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American Morning

South Reexamines Its Past

Aired April 16, 2001 - 11:02   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Well, joining us now by phone is Jerry Mitchell. He's a reporter with "The Clarion-Ledger" in Jackson, Mississippi, and he's covered the reexamination of a number of civil rights-related killings. He joins us now Jackson, Mississippi.

Good morning.

JERRY MITCHELL, "THE CLARION-LEDGER": Good morning, Leon.

HARRIS: What led -- can you explain to us exactly what it is that -- and why it take -- it took so long for this case to actually reach this point. It's been some 38 years.

MITCHELL: Yes. Well, back in the 1960s, J. Edgar Hoover chose not to refer the case for prosecution. The FBI thoroughly investigated the case at the time. So as a result -- and, of course, the State of Alabama at the time had no interest in pursuing the case. So the case lay dormant really until the late '70s when the attorney general at the time -- state attorney general decided to pick up the case, and that's when Robert Chambliss was convicted back in 1977.

And then the -- the case -- he went out of office, and no one else seemed interested in picking up the case. It was only until really the Medgar Evers' case was reexamined here in Mississippi that people -- authorities across the South began to reexamine these cases, and the FBI looked at it again in '93, and this is finally the fruition of that work.

HARRIS: You mentioned J. Edgar Hoover. I'd like to ask you something. I mean, I learned in the last hour or so about one figure who's in -- related to this case, is I guess -- I think his last name is Roe (ph), and...

MITCHELL: Right.

HARRIS: Yes, he was a -- he was a Klansman who was...

MITCHELL: Yes, he was.

HARRIS: ... who many believe was a part of this bombing conspiracy, and some would say -- and there's the allegation now that he was actually using the FBI as a shield for the Klan.

MITCHELL: Well, Tommy Roe was -- was an FBI informant, who was also in the Klan, and there's been quite a few allegations made about him back in those days. For instance, one thing that we do know for fact is that Tommy Roe was in the car in which Klansmen shot -- from which Klansmen shot and killed Viola Liuzzo there in Alabama.

So he had a rather notorious past. But there's been -- I'm not aware of any kind of indication from the FBI documents or other documents that Roe was actually involved in this.

HARRIS: Well, let's look then at the City of Birmingham. It's -- it's a much different city today than it was...

MITCHELL: Yes, it certainly is.

HARRIS: So what does this -- what does this trial mean for the city today?

MITCHELL: Well, I think it means a lot for the City of Birmingham and for the South in general because it's an example of the South going back and reexamining its past, you know, a new generation looking back at this and saying, "Wait a minute. What happened back then was wrong. Why wasn't this case prosecuted?" This is the kind of thing that's happening in Birmingham and Mississippi and across the South.

HARRIS: So you don't see any -- any resistance perhaps from the old-guard generation?

MITCHELL: I think there has been some resistance from all these cases. But I think, overall, there's been a real push to -- to get beyond that, to move beyond our past, and try to move toward doing what we can to move forward to the future and a new South.

HARRIS: But -- well, then is the verdict of this case a forgone conclusion, because, as I understand it, it...

MITCHELL: No.

HARRIS: ... there really hasn't been any new evidence that surfaced. The one trial that did result in a conviction also had flimsy evidence in it. Is this case here one that's just -- basically one that's already written in stone and is going to be basically a forgone conclusion?

MITCHELL: No, I don't think so at all. I think this is -- this is a -- this trial is going to be a close call. The evidence against Blanton is going to rely on these tapes, also a mystery witness that -- we don't know exactly who it is at this point.

HARRIS: Tapes, we should say, that are -- were illegal wiretaps, correct?

MITCHELL: I'm not certain whether they had -- they may have had a subpoena to obtain the wiretaps, but they certainly were wiretaps. They didn't know that they were being taped, and so it's -- it's going to be a close call. I don't think this is a foregone conclusion at all. HARRIS: The state that you're in, Mississippi, also had quite a few incidents like this in its past.

MITCHELL: Absolutely.

HARRIS: Is your state, do you think, looking at what's go -- what's happening in Birmingham and taking special note?

MITCHELL: Absolutely. And we'll be covering the trial as well for our statewide newspaper. It's -- I think so because, for example, the State of Mississippi is looking at reopening, reprosecuting the three civil-rights workers' case that happened here in '64 just a year after this church bombing, and it -- the success in these other cases, obviously, helps to inspire others, and I think it's something that the whole South will be watching and the whole nation.

HARRIS: Jerry Mitchell. We appreciate the insight. Jerry Mitchell writes for "The Clarion-Ledger" in Jackson, Mississippi. Good luck to you.

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