Forty-one years to the day after three civil rights activists were killed, the guy on trial for their deaths was found guilty of three counts of manslaughter...should have been three counts of murder in my opinion...
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I'm not for the death penalty, but perhaps an appropriate sentence for the self-proclaimed "Christian" Killen, the mayor who sat on the stand and praised him and the Klan, would be to be subjected to the same vicious beating, then be shot, then be buried in an earthen dam, as Schwerner, Chaney and Goodman were. All of those people who sat by and said nor did a thing to stop him and others like him.

Speaking of racism, for those under any delusions, it's not just Mississippi, so sayeth the right-wing New York Post:

Killan isn't just a 'self-proclaimed' Christian, he is an ordained minister who acted as pastor at several area churches.

But I'm sure he asked Jesus/God/whomever for forgiveness, so all is forgotten, right? I mean, come on. If God is willing to forgive him for his wrongdoings, then why should we hold him accountable all these years later? He IS a minister now, after all...

The manslaughter verdict was a disappointment to me, too. Nothing the court could do would make up for the Rev. Killen's actions and those of many others during that part of the civil rights movement. At least it is some progress, I guess. I'm not opposed to the death penalty and if it were ever appropriate, this would be the case. Even with the manslaughter conviction, there is the possibility that he could be in prison until he dies. I hope that's what happens.

As far as Killen's Christian faith goes, I doubt he finds it in conflict with his belief in segregation. I've always heard that Sunday mornings are the most segregated time of the week. And from what I heard about the trial, he shows no contrition for the murders.

[ June 22, 2005, 12:40 PM: Message edited by: memphistn ]

What was even more troubling is the fact that the first three votes during the deliberations were a 6-6 tie. After the third 6-6 tie, the jury notified the judge that they might not be able to come to a decision. Then, came the manslaughter conviction. I'd like to know where the three minorities were on the 6-6 vote.

[ June 22, 2005, 11:58 AM: Message edited by: bobby78751 ]

Did you see the little wheelchair-bound punk knock a microphone away while leaving court after the verdict? The fact that a black journalist was holding the mike, I'm sure, did not have any impact on his actions.

I was also disappointed in the verdicts, but understand that the prosecution faced an uphill battle - dead witnesses, the defendant is an old, frail man with many connections in town - and the manslaughter convinction was clearly an attempt at compromise. Which begs the question - why didn't they indict on a conspiracy to commit murder charge, which might have stuck better.

The best part of the day, though, was watching the former mayor of Philadelphia, MS on Anderson Cooper's show attempt to justify his statements in court that the KKK was a organization of "peace." He actually argued that the Klan did good things for society, and that they were not racist because they would whip white people as often as black.

The fact that a vigilante group was going around beating people in order to maintain a system of social segregation didn't seem to faze him.

Thank God these people are dying out of their own accord.

Yeah, probably in the case of a white person standing up for a black person. Heck, they'd probably even kill a couple of white people, too...just as they did in this case.

AAAUUUGGGHHH! This judge's sympathetic comments to the convicted creep make me sick.
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Boo-hoo for the racist old idiot!

I know Bobby....I've never understood this common thought of people convicted of murder years after the crime....this mentality of...."well, they're old now".....

A duck is a duck is a duck...

I'd love to be the one to slam the cell door shut on the bastard.

NJ