11 März 1965 Jahr - James Reebs' Murder

Beschreibung:

James Reeb (January 1, 1927 – March 11, 1965) was an American Unitarian Universalist minister, pastor, and activist during the Civil rights movement in Washington, D.C., and Boston, Massachusetts. While participating in the Selma to Montgomery marches actions in Selma, Alabama, in 1965, he was murdered by white segregationists, dying of head injuries in the hospital two days after being severely beaten.

Reeb's death provoked mourning throughout the country, and tens of thousands held vigils in his honor. President Lyndon B. Johnson called Reeb's widow and father to express his condolences, and on March 15 invoked Reeb's memory when he delivered a draft of the Voting Rights Act to Congress. The same day, King eulogized Reeb at a ceremony at Brown's Chapel in Selma: "James Reeb symbolizes the forces of good will in our nation. He demonstrated the conscience of the nation. He was an attorney for the defense of the innocent in the court of world opinion. He was a witness to the truth that men of different races and classes might live, eat, and work together as brothers."

In April 1965, four men - Elmer Cook, William Stanley Hoggle, Namon O'Neal Hoggle, and R.B. Kelley - were indicted in Dallas County, Alabama for Reeb's murder; three were acquitted by an all-white jury that December. The fourth man fled to Mississippi and was not returned by the state authorities for trial.[15] The Voting Rights Act was passed on August 6, 1965.

In July 2007, The Boston Globe reported that the FBI's Cold Case Initiative had reopened the investigation into the 46-year-old case. The renewed investigation was also reported by The Anniston Star and The Clarion-Ledger of Jackson, Mississippi. However, in 2011 the case was closed again, and no charges were pursued. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, the decision to close the case was made upon discovery that three of the four men believed to be responsible for the killing were deceased and that Namon Hoggle, the only surviving individual, was tried and acquitted of the crime in state court, which barred him from further prosecution. Namon Hoggle died five years later on August 31, 2016, at age 81.

Investigative journalists from NPR, Andrew Beck Grace and Chip Brantley conducted a multi-year investigation and published their findings in podcast form “White Lies” in May and June 2019.

Zugefügt zum Band der Zeit:

Datum:

Geo-Kennzeichen: