No Bush Turning Mississippi into Abu Ghraib
National Public Radio - Tavis Smiley Show
Tavis Smiley: From NPR in Los Angeles, I'm Tavis Smiley. This is how it read in the Clarion-Ledger newspaper earlier this week: "Visitors to next month's Mississippi State Fair may gawk at their reflections in the fun house, witness the state championship mule pull or shake hands with the key suspect in the Ku Klux Klan 1964 killers of three civil rights workers." The paper was reporting on a booth at the fair in which Edgar Ray Killen will sign autographs and ask for support to clea
his name of possible charges in the murders of James Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner in Philadelphia, Mississippi some forty years ago. Richard Barrett is the man who is setting it all up. He
is General-Counsel of The Nationalist Movement, an organization
which says that minorities receive preferential treatment to the detriment of the white society. Mr. Barrett, granted Edgar Ray Killen was not one of the seven convicted of the murders. It's reported, thanks to a single juror, who said she could never convict a preacher. But asking folks to come for his autograph and signing a card featuring the three murdered man, I guess, to some, that may seem a bit insensitive.
Richard Barrett: Some people called for O. J. Simpson to be re-prosecuted and he was guilty, but Edgar Ray Killen was not convicted and we do have a Sixth Amendment, which requires a speedy trial, not after forty years, and a Seventh Amendment, which says that no fact tried by a jury will ever be reexamined in any c
ourt in the United States. And Edgar Ray Killen and myself and many other Americans are not going to allow George W. Bush to turn Mississippi into an Abu Ghraib. We're just not going to do it, becau
se we have justice and freedom in this country. And, after forty year
s, maybe the discussion coming out of all of this will reassess the invasion of Mississippi in 1964, supposedly to put minorities in over the majority. Perhaps, today, we might decide it's better to have majority rule. And, that's what it's all about.
Smiley: Does it actually concern you, though, that the families of the deceased are insulted by your actions here?
Barrett: Well, I know that they've been insulted by such things as saying that you have to be qualified to have a job and they want a job they can't perform, they want to be in schools, where they can't learn. They want to be forced into neighborhoods, where they're not wanted. But freedom does insult tyranny and I'm glad th
at it does.
Smiley: What do you hope to accomplish by this booth?
Barrett: Several things. One is that Edgar Ray Killen has fought Communism for forty years and we'll
just thank the man. And, we want to remind Attorney-General Jim Hood and John Ashcroft -- I met Hood and I
reminded him -- of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights -- and I said, "Back off." You mention these people who are complaining and, of course, the FBI is trying to dredge up this case. You've, also, heard of "voodoo economics?" Well, they're talking about "voodoo justice." That's what "Papa Doc" Duvallier did. He'd dig up the bones of his enemies and scatter them around. We don't do that in America. What we're going to do here, instead of just listening to more lies from the Bush Administration, we're going to be listening to people who are milking cows, planting cotton and riding horses. We're going to come down, on the grass-roots l
evel, and sign this petition supporting Edgar Ray Killen. And, by the way, anyone else may sign it by going to Nationalist.org and clicking on Petition. They may sign it, too.
Smil
ey: What would you do if the Attorney-General in your State of Mississippi decided to prosecute Mr. Killen on the state level?
Barrett: You've heard the term, Th
e Empire Strikes Back? Well, this is going to be, The Magnolia State Strikes Back. And, it's not just going to be the people of Mississippi, it's going to be Americans everywhere, who say that we've had enough of the affirmative-action juries, we've had enough of the quotas and the bussing. The only reason they want to bring it back is -- and they disregard the Constitution -- because they say that now they'll have Negro juries and that will be "wonderful justice." Do you know what they remind me of? The Stalinist-Berea trials, the show-trials, in Russia. We don't need Communism and we don't need voodoo-ju
stice in the United States of America.
Smiley: We have about thirty seconds left here. You ran for Governor, but some would suggest that your time has come and gone, yet you co
ntinue to fly the colors of the white-supremacy flag and "hate." Tell me why.
Barrett: You're certainly wrong and in your initial introduction you were wrong. We're here to serve the interests of th
e majority of the American people and that's what we're doing. We fly the flag of the United States of America. I am a twice-wounded Vietnam War veteran and, as I say, the fight against Communism didn't just go on against Ho Chi Minh, it now goes on against the Goodmans and the Chaneys and the Schwerners. And, I predict like Killen did. They asked him. They said, "What's going to be the future of Communism and integration in this country?" and he quoted R. G. Lee, in a sermon, where he said, Payday's Coming. And it is. It's red-white-and-blue.
Smiley
: Richard Barrett is the General-Counsel of The Nationalist Movement. Mr. Barrett, thank you for your time.
Barrett: Thank you, Tavis.
