Mr. Orr--the brave ones speak out so the rest of us will never forget. I thank you; I believe the state of Mississippi owes you reparations. We lack real heroes these days. You aren't "carrying openly", you aren't using harsh and derogatory language against these "police". You are a gentleman and my hero for today.
27
The graphic accompanying this op-ed is terrific! Strong work, Cleon Peterson.
7
Jim Dann, a dear friend who has since died, wrote an amazing book: "Challenging the Mississippi Firebombers" describing his year (1964 - 1965) in the south. Sadly there are far too many stories just like this.
I encourage all who are interested in this issue to read Jim's account of what he faced trying to help get everyone registered to vote.
I encourage all who are interested in this issue to read Jim's account of what he faced trying to help get everyone registered to vote.
9
Why don't we look up every televised bigot from the civil rights era and ask them about their views now. If they have change all the beatings and torture was for something. If they haven't,now we know that change can only occur throughout their deaths
4
I assume one point of this article is that what happened to you 50 years ago, is relevant today. Certainly many of the comments support that view. But I just don't see it. Ferguson is in no way similar to Mississippi in 1965. Neither is Cleveland, Staten Island, Baltimore or any other place in you care to name in America. If progress in jobs, education, wealth, etc. has been disappointing, the cause is self imposed. Ferguson turned out to be a fraud. Baltimore is a disaster. School busing has failed. Affirmative Action is apparently permanent. Al Sharpton is no MLK. The Civil Rights activists in the 50's and 60's were heroic. The activists today are mostly opportunistic scoundrels. Disappointing.
3
Talking about it fifty years later can only hint at the reality of living it as it happens.
6
We make democracy so hard it this country it has very nearly gone away. It has been taken from us by the very rich, their politicians, and their law enforcement. Those who would make voting hard. expensive and impracticable are traitors to our national origins. Yes to overthrowing Citizens United with a constitutional amendment. But an even bigger yes to an amendment requiring all eligible citizens vote. Voting requires we become engaged. Becoming engaged starts early in our public school life. It must be reemphasized and not, as has been true since Reagan, deemphasized. We are all part of a national collective. We are not a bunch of random Clint Eastwood's with a chair. That rugged individual myth has been and continues to be both a lie and toxic to our national enterprise. The moral of this essay is that collectively we win against evil, individually we fall.
16
If I remember correctly the United States army defeated the Nazis in WWII and the principles of democratic governance, including the right of citizens to freely assemble and petition their lawmakers, were affirmed in Europe.
If this is correct, it would appear that the news of liberal democracy's victory over brutal authoritarianism remains unknown in some parts of our country. I must wonder whether such historical illiteracy means that democracy will be compelled to reaffirm its moral primacy over fascism.
If so, then perhaps the War on Terror should redirect its efforts away from stopping internationally generated terrorism and instead target its resources on local terrorists, those politicians and officials, who debase the public's trust in the Constitution's protections of our civil liberties.
Our first priority should be to defeat the resurgence of any authoritarian ideology in America that would inflict domestic, state countenanced, brutality against American citizens.
If this is correct, it would appear that the news of liberal democracy's victory over brutal authoritarianism remains unknown in some parts of our country. I must wonder whether such historical illiteracy means that democracy will be compelled to reaffirm its moral primacy over fascism.
If so, then perhaps the War on Terror should redirect its efforts away from stopping internationally generated terrorism and instead target its resources on local terrorists, those politicians and officials, who debase the public's trust in the Constitution's protections of our civil liberties.
Our first priority should be to defeat the resurgence of any authoritarian ideology in America that would inflict domestic, state countenanced, brutality against American citizens.
10
Does any body out there think progress has been made since this happened?
5
Fifty years later the legal framework no longer exist, yet the spirit and passion still courses beneath the surface. The results of the presidential elections of 2008 and 2012 were the latest lava tubes which channeled the latest eruptions. The nation is what it is.
6
Racism is not fiefdom of a single race. Racism exists in innumerable forms and shapes in all cultures and sub-cultures. Racism will become extinct when other human emotions like love, hatred, like, dislike, envy, jealousy will be gone.
2
Thank you for this reflection.
There is a moral.
It is that if one is 18, or 28, or 38, or 48 now, there are people who need us to stand with them and take blows if we must to insure equality.
Are things s bad in Mississippi now as they were then, truly?
I don't think so. And part of it is because white college students such as yourself were willing to *put* *their* *bodies* *on* *the* * line* for others.
I , like you a college professor, have many good-hearted students, bright, empathetic, well-intentioned. They want to 'save the world'.
But the sense that in order for things to change they must fight others, lose battles in order to win a war, and that there are people so ignorant and brutal that they must be stopped by non-violent resistance and jail if necessary, is nowhere in my classrooms.
I will start my lectures on Socrates this fall with your reflection, on the state, on morality, on dissent, and self-sacrifice. Thank you.
There is a moral.
It is that if one is 18, or 28, or 38, or 48 now, there are people who need us to stand with them and take blows if we must to insure equality.
Are things s bad in Mississippi now as they were then, truly?
I don't think so. And part of it is because white college students such as yourself were willing to *put* *their* *bodies* *on* *the* * line* for others.
I , like you a college professor, have many good-hearted students, bright, empathetic, well-intentioned. They want to 'save the world'.
But the sense that in order for things to change they must fight others, lose battles in order to win a war, and that there are people so ignorant and brutal that they must be stopped by non-violent resistance and jail if necessary, is nowhere in my classrooms.
I will start my lectures on Socrates this fall with your reflection, on the state, on morality, on dissent, and self-sacrifice. Thank you.
15
"If you were a woman or a child, once your paperwork was done, you were directed to the far end of this building, but each male was pointed to a small side door and told to exit. Out again, into the glare and a new discovery: I was facing a double line of about 30 troopers, and told to walk slowly between them, hat in hands. They clubbed me from both sides. The humiliation felt worse than the actual pain of wooden club against defenseless body."
I find the contrast between this and the uproar about Nobelist Tim Hunt's comments striking,
"The problem, he proposed, was that men and women fall in love in the lab and that this was disruptive to science. Moreover, he said, women cry when their work is criticised. For the good of science, he suggested, labs might be sexually segregated. "
Hunt has been fired from two of his positions.
Why is it that we take words aimed at women more seriously than clubs aimed at men?
I find the contrast between this and the uproar about Nobelist Tim Hunt's comments striking,
"The problem, he proposed, was that men and women fall in love in the lab and that this was disruptive to science. Moreover, he said, women cry when their work is criticised. For the good of science, he suggested, labs might be sexually segregated. "
Hunt has been fired from two of his positions.
Why is it that we take words aimed at women more seriously than clubs aimed at men?
You must be very very young, and missed the whole civil rights era.
19
This is indeed a horrific story and thanks to Gregory Orr for sharing it with readers. My issue is with how The Times frames this in the online version. At the top of the home page the headline reads "A moment of Terror in Mississippi" with a subhead: "Fifty years after a brutal beating of civil rights protesters, the horror won't go away." For the reader quickly moving through the front page, determining what to open, it is easy to mistakenly assume this article is referring to a current event in Mississippi. "Of course," the reader might say. "Mississippi." "Again." Only once the reader clicks on the article does the headline read "Remembering a Moment of Terror in Mississippi" and it becomes clear the context for this piece is the fact it occurred fifty years ago today.
4
I'd like to hear from an officer who participated. I wonder how he thinks of those times and his behavior. I wonder how he justifies himself to himself now that he's not surrounded by his brethren in heat. I wonder what his hands feel as he remembers, what images from the moment he could share with us. I wonder if he has the spine to do it. I wonder how he raised his children and treated his wife. I wonder if he prays. Those officers who've passed on--I wonder what their deaths were like.
66
We must never forget these horrific stories--particularly when encountering younger people with no awareness of the civil rights struggle or politicians who cynically advance a revisionist history of the 50's and 60's in order to dismantle civil rights legislation.
50 years ain't such a long time ago folks.
50 years ain't such a long time ago folks.
49
Mr. Orr, Isn't it interesting (and terribly sad) that nothing really appears to have changed. Now we have abominations such as gerrymandering and voter suppression, We have billionaires buying members of Congress and a culture that has allowed even the craziest of people to own guns.
I see a negative wall set up by those Republican Congressmen who consider the poor, the unemployed and the hungry to be slackers and moochers feeding from the public trough.
In other words, Mr. Orr, cruelty has grown to keep in step with the times. The worst cruelty is perhaps the efforts being made to restrict the voters who would elect people to bring about the necessary changes.
I see a negative wall set up by those Republican Congressmen who consider the poor, the unemployed and the hungry to be slackers and moochers feeding from the public trough.
In other words, Mr. Orr, cruelty has grown to keep in step with the times. The worst cruelty is perhaps the efforts being made to restrict the voters who would elect people to bring about the necessary changes.
45
Racism is becoming more unacceptable, but it's happening slowly, especially in places where it was ingrained thanks to Jim Crow. I give it two more generations before the good ol' boy rural white cops of the Deep South finally give it up. Maybe I'm being generous.
Members of a group tend to absorb the overall moral feel of the group they belong to. The stronger the bond (and cops have very strong bonds), the stronger the need to internalize those morals, no matter how repugnant. It becomes "us versus them". This goes for street gangs, armies, cults, and police. The reason we hold police to a higher standard is because they're meant to protect and serve. The trouble is, that's what they think they're doing, even when their actions go beyond the pale for the rest of us.
And there's the kicker. Police don't listen to civilians. They don't think we understand them. A real push for change has to come from within their own ranks, or the divide between police and civilians will just continue to grow.
As for this story, it makes me sick. But I'm not surprised. Psychopaths are often drawn to law enforcement. Someone gives them a badge and a gun and authority over others. For them it's like a dream come true.
Members of a group tend to absorb the overall moral feel of the group they belong to. The stronger the bond (and cops have very strong bonds), the stronger the need to internalize those morals, no matter how repugnant. It becomes "us versus them". This goes for street gangs, armies, cults, and police. The reason we hold police to a higher standard is because they're meant to protect and serve. The trouble is, that's what they think they're doing, even when their actions go beyond the pale for the rest of us.
And there's the kicker. Police don't listen to civilians. They don't think we understand them. A real push for change has to come from within their own ranks, or the divide between police and civilians will just continue to grow.
As for this story, it makes me sick. But I'm not surprised. Psychopaths are often drawn to law enforcement. Someone gives them a badge and a gun and authority over others. For them it's like a dream come true.
33
It is important to remember history, but it is just as important to remember the following facts:
1) every oppressor in this story is out of power and has been replaced by people far more tolerant and just,
2) black people enjoy more benefits in our society, including the highest positions of power with both political parties, than other non-white ethnic groups,
3) injustice still exists today, especially for poor people of all ethnic backgrounds,
4) injustice is even greater in other countries, where President Obama abandons Mid-East Christians to genocide despite saying"
"I refused to let that happen"
https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2011/03/28/remarks-president...
I applaud Gregory Orr for his courage, but he should show that same courage for standing up for people who suffer far worse than he did. Sadly, people like him wish to keep America focused on their historical plight, instead of on the ongoing injustice for others, because they lack compassion and perspective.
1) every oppressor in this story is out of power and has been replaced by people far more tolerant and just,
2) black people enjoy more benefits in our society, including the highest positions of power with both political parties, than other non-white ethnic groups,
3) injustice still exists today, especially for poor people of all ethnic backgrounds,
4) injustice is even greater in other countries, where President Obama abandons Mid-East Christians to genocide despite saying"
"I refused to let that happen"
https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2011/03/28/remarks-president...
I applaud Gregory Orr for his courage, but he should show that same courage for standing up for people who suffer far worse than he did. Sadly, people like him wish to keep America focused on their historical plight, instead of on the ongoing injustice for others, because they lack compassion and perspective.
2
You are wrong that every "oppressor" from 50 years ago in Mississippi is out of power and has been replaced by "people far more tolerant and just". Discriminatory Law after discriminatory law has been put in place to keep people in their "place'. Ugly incident after ugly incident showcases prejudices that simply don't vanish.
You are wrong that the hard-won accomplishments of a few in any minority group mean that real progress was made for all.
And you are tragically wrong that that it is the lack of compassion or perspective that hinders America's fight against injustice either in other countries or here at home. It is rather our choice of weapons in the battle for justice that limits our accomplishments. We choose to fight brutality by employing those who are more brutal than those we fight. We choose to safeguard our own "inalienable rights" by violating the rights of "others". We choose to fight inequality by making heroes of those at the top of the economic pyramid and propping up those already wielding power. And we choose to wage wars rather than working for peace.
Yes, Mr. Orr's courage should be applauded. And tragic that his blood and bruises--and that of others--did not win a lasting victory for voting rights. "The price of freedom is eternal vigilance". may be a worthy moral for his story.
You are wrong that the hard-won accomplishments of a few in any minority group mean that real progress was made for all.
And you are tragically wrong that that it is the lack of compassion or perspective that hinders America's fight against injustice either in other countries or here at home. It is rather our choice of weapons in the battle for justice that limits our accomplishments. We choose to fight brutality by employing those who are more brutal than those we fight. We choose to safeguard our own "inalienable rights" by violating the rights of "others". We choose to fight inequality by making heroes of those at the top of the economic pyramid and propping up those already wielding power. And we choose to wage wars rather than working for peace.
Yes, Mr. Orr's courage should be applauded. And tragic that his blood and bruises--and that of others--did not win a lasting victory for voting rights. "The price of freedom is eternal vigilance". may be a worthy moral for his story.
17
How do you know he hasn't stood up for others since the dark days he describes? Never forget.
4
I couldn't disagree with your one-sided analysis any more than I already do. The man was describing his personal experiences and you want to criticize him because he doesn't draw the same narrowly partisan conclusions about current politics that you do. I believe that you should maybe reread the article and reflect on how completely you missed the point.
11
The moral is that power corrupts. Racists were denied power when the rest of society took a stand against them because people like Gregory Orr were willing to stand with people of color so that the rest of us could learn what was going on in police departments across the south. All because black people are allowed to vote.
Now racism is once again raising its ugly head. This time the intimidation is organizing in state houses where legislators are doing everything they can to prevent people they don't approve of from voting. And while not as organized, they have reinforcement in police departments across the country who shoot first and ask questions later.
Speak truth to this power - VOTE.
Now racism is once again raising its ugly head. This time the intimidation is organizing in state houses where legislators are doing everything they can to prevent people they don't approve of from voting. And while not as organized, they have reinforcement in police departments across the country who shoot first and ask questions later.
Speak truth to this power - VOTE.
26
While Mississippi was the red flag of racism 50 years ago and remains so for most of the nation today, what of the hidden racism during the time Mr. Orr was risking his life in the Magnolia state to make a statement about Southern racism?
Today, with the media so diversified and in great part in the hands of those who today are suffering from racism across the country the hidden racism is being exposed at all compass points of the country.
Hate did not speak with a Southern accent then and hate of others does not speak with one today.
Our nation and my birth state of Mississippi have yet to face our nation's racism and ask as well as answer how to end it, pay the price of ending it, and uniting as Americans instead of "us" and "them." Until that happens, Mr. Orr's children might want to follow in their father's footsteps when it comes to racism and they won't have to travel down South to do so!
Today, with the media so diversified and in great part in the hands of those who today are suffering from racism across the country the hidden racism is being exposed at all compass points of the country.
Hate did not speak with a Southern accent then and hate of others does not speak with one today.
Our nation and my birth state of Mississippi have yet to face our nation's racism and ask as well as answer how to end it, pay the price of ending it, and uniting as Americans instead of "us" and "them." Until that happens, Mr. Orr's children might want to follow in their father's footsteps when it comes to racism and they won't have to travel down South to do so!
5
To hear the media pundits talk, historical events, like the one described in this article, Jim Crow, lynching, forced labor gangs, etc. are all in the distant past -- we have moved beyond that ---really. History, like this, is branded into generations ---our country far from moving past our sordid history of race relations.
7
Sometimes the sanest reaction to an insane situation....is Insanity. Thank you, Dr. Orr, for bringing a touch of painful Truth from a Time many of us can remember with varying ranges of involvement and awareness (and unawarement).
4
Professor Orr. You and your colleagues did good. Real good.
12
I was working with a bunch of women in their twenties a few weeks ago, and conversation turned to places where one might wish to live (all of them were getting married or had recently married).
They were all baffled when I told them that I could never live, and was generally afraid to drive, in the South. I tried to explain the Civil Rights Movement, the Freedom Riders, Chaney, Gooodman, and Schwerner, lynching, and how New Yorkers of my generation tended to have an aversion to the South.
They had never heard of any of it, and thought I sounded crazy.
We all know that none of those cops was ever punished, and all of them lived to instill their hatred in their children.
Thank you for writing this. "Never Forget" applies to more than one period in history.
They were all baffled when I told them that I could never live, and was generally afraid to drive, in the South. I tried to explain the Civil Rights Movement, the Freedom Riders, Chaney, Gooodman, and Schwerner, lynching, and how New Yorkers of my generation tended to have an aversion to the South.
They had never heard of any of it, and thought I sounded crazy.
We all know that none of those cops was ever punished, and all of them lived to instill their hatred in their children.
Thank you for writing this. "Never Forget" applies to more than one period in history.
67
Thank You, Mr. Orr, for your horrific account. Unfortunately, many people in America have devolved once again into that terrible police and social brutality state you depict and if the financial elite have their way even more of us will behave that way because they cannot survive in a fair, just, civil society. You say, "those who ran Mississippi were also aware of the power of publicity and knew it was their foe." Yes, that is even more true today and is why the financial elite have bought up all the media and are trying to control the message with non-reporting and untruthful reporting to the American public. Now more than ever we must all speak up and demonstrate against the current efforts to further destroy democracy in America.
http://www.businessinsider.com/these-6-corporations-control-90-of-the-me...
http://www.businessinsider.com/these-6-corporations-control-90-of-the-me...
18
The needle-swallowing torture takes place in "The Brothers Karamazov." Smerdyakov convinces Ilyusha to put a pin in a piece of bread and feed it to the dog, Zhuchka. As related to Alyosha Karamazov by Kolya Krasotkin:
"She rushed for it, swallowed it, and started squealing, turning round and round, then broke into a run, still squealing as she ran, and disappeared -- so Ilyusha described it to me himself. He was crying as he told me, crying, clinging to me, shaking: 'She squealed and ran, she squealed and ran,' he just kept repeating it, the picture really struck him."
I don't know that the policeman would've felt as much remorse for the black child as Ilyusha felt for the dog, had he succeeded in his scheme.
"She rushed for it, swallowed it, and started squealing, turning round and round, then broke into a run, still squealing as she ran, and disappeared -- so Ilyusha described it to me himself. He was crying as he told me, crying, clinging to me, shaking: 'She squealed and ran, she squealed and ran,' he just kept repeating it, the picture really struck him."
I don't know that the policeman would've felt as much remorse for the black child as Ilyusha felt for the dog, had he succeeded in his scheme.
9
Thank you for your service to this country.
82
And thank you Ms. Cranford for a proper use of "thank you for your service".
14
In the words of Nina Simone, "Mississippi..God Damn".
20
The whole house is full of smoke––why do only some weep?
I was in your class 40 years ago. Thanks for teaching again.
I was in your class 40 years ago. Thanks for teaching again.
29
Tim O'Brien wrote in "The Things They Carried" that a "true war story has no moral." This is a true war story.
88
Actually I found this article quite instructive, even if it lacks a clear moral. It perfectly describes, in a familiar American context I can clearly picture, what happens to civilians in situations such as the Balkan wars of the 90s or Nazi-occupied countries during the height of WW2, and other genocides. I feel like I suddenly understand what goes on at both the official and individual level in mass murders/incarcerations.
I salute you and all of your brave comrades for what you did.
I salute you and all of your brave comrades for what you did.
20
Before there was middle-eastern terrorism, there was terrorism in the US by whites against blacks who dared to challenge their status.
57
This story could be set in any time or place--it's about power and what happens when the powerless try to claim their inalienable right to pursue life, liberty and happiness.
1
This story is unequivocally part of the history of the civil rights movement. It describes the brutal prejudice of the police of that era and region. My comment is that there are only 25 comments, they do not cast doubt about the description of the events as described by the writer, and are relatively sympathetic to the writer. The comments sections about the pool party last week are vastly larger and split right down the middle depending upon the belief systems and prejudices of the commenters. Our society is still split based upon prejudice. At least it is now unlikely that Professor Orr would not have experienced the same events today.
5
I believe that it could happen today. If the conservatives keep control in the south we will see far worse than this.
1
I think the moral of this story is VOTE. Someone suffered so you could have that right. I think the moral of this story is that we have an immoral Supreme Court who is taking away these hard won rights.
In a different time, on a different day that kid next to you would have died. And not even half the population bothers to vote. Just the potential loss of that one life should shame each of us into our civic duty. We live in a country where a group of rich thugs is trying to co-oped our way of life. We, the 300m of this country have the means to stop them.
Now if we could just find the will. That kid had it. What about the rest of us?
In a different time, on a different day that kid next to you would have died. And not even half the population bothers to vote. Just the potential loss of that one life should shame each of us into our civic duty. We live in a country where a group of rich thugs is trying to co-oped our way of life. We, the 300m of this country have the means to stop them.
Now if we could just find the will. That kid had it. What about the rest of us?
177
Professor Orr, Your courage remains strong. Your purpose indestructible. Your honor the highest. Your message brought us back fifty years to horrors that we thought would never be repeated. Instead through technology and hate, along with the invitation from the NRA, hate comes in a combination of stories daily that pop up like pop corn spilling over into politics. Just this morning a raid on the police department in Dallas. Humans must first be kind to themselves then perhaps they can be kind to others. Professor Orr, this writing we hope will bring about more awareness and change. Silly aren't I ?
9
The lesson is that despite half a century passing, there are those in authority with a conferred monopoly on legal state violence who would inflict pain and even death due to racist beliefs.
10
As an Emergency Physician I once saw 2 women in a mental unit who swallowed 2 single edged razors and 3 screw. one had done it previously and had daily xrays until the sharps had passed. These sharps also passed harmlessly in 3 days. This does not guarantee that all sharps will pass safely.
The FBI was only interested in bad publicity. The police department and the city were responsible for your custody. Now the ACLU and liberal lawyers would take your case. When I was in college I did not trust Southerners to protect me. I still don't. We still have sadistic police everywhere who are protected by their bosses.
The FBI was only interested in bad publicity. The police department and the city were responsible for your custody. Now the ACLU and liberal lawyers would take your case. When I was in college I did not trust Southerners to protect me. I still don't. We still have sadistic police everywhere who are protected by their bosses.
5
To be fair, the behavior Professor Orr has described is a human failing, not uniquely an American one, a Mississippian one, a white one or even something particular to policemen. We've seen the incontrovertible evidence throughout history and in almost all societies that when the fence posts that define "community" are threatened, the patina of civilization and the most basic humanity is very thin indeed. Endless slaughters in the name of religion, that continue to this day, the Nazi camps and the Balkan exterminations, are but three relevant examples when many could be given.
Racial and ethnic divisions are simply our own most particular cross to bear as Americans. When a general human ailment manifests as it did so inhumanly for so long, most intensely in our southern states but by no means only there, and we still see its remnants today, it can only astound the less threatened by its sheer barbarity. But we’re capable of grotesque barbarity, and it doesn’t lie that deeply beneath the surface.
Thank you, Mr. Orr, for the remembrance. Only in remembering the worst that we can become and its very human consequences can we seek to be better than our worst angels would have us be.
Racial and ethnic divisions are simply our own most particular cross to bear as Americans. When a general human ailment manifests as it did so inhumanly for so long, most intensely in our southern states but by no means only there, and we still see its remnants today, it can only astound the less threatened by its sheer barbarity. But we’re capable of grotesque barbarity, and it doesn’t lie that deeply beneath the surface.
Thank you, Mr. Orr, for the remembrance. Only in remembering the worst that we can become and its very human consequences can we seek to be better than our worst angels would have us be.
18
@Richard Luettgen: Sir, your apology for "the less threatened" is an insult. The "less threatened" are not in the least "astounded by its barbarity." You are sugar-coating a particularly vicious regional/racist pathology as something common to the human condition. The question is one of morality and principle. Does the practice and application of these virtues stop at a state line? The real translation of your comment is "too bad, it's human nature, get over it." I have seen many of your posts in past threads; you identify as a Republican, and no blame to you. Question: Why did Ronald Reagan's campaign for the presidency in 1980 begin in Neshoba County, Mississippi, practically on the bulldozed earthworks that concealed the corpses of James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner, murdered in 1964? Answer: Reagan was telling Republicans then (and now) that what they did was right. If I'm in error, you have my thread address. Can't wait to hear from you.
1
Mr. Orr's story should be shocking and disturbing. But after many years of living in the South, and having just watched McKinney Police Officer Ninja-Roll get his kicks by crushing a slender 14-year old girl, I find nothing surprising about it; it just makes me more depressed.
Mr. Orr is a college professor, clearly an accomplished individual. Can't he get a job in Canada or somewhere in Europe, where he might live out his life in an environment governed by relatively decent human beings?
Mr. Orr is a college professor, clearly an accomplished individual. Can't he get a job in Canada or somewhere in Europe, where he might live out his life in an environment governed by relatively decent human beings?
4
RETURN TO THE 60s We often hear critics of current social trends moralizing that whatever they dislike is a vestige of the 60s, when everyone went wild and indulged in the philosophy of If It Feels Good, Do It! That adage refers to hippies and other dropouts. But somehow the monstrous actions of redoubtable officers of the peace, who tortured and sometimes killed those marching for peace get a free pass. Seek social justice and you made yourself a target for armed thugs acting like the police! It's high time to balance our understanding of what happened in the 60s: legal civil disobedience was met with savage, primitive, lethal violence, in the name of law enforcement. So, if you really want to know what's wrong with the country now, trace it back to its roots among the abuse of power by armed criminals empowered by government, as well as complaining about some of the orgiastic and hedonistic exhibitionism of the Youth Movement. Yes, it's true that the young were Doing Their Thing. But so were some in law enforcement who had clearly been empowered by the Establishment to engage in torture and sometimes murder of those exercising their freedom of speech. Once again, we're witnessing abuse of power by police, nationwide, with horrifying regularity, whose murderous acts are primarily aimed at African American males. My response is, All We Are Saying Is Give Peace A Chance!
13
Thanks, Gregory, for supporting civil rights in the face of terror.
16
Thank you for reminding us of this ugly past. Unfortunately, much of that hate is still with us.
In 1963, when I was 13, my mother and I, both white, marched with a large group of mostly black demonstrators down main street in Chapel Hill in support of an open accommodation ordinance that was being promoted. Fortunately, we avoided the horror you faced, but I remember the hateful jeers all along the way and the 4 AM phone calls to our home that followed.
In 1963, when I was 13, my mother and I, both white, marched with a large group of mostly black demonstrators down main street in Chapel Hill in support of an open accommodation ordinance that was being promoted. Fortunately, we avoided the horror you faced, but I remember the hateful jeers all along the way and the 4 AM phone calls to our home that followed.
45
Such a painful story from the good old days. Racial prejudice and unchecked power are a lethal combination, then and now.
21
Black African American kids do not have to go back 50 years or to Mississippi to remember white supremacist bigoted racist terrorism by white cops. Black kids were and are profiled, stalked, stopped, beaten and killed by cops and civilians on a regular present basis.
A pool party in a Dallas suburb while black is their daily news lived white cop terrorist present. Playing with a toy gun in a park while being a 12 year old black boy in Cleveland led to his death by white cop. The manner of walking in the street led to a black boy of 18 being shot to death by cop in Ferguson. Doing any and everything that people normally do in their daily lives while black risks your being profiled, stalked, stopped, beaten, shot and killed.
This is all about both race as in biological evolutionary DNA East African origin and race as in colored by American socioeconomic political educational history. Blue cop against black civilians. Neither a black POTUS nor a black USAG nor a black mayor nor police chief offer any significant effective present moral justice and fairness for black kids.
Cue "Everybody Wants to Know Why I Sing the Blues" B.B. King; "Living for the City" Stevie Wonder; "The Message" Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five; "Choice of Colors" The Impressions
A pool party in a Dallas suburb while black is their daily news lived white cop terrorist present. Playing with a toy gun in a park while being a 12 year old black boy in Cleveland led to his death by white cop. The manner of walking in the street led to a black boy of 18 being shot to death by cop in Ferguson. Doing any and everything that people normally do in their daily lives while black risks your being profiled, stalked, stopped, beaten, shot and killed.
This is all about both race as in biological evolutionary DNA East African origin and race as in colored by American socioeconomic political educational history. Blue cop against black civilians. Neither a black POTUS nor a black USAG nor a black mayor nor police chief offer any significant effective present moral justice and fairness for black kids.
Cue "Everybody Wants to Know Why I Sing the Blues" B.B. King; "Living for the City" Stevie Wonder; "The Message" Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five; "Choice of Colors" The Impressions
21
If Professor Orr were not white (and not a professor), perhaps this story would never have been told, or if told might not have been believed.
8
This evil that finds life in darkness, and coils and uncoils until its growing length becomes part of a nation's common day, continues to find a place in this country of ours. The horror of Mr. Orr's night in Mississippi has found modern iterations in places like Ferguson, Missouri; Staten Island, New York; Tulsa, Oklahoma; Cleveland, Ohio; Savannah, South Carolina; Los Angeles, California; Chicago, Illinois; and Baltimore, Maryland. Police wield the power of the citizens who hire them. Those who find comfort in indifference are more guilty than the cop whose bullets find a brain or a heart, or whose whistling nightstick fractures a skull, or whose boot-toes dislodge teeth, or put out an eye. Whoever denies this kind of holocaust is complicit, too.
31
What I often wonder about is how people justify their actions to themselves, when at the same time - as evidenced by their attempts to hide those actions from public view - they know that what they are doing is evil. As for those who manage to do it, if they aren't wearing badges, we call them criminals.
22
The tone of the writing makes the story all the more chilling.
17
I wish you weren't so quick to conclude that your important story has no moral. Too much creative writing poetry reflexively carries the message that there is no message. Our best-selling poet, Billy Collins, even advocates that poets like you shouldn't make public statements as poets about "politics." Of course, trite lessons dies in the air, but parables reveal. There is morality in the courage you were part of.
43
What a breath of fresh air, to recount police brutality and racism just 50 years ago; of course, with complicity of all of us, silent even if not directly responsible. Abuse of power may always be among us, given our nature, but making us aware, over and over again, is a way to reflect, to educate ourselves, and be aware of our hidden biases. Justice demands it, our humanity depends on that tenuous flicker of decency kept alive.
50
Your story is much more than an anecdote. It rises to the level of symbol. This story should be the opening element for a nationwide program to clean out police departments and begin the process of rehiring, retraining and very close monitoring throughout this country. I remember this period in our history and the sub-human behavior of law enforcement, sanctioned by the sub-human political gangs in Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas, Michigan, Chicago, Massachusetts, and so many other states. But, your story is the very finest and clearest answer to the sometimes disingenuous, sometimes ignorant, and sometimes just youthful and uninformed question, "Why is there so much tension between African Americans and law enforcement in this country?" Until this nation soberly accepts that these utter horrors really happened in this country and were not confined to mid-twentieth century, but had preceded that civil right struggle by almost three hundred years, we cannot ever heal. Until we can recognize that these atrocities continue to this very day, this nation will never be truly unified. We have created a breeding ground for more terrorism than we have even imagined so far. So what is the great solution that this democracy has in mind? Well, one large segment of this democracy is hell-bent on keeping as many African Americans out of the voting booths as they possibly can. Even more frightening is that they seem not to see the connections.
106
It would be a relief to believe that these kinds of sadistic police officers don't exist anymore, but I think we al know they do and that they eventually need to be eradicated from police forces all over the nation.
Wouldn't it be reassuring to think they are a small minority, as many police chiefs and mayors would have us believe, but we are learning that's not true. I'd like to think these sadistic, poorly trained and poorly supervised police officers aren't a majority either, but it's difficult to know.
What I do know, and video from all over the nation is proving, is that we are past the time when a police officer's word should be given precedence over a suspect's word. Without corroborating evidence, a police officer's word can no longer be believed. It it time for every police officer to have a body camera, and then the jury can decide the facts based on reality and truth, and not merely on what a police officer describes.
The sad and scary part is wondering how many innocent people are languishing in prisons all over the nation based on little more than testimony from one or more police officers who were emboldened to lie in open court because they knew they could - with impunity.
Thank goodness we are arriving at a point in which even ordinary citizens (typically frightened by the bogeyman) have begun to recognize that police no longer deserve the benefit of doubt. Police officers' testimony should never be the sole reason a suspect is convicted of any crime.
Wouldn't it be reassuring to think they are a small minority, as many police chiefs and mayors would have us believe, but we are learning that's not true. I'd like to think these sadistic, poorly trained and poorly supervised police officers aren't a majority either, but it's difficult to know.
What I do know, and video from all over the nation is proving, is that we are past the time when a police officer's word should be given precedence over a suspect's word. Without corroborating evidence, a police officer's word can no longer be believed. It it time for every police officer to have a body camera, and then the jury can decide the facts based on reality and truth, and not merely on what a police officer describes.
The sad and scary part is wondering how many innocent people are languishing in prisons all over the nation based on little more than testimony from one or more police officers who were emboldened to lie in open court because they knew they could - with impunity.
Thank goodness we are arriving at a point in which even ordinary citizens (typically frightened by the bogeyman) have begun to recognize that police no longer deserve the benefit of doubt. Police officers' testimony should never be the sole reason a suspect is convicted of any crime.
13
We the people enable brutal tactics used by police departments throughout the US. These are not the acts of a few sadistic bad apples but the acts of everyday individuals who recognize they are empowered by leaders and average citizens everywhere. Reconstruction died because the North turned a racist blind eye to events in the South. A similar phenomenon is occurring today.
An accurate, even if a little too clean, depiction of white hatred in the South was shown in the movie "Selma". My wife and I watched in silence, in the company of a mostly black audience, as the unsuspecting marchers across the Pettis Bridge turned and ran in terror, only to be hunted down by troopers trained to maim, and even kill if they so chose. The shock to the system caused by the scene, where keepers of justice behaved like legitimized psychopaths made for a very sobering and saddening experience.
To be in a theater, and feel the quiet pain of those around me was almost unbearable. But the wordless bonding that happens in these moments occurred, almost magically, to affirm our determination for there to be racial justice and decency in this country. Professor Orr deserves the same credit for his willingness to come forward and tell us his story, since it only reinforces that same intent.
It may interest some to know that the State of Mississippi is building a museum in Jackson that is apparently sponsored by their historic preservation office. The "interpretative dialogue" established for the exhibits is an opportunity to provide for education and healing. It also harbors potential for insensitive glorification of people like Jefferson Davis and Nathan Bedford Forrest, and the "equalization" program of the 1950's, which resulted in the building of separate schools for blacks in an attempt to stave off integration. Let's hope they get it right.
To be in a theater, and feel the quiet pain of those around me was almost unbearable. But the wordless bonding that happens in these moments occurred, almost magically, to affirm our determination for there to be racial justice and decency in this country. Professor Orr deserves the same credit for his willingness to come forward and tell us his story, since it only reinforces that same intent.
It may interest some to know that the State of Mississippi is building a museum in Jackson that is apparently sponsored by their historic preservation office. The "interpretative dialogue" established for the exhibits is an opportunity to provide for education and healing. It also harbors potential for insensitive glorification of people like Jefferson Davis and Nathan Bedford Forrest, and the "equalization" program of the 1950's, which resulted in the building of separate schools for blacks in an attempt to stave off integration. Let's hope they get it right.
6
This account if true corroborates what I know from experience happened in other settings some more and many less violent; still nonetheless traumatic and life-changing.
These are children of slaves. Today it is still grandchildren and great-grandchildren of slaves. Humans captured. bought, and sold in the awful circumstance of profit and low cost labor for a lifetime.
Every stroke, every blow, every slight, every abuse, every rape. every sodomy, every neglect, every hanging, every spit, every curse, every stone, every killing, every spite will have to be atoned for.
Retribution, redemption and reparation for our blacks howls for justice.
There is a teetering point, a cusp of unbearable power that is sliding to the top of a wave of human indignation.
The Africans shipped to the States were indigenous peoples who had no idea. The treatment of our own Native Indians is even more monstrous testimony to the rapacious ways of the invading horde of conquerors who came with smallpox, guns, and greed to wipe out the "owners" (the Indians never thought of owning much of anything even less the land) and seize their lands.
The evil lives on in the images of the heart of man; embrace these and perish forevermore. Unless these wrongs done are brought to redress, their generational inheritance will implode upon the American culture and continue to compromise our future as a democracy.
Unless and until the truth be made known we will suffer the consequences.
These are children of slaves. Today it is still grandchildren and great-grandchildren of slaves. Humans captured. bought, and sold in the awful circumstance of profit and low cost labor for a lifetime.
Every stroke, every blow, every slight, every abuse, every rape. every sodomy, every neglect, every hanging, every spit, every curse, every stone, every killing, every spite will have to be atoned for.
Retribution, redemption and reparation for our blacks howls for justice.
There is a teetering point, a cusp of unbearable power that is sliding to the top of a wave of human indignation.
The Africans shipped to the States were indigenous peoples who had no idea. The treatment of our own Native Indians is even more monstrous testimony to the rapacious ways of the invading horde of conquerors who came with smallpox, guns, and greed to wipe out the "owners" (the Indians never thought of owning much of anything even less the land) and seize their lands.
The evil lives on in the images of the heart of man; embrace these and perish forevermore. Unless these wrongs done are brought to redress, their generational inheritance will implode upon the American culture and continue to compromise our future as a democracy.
Unless and until the truth be made known we will suffer the consequences.
6
The truth was never hidden. If we wanted to know it we would. Let's not ask for miracles. If people can live in the present reality that will be enough.
I just finished listening to the audible version of "The Warmth of Other Suns" by Isabel Wilkerson. The old Jim Crow South she describes at various points in the narrative made me turn off the playback several times, it was so brutal and humiliating. I had to wait and come back and start listening again on another day. I felt deeply ashamed to be white in America at the end of the book.
40
Thank you for your first person account of a part of our history that needs to continue to be discussed, because it is not as much of a thing of the past as it should be. But most of these accounts I hear about are from the victims.
The thought that kept coming to me as I was reading this account was that I wish we could hear the account of these events from a Trooper. What did he think of these activists. Was this part of the job, or something he wanted to do? Does he feel the same about that day today that he did then? And so many more.
Maybe one will read your account and want to respond. Could happen.
The thought that kept coming to me as I was reading this account was that I wish we could hear the account of these events from a Trooper. What did he think of these activists. Was this part of the job, or something he wanted to do? Does he feel the same about that day today that he did then? And so many more.
Maybe one will read your account and want to respond. Could happen.
32
Would love to see that. It would take a very big person to own up to his part in this. And the thugs who did this are not very big — they are very limited in their humanity.
And I suppose that if one of the victims of the beatings had died, the Mississippi equivalent of Judge John P. O’Donnell of Cleveland would have found the cops not guilty because no one could prove which of the hundreds of blows actually killed the victim. This is how official state terrorism is sanctioned.
(Cleveland Officer Michael Brelo fired 49 shots at unarmed Timothy Russell and Malissa Williams, but since he and his fellow cops fired a total of 137 rounds at the couple, Judge O'Donnell ruled that no one could prove it was Brelo's bullets that killed them.)
(Cleveland Officer Michael Brelo fired 49 shots at unarmed Timothy Russell and Malissa Williams, but since he and his fellow cops fired a total of 137 rounds at the couple, Judge O'Donnell ruled that no one could prove it was Brelo's bullets that killed them.)
116
Such a cowardly remark. Judge O' Donnell did what the law required of him. His prologue even made reference to the ills of society. Tearing down the fabric of justice will not change the larger problem. Fining scapegoats is not enough. It is up to all of us to elect people that will make large wholesale changes in the systematic rules that have guaranteed white supremacy. We can then remain a nation of laws.
2
Thank you for this chilling reminder of how close any society is to brutality. How much risk there is to confronting it, no matter how reasonable and right and even peaceful such opposition may be.
I fear the future of this country for I suspect we are of the same generation that came of age in the 60's, and we appear to be regressing as a nation, not progressing.
I fear the future of this country for I suspect we are of the same generation that came of age in the 60's, and we appear to be regressing as a nation, not progressing.
55
The most horrific part of this story is that the participants in this travesty continued to police their communities, act as authority figures, raise their children and be respected members of their communities. They spread their depravity like a cancer, slowly, quietly while they sat in their church pews with smug smiles.
95
One moral is that more media coverage would have protected you.
And that bullies are cowards who can abuse others because they're sure of their own anonymity and others' lack of defenses.
And that bullies are cowards who can abuse others because they're sure of their own anonymity and others' lack of defenses.
26
I was there in Jackson then, probably 15 years old. I knew of the arrests at the bus station. At my young age, it did not dawn on me what was really happening. I was a high school kid caught up in all the rebel-yelling. That is, until the killings in Philadelphia, Miss. Then something hit me. "This is not right. What's going on?" Years later I was a radio announcer and the voice of the Charles (brother of Medgar) Evers campaign for governor. (You would not believe the number of white people who were cheering for Charles to win. I have stories. There ARE good people in my birth state.) After the campaign, I felt better. I had, at least partially, redeemed myself.
49
Incredible. Heartbreaking. Devastating. And how sad that few have even commented. What is most striking is how these heroic and vile acts, this time in our history, has been both forgotten and yet still relived. Repeated and ignored and denied all at once.
20
Professor Orr: We were colleagues, long ago at the University of Virginia. I never heard this story. And I am grateful that you are telling it. Memory. History. Courage. Persistence. The true "American values." Never cowardice, abuse of power, sadistic psycho-sexual acts of domination and terror against the truly defenseless. Thank you. Indeed, we can never forget such moments. I wish more would tell their stories. We need them now as much -- maybe more -- than ever.
51
It is important to bear witness to these events, and to tell of them, whether in the past or in 2015.
20
The sickness in Mississippi and Alabama has not died out. The vile, immoral sickness.
24
Th more things change, the more they stay the same. The psychopaths are loose in our midst.
27
All of these "American anecdotes" would disappear without a ripple if someone hadn't remembered, and hadn't written them down. Truthful memoir is essential to telling our story, the full story. Thank you for sharing yours Professor Orr.
82
Contemporary documents from that day have been put online by the Wisconsin Historical Society at http://wihist.org/1f5hff8
1
Thank you.
20
The United States has been a lie from beginning to right now. A country built on genocide, slavery, colonialism and plutocracy really doesn't deserve to survive.
24
Nothing has changed. The brutes still run it. I was a policeman, my friends are policemen, my son is a policeman, and they disgust me.
43
Mr Elliott
Change can happen...Start with your son. Tell him what happened, tell him how you felt and tell him you were wrong.
"A journey of a thousand miles begins with but one step.."
Take the step. Make a difference.
Change can happen...Start with your son. Tell him what happened, tell him how you felt and tell him you were wrong.
"A journey of a thousand miles begins with but one step.."
Take the step. Make a difference.
5
Have you ever noticed how much the conventional wisdom these days is living in the past?
9
Moral? I'm not sure there is one, but this is a story that deserves to be told, over and over again. Have we made progress? I think so, but I'm not sure. Stories like this will help us gauge, maybe. Regardless, you and the others that were beaten that day are heros in my book. Never give up, ever. Maybe that's the moral.
115
Thank you, Gregory Orr, for this chilling account. Too soon we forget those times and the brutality that was inflicted in the interest of racism.
18
Thank you for describing this. It needs to be recorded.
18
The story of this kind of inhuman behavior and brutality by employees of the local government, that had high level authorization and support from the local judicial system, needs to be retold for every generation.
These kinds of impulses are still with us and not in the South alone. But everything starts at the top, with police chiefs, prosectors, judges and political leadership. Until we change leadership, we will get the same results at the street level.
That's why we have elections.
These kinds of impulses are still with us and not in the South alone. But everything starts at the top, with police chiefs, prosectors, judges and political leadership. Until we change leadership, we will get the same results at the street level.
That's why we have elections.
88
That is if police and city leaders will allow you to vote and in our small Tennessee town we where denied the right to vote because we wouldn't tell police who we where voting for in local elections.Election board told us the police had a legal right to ask us who we would be voting for in city,county and state elections but not in federal.Most attorneys we asked about it said,don't stir up trouble for yourself by pushing it and next time just tell them and vote the other way, I want do that I just want vote if I have to tell police who I am voting for.
36
Elections.
We elected a blackskinned President and not much else has changed. What is the moral of that?
I believe I can think of some.
Elections don't matter. Democracy is dead. We need to change the game.
We elected a blackskinned President and not much else has changed. What is the moral of that?
I believe I can think of some.
Elections don't matter. Democracy is dead. We need to change the game.
1
These incidents and others like it need to be archived and made part of the Congressional Record.
The only difference between this and the holocaust is these police were constrained by U.S. law. They would have committed mass murder if the thought they could get away with it. They were no different than the Nazi Gestapo. Every one of them that participated should be publicly identified, for all to see. It may be too late to prosecute any of them still living, but the public should know who they were.
No doubt many of the records have been destroyed by the politicians in Mississippi, but they too, should be identified and held up to public scorn.
The only difference between this and the holocaust is these police were constrained by U.S. law. They would have committed mass murder if the thought they could get away with it. They were no different than the Nazi Gestapo. Every one of them that participated should be publicly identified, for all to see. It may be too late to prosecute any of them still living, but the public should know who they were.
No doubt many of the records have been destroyed by the politicians in Mississippi, but they too, should be identified and held up to public scorn.
164
"What is the moral of this story? It’s just an American anecdote from half a century ago. Everything I’ve written is true. I never forgot any of it. I wish, for all our sakes, it had a moral."
We are back to those bad old days now and it's not just an American anecdote. It is a reminder what relatively conscious whites, as James Baldwin called us, need to be doing again, now. It is a reminder of the honor and our duty to do everything in our power to stop the resurgent police brutality, even if, we too, are brutalized. It is a reminder that some temporary pain is the only consequence of our whiteness. After our participation in an event ends, we can go back to our white lives and blend in with the crowd of people who will never be stopped for no good reason or ordered to swallow a pin.
The NAACP has announced America’s Journey for Justice – a historic 860-mile march from Selma, Alabama to Washington, DC. That march should include lots of white bodies to show that, white participation didn't end a half a century ago. We are still one people.
The moral is that we need to stand together, for each other, it is the only way The New Jim Crow will be defeated, once and for all.
-------------
Transcript: James Baldwin debates William F. Buckley at Cambridge University, 1965
http://www.rimaregas.com/2015/06/transcript-james-baldwin-debates-willia...
We are back to those bad old days now and it's not just an American anecdote. It is a reminder what relatively conscious whites, as James Baldwin called us, need to be doing again, now. It is a reminder of the honor and our duty to do everything in our power to stop the resurgent police brutality, even if, we too, are brutalized. It is a reminder that some temporary pain is the only consequence of our whiteness. After our participation in an event ends, we can go back to our white lives and blend in with the crowd of people who will never be stopped for no good reason or ordered to swallow a pin.
The NAACP has announced America’s Journey for Justice – a historic 860-mile march from Selma, Alabama to Washington, DC. That march should include lots of white bodies to show that, white participation didn't end a half a century ago. We are still one people.
The moral is that we need to stand together, for each other, it is the only way The New Jim Crow will be defeated, once and for all.
-------------
Transcript: James Baldwin debates William F. Buckley at Cambridge University, 1965
http://www.rimaregas.com/2015/06/transcript-james-baldwin-debates-willia...
70
For those of you who are interested in learning more about the NAACP's America's journey for justice:
http://www.naacp.org/news/entry/naacp-announces-americas-journey-for-jus...
http://www.naacp.org/news/entry/naacp-announces-americas-journey-for-jus...
14