The latest issue of the Nieman Reports features stories on unsolved cold cases from the civil rights era.
Thomas Moore holds a photograph of him and his brother, Charles, who was later killed by Klansmen. Moore never gave up in his quest to find justice for his slain brother.
There is a story by David Ridgen, whose work as a documentary filmmaker for the Canadian Broadcasting Co. helped lead to the 2007 conviction of James Seale, involved in the 1964 killings of two black teenagers, Henry Hezekiah Dee and Charles Eddie Moore, in southwest Mississippi.
There is a story by John Fleming, whose work for The Aniston Star helped lead to the 2010 conviction of former Alabama trooper James Bonard Fowler, who shot Jimmie Lee Jackson in 1965.
There is a story by Stanley Nelson, whose work investigating the 1964 Frank Morris murder in Ferriday, La., could yet lead to charges.
I did a story on my journey and the cases I’ve pursued.
Together we helped form the Civil Rights Cold Case Project, being led by acclaimed journalists Robert Rosenthal and Hank Klibanoff.
Klibanoff wrote that the pursuit of these killings is both necessary and important.
Society has no statute of limitations, he wrote. “There is a reason for that. No person involved in murdering another should go to bed at night without worrying about whether he or she will be brought to justice the next day.”
What made these unpunished killings so egregious is these violent Klansmen “operated with the knowledge of law enforcement, legislators, mayors and governors, often with their participation and protection,” he wrote. “The Klan — and its virulent spinoffs — was organized homegrown terrorism, more pervasive, enduring and deadly than anything this nation has known.”
We as a nation believe in pursuing terrorists, and there should be no exception for these killings, he wrote. “Many black families in the South — or surviving members of families who lived there in the mid-20th century —s till do not know who killed their father, mother, grandfather, uncle, brother or sister. They live with the unspeakable grief of an unexplained loss.”
Charles Marcus Edwards
A day after a jury convicted Seale, Moore’s brother, Charles, approached Charles Marcus Edwards, a former Klansman who had been involved in beating the two teenagers but not their killings.
Charles Moore thanked Edwards, who had testified against Seale.
“It took a big man to do what you did yesterday,” Moore said.
“I am, I am truly sorry, fella,” Edwards said. He looked tense, apprehensive and uncertain what Moore might do.
“I appreciate what you did.” Moore added. “I stated this last week, that I wanted to move on with my life.”
“You did, right.”
“And I believe in the same God that you believe in,” Moore said. “In the 18th chapter of Matthew, Peter asks, ‘How many times should you forgive your brother?’ ”
Edwards relaxed, his face showed recognition of the passage, and his lips began to move as Moore continued: “And he answered, ‘I will forgive him seven times.’ But Jesus Christ said, ‘No, not only seven times … ‘ ”
Edwards elevated his voice and joined Moore in saying aloud, in unison, “… but 70 times seven.’ ”
Moore extended an open hand, met Edwards’s hand, and said, “So you are forgiven.”
Klibanoff concluded: “Journalism, at its core, is about accountability, and reporters, at their best, are pursuers of the truth, no matter how long it has been hidden. That is why they do it.”
