Philadelphia, Mississippi searches for an identity

Valerie Bauman

PHILADELPHIA, Miss. — Years of scrutiny surrounding the slaying of three young civil rights workers more than four decades ago have made folks around here reluctant to talk to outsiders, especially the media.

A town of roughly 7,300 people, Philadelphia has been labeled over the years as a place of racial tension, crime and hatred — a belief reinforced by the 1988 film “Mississippi Burning” and the FBI’s attempts to pursue those responsible for the 1964 murders that shocked the country.

But many residents, black and white, believe their town has changed, and that they have not been given enough credit for their work to ease racial tensions.

Much of that work was carried out by the Philadelphia Coalition, a local organization that urged federal and state authorities to reopen the investigation into the 1964 murders — a push that eventually led to last year’s conviction of 80-year-old Edgar Ray Killen on three counts of manslaughter.

“A good number of black people in the coalition and in the community thought that none of the whites in the community cared,” said Jim Prince, the editor of the weekly Neshoba Democrat. “But when we all sat down at the table, we realized that everyone cared.”

Susan Glisson, director of the William Winter Center for Racial Reconciliation at the University of Mississippi, cautioned that eliminating racism isn’t just about building relationships, but about dismantling a system infused with racism.

“White folks do think everything’s fine,” Glisson said. “When you go to the restaurants everything is integrated ... but you still have older African Americans who are not as engaged in political leadership as they could be, and in positions of economic leadership that they could be. And those things are a result of a legacy of exclusion.”

Killen is serving 60 years in prison for the deaths of James Chaney, Michael Schwerner and Andrew Goodman, civil rights workers who were ambushed by the Ku Klux Klan after their release from the Neshoba County Jail in Philadelphia.

Betty Seales, 61, still remembers the era when the slayings took place, but her experiences as a black woman in Mississippi have not soured her against her hometown.

“I would have to say that the image (outsiders) have is the image of back in the day,” Seales said. “We still have some stereotypes, but they’re everywhere.”

Until the Killen conviction, she said, a reputation of racism was still “hanging over the town” because of the fact that no one was brought to trial for the murder of the civil rights workers.

In 1967, Killen faced federal charges of violating the civil rights of the victims. The all-white jury deadlocked when a juror said she could not convict a preacher. Seven others were convicted in connection with the crimes, with none serving more than six years.

Many residents felt last year’s trial showed how far the town had come.

“We are in a transformation,” Prince said. “We are in a process of educating people. It’s kind of like an abused animal, or an abused child — or someone who’s been told their whole life that they’re bad.”

But some blacks — particularly the older generations — feel that Philadelphia has yet to put aside its past.

“The prejudice is still here,” said 51-year-old Patsy McWilliams. “It’s just done in a different way ... You’re in Philadelphia, Miss. It’s never going to change.”

She said the trial isn’t discussed openly in Philadelphia.

“They should have had (the trial) before the man was 80 years old,” McWilliams said. “I feel like there were more people involved than Killen, and I feel like they all should have been convicted. If the roles had been reversed and a black man had killed someone, I don’t think they would have taken so long”

Reconciliation center director Glisson said the people of Philadelphia must actively break down racial barriers.

“They don’t know each other’s story,” Glisson said. “More specifically, white folks don’t know what a lot of blacks had to go through.”

Ivy Owen, a white member of the Philadelphia Coalition, said that kind of understanding is still very much a work in progress.

“The first thing is to admit you have that racism in the past,” Owen said. “Admit you have a problem — it’s like a 12-step program. And then you have to make amends for your past and that’s a big, big step.”

(Associated Press)