice made a grim discovery on Olen Charles Moore and Henry Dee, three Burrage’s Old Jolly Farm, just six miles more young men would meet violent south of , Mississippi. deaths at the hands of the Ku Klux Klan The bodies of Chaney, Goodman, and in Mississippi. On , 1964, James Schwerner were unearthed, showing Chaney, a 21-year-old African American clear signs of having been shot, and from Meridian, Mississippi, was travel- in Chaney’s case brutally beaten. In ling with two white New Yorkers, An- 1967, 18 local white residents, many drew Goodman, aged 20, and Michael of whom had close ties with the White Schwerner, 24, when Neshoba County Citizens Council and the Klan, stood deputy sheriff stopped their trial for violating the civil rights of the car for an alleged speeding offence. three murder victims. Seven were found Goodman and Schwerner had only been guilty, including E.G. Barnett, a Demo- in Mississippi for one day and along cratic Party candidate for sheriff, and with Chaney had just completed their , a local preacher. But training in non-violent civil disobedi- a deadlocked jury eventually set all of ence at a local college. They were to them free. participate in the Freedom Summer For over four decades, the murders of actions of the civil rights movement in these three civil rights workers main- Mississippi, specifically the investiga- tained a powerful hold over the imagi- tion of the burning of a black church a nation of many people in the United few days before, when they were ap-

CBC News in Review • April 2007 • Page 39 States and elsewhere. Since two of them very reluctant to involve the agency were white and the other black, and all in investigating the racially motivated were committed to the civil rights strug- murders of civil rights workers in the gle, they came to be regarded as true South. Kennedy was facing re-election martyrs to the cause of racial justice. in 1964 and feared alienating white vot- The fact that Schwerner and Goodman ers in the region if he pushed too hard were Jewish also indicated the strong on civil rights. Hoover was convinced support that America’s Jewish commu- that Martin Luther King Jr., the most nity gave to the civil rights movement important leader of the movement, was at that time. But it also played into the a communist. hands of racists in the South who were Forty years after the killings of anti-Semitic as well as anti-black. Chaney, Goodman, and Schwerner, a The killings of these three young men multi-racial group of citizens met in provided material for a number of films, Philadelphia to demand that the case including a CBC made-for-television be re-opened. It pressured Mississippi movie Attack on Terror: The FBI vs. Governor Haley R. Barbour to act, and the Ku Klux Klan, which aired in 1974, on , 2005, Edgar Ray Killen and the more famous 1988 filmMissis - was indicted by a grand jury in Neshoba sippi Burning. These films re-awakened County on three counts of murder. Six public interest in this case, but also months later, on June, 21, he was con- met with severe criticism from black victed of and went to civil rights groups who questioned the prison. sympathetic portrayal of FBI agents Source: Wikipedia entry, “Mississippi in them. At the time, President John F. civil rights worker murders,” http:// Kennedy, his brother Robert, the Attor- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mississippi_civil_ ney General, and even more importantly rights_worker_murders FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover, were

Analysis 1. After reading the profiles of these martyrs of the civil rights movement in the United States, discuss their similarities and differences.

2. Why do you think it took so long for these cases to be solved? What simi- larities and differences do you notice between them and the “Mississippi cold case,” the topic of the CBC News in Review video?

Extension Activity Find out more about other martyrs of civil rights in the United States, includ- ing Emmett Till, the four girls who were the victims of the Birmingham church bombing in 1963, civil rights worker , who was shot in 1965, and Martin Luther King Jr., who was assassinated in 1968.

CBC News in Review • April 2007 • Page 40 ARREST IN A 1964 MISSISSIPPI COLD CASE The Ku Klux Klan: Profile of Hate For well over a century, the invisible empire of the knights of the Ku Klux Klan has conducted a campaign of racial intimida- whites could not permit to happen. The tion, terror, and outright murder across Klan targeted black activists and whites the United States, at times even spread- who had come from the North to help ing into Canada. Although African Amer- them exercise their rights, especially icans have been the main victims of Klan teachers who were educating blacks to hatred and brutality, the organization read and write. Led by Nathan Bedford has also targeted Jews, Catholics, immi- Forrest, a former Confederate general grants, labour organizers, and left-wing and war hero, the Klan conducted a ruth- political figures as its enemies. Today, less campaign of terror across the South, the Klan is regarded as a lunatic fringe burning schoolhouses, threatening teach- ultra-right-wing group, with a shrink- ers, and any blacks bold enough ing membership and almost nonexistent to challenge them. political power and influence. But if one It was at this time that members of studies the history of this white suprema- the Klan began to wear their distinctive cist hate organization from its origins white sheets to conceal their identi- after the U.S. Civil War, it becomes ties during their attacks, which usually clear that the Klan’s strength has ebbed took place under cover of darkness. One and flowed with general trends in race legend has it that Klansmen deliber- relations in the United States over the ately dressed in white in order to terrify course of time. For this reason, it may be blacks into thinking that they were the premature to dismiss the latest doldrums ghosts of Confederate soldiers killed in the Klan now finds itself in as a terminal the war, returning to exact their revenge. phase in the group’s terrorist activities, Along with blacks, Northern “carpet- however much one might hope this to be baggers,” or political officials who had the case. come to the south to assist the Recon- The first Ku Klux Klan was formed struction program of President Ulysses just months after the defeat of the South S. Grant, a former Union Army general, in the Civil War. A group of disgruntled were also targets of the Klan’s wrath. Confederate Army veterans met in Pulas- But within years of its founding, the ki, , to found a secret society Klan had become a liability to Southern they called a kyklos, or “circle” in an- whites interested in halting the advance cient Greek. It was from this expression of black equality because of its violent that the term Ku Klux Klan is believed actions. The 1871 Civil Rights Act, also to have emerged. In the aftermath of the known as the Ku Klux Klan Act, passed war, recently freed African Americans by Grant, authorized federal troops then were enthusiastically starting to act on occupying many of the Southern states the promises of equality and civil rights to crush the organization and arrest its that the federal government had assured leaders. As a result, the Klan declined them were theirs for the taking. All over in membership and influence. However, the South blacks were running for of- in 1877 federal troops were withdrawn fice, establishing schools and organizing from the South and the Reconstruc- social and economic activities designed tion era was over. Within a short period to promote their welfare. They were be- of time, Southern whites had regained coming full citizens of the United States; political control in most states and began this was something that many Southern systematically to undo the gains blacks

CBC News in Review • April 2007 • Page 41 had won in education, voting rights, million people, belonged to the organi- Did you know . . . and access to social services. Segrega- zation, with the figure rising as high as The KKK had tion was ruthlessly imposed. Any black 40 per cent in some Midwestern states. branches in Canada and as late as 1981 rash enough to challenge it faced almost The Klan counted many politicians at the saw its Canadian certain death by lynching. local, state, and even federal levels of leader arrested for After decades of inaction, the Klan government as its members, from both conspiracy to com- gained a new lease on life during the the Democratic and Republican parties, mit murder. First World War, largely as a result of the and it even played a role in determining the favourable portrayal of the organization Democratic candidate for president in 1924. in filmmaker D.W. Griffith’s epic, if -in During this period the Klan also spread accurate historical drama, Birth of a Na- its activities into Canada, especially Sas- tion, in 1915. This film, which purported katchewan, where there was strong nativ- to chronicle the in the ist resistance to recently arrived immi- South, played on every imaginable white grants from Central and Eastern Europe, racial fear and black stereotype. It sought along with French-speaking Catholics to create the impression that the Klan originally from Quebec. The provin- had been heroically fighting in defence cial Conservative Party had close links of the “Southern way of life” against the with the Klan, and aspiring politicians intrusions of corrupt white politicians such as John Diefenbaker, who would and their semi-human black supporters. later become prime minister, shared President Woodrow Wilson, himself a platforms with them. A close advisor to Southerner, publicly endorsed the film, Saskatchewan CCF leader and Premier which became a box office smash. In a T.C. Douglas, the first federal leader testimonial quote used to promote the of the NDP, was also a former Klan film, Wilson wrote that, “the white men member. One provincial politician who were roused by a mere instinct of self- challenged the Klan was Premier James preservation until at last there had sprung Gardiner of the Liberals, who called for into existence a great Ku Klux Klan, a an end to the organization’s campaign veritable empire of the South, to protect of hatred against Catholics and minor- the Southern country.” ity groups. Although the Saskatchewan At the same time, a sensational murder Klan followed many of the practices of case involving the alleged killing of a its American cousins, including wear- white girl in by a Jewish factory ing white robes and holding night-time manager inflamed anti-Semitism and rallies at which crosses were burned and distrust of recently arrived immigrants anti-immigrant speeches were delivered, not only in the South but all across the its actions were never as violent. It faded United States. The Klan was quick to away by the 1930s. seize on this opportunity to broaden its The Klan also began to fade away in list of hate targets and became a leader the United States during the Depres- in the “nativist” movement that swept sion and Second World War era, only to the United States and even Canada dur- revive again in the 1950s as the black ing the 1920s. By this time the Klan civil rights movement began to assert had become a powerful political force itself across the South. The group’s terror in many states; it saw its most rapid targets were those who sought to change growth in the Midwest. It is estimated the system of racial segregation and that during the 1920s about 15 to 20 per white supremacy that had dominated the cent of the adult white male population region since the end of the Civil War. A of the United States, or approximately 4 number of local and state Klan organiza- tions were formed, each one operating

CBC News in Review • April 2007 • Page 42 independently, but all of them dedicated view that Martin Luther King Jr. was a Archives to violence and intimidation. Despite communist. Although it was still capable To explore further the fact that it has frequently been la- of the occasional demonstration and the issue of race relations in a Ca- belled a terrorist organization, the U.S. violent act, by this time the Klan had nadian context, go government never officially banned it became almost an object of ridicule in its to the CBC Digital as an illegal group. Klan members were ludicrous white costumes. Many blacks Archives at www. responsible for the killings of many civil were no longer intimidated by it. One cbc.ca/ rights activists and other blacks during prominent politician, David archives and view the 1950s and 1960s. Because of the Duke, a former Klan organizer, ran for the audio-visual power of the organization, and the fear it governor of the state in the 1990s, only files “Africville: Expropriating Nova struck into many Southerners both black to lose decisively to his opponent. By Scotia’s Blacks” and white at the time, juries were almost 2005, it was estimated that total Klan and “Canada and never able to convict Klansmen charged membership had dwindled to a hard core the Fight Against with the murders of blacks in the area, of about 3 000 members, two-thirds of Apartheid.” allowing many of those responsible for whom lived in the South. It is important terrible crimes to go free. to note that the Klan was never a unified With the achievement of some degree group with a single or central organiza- Further Research of equality for African Americans in the tional structure, but was instead a “fran- To investigate fur- United States resulting from the efforts chise operation” of local cells operating ther the role of the of the civil rights movement, the Klan independently of each other. In this way FBI in fighting hate again began to fade from view in the it resembles another terrorist organiza- crimes in the U.S. 1970s and 80s. Finally, responding to tion, well known since its attacks on the explore the official Web site at www. public outrage over the Klan’s brutal United States on September 11, 2001: Al fbi.gov. campaign of murder, the FBI set up the Qaeda. COINTELPRO program to infiltrate Source: Wikipedia entry, “Ku Klux Klan,” the organization and expose its activi- http://wikipedia.org/wiki/Ku_Klux_Klan ties. However, COINTELPRO had also and “Saskatchewan History – The Ku been used against the civil rights move- Klux Klan in Saskatchewan” http://mem- ment itself, under FBI Director J. Edgar bers.shaw.ca/prairiegiant/public_html/ Hoover’s mistaken, it not delusional, Hist_KKK.html.

Inquiry 1. What were the three main periods in U.S. history when the Ku Klux Klan enjoyed its greatest influence and conducted its most violent terrorist ac- tivities? Why did it fade into obscurity after each of these periods?

2. Why did the Klan become an important organization in Canada, especially in the province of Saskatchewan, during the 1920s? Are you surprised to learn that this group had a substantial following in this country?

3. After reading this passage, do you agree with those who believe that the Klan is unlikely ever to regain much influence over U.S. society? Explain the reasons for your opinion.

4. In your view should the KKK be labeled and treated as a terrorist organiza- tion? Explain.

CBC News in Review • April 2007 • Page 43 ARREST IN A 1964 MISSISSIPPI COLD CASE Activity: A Difficult Choice

Create a scenario where you find that a person who committed a racially moti- vated murder in his youth has fled the United States to escape prosecution and is now living a peaceful life in Canada as a model citizen with a Canadian spouse and children. Do you think it would be your moral obligation to turn him in to the authorities, or should he be allowed to live out the rest of his life in peace?

Form groups with your classmates to compose a list of arguments in favour of and against denouncing this person to the authorities, and decide as a group which course of action you would take if the decision were up to you. Prepare a written statement of your decision to be presented to the class for further discussion. Use the chart below to organize your ideas.

Arguments For Denunciation Arguments Opposed to Denunciation

CBC News in Review • April 2007 • Page 44