Ex-KKK man guilty in 1964 killing

[sonic1]

'scuse my french, but FUCK YEAH!


BBC NEWS

Ex-KKK man guilty in 1964 killing
A former Ku Klux Klan member has been convicted by a US jury of kidnapping and conspiracy in connection with the 1964 murder of two black teenagers.

James Seale, 71, a former labourer and police officer, denied killing Charles Eddie Moore and Henry Hezekiah Dee.

He could face life in prison for the crimes when he is sentenced in August.

The 19-year-olds were said to have been kidnapped and stuffed into a vehicle owned by Seale before being tied up and drowned in the Mississippi river.

Seale was first arrested in 1964 but authorities freed him, citing lack of evidence.

The case was reopened after a campaign by Eddie Moore's brother who discovered Seale was still alive. Seale was rearrested in January.

Dumped alive

The key witness in this case was a confessed Klansman, Charles Marcus Edwards.

In his testimony in Jackson, Mississippi, Mr Edwards said the two teenagers were stuffed alive into the trunk of Seale's car and driven to a farm.

The indictment said he aimed a shotgun at the two black men while fellow Ku Klux Klan members beat them.

Mr Edwards, who was granted immunity for his testimony, said Seale attached heavy weights to the boys and then dumped them alive into the river.

The defence argued Seale should be acquitted because the case was based on the word of an "admitted liar".

The FBI is re-opening several cases from the civil rights era before suspects die.

During the movement of the 1950s and 1960s, dozens of black people were killed by whites who wanted to retain racial segregation.

Few of the crimes were solved, partly because some of the perpetrators were protected by state and local officials.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/h...as/6755267.stm

Published: 2007/06/15 01:46:49 GMT

© BBC MMVII

[GoodSpeak]

It's about damn time.

[Scott Dolan]

Awesome!!!

Stupid fucking redneck shitwad!

[GoodSpeak]

Damn straight, Brudda.

[Sandi22]

An object lesson. I certainly hope it is; that these late date convictions send messages to bigoted cruel racists - loud and clear - we won't forget. We will work to have those who commit such atrocities tried & convicted no matter the length of time it may, or may not take.

Those were some sad, sad times, the times when these horrific acts were taking place. We in California, couldn't believe what it was we were seeing on the news from Mississippi, and other areas in the deep South, and then, come to find out, there were pockets of such hatreds right near where we lived. It was really pretty shocking, as a lot of us kids just couldn't understand it being the way it was in other parts of the country, such blatent, viscous racism, and then when the first Los Angeles riots errupted, the Watts riots, we were even more shocked that we had been living so near such bigotry and hadn't even realized it. We used to go up to Watts quite a bit, drive all through it and other parts of South Central, eat in places, check out the junk and antique stores, and we were never the least bit concerned for our safety, however, there were area's in East Los Angeles we had been warned to stay out of, as the Mexican gangs were so territorial that is one place we avoided, and so did a lot of Mexicans. We used to go up to the Heights to pick up a girl we knew, and the storys she had to tell about that area would curl your hair. In our naivety we had never been exposed to racism, other than to look out for parts of East L.A. as it was really very dangerous. It still is in fact. Racism had never been part of our beings, nor had it been anywhere near our consciousness.

We couldn't believe our eyes when on the news, we saw policemen in the south turning dogs on women and men, how they were attacked by men who had sworn to uphold the law, how they had turned their dogs on so many men and women for no reason at all other than they were asking for equality by marching, or in sit-ins. We saw how they were kicked and clubbed, and then how firehoses were turned on little children, blasted with the terrible pressure of them until they died and/or had their skin torn from their little bodies. We couldn't believe our eyes. Then when little children had to have their hands held by the FBI just to go through crowds of angry white kids and their parents, just to go to school and be unharmed, it just made us feel sick inside. Yet come to find out, we were near it all along and hadn't even known it.

Great about this conviction, and if there are more out there like this person they just convicted, go after them as well. They've been a blight on our world.