Saturday, September 05, 2009
Tallahatchie County, Mississippi Courthouse (photo: Calvin Beale)
Residents of Tallahatchie County in Mississippi recently endured an ugly flashback to the pre-Civil Rights era when a mostly white mob conducted a vigilante hunt for an African American accused of committing a burglary.
In the same county where Emmett Till was lynched in 1954, on August 20, 2009, a group of citizens from the town of Sumner armed themselves with shotguns—and an armored personnel carrier—and set out for the wooded Delta where the suspect, Will Pittman, was reportedly hiding out. The mob, including some drinking beer, made threatening remarks and gestures towards Pittman’s brother, Cornelius, who was trying to get Will to turn himself in to the police.
The FBI and the Justice Department are now investigating the incident. Congressman Bennie Thompson (D-MS) told the Jackson Free Press: “Anytime one takes the law in their own hands—if it’s in this situation or others—it’s absolutely illegal. While people have the right to protect themselves, they don’t have the right to put other people at risk at any time.”
-Noel Brinkerhoff
A Delta Manhunt, With Booze and Guns (by Ward Schaefer, Jackson Free Press)
Mob Rule in Sumner, MS!!! (by Ronald Herd, W.E. A.L.L. B.E. blog)
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