Mississippi Burning

41 years after Ku Klux Klan member Edgar Ray Killen murdered three men near Philadelphia, Mississippi, he has finally faced justice. Of course, that is justice Mississippi style.

Inside the frail, ugly shell that is the body of now 80 year old Killen beats the heart of a monster. The one-time "preacher" has lived a life of hatred, causing terror, agony and horrible death to those he felt were inferior.

Inferior to what? An uneducated, ignorant, stupid and mean little man whose only "virtue" was his caucasian skin.

Mississippi, being the backwater it is and always has been, decided that Killen was not guilty of murder, but the lesser offense of manslaughter. The brain trust needed to prove an intent to kill in order to find Killen guilty of murder. Um, does one not intend to kill a person when that person is beaten into an unconscious state and then shot, at point blank range, in the head? Killen and his partners in the evil that is the KKK murdered three men, James Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner, who were trying to register black voters during Freedom Summer.

Killen faces 20 years in prison for his crimes. At 80 years of age, that means a life sentence, but it is still far, far too lenient a sentence for this vile piece of human waste. Let's see whether Killen is given the maximum sentence.

Mississippi has a well earned and well deserved reputation as one of the most backward states in the wasteland that makes up the American south. The prosecuters in this case trumpet this watered- down verdict as proof that times have changed in Mississippi. The good old boys know, however, that the more things change, the more they stay the same. This is not a true victory, and the fact that it took 41 years to get this far speaks volumes.

Phil Ochs said it best in his 1964 song "Here's to the State of Mississippi":

Here's to the state of Mississippi --
For underneath her borders the devil draws no line;
If you drag her muddy rivers, nameless bodies you will find.
Oh, the fat trees of the forest have hid a thousand crimes;
The calendar is lying when it reads the present time.
Oh, here's to the land you've torn out the heart of --
Mississippi, find yourself another country to be part of!

And here's to the people of Mississippi --
Who say the folks up north, they just don't understand;
And they tremble in the shadows at the thunder of the Klan;
Oh, the sweating of their souls can't wash the blood from off their hands
Where they smile and shrug their shoulders at the murder of a man.
Oh, here's to the land you've torn out the heart of --
Mississippi, find yourself another country to be part of!

And here's to the schools of Mississippi --
Where they're teaching all the children that they don't have to care,
All the rudiments of hatred are present everywhere,
And every single classroom is a factory of despair,
And there's nobody learning such a foreign word as "fair."
Oh, here's to the land you've torn out the heart of --
Mississippi, find yourself another country to be part of!

And here's to the cops of Mississippi --
They're chewing their tobacco as they lock the prison door,
And their bellies bounce inside them when they knock you to the floor;
No, they don't like takin' prisoners in their private little wars,
And behind their broken badges. they are are murderers and more.
Oh, here's to the land you've torn out the heart of --
Mississippi, find yourself another country to be part of!

And here's to the judges of Mississippi --
Who wear the robe of honor as they crawl into the court,
They're guardin' all the bastions of their phony legal fort;
Oh, justice is a stranger when the prisoners report,
When the black man stands accused, the trial is always short.
Oh, here's to the land you've torn out the heart of --
Mississippi, find yourself another country to be part of!

And here's to the government of Mississippi --
In the swamp of their bureaucracy, they're always bogging down,
And criminals are posing as the mayors of the towns;
And they hope that no one sees the sights and no one hears the sounds,
And the speeches of the governor are the ravings of a clown.
Oh, here's to the land you've torn out the heart of --
Mississippi, find yourself another country to be part of!

And here's to the laws of Mississippi --
Congressmen will gather in a circus of delay,
While the Constitution's drowning in an ocean of decay;
"Unwed mothers should be sterilized," I've even heard them say;
Yes, corruption can be classic in the Mississippi way.
Oh, here's to the land you've torn out the heart of --
Mississippi, find yourself another country to be part of!

And here's to the churches of Mississippi --
Where the cross, once made of silver, now is caked with rust,
And the Sunday morning sermons pander to their lust;
Oh, the fallen face of Jesus is choking in the dust,
And Heaven only knows in which God they can trust.
Oh, here's to the land you've torn out the heart of --
Mississippi, find yourself another country to be part of!

May the families of James Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner find comfort in the fact that this vicious killer has been brought to a semblance of justice, and may the souls of the three murdered men rest in peace.