Since You Asked…
Jimmy PorterFront page… Clarion Ledger, June 9, 2005 —“Judge denies Killen trial delay.” Edgar Ray Killen is scheduled to go on trial for the June 21, 1964 slayings of James Chaney, Michael Schwerner, and Andrew Goodman. Once again, Mississippi race relations are in the national spotlight.
I graduated from Philadelphia High School in 1963 and pastored churches in Neshoba County from 1963 to 1970. I watched federal marshals and others search fields and remote places for the bodies of the three slain civil rights workers. I, along with others, felt the tension and sensed the fear that had a strangle hold on the majority of the people. As with most, I was in total shock that such hatred could exist in our town.
In recent months I have been asked often, “How do you feel about the trial?” “Should it be happening?” “What good will it do to drag up old feelings, etc.?” “Can’t we just let it go away?” What follows is an honest attempt to come to grips with all these questions.
First, I do not believe there are “statutes of limitations” placed on biblical mandates. There are no God-given time restraints on forgiveness, reconciliation, and peacemaking. God does not have a time clock on making wrongs as right as we possibly can, even though the murders happened over 40 years ago.
Second, I am thankful God gives to each of us not only second but numerous opportunities to do the proper thing. Therefore, I believe our law enforcement agencies, our judicial system, and the citizens of Mississippi deserve an opportunity to review the situation in a calmer, saner atmosphere.
The traditional visual symbol of “Justice” is a blindfolded woman holding scales and a sword. The scales are for weighing right and wrong; the sword is to punish the guilty; the blindfold is to show that she is impartial. This all presupposes she is not deaf because she must listen to all the evidence put be-fore her. Perhaps “Justice” did the best she could under the circumstances 40 years ago, but she needs another chance in a less charged environment.
The third thing I’ve learned by experience is that pain often precedes healing. Once I stepped on broken glass and unknowingly a piece lodged in my foot. For a couple of weeks it appeared to get well but one misstep and it would start bleeding again. When a doctor finally removed the glass, my foot healed completely. It was painful getting the glass out, but it paved the way for the cure.
This trial will be painful to all the involved families and their descendants, but my prayer is that it will help the healing process and bring all of us to a point to where we can move forward together. No, it is not going to be a magic cure for all our racial problems, but it will help some of us. In no way would I dare presume the guilt or innocence of Mr. Killen. That is up to the courts to decide, and we must live with their decision. But we don’t have to continue living with the racism and prejudices of the past. We can choose to do better.
According to Ed Deuschle, Director of Church Planting, there are 76 different people groups in Mississippi. Anglo churches are planting African American and Hispanic churches and sharing facilities with other groups. Our churches are joining with different people groups to “go on mission.” Sometimes it is across town and sometimes it is across the ocean. Deuschle states that each Sunday Mississippi Baptist congregations worship in nine different languages. Yes, it is a new day, and I am excited about our future.
Mississippi is truly multicultural and multiethnic, and it becomes our responsibility to bring our world to Christ, thus overcoming social, racial, economic and language barriers. Apostle Paul said it best, “There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus,” (Galatians 3:28). May we do all we can to become one in Christ, even if it means revisiting our past and dealing with it.