mississippi burning trial Essay -- essays research papers

The Mississippi Burning Trial† was not for the cold-blooded murders of three young civil rights workers, but rather for the violation of their civil rights. The federal government wanted to break Mississippi’s â€Å"white supremacy† stronghold on the South. â€Å"The Mississippi Burning Trial† proved to be the opportunity to do so. The three branches of the federal government and their various departments were actively involved in bringing about this civil rights trial in Mississippi and these activities and personal views are well documented in court records, department records, and the press. The federal government’s Michael Schwerner, James Chaney, and Andrew Goodman were working to register black voters in rural areas and small towns of Mississippi. Their deaths were brutal at the hands of local Klu Klux Klan members. Brutality, however, was the norm for dealing with â€Å"outsiders, niggers, and nigger lovers† who dared to try to force Mississippi to change. The violence and racist language that make our skin crawl today was not only accepted by the majority of white Mississippians, but was openly practiced. Being of like minds,the powers of Mississippi knew they could count on one another for support from the local to the national levels. The federal government had the manpower, communications network, and finances to break apart Mississippi’s white racist unity. If racial equality were to succeed in the South, it would have to come by way of the powerful federal government. In 1964 The Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) organized a 600 volunteer campaign to go into Mississippi and register black voters. It would be highly dangerous for there was little to no protection offered by local and county officials against KKK violence. J. Res Brown, one of only four black lawyers in Mississippi warned, â€Å"You’re going to be classified into two groups in Mississippi: niggers and nigger-lovers, and they’re tougher on nigger lovers.† Michael Schwerner, a Jewish New Yorker, had already spent six months in Mississippi working for the Congress of Racial Equality. He knew how bad it was in Mississippi. He described Mississippi, â€Å"Is the decisive battleground for America. Nowhere in the world is the idea of white supremacy more firmly entrenched, or more cancerous, than in Missi... ...Sheriff Lawrence Rainey. Three defendants had no verdict. Judge Cox sentenced Bowers to ten years and Cecil Price to six. In defending his sentences Judge Cox was quoted as saying, â€Å"They killed one nigger, one Jew, and a white man. I gave them what I thought they deserved.† The South was shocked that even seven of the defendants were found guilty; the rest of the nation was relieved. The Imperial Wizard of Mississippi’s Klu Klux Klan was sentenced to prison. The arrogant Judge Cox had been humbled. "The Mississippi Burning Trial† was the first trial in Mississippi history where white jurors found white men guilty of crimes against â€Å"outsiders, niggers, and nigger lovers†. The controlling white supremacist mentality of Mississippi had been cracked. From the President of the United States and the US Supreme Court to the FBI field workers and Navy Sailors, the federal government had invested a great deal of man-hours and money into this civil rights trial. The federal government viewed this partial victory as a giant step towards civil rights equality not only in the state of Mississippi, but the rest of the South.