Senate Apology: Long Overdue

SENATE APOLOGY: LONG OVERDUE-HON. BENNIE G. THOMPSON (Extensions of Remarks - June 17, 2005)

HON. BENNIE G. THOMPSON
OF MISSISSIPPI
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Thursday, June 16, 2005

Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi. Mr. Speaker, I would like to recognize the importance of several issues of historical and contemporary significance involving racial violence in the State of Mississippi.

On Friday, June 10, 2005, the Washington Post ran an article detailing the story of James Cameron; the only living survivor of a lynching. Cameron, a 91 year old native of Marion, Indiana, recalled the ordeal in which he was falsely accused of a rape and murder and then attacked by a mob of white citizens after being arrested and jailed. Once the mob had beaten, kicked, and humiliated three innocent men; they were all lynched. At some point during this process, someone cried out to the mob that James Cameron had nothing to do with the murder, and so he was then taken back to jail where he was eventually detained on robbery charges. Today, James Cameron is alive to see the passage of the U.S. Senate Resolution, apologizing for and acknowledging the failure of Senate to enact anti-lynching legislation.

Though it lacked the signatures of the two Senators representing the State with the most reported incidents of lynching, I commend the United States Senate for their resolution offering a formal apology to the victims of lynching and the descendants of those victims. In 1900, Congressman George White, an African American, introduced anti-lynching legislation which was fought off tooth and nail. Since then, it has taken more than 100 years for the Congress to offer an apology or acknowledge this failure.

The State of Mississippi has had the most lynching reports in the Nation. Since 1882 there have been 581 reported cases of lynching in the State of Mississippi. That tallies in at a whopping 4.7 reported cases each year. These numbers do not include the unreported cases and those "conspiracy theories" like Raynard Johnson of Kokomo, MS, found in his yard hanging from a tree with a belt wrapped around his neck in 2000.

It has been more than 40 years since the murder of Andrew Goodman, James Chaney, and Michael Schwerner, who were lynched in Philadelphia, MS, and it has been more than 50 years since the murder of Emmitt Louis Till, who was lynched in Money, MS. Today, the case of the three civil rights workers and the case of Emmitt Louis Till have been re-opened so that the State of Mississippi can finally bring forth resolution in these murders. These cases have one similar thread; they are perpetuated by the fact that there has been no justice rendered.

The issuance of the U.S. Senate's apology, the re-opening of the case of the three civil rights workers and young Mr. Till are long overdue. It has taken our Nation decades to come to grips with these atrocities. The Senate apology and the justice sought in the murders do not mend the perceived racial rift that has transpired, but the actions are definitely a step in the right direction.

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