In 1964 the bodies of teenagers Charles Moore and Henry Dee were accidentally fished out of the Mississippi River. They’d been kidnapped by KKK member and policeman, James Seale, and driven into the woods – where other klansmen waited.
Tying the teens up, klansmen beat them with branches and questioned them about civil rights activists. But Moore and Dee genuinely didn’t have any information.
Beaten nearly to death, Moore and Dee were chained to weights and tossed into the Mississippi River – alive! The FBI had ALL this evidence - so why weren’t ANY klansmen convicted?
Initially klansmen James Seale and Charles Edwards were arrested, but charges were dropped! Legal officials agreed the “case was ‘greatly prejudiced’ toward the defendants” because they’d been “mistreated” after the murder went public. Both Seale and Edwards went free - for a while.
In the late 1990s Thomas Moore, Charles Moore’s brother, collaborated with filmmaker David Ridgen to produce the Mississippi Cold Case series. They dug up enough evidence to reopen Moore and Dee’s case.
In 2007 Seale was FINALLY convicted - and died in prison.
Countless Black people have been murdered, their deaths covered up by police, FBI, and KKK working in tandem. Like Thomas Moore, we must expose white supremacist violence so our dead can rest and future generations can fight back.