The "Mississippi Burning" Case

Yesterday, more attention was given to the "poor old man" defendant in the "Mississippi Burning" case where three civil rights workers in the early 60s were summarily executed by KKK members. He is indeed an old man now and in poor health. Literally, every time the man goes to court, he has some medical emergency and has to be carted out.

The attorney for this man is a crusty old codger himself, ranting about how unjust it is that this old man is being brought to trial.

But through all of this - and yes, it's not hard to feel sorry for this old man - it's also apparent that this old man who, although supposedly "an ordained minister" has lived a life of hate and nastiness, and yet has been shown far more compassion than those three young men whose only crime was to try to get underprivileged blacks in the South registered to vote.

The KKK isn't ancient history. They're still going today and, in fact, we've seen new chapters open. Under their whitewashed auspices, the CCC, they support GOP candidates, including one discussed as a possible presidential contender for 2008. We don't have the luxury of pretending the KKK is just old history because it's not. In fact, I often wonder how many KKK-thinking people are involved in the current rise of the extreme religious right in this country. Intolerance is their thing, and gays, Jews, blacks, Hispanics, liberals, Democrats, and non-fundamentalist Christians are people many of these types would like to see banished from the American scene.

So yes, it's sad that the government has not prosecuted this man - and his cohorts - sooner. But it's time for justice to be done. This old man has been allowed to live out his life, which is a far better fate than he allowed for those three civil rights workers.