NPR brings us the news that officials in Franklin County, Mississippi, have agreed to settle a civil suit charging county law enforcement officials with aiding and abetting the Ku Klux Klan in the 1964 murders of Charles Moore and Henry Dee.
NPR’s Michele Norris spoke to Margaret Burnham, an attorney for the families of Moore and Dee, who said this case shows that justice delayed is not always justice denied. The interview’s transcript is on the NPR site here.
Here is the introduction:
“On May 2nd, 1964 in the tiny town of Meadville, Mississippi, two 19-year-old black men disappeared while walking along a highway on the edge of town. Two months later, the partial remains of a black man washed ashore in a remote stretch of the Mississippi River. Police identified the victim as Charles Moore, based on a college I.D. in a pants pocket.
Another two months passed before FBI investigators got an anonymous tip about the disappearance of Moore and his friend, Henry Dee. That informant described how Dee and Moore were kidnapped by the Ku Klux Klan and driven to a wooded area where they were beaten and then tied to an old engine block before being dumped into the river while they were still alive.
The families of the two young men filed a civil lawsuit against Franklin County, Mississippi, claiming that local law enforcement officials aided and abetted the Klan. And today they reached a settlement.” Read much more on the NPR website.
Rest in peace, Charles Moore and Henry Dee.