[Music]
[Applause]
I’m standing in the darkness with the
murder of Medgar Evers Medgar Evers
fought against the Nazis in Normandy
returned home to Mississippi to fight
racism all over again that barred
african-americans from restaurants even
restrooms and voting booths Medgar Evers
was denied enrollment at University of
Mississippi law school turned away from
there and so he became field secretary
for the n-double-a-cp in Mississippi
nine years later after all that work
that he had done on the same night that
President Kennedy had told the nation
that the grandsons of slaves were still
not free Byron de la Beckwith murdered
Medgar Evers outside his home Byron de
la Beckwith was never convicted of this
murder but he was convicted of trying to
blow up the home of a Jewish leader New
Orleans so I came to interview this as
notorious assassin because I was
obsessed uh you know when someone tells
me I can’t have something I wanted a
million times worse I mean are you guys
that way right
and so Mississippi had an organization
called the Mississippi sovereignty
Commission was a state segregationist
spy agency from the 50s through the
1970s and it basically collected over
one hundred thirty two thousand
documents photographs by reports they
even collected spy reports on Fannie Lou
Hamer maybe not a surprise but this one
will surprise you Elvis Presley and so
anyway I when I find out that the
Mississippi legislature had sealed all
these spy records for 50 years my first
thought was well there must be something
in there
or they wouldn’t be sealing them
so I began to develop sources and access
the files began to leet me the files and
what they showed what the files show was
at the same time that this state of
Mississippi was prosecuting Byron de la
Beckwith for killing Medgar Evers this
other arm in the state the sovereignty
Commission which is headed by the
governor was secretly assisting the
defense trying to get pickup acquitted
and nobody knew that my story ran
October the 1st 1989 at the time that my
story ran the odds were literally more
than a million to one against the case
ever being reopened re prosecuted but
Myrlie Evers delidio Medgar Evers
believed and she prayed and some amazing
things happen a couple months later
Jackson Police are cleaning out a closet
happened to find a box that contained a
crime scene photographs of the killing
of Medgar Evers including the
fingerprint of Byron de la Beckwith
lifted from the murder weapon a few
months after that Murli ever shared with
me her copy of the court transcripts she
had saved in a safety deposit box and a
few months after that the prosecutor in
the case found the murder weapon in his
father-in-law’s closet which sounds like
I’m making it up but it all really
happened so I decided to go interview
Byron de la Beckwith he lived in Signal
Mountain Tennessee this was April of
1990 went to interview him this is just
outside of Chattanooga we spent about
six hours talking he was you just spewed
races have been hate for all six hours
pretty much and it was dark and he
insisted I like walking me out to my car
and it was like that’s okay you know I
think I can find my way to my car you
know so he walked me out to the car
anyway and gets me out there and all
right just about when I’m getting ready
to get into my car he blocks my way he
says if you write positive things about
white Caucasian Christians God will
bless you if you write negative things
about white Caucasian Christians God
will punish you if God does not punish
you directly several individuals will do
it for him and so his wife and Mamie a
sandwich
I think you can guess what I did with a
sandwich so Barney Lola Beckwith was
indict in the case was brought back to
Mississippi he fought extradition lost
that fight he didn’t realize when I came
and talked to him that I was the one
that wrote the story that got the case
reopened by now he’d figured it out and
so he saw me across the court mrs.
hairboy over there when he dies he’s
going to Africa I turned to my friend
and I’ve always wanted to go to Africa
so Byron de la Beckwith was convicted of
Medgar Evers murder in exact same
courtroom
he’d been tried thirty years earlier and
when the word guilty rang out you could
hear the waves of joy as they cascaded
down the hall till it reached a
four-year full of people black and white
just erupted in shears and Myrlie Evers
and her daughter Reena cheered as well
and I just felt chills because the
impossible had suddenly become possible
not too long after Byron de la Beckwith
was was arrested in that case I met with
this woman her name is Ellie de Mer her
husband is Vernon de Mer Vernon Dame was
a farmer businessman entrepreneur
believed in voting rights for everyone
and fought for those the Klan didn’t
like that attacked him and his family in
the middle of the night January 10th
1966 it was a very cold night so the
Klan set their house on fire he imagined
his two o’clock in the morning you wake
up houses on fire
gun fires coming into the house Vernon
de mer picked up a shotgun ran into the
front of the house began firing back the
Klansmen so his family could I say
escaped safely out of back window
unfortunately the flames of the fire
serious lungs and he died later that day
a few weeks later in the mail came his
voter registration card
he thought his whole life for the ride
of all Americans available folk but
never been about a caste about himself
and this has had four sons in the
military at the time and this is what
they came home to find the guy who were
the firebombing killing of Vernie de mer
was this man is any was sam bowers
sandbars of the head of the white
knights of the ku klux klan response for
at least a dozen killings we know of in
Mississippi and Louisiana Bowers have
been tried for Fernand Amber’s killing
they’d never been convicted and so after
the Vernon Damon family met with me
they met with authorities the district
attorney acted interested but then over
time got cold feet and so in spring of
1997 it looked like I’d pretty much
almost given up on the case I kept
writing about it nothing ever happened
and basically I got this call from this
guy who wouldn’t give me his name but
finally met with me and it turned out he
had overheard Sam Bowers give the orders
to kill Verna daily and so he came
forward and met with authorities they
reopened the case in earnest the guy who
was was had turned state’s evidence back
in the 60s was this man his name was
Billy Roy Pitts he was involved in the
killing dropped his gun got caught plead
guilty to murder got a life sentence for
that plead guilty federal charges got
time for that and so I didn’t know if
this guy was alive or dead or what you
know what the situation was and so I got
on the Internet I know where he was or
whatever and I just literally typed in
his name I didn’t know the city or state
nothing and up at pump Billy Roy Pitts
had his address Denham Springs Louisiana
has telephone number so I called him
first 20 minutes of the conversation
went like this how’d you find me
how’d you find me like it’s on the
Internet
near it I got listed telephone number
him like I guess you have to talk to
them so as a result of my story then he
had never served a single day of his
life sentence Mississippi authorities
issued a warrant for his arrest he
didn’t like that
in fact he ran and while he was on the
run he sent me this tape audiotape in
the mail and I got it I’m playing this
is how it began
Jerry I just thought I’d let you know
you’ve ruined my life
but I promise if I talked anyway I
talked to you so here’s the tape and on
this tape he proceeds to tell me all
those involvement killing Vernon Dam
relevant involvements all this at the
Klan violence so shortly after this he
turn himself in to authorities and this
leads to the arrest of sam bowers and
also his right-hand guys name is deborah
snicks and when the family brought
Deborah’s Naik’s in it was like the most
pitiful sight you’ve ever seen they like
wheeled him in when the wheelchair and
the oxygen tank and pulled him up in
front of the judge and he’s like I can’t
take more than a couple steps about
needing oxygen judge she was like well I
normally do do this but I’m gonna let
you out without bond a dozen days later
this is like a reporter’s dream this is
where we caught him so he got arrested
yeah he loved me so fast-forward now Sam
Bowers goes on trial and guess who’s
there to testify on his behalf but
Devers Nix and this is kind of a tricky
situation because he’s charged with the
same crime right and so and you know
your Fifth Amendment right he is the
self-incrimination you can claim it at
any time if you’re testifying a court so
he’s talking to his lawyer his lawyers
trying to work out a signaling system
win it so and his lawyers talking to him
I happened to hear it it’s like now
Devers when you get up there you need to
take the fifth I’m gonna raise my hand
raise me ever so okay so Deborah’s gets
up there starts testifying looked over
his lawyer about five minutes later
so Deborah’s kept right on testifying
yeah I was in the Klan they tried to put
a positive spin on like there is one why
the Klan was a benevolent organization
passing out fruit baskets of the needy
at Christmas
so under cross-examination of prosecutor
he said mr. Nix just how many fruit
baskets did you pass out Endeavor says
old said to say no I swear it’s the
funniest trial I ever covered in my life
as a reporter daily serious matter of a
funny trial Bauer’s worse represent by
this man is got my name is Travis
Buckley on the right side here and
Buckley was not just a lawyer for these
Klan guys he was a leader in the Klan
okay who’s also indicted for the
firebombing a Verna de Mer
and so he was questioning
cross-examining Billy Roy Pitts about
the planning me to place prior to the
attack on Verna Damon his family he’s
asking about that now how mr. Pitts who
all dull held that planning meeting
Pitts is like let’s see I was there
Devers Nix was there Sam Barris well you
were there and Buckley’s like Oh
objection your honor
yeah I’ve heard a lot of trials in my
life as reporters only trial ever
occurred we’re witness implicated the
defense lawyer himself in the case so
Sam Bowers was convicted August 24
1998 since the life in prison just like
Byron de la Beckwith but here’s the
thing the hate that caused this has
never really gone away and not that long
ago a young man college age right walked
into this church and killed these non
beautiful people before people hate they
fear and before they fear they
dehumanize give themselves permission
really to destroy others you know
whether you’re talking about
figuratively or in this case literally
you know I’ve been threatened dozens of
times and yeah you know I had a Klansman
say he was gonna slit my throat I’ve had
another one say he had pictures of me
and my family knew where he lived and
obviously that’s disturbing and
concerning but it led to an unexpected
gift and that’s the gift of living
fearlessly you know living fearlessly
it’s not about living without fear
living fearlessly is about living beyond
fear living fiercely is about living for
something greater than ourselves it’s as
Martin Luther King said no one really
knows why they’re alive until they know
what they would die for is that true so
far there have been 24 convictions in
these civil rights cold cases but the
most amazing thing has actually been
some of the racial reconciliation not
too long after Sam bowers was convicted
biller Pitts testifying and hearing and
when he got done he walked to the back
of the courtroom and ran into mrs. Damon
the widow of Vernon Dahmer and Billy
Rockets apologized to mrs. Damer
for killing her husband
and asked her to forgive him and she
forgave him and she began to cry and he
began to cry and isn’t that what
Redemption is all about trying to make
things right even when they’ve gone so
terribly wrong in the past may God bless
you as you seek to live fearlessly thank
you so much appreciate
[Applause]
I’m standing in the darkness with the
murder of Medgar Evers Medgar Evers
fought against the Nazis in Normandy
returned home to Mississippi to fight
racism all over again that barred
african-americans from restaurants even
restrooms and voting booths Medgar Evers
was denied enrollment at University of
Mississippi law school turned away from
there and so he became field secretary
for the n-double-a-cp in Mississippi
nine years later after all that work
that he had done on the same night that
President Kennedy had told the nation
that the grandsons of slaves were still
not free Byron de la Beckwith murdered
Medgar Evers outside his home Byron de
la Beckwith was never convicted of this
murder but he was convicted of trying to
blow up the home of a Jewish leader New
Orleans so I came to interview this as
notorious assassin because I was
obsessed uh you know when someone tells
me I can’t have something I wanted a
million times worse I mean are you guys
that way right
and so Mississippi had an organization
called the Mississippi sovereignty
Commission was a state segregationist
spy agency from the 50s through the
1970s and it basically collected over
one hundred thirty two thousand
documents photographs by reports they
even collected spy reports on Fannie Lou
Hamer maybe not a surprise but this one
will surprise you Elvis Presley and so
anyway I when I find out that the
Mississippi legislature had sealed all
these spy records for 50 years my first
thought was well there must be something
in there
or they wouldn’t be sealing them
so I began to develop sources and access
the files began to leet me the files and
what they showed what the files show was
at the same time that this state of
Mississippi was prosecuting Byron de la
Beckwith for killing Medgar Evers this
other arm in the state the sovereignty
Commission which is headed by the
governor was secretly assisting the
defense trying to get pickup acquitted
and nobody knew that my story ran
October the 1st 1989 at the time that my
story ran the odds were literally more
than a million to one against the case
ever being reopened re prosecuted but
Myrlie Evers delidio Medgar Evers
believed and she prayed and some amazing
things happen a couple months later
Jackson Police are cleaning out a closet
happened to find a box that contained a
crime scene photographs of the killing
of Medgar Evers including the
fingerprint of Byron de la Beckwith
lifted from the murder weapon a few
months after that Murli ever shared with
me her copy of the court transcripts she
had saved in a safety deposit box and a
few months after that the prosecutor in
the case found the murder weapon in his
father-in-law’s closet which sounds like
I’m making it up but it all really
happened so I decided to go interview
Byron de la Beckwith he lived in Signal
Mountain Tennessee this was April of
1990 went to interview him this is just
outside of Chattanooga we spent about
six hours talking he was you just spewed
races have been hate for all six hours
pretty much and it was dark and he
insisted I like walking me out to my car
and it was like that’s okay you know I
think I can find my way to my car you
know so he walked me out to the car
anyway and gets me out there and all
right just about when I’m getting ready
to get into my car he blocks my way he
says if you write positive things about
white Caucasian Christians God will
bless you if you write negative things
about white Caucasian Christians God
will punish you if God does not punish
you directly several individuals will do
it for him and so his wife and Mamie a
sandwich
I think you can guess what I did with a
sandwich so Barney Lola Beckwith was
indict in the case was brought back to
Mississippi he fought extradition lost
that fight he didn’t realize when I came
and talked to him that I was the one
that wrote the story that got the case
reopened by now he’d figured it out and
so he saw me across the court mrs.
hairboy over there when he dies he’s
going to Africa I turned to my friend
and I’ve always wanted to go to Africa
so Byron de la Beckwith was convicted of
Medgar Evers murder in exact same
courtroom
he’d been tried thirty years earlier and
when the word guilty rang out you could
hear the waves of joy as they cascaded
down the hall till it reached a
four-year full of people black and white
just erupted in shears and Myrlie Evers
and her daughter Reena cheered as well
and I just felt chills because the
impossible had suddenly become possible
not too long after Byron de la Beckwith
was was arrested in that case I met with
this woman her name is Ellie de Mer her
husband is Vernon de Mer Vernon Dame was
a farmer businessman entrepreneur
believed in voting rights for everyone
and fought for those the Klan didn’t
like that attacked him and his family in
the middle of the night January 10th
1966 it was a very cold night so the
Klan set their house on fire he imagined
his two o’clock in the morning you wake
up houses on fire
gun fires coming into the house Vernon
de mer picked up a shotgun ran into the
front of the house began firing back the
Klansmen so his family could I say
escaped safely out of back window
unfortunately the flames of the fire
serious lungs and he died later that day
a few weeks later in the mail came his
voter registration card
he thought his whole life for the ride
of all Americans available folk but
never been about a caste about himself
and this has had four sons in the
military at the time and this is what
they came home to find the guy who were
the firebombing killing of Vernie de mer
was this man is any was sam bowers
sandbars of the head of the white
knights of the ku klux klan response for
at least a dozen killings we know of in
Mississippi and Louisiana Bowers have
been tried for Fernand Amber’s killing
they’d never been convicted and so after
the Vernon Damon family met with me
they met with authorities the district
attorney acted interested but then over
time got cold feet and so in spring of
1997 it looked like I’d pretty much
almost given up on the case I kept
writing about it nothing ever happened
and basically I got this call from this
guy who wouldn’t give me his name but
finally met with me and it turned out he
had overheard Sam Bowers give the orders
to kill Verna daily and so he came
forward and met with authorities they
reopened the case in earnest the guy who
was was had turned state’s evidence back
in the 60s was this man his name was
Billy Roy Pitts he was involved in the
killing dropped his gun got caught plead
guilty to murder got a life sentence for
that plead guilty federal charges got
time for that and so I didn’t know if
this guy was alive or dead or what you
know what the situation was and so I got
on the Internet I know where he was or
whatever and I just literally typed in
his name I didn’t know the city or state
nothing and up at pump Billy Roy Pitts
had his address Denham Springs Louisiana
has telephone number so I called him
first 20 minutes of the conversation
went like this how’d you find me
how’d you find me like it’s on the
Internet
near it I got listed telephone number
him like I guess you have to talk to
them so as a result of my story then he
had never served a single day of his
life sentence Mississippi authorities
issued a warrant for his arrest he
didn’t like that
in fact he ran and while he was on the
run he sent me this tape audiotape in
the mail and I got it I’m playing this
is how it began
Jerry I just thought I’d let you know
you’ve ruined my life
but I promise if I talked anyway I
talked to you so here’s the tape and on
this tape he proceeds to tell me all
those involvement killing Vernon Dam
relevant involvements all this at the
Klan violence so shortly after this he
turn himself in to authorities and this
leads to the arrest of sam bowers and
also his right-hand guys name is deborah
snicks and when the family brought
Deborah’s Naik’s in it was like the most
pitiful sight you’ve ever seen they like
wheeled him in when the wheelchair and
the oxygen tank and pulled him up in
front of the judge and he’s like I can’t
take more than a couple steps about
needing oxygen judge she was like well I
normally do do this but I’m gonna let
you out without bond a dozen days later
this is like a reporter’s dream this is
where we caught him so he got arrested
yeah he loved me so fast-forward now Sam
Bowers goes on trial and guess who’s
there to testify on his behalf but
Devers Nix and this is kind of a tricky
situation because he’s charged with the
same crime right and so and you know
your Fifth Amendment right he is the
self-incrimination you can claim it at
any time if you’re testifying a court so
he’s talking to his lawyer his lawyers
trying to work out a signaling system
win it so and his lawyers talking to him
I happened to hear it it’s like now
Devers when you get up there you need to
take the fifth I’m gonna raise my hand
raise me ever so okay so Deborah’s gets
up there starts testifying looked over
his lawyer about five minutes later
so Deborah’s kept right on testifying
yeah I was in the Klan they tried to put
a positive spin on like there is one why
the Klan was a benevolent organization
passing out fruit baskets of the needy
at Christmas
so under cross-examination of prosecutor
he said mr. Nix just how many fruit
baskets did you pass out Endeavor says
old said to say no I swear it’s the
funniest trial I ever covered in my life
as a reporter daily serious matter of a
funny trial Bauer’s worse represent by
this man is got my name is Travis
Buckley on the right side here and
Buckley was not just a lawyer for these
Klan guys he was a leader in the Klan
okay who’s also indicted for the
firebombing a Verna de Mer
and so he was questioning
cross-examining Billy Roy Pitts about
the planning me to place prior to the
attack on Verna Damon his family he’s
asking about that now how mr. Pitts who
all dull held that planning meeting
Pitts is like let’s see I was there
Devers Nix was there Sam Barris well you
were there and Buckley’s like Oh
objection your honor
yeah I’ve heard a lot of trials in my
life as reporters only trial ever
occurred we’re witness implicated the
defense lawyer himself in the case so
Sam Bowers was convicted August 24
1998 since the life in prison just like
Byron de la Beckwith but here’s the
thing the hate that caused this has
never really gone away and not that long
ago a young man college age right walked
into this church and killed these non
beautiful people before people hate they
fear and before they fear they
dehumanize give themselves permission
really to destroy others you know
whether you’re talking about
figuratively or in this case literally
you know I’ve been threatened dozens of
times and yeah you know I had a Klansman
say he was gonna slit my throat I’ve had
another one say he had pictures of me
and my family knew where he lived and
obviously that’s disturbing and
concerning but it led to an unexpected
gift and that’s the gift of living
fearlessly you know living fearlessly
it’s not about living without fear
living fearlessly is about living beyond
fear living fiercely is about living for
something greater than ourselves it’s as
Martin Luther King said no one really
knows why they’re alive until they know
what they would die for is that true so
far there have been 24 convictions in
these civil rights cold cases but the
most amazing thing has actually been
some of the racial reconciliation not
too long after Sam bowers was convicted
biller Pitts testifying and hearing and
when he got done he walked to the back
of the courtroom and ran into mrs. Damon
the widow of Vernon Dahmer and Billy
Rockets apologized to mrs. Damer
for killing her husband
and asked her to forgive him and she
forgave him and she began to cry and he
began to cry and isn’t that what
Redemption is all about trying to make
things right even when they’ve gone so
terribly wrong in the past may God bless
you as you seek to live fearlessly thank
you so much appreciate
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