the eXiLe
05-11-2007, 05:11 AM
A 73-year-old former state trooper was indicted yesterday for the 1965 shooting of an Alabama black man, the latest case in an extraordinary reckoning sweeping the Deep South for some of the civil rights era’s worst atrocities.
James Bonard Fowler, who turned himself in last night, was indicted for shooting Jimmie Lee Jackson in Marion, Alabama — a killing that triggered the historic civil rights marches from Selma to Montgomery that led directly to voting rights for black Americans
Mr Fowler has always maintained he shot Jackson, 26, in self-defence and has never been charged. But his indictment, believed to be for murder, was handed down by a grand jury after the case was reopened by Michael Jackson (no relation), who was elected the area’s first black district attorney in 2004.
The shot that killed Jimmie Lee Jackson marked one of the most profound turning points in civil rights era. The outrage that followed forced Congress to pass the Voting Rights Act, which gave blacks protection from being disenfranchised by a menacing and bigoted white elite.
Mr Fowler was among police and state troopers sent to Marion to monitor a civil rights demonstration on February 18, 1965. According to witnesses, about 500 people were marching from a church toward the prison to protest about the jailing of a civil rights worker when the street lights went out.
Troopers contend that the crowd refused orders to disperse. Soon they began swinging their billy clubs, causing the protesters to flee in all directions. A group ran into Mack’s Cafe, pursued by troopers. The cafe owner said that 82-year-old Cager Lee was clubbed to the floor along with his daughter, Viola Jackson. Mrs Jackson’s son, Jimmie Lee was shot trying to help them. He died soon afterwards.
The death galvanised activists at a time when they appeared to be losing their battle to register blacks to vote in nearby Selma. Martin Luther King arrived to preach at the funeral and on March 7 a huge crowd of mostly black demonstrators set out to march to the state capital of Montgomery.
They were attacked by police in what became known as “Bloody Sunday”. National news coverage of the attack, including images of terrified marchers being beaten amid clouds of tear gas, shocked much of America and made Selma the heart of the civil rights movement. It also persuaded Congress to overcome Southern politicians’ resistance to voting rights legislation and Lyndon B Johnson signed the act into law on August 6.
Many witnesses in Marion on the night Mr Jackson was shot are dead, as are two FBI agents involved in the original investigation. News reporters were also beaten during the melée and cameras destroyed, so there are no photographs left of what happened. But the district attorney said he has “strong witnesses”.
George Beck, Mr Fowler’s lawyer, said his client was innocent. “I think somebody is trying to rewrite history, and I don’t think it’s fair to this trooper. I don’t think every civil rights killing means something was done illegally.”
Cordelia Heard, who was 4 when her father was killed, said that had it not been for the election of Mr Jackson as district attorney, “it would still have been swept under the rug.” She added: “This man took my father from me. I want to find out what happened.”
In recent years prosecutors have won a string of convictions in the South, including one for a church bombing that left four black girls dead and that of a former Ku Klux Klan member who for masterminding the killings of three civil rights volunteers.
Marching for justice
February 18, 1965 Jimmie Lee Jackson shot by a trooper during a voting rights demonstration in Selma, Alabama
March 7, the first march Dr Martin Luther King calls for a march from Selma to the state capital Montgomery to ask Governor Wallace to stop the intimidation that prevents blacks from voting. 600 protesters manage only six blocks before being beaten back by police. Television images shock the nation
March 9, the second march A symbolic march reaches Edmund Pettus Bridge, the site of the attack two days before; a few hundred activists hold a prayer session
March 21, the third march After a judge rules that the State has no right to block the marchers, more than 3,000 set off from Selma, walking 12 miles a day and sleeping in fields
March 25 The marchers, now numbering 25,000, reach Montgomery. Martin Luther King (below, centre) declares: “Our aim is not to humiliate and defeat the white man, but to win his friendship and understanding”
August 6, 1965 President Johnson signs the Voting Rights Act, closing loopholes that allowed Southern states to discriminate against black voters
Source: Alabama University, Texas State University, University of Southern Mississippi
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article1774530.ece
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James Bonard Fowler, who turned himself in last night, was indicted for shooting Jimmie Lee Jackson in Marion, Alabama — a killing that triggered the historic civil rights marches from Selma to Montgomery that led directly to voting rights for black Americans
Mr Fowler has always maintained he shot Jackson, 26, in self-defence and has never been charged. But his indictment, believed to be for murder, was handed down by a grand jury after the case was reopened by Michael Jackson (no relation), who was elected the area’s first black district attorney in 2004.
The shot that killed Jimmie Lee Jackson marked one of the most profound turning points in civil rights era. The outrage that followed forced Congress to pass the Voting Rights Act, which gave blacks protection from being disenfranchised by a menacing and bigoted white elite.
Mr Fowler was among police and state troopers sent to Marion to monitor a civil rights demonstration on February 18, 1965. According to witnesses, about 500 people were marching from a church toward the prison to protest about the jailing of a civil rights worker when the street lights went out.
Troopers contend that the crowd refused orders to disperse. Soon they began swinging their billy clubs, causing the protesters to flee in all directions. A group ran into Mack’s Cafe, pursued by troopers. The cafe owner said that 82-year-old Cager Lee was clubbed to the floor along with his daughter, Viola Jackson. Mrs Jackson’s son, Jimmie Lee was shot trying to help them. He died soon afterwards.
The death galvanised activists at a time when they appeared to be losing their battle to register blacks to vote in nearby Selma. Martin Luther King arrived to preach at the funeral and on March 7 a huge crowd of mostly black demonstrators set out to march to the state capital of Montgomery.
They were attacked by police in what became known as “Bloody Sunday”. National news coverage of the attack, including images of terrified marchers being beaten amid clouds of tear gas, shocked much of America and made Selma the heart of the civil rights movement. It also persuaded Congress to overcome Southern politicians’ resistance to voting rights legislation and Lyndon B Johnson signed the act into law on August 6.
Many witnesses in Marion on the night Mr Jackson was shot are dead, as are two FBI agents involved in the original investigation. News reporters were also beaten during the melée and cameras destroyed, so there are no photographs left of what happened. But the district attorney said he has “strong witnesses”.
George Beck, Mr Fowler’s lawyer, said his client was innocent. “I think somebody is trying to rewrite history, and I don’t think it’s fair to this trooper. I don’t think every civil rights killing means something was done illegally.”
Cordelia Heard, who was 4 when her father was killed, said that had it not been for the election of Mr Jackson as district attorney, “it would still have been swept under the rug.” She added: “This man took my father from me. I want to find out what happened.”
In recent years prosecutors have won a string of convictions in the South, including one for a church bombing that left four black girls dead and that of a former Ku Klux Klan member who for masterminding the killings of three civil rights volunteers.
Marching for justice
February 18, 1965 Jimmie Lee Jackson shot by a trooper during a voting rights demonstration in Selma, Alabama
March 7, the first march Dr Martin Luther King calls for a march from Selma to the state capital Montgomery to ask Governor Wallace to stop the intimidation that prevents blacks from voting. 600 protesters manage only six blocks before being beaten back by police. Television images shock the nation
March 9, the second march A symbolic march reaches Edmund Pettus Bridge, the site of the attack two days before; a few hundred activists hold a prayer session
March 21, the third march After a judge rules that the State has no right to block the marchers, more than 3,000 set off from Selma, walking 12 miles a day and sleeping in fields
March 25 The marchers, now numbering 25,000, reach Montgomery. Martin Luther King (below, centre) declares: “Our aim is not to humiliate and defeat the white man, but to win his friendship and understanding”
August 6, 1965 President Johnson signs the Voting Rights Act, closing loopholes that allowed Southern states to discriminate against black voters
Source: Alabama University, Texas State University, University of Southern Mississippi
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article1774530.ece
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