One can only say: It's about time. There are many unsolved cases from that time, when men and women were killed or disappeared under suspicious circumstances. One of those cases now supposedly being seriously examined by the FBI occurred in the section of Georgia where my roots are deep: Four young black people, two couples, were slaughtered in Walton County, where some of my relatives still reside and where I've found the burial sites of relatives going back as far as some of my great-great grandparents.
The lynching took place on July 25, 1946. The victims were Roger and Dorothy Malcom; Dorothy's brother George and his wife Mae. George was a veteran of WW2, one of those Blacks who, by their very exposure to the world beyond near-slavery that existed on the cotton farms, were considered "uppity" -- and, thus, a threat. White men were accustomed to having their way with their Black women servants; that may have sparked a fight that led Roger Malcom to stab the son of Dorothy's boss. As he was taken to jail, he predicted that he would not be seen alive again. "They're gonna kill me!"
Later, apparently after the White farmers had readied their plans, the owner of the farm where Dorothy, George and Mae were working offered to drive them into town to bail Roger out of jail. On a circuitous ride back, they stopped at a place along the Apalachee River known as Moore's Ford. The two couples were forced out of the car and marched into the woods and, according to reports, shot hundreds of times.
I'd heard nothing of this story until 1992, when a White man came forward to say that, when he was 10 years old, he'd inadvertently witnessed the entire slaughter in the woods. That brought the case to light to several new generations, though there are still elderly Blacks who know that of which they could not speak in the 1940s. And there are apparently some elderly Whites still in the area who were part of the lynch party.
Unlike in the 1940s, the FBI says it is now trying to do as much as possible to prosecute whoever is still alive (even if barely) in this case and others. As I said: It's about time.
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2 comments:
I experience something of a split reaction when I hear about this kind of thing.
On the one hand, it could provide a sense of closure and justice to those that are still around or whose lives are/were touched by these decades-old crimes.
On the other hand, I don't get to excited about law enforcement agencies finally doing what should have been done so long, ago.
It's like that Chris Rock comedy sketch about people wanting/getting too much credit for stuff they're supposed to do.
No doubt, though, it's good that they're doing something.
NPR said something, this morning, about how the FBI or CIA already had enough information to pursue this case for years/decades.
I can't seem to find a link, at the moment.
I guess I'm mentioning it because the government agency is actually ADMITTED this fact.
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