Finally

I'm happy to see the authorities haven't given up on old cases such as this one. I was at the Civil Rights Museum in Memphis a few months ago, and saw an exhibit on this case. I hope the next time I'm there they've had to modify it to reflect a conviction.

If he's convicted, may he rot in prison and then in Hell. May he never know another moment's peace in this or the next life.

I hope everyone on this board and in the Gay community pay attention to this story. This is such a crucial story as it relates to the pursuit of civil rights. The three men killed so visciously and cowardly, knew that there was a chance of harm and even death, but still fought hard to push for civil rights. Their deaths should not be forgotten, nor should the crime go unpunished, and I'm glad to see that even though it may be late, the investigation continued and the criminals have be brought before the judicial system. the fact that Killan (sp) is a preacher just goes to show the kind of preachers there are in the south. People like he, and Sadie Fields (GA Christian Coalition)and her bunch of hate mongers, use religion to back the argument for suppressing equal rights to all people. Even if justice is not brought before he and others die, they will recieve justice at the hand of God. God's fate for them they cannot outrun or hide from.

Is it true that the killer became a minister?

Wade, please stop using such a broad brush when you make statements. Have you ever lived in any other part of the country? There are a few bad ministers/priests in all areas of the country. My brother-in-law happens to be one of the finest men I know and he is a Baptist minister.

He'll probably be like Bobby Frank Cherry who just recently died in prison after being sentenced for the 1964 church bombings. Let us all hope that justic prevails and we can put some closure on these events. I just hope these men's parents are alive to see it.

Yes, I wouldn't dump this all on the South, though that's where the *organized* resistance to African-American civil and human rights was perhaps strongest and fiercest (for obvious reasons). But the state of Missouri now has to allow the Ku Klux Klan to underwrite the repair of a section of its highways, and post a sign that in effect promotes the Klan; the Klan itself was strongest outside the South in Indiana during the 1920s; and I believe as recently as a few years ago, Oregon's constitution had to be changed to allow blacks legally to immigrate there.

So racial, ethnic, religious, sexual, etc. hatred, discrimination and oppression have a long history in the US, throughout the US, and it's a good thing that Reverend Killen, like those other monsters Bobby Frank Cherry and Byron de la Beckwith, finally are tried and convicted.

Why, I have to ask, however, wasn't there more outcry and clamor to have these monsters convicted before? Why do so many assent and acquiesce to the horrors of the past right beneath their own noses?

As we say at Homo Depot when discussing rednecks behaving badly, "think where you are!" This IS Mississippi we're talking about, not Joisey, and things HAVE changed for the better (thank God, though however slowly) in the past 40 years. Better late than never, which was when it looked like we were going to get some resolution and justice.