The Lexington advertiser., 1963-07-04
and neighboring papers: !:

siSsippi are expressing deep
concern over the assassina-
ton of civil rights crusader
Medgar Evers.
Two newspapers with Pulit-
ger Prize winning editors took
strong stands against what
they called the conditions
which resulted in the ambush
Staying Wednesday of Evers,
Mississippi field secretary OF
the National Association for
the Advancement of Colored
People.
The Pascagoula Chronicle
Star, whose editor Ira B.
Harkey, Jr. won a Pulitzer
Prize earlier this year for his
fortnight editorials" on the
University of Mississippi de-
segregation crisis, said mo
white person in Mississippi
can absolve himself complete
ly of guilt for the murder of
EverS.
Race Hdfred Blamed
GAS surely as the sun rises
because of certain physical
laws, that murder was the
inevitable result of the defects
in our minds and hearts that
let us applaud politicians who
chant hatred, newspapers that
sell hatred and parents who
teach hatred"
The Chronicle-Star editori-
al continued, eff, as is likely,
white men murdered Evers,
they are today the most as
founded persons on earth =
astounded by the reaction of
horror to their deed, astound-
ed that they are not being
commended by politicians and
newspapers for having done
the deed"
A Therapeutic Effect?
The Greenville Delta Demo-
crat-Times said the death
''for all of its horrible impu-
tation against our democrat
ic society, may prove in the
long run to have a socially
therapeutic effect. 1t rings
with meaning for white as
we'll as Negro citizens"
The Delta Democrat-Times,
which is edited and published
by 1946 Pulitzer Prize win
ner Holding Carter, said the
murder should be a warning
to whites and for the Negro
it means that the land of
the free and the home. of the
brave is not yet that in all
cases; that perhaps, he is,
closer to a fuller measure of
political and economic dignity
than he realized.
Vile. Savage Crime
In Beckwith's hometown
daily newspaper, The Green
wood Commonwealth, had
this to say, before any arrests
were made:
I'VE detested what Medgar
Evers was doing to Missis-
sippi," commented the Green
wood Commonwealth. eve
were aware that he was a
reverently hated man, that
his name was an epithet on
thousands of lips.
''But we would have argued
until doomsday that what hap
pened to the NAACP leader
couldn't have Muir
der from ambush is the vilest,
most savage crime warped
souls can sink to" the Com
monwealth editorial said
Reward Posted
The iointly-owned Clarion
Ledger and Daily News IN
Jackson, where Evers was
slain, offered a $1,000 reward
for information leading to the
arrest and conviction of the
slayer.
The afternoon Daily News
reprinted an editorial it had
carried exactly one month
prior to (the) terrible
tragedy" 1t said that a quiet
community somewhere in the
South would erupt "into hate
and near-violence."
In a footnote, the Daily
News added: "We did not
know the name of the town
then. Sadly, it turned out to
be Jackson, Miss"
The morning Clarion-Ledg-
er said continued demon
strations can lead only to
more bloodshed +. Evidence
was available at the very
hour of the shooting that out
side agitators had abandoned
further efforts to continue de-
monstrations.
All Affected
Editor J. Oliver Enmerich
of the McComb Enterprise
Journal wrote in his daily
page one editorial column,
"Mississippi's problems have
been made far more acute by
the assassination The act
of violence will affect every
man. woman and child in Mis-
sissippi. white or colored.
T>..~x>11. ssT4 -