The Dark Evil of Racism :: essays research papers

It is a great deal easier to confront the racism of the 1960s than the racial and economic in skilfulices of today.While Im joyful that racist vigilantes such as Edgar Ray Killen have finally been called upon to allowance for their crimes, we have work to do in the here and now.Killens conviction is champion of several historical reckonings.In 1994, Byron de la Beckwith was convicted of murdering civil-rights leader Medgar Evers in 1963. Then, just last year, the FBI reopened the 1955 Emmett Till case after finding that as many as 10 more people may have been tangled in his abduction and murder. And now Killen will wantly go to prison for the balance wheel of his life for his part in the brutal 1964 murders of civil-rights activists Michael Schwerner, Andrew Goodman and mob Chaney.These murder cases stayed unresolved for decades, and their resolution may give some sense of closure to the submission families of the victims. But these triumphs are largely symbolic. By congra tulating ourselves too much for them, we chance neglecting the challenges of the present.Theres justice for all in Mississippi, state Attorney General James Hood said after the Killen conviction.But the reality on the terms belies Hoods rosy scenario. The lives of black Mississippians, 41 years after the civil-rights murders of 1964, are shut up mired in poverty and inequality.Yes, there are black take officials now, but the economic prospects for black people -- and many whites -- is grim. The state suffers whiz of the nations highest illiteracy rates. More than 38 percent of the states black families live in poverty, in contrast to 14 percent of whites, according to the Kaiser Foundation. This doesnt sound like justice to me.Killen and his ilk carried out their crimes under white hoods and the darkness of night.