# Precious Lord
# Take my hand
# Lead me on
# Let me stand
# I am tired
# I am weak
# I am worn
# Through the storm
# Through the night
# Lead me on
# Through the night
# Take my hand
# Precious Lord
# And lead
# Me home
# Take my hand
# Precious Lord
# And lead
# Me home
Uh-oh.
What is it?
- What do they want? - I don't know.
Just pass me. Pass me.
- Is it a cop? - I can't see.
- What the fuck are they playin' at? - They ain't playin'. You better believe it.
- What are we gonna do? - I don't know.
OK. Hold on, you guys.
There's a truck too.
Shit. It is a cop.
You better stop.
OK. Sit tight, you guys. Don't say anything. Let me talk.
All right? We'll be all right. Just relax.
Y'all think you can drive any speed you want around here?
You had us scared to death, man.
- Don't you call me "man", Jew-boy. - No, sir. What should I call you?
You don't call me nothin', nigger-lovin' Jew-boy. You just listen.
Yes, sir.
Hell, you even startin' to smell like a nigger, Jew-boy.
- Take it easy. We'll be all right. - Sure you will, nigger-Iover.
(cop) He's seen your face. That ain't good. You don't want him seein' your face.
Oh, it don't make no difference no more.
(click)
- Whoa, shit! We into it now, boys. - (three gunshots)
You only left me a nigger, but at least I shot me a nigger.
(men laugh)
Yes, indeed.
# Now listen, you communists and niggers and Jews
# Tell all your buddies to spread the news
# Your Day of Judgment will soon be nigh
# As the Lord in his wisdom looks down from on high
# Will his battle be lost by mixin' the races?
# We want beautiful babies, not ones with brown faces
# Never, never, never, I say
# For the Ku Klux Klan is here to stay
# Never, never, never, I say
# Cos the Ku Klux Klan is here to stay
These Ku Kluxers are better with lynchings than with lyrics.
Just read the file, Mr Anderson. I can do without the cabaret.
- You don't like me much, do you, boss? - Sure I like you.
I just don't share your sense of humour.
Sometimes that's all you got left.
- How long you been in the Bureau? - Three years.
- Right outta college, huh? - No. From the Justice Department.
Kennedy boy. Now I see.
No. I don't think you do see.
Let's get this thing straight.
I haven't had a pimple in years. I shave every morning.
I even go to the bathroom by myself. So you can quit this "boss" stuff.
I'm in charge because I've been through this before.
- Birmingham? Montgomery? - Oxford. I was with Meredith at Old Miss.
Oh. You got hit in the head with a brick, so they gave you a promotion.
No. Shot in the shoulder.
- Well, at least you lived. That's important. - Meredith lived. That's what's important.
What's got four eyes and can't see?
- What? - Mississippi.
# Never, never, never, I say
# Cos the Ku Klux Klan is here to... (laughs)
- Big building for a small town. - Yeah.
Howdy.
Good morning. My name's Alan Ward.
I'm with the FBI.
Federal Bureau of Integration?
- In that get-up, you ain't undercover. - We're here to see Sheriff Stuckey.
Sheriff's right busy now.
You'll have to wait or come back some other time.
We'll wait.
(sighs)
Listen to me, you backwoods shit-ass, you.
You got two seconds to get the sheriff out here or I'll kick the goddamn door in. OK?
(door opens)
Well, hell. Looks like we got some company.
Some Hoover boys come down to visit.
- How ya doin'? - Good.
- I'm Sheriff Stuckey. - Rupert Anderson.
Rupert, we've been expectin' you.
- I assume you met my deputy, Mr Pell. - Sure did.
You down here to help us solve our nigger problems?
No. It's just a missing-person case.
Well, come on.
- You gonna want your boy in on this? - Sheriff...
I'm Special Agent Ward and I'm in charge of this case.
We think it might be a little more serious than missing persons.
I don't think so, boy. Know what I think it is?
It's a publicity stunt cooked up by that Martin Luther King fella.
(chuckles) Come on.
At around 3pm, Deputy Pell says he arrested the three boys for speeding.
He held them in jail until 10pm and then released them.
They drove off. He says he followed them as far as the county line...
...and never saw them again.
Why didn't they make a phone call?
- Why should they? - These boys were trained activists.
They're taught to check in every hour and, if arrested, the moment they're released.
The hotel is near the jail. They could've phoned from the lobby. It doesn't follow.
- (Anderson) Maybe they had a beer. - Not these boys.
The civil rights office in Rossville started making calls when they didn't check in.
The sheriff's office here said they had no idea where the boys were.
First lie.
By who? Sheriff's office or civil rights office?
Who would you believe?
Mr Ward, I was a sheriff in a little Mississippi town just like this.
- Yes, I'm aware of that. - Well, lyin' just don't come into it.
We were ten miles from Memphis, a million miles from the rest of the world.
If a sheriff in a town like this says that's what happened, that's what happened.
Let's go eat.
We're full up, honey. Y'all wanna wait a while?
- Is the wait worth it? - We're not full for nothin', sugar.
Y'all wanna look at a menu while you wait?
Thank you.
Well, what y'all gonna do? Wait or leave?
We're gonna wait cos we wanna be near you.
- There are some empty seats down there. - Uh, Mr Ward...
That's coloured down there. Don't even think about it.
- People here are gettin' ready to leave. - Aren't you hungry, Mr Anderson?
Good afternoon. Looks good.
Do you mind if I ask you a few questions?
I'm looking for some information.
- I ain't got nothin' to say to you, sir. - Just a few questions.
I ain't got nothin' to say to you, sir.
The civil rights boys came to propose setting up a voter registration clinic.
Before the locals got a chance to say yes, the Klan burned 'em down.
- You give a man a vote but he can't use it. - Yeah, that's the way it works.
What did their office in Rossville say?
That the boys came back here to apologise to the congregation.
"Sorry you folks didn't get to vote."
"I suppose most of you never knew you even had one."
"Now you got no place to go on Sunday."
Apparently, after they came back here, they talked to some locals down the road.
- I think that's where we should start. - Oh, they won't talk to you.
These people have to live here long after we're gone.
They'd rather bite their tongue off than talk to us.
Bureau procedure, Mr Anderson.
(Ward) The church caught fire and you ran home. Is that correct?
Yes, sir.
And then the four white men stopped you?
Yes, sir.
And these four white men attacked your husband?
Yes, sir.
But you can't identify them.
No, sir.
Did you report this to the police?
No, sir.
But you told the civil rights boys what happened?
Yes, sir.
Ma'am, did they tell you where they were going after that?
- No, sir. - Nothing?
No, sir.
All right. Thank you, ma'am.
You're welcome.
(pounding on door)
- Come on, boy. - Open up.
- Your brother Hollis here, Fennis? - Yes, sir.
Well, wake his ass up. We wanna see him.
- Why? - Just wake him up, boy.
- What is it? - There you are, nigger trash!
Come here, boy!
Hollis! Hollis!
Get your ass back here, you fuckin' nigger!
Hollis! Hollis!
We better not catch you talkin' to the FBI.
Or you'll be dead, boy. Real dead.
You admire these kids, don't you?
Don't you?
I think they're bein' used.
They're sent here in their Volkswagens and sneakers...
...just to get their heads cracked open.
Did it ever occur to you that maybe they believed in what they were doing?
- Did it occur to them they'd end up dead? - Maybe.
In Washington they sure as hell knew, didn't they?
Some things are worth dying for.
Well, down here they see things a little differently.
People down here feel some things are worth killin' for.
Where does it come from, all this hatred?
You know, when I was a little boy...
...there was an old Negro farmer lived down the road from us, name of Monroe.
And he was... Well, I guess he was just a little luckier than my daddy was.
He bought himself a mule.
That was a big deal around that town.
My daddy hated that mule.
His friends kidded him that they saw Monroe ploughin' with his new mule...
...and Monroe was gonna rent another field now that he had a mule.
One morning that mule just showed up dead.
They poisoned the water.
After that there was never any mention about that mule around my daddy.
One time we were drivin' past Monroe's place and we saw it was empty.
He'd just packed up and left, I guess. Gone up North or somethin'.
I looked over at my daddy's face...
...and I knew he'd done it.
And he saw that I knew.
He was ashamed.
I guess he was ashamed.
He looked at me and he said...
..."If you ain't better than a nigger, son, who are you better than?"
Do you think that's an excuse?
No, it's not an excuse. It's just a story about my daddy.
Where does that leave you?
With an old man who was so full of hate...
...that he didn't know that bein' poor was what was killin' him.
Get the light! Get the light!
You all right?
I guess they know we're here.
(car engine starts)
(car drives off at speed)
Now you know what you're gettin' into.
I'm gonna call Washington. I need more agents.
Would it change your mind if I say that's exactly the wrong thing to do?
No.
The whole place for 75 a month. It's private. It's central. It's perfect.
There's room for a hundred more agents.
Two hundred, maybe. More in the balcony.
We're just trying to find the three boys, Mr Anderson.
I'll take all the help I can get.
When's the show start?
- Who's the big shot? - It's the Klan.
No pointy hats but plenty of pointy heads.
Let me run a check on the plates.
Good afternoon, gentlemen.
Anderson. Say hello to our mayor, Mr Tilman here.
- How do you do, Anderson? - Mr Mayor. Mr Barber.
Well, this looks like the place to be. Even for me.
Yep. Nothin' like a barbershop for jawin' your socks off.
Where you from, Anderson?
Thornton, Mississippi, sir. Just a spit from Tennessee.
Well, then you must know how we all feel down here.
We don't take to outsiders tellin' us how to live our lives.
And I'm here to tell ya, our nigras were happy...
...till those beatnik college kids came down here stirrin' things up.
Before that, there wasn't anybody complainin'.
Nobody dared.
We got a real peaceful community down here, Anderson.
Course, they're just like any other folks, I reckon, when you push 'em too far.
The way I figure it, it's like three sticks of old dynamite.
You shake it up... and we're gonna be scrapin' bodies off the street.
I'm just here to investigate the missing three kids, ask some questions.
If this all boiled down to gravy...
...there wouldn't be enough to cover a chicken-fried steak.
Them kids you're lookin' for? I'd bet you a shiny new dime they're in Chicago now...
...drinkin' a cold beer and havin' a laugh about the commotion they stirred up here.
Well, I sure hope so.
You can tell your bosses people got the wrong idea about the South.
You know what I'm talkin' about.
Everybody runnin' around ragged, backwards and illiterate...
...eatin' sowbelly and corn pone three times a day.
Simple fact is, Anderson, we got two cultures down here.
White culture and a coloured culture.
That's the way it always has been. That's the way it always will be.
- The rest of America don't see it that way. - The rest of America don't mean jack shit.
You in Mississippi now.
Oh, that's for sure!
(baseball on radio)
- What's the score, Mr Barber? - St Louis on top, five to nothing.
- What inning is it? - Bottom of the seventh.
- You like baseball, Anderson? - Yeah, I do. You know...
...it's the only time when a black man can wave a stick at a white man...
...and not start a riot.
Sir.
We checked on the plate, sir. Clayton Townley.
Townley. Grand Wizard of the White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan.
That's him. And we have a lead on the car.
A Choctaw on the reservation thinks he knows where it is.
Good.
(woman) You have an appointment next Tuesday?
I'll see you then. Bye-bye.
Afternoon, ladies.
- Can I help you? - Well, yes, you can.
I tell you, I just... I hate the way I look. You know?
What do you think? A permanent wave, maybe? Or a bleach job?
- That looks good. Was it done in here? - No. Jackson.
A wig's your only hope, hon. You won't be able to do much with that cue ball.
If you wanna ask us some questions, this is where you'll hear it all.
Yeah, matter of fact, I do.
I was wonderin' who that gentleman was that just drove in over there.
- I know that isn't President Johnson. - His name's Townley. Clayton Townley.
- Are you one of them FBI gentlemen? - Yes, ma'am, I am.
Well, I think it's a shame if those two kids are dead. But I sure hope you find 'em.
Thank you. Actually, three kids are missin'. There's a coloured kid also.
Do you think your people'd be down here if it weren't for those two white boys?
- Maybe not, miss. - Mrs.
Pell. Her old man's Ray Stuckey's deputy.
But I'm single.
Move out of the way.
Move over, boy. We'll take care of this. It's a local problem.
We'll handle this. We don't need your damn help.
It ain't right havin' blood on Main Street. How'd that look on the TV news?
- Get up. - OK, I got him. I got him.
He's the kid from the diner.
Think twice before you talk to coloured kids with an audience.
They're sending a message from the boss in Tupelo, and you know it.
I know it, yes. Clayton Townley, chief pointy head.
Yeah, that's right. How did you know?
Bureau procedure, Mr Ward. Try it sometime.
We did.
We found the car the kids were driving.
(dog barks)
Good morning.
Two beer cans, a Coca-Cola bottle, a green plastic bottle...
...a badly burned wristwatch stopped at 12.45, and a set of keys. No bodies.
- I want the area searched. Every inch. - Yes, sir.
- It's a big swamp. - Every inch, Mr Bird.
I guess they never left Mississippi.
They're dead. They're dead.
Mr Bird?
- Yes, sir? - There's a telephone at the truck stop.
Get to it, get on it, and get me a hundred more men here by morning.
- A hundred? - A hundred.
- Bureau people, sir? - I don't care if it's the army!
- I want this entire swamp searched! - Yes, sir.
Don't do it, Mr Ward.
- You'll just start a war. - It was a war long before we got here.
(dog barking)
Get the fuck outta here now!
Sir?
The sheriff's alibi is solid. He was playing poker with his wife's brother and cousins.
- The whole time? - For three hours. He lost $11.38.
There's something else. We're having a little trouble with the motel manager.
- What kind of trouble? - He wants us out. We're bad for business.
Buy it.
- Sorry, sir? - Buy it!
The motel.
- How high can I go? - Whatever it takes.
Today in Jessup County, Mississippi...
...amidst the violence of this week, the eyes of the nation...
...are fixed on the search for the missing civil rights workers.
I think it's all a big hoax. But if they are in that swamp, then they asked for it.
(reporter) Naval reserves have joined FBI agents in searching for the missing men.
I think they planned it. They're sittin' up in New York laughin' at us Mississippi folks.
- You think it's a hoax? - A big hoax. They gonna find nothin'.
Civil rights leaders are optimistic as to the young men's whereabouts.
But privately there is mounting concern that they will ever be found alive.
They came lookin' for trouble and found it.
This is Marek Barlbobi, Network News, Jessup County, Mississippi.
Tell you what I think they oughta be doin'. Lookin' up in Canada for them boys...
...instead of our swamps around here.
I'll tell you somethin' else. I think it's a stunt dreamed up by NAAC people.
- (reporter) NAAC people? - NAACP.
Know what it stands for? Niggers, Alligators, Apes, Coons and Possums.
Tell you what you got. You got your NAACP.
You got your SNCC. You got your COFO.
You know what all that mess is? B-U-L-L-S-H-l-T.
You got it?
(boy) One day we won't have to say "Good morning, sir, Mr Sheriff."
Maybe there'll come a time when we won't have to say "Mr Stuckey".
One day there'll come a time when we'll just say "Stuckey" or "Sheriff".
And one day there'll come a time when the sheriff won't even be a white man.
Hello.
I wonder if I could ask you a few questions.
I don't suppose you could tell me what kind of flower these are, could you?
I been seein' 'em all over the place here and...
Never saw such a darn pretty plant.
They're trumpet-pitchers.
Trumpet-pitchers?
They're beautiful. They really are.
They don't smell so good but they're pretty.
It's nice talkin' to you.
Sorry about interruptin' your meeting but we can't get anybody to talk to us.
They zip up, like my momma used to say.
People don't wanna talk to you because they're afraid it'll get back to the law.
- We are the law. - Not around here you ain't.
We came to find out what happened to those boys. They were here to help you.
- It ain't coloured folks you should talk to. - Who should we talk to?
Come on, Aaron.
You should start with the sheriff's office.
- Why aren't you afraid? - How come you ain't?
Aaron?
Aaron, come on, son.
Here's the pitch. Swing and a line-drive base hit. Another run is home.
On to the next pitch by the ruffled Bob Gibson. He is upset.
Ron Hunt singled to centre. Hickman passed third...
... and scored the Mets' second run.
Hunt holds on at first, and the Mets lead two to one.
(doorbell)
Good evening, Mrs Pell. I'm Agent Ward. This is Agent Anderson.
We're with the FBI.
Is your husband home?
We'd like to have a word with him.
Y'all come in, then.
It's the FBI gentlemen, Clinton. They wanna ask you some more questions.
You want me to put your dinner in the oven?
Leave us alone.
Mind if I take a seat?
What's so goddamn important you got to bother me at home?
I just wanted to run through once again your movements on June 21st.
June which?
June 21st.
Deputy, we both know what day we're talking about, so let's do this civilised.
Then you get back to your ball game and we can get back to Washington.
Please, don't let me interrupt you.
It's just when you've heard a question a dozen times, it gets kinda boring.
Yeah, I guess so.
- You don't eat together? - He works funny hours.
- You think that's odd? - No.
No, I work funny hours myself.
I eat when I'm hungry. He eats when he can.
- Can I get you somethin'? - No, no. Thanks.
This is a nice house.
- How long have you lived here? - I was born here.
But my father lost the house in a poker game a long time ago.
We've been payin' rent ever since.
It's a wicked game.
Poker.
Wicked.
(Ward) Mr Anderson?
It's nice talkin' to you. Guess I gotta go.
Them pork chops still any good, honey? Bring me a beer.
(Anderson) Good night.
Let you get back to your baseball.
They say it's the only game where a black man can wave a stick...
I know. I already heard that one.
Fifty minutes of his alibi hinges on his wife.
- You talked to her. What's she like? - She's a nice lady.
Tell me, Mr Anderson. How does a woman like that end up with...
With shithead in there? You know what these small towns are like.
A girl spends all her time in high school lookin' for the guy she's gonna marry...
...and spends the rest of her life wonderin' why.
Something's wrong. He's too confident.
- Did you see the wedding photograph? - No.
His three pals, the ushers, had their thumbs hooked in their belts...
...with their three fingers pointing down.
So what is that? Some sort of Masonic thing?
No! KKK.
(Pell) I know you ain't drunk.
- (drunk) I'm not drunk. - All right. You ain't drunk.
I'm just gonna take you where you can sleep it off.
All right. Hold up.
Watch your head.
Hi. Uh... There was a couple of things I needed to check with you.
- My husband's not here. - Actually, it was you I wanted to talk to.
Me?
OK. You'd better come in, then.
Just take a minute.
My boss, he's kind of a pain. A college kid.
He has to dot all the i's and cross all the t's.
- What is it you wanted to ask me about? - It's a time thing we're not so clear about.
Should I put your flowers in some water while you're here?
Yeah. Actually they're for you.
They're beautiful.
They are pretty, aren't they?
They don't smell so nice but they're pretty.
Can I get you anything? Some tea?
Yeah. Thanks.
Oh, don't you look at that. It's a terrible photo.
Oh, I don't know about that.
- Is this recent? - No. I wish.
Well... this here looks recent to me.
We were married 14 years ago.
Are you kidding me? No! Come on.
- You take sugar? - Sure do.
- You know, I grew up in a town like this. - You were smart enough to leave.
Why didn't you?
"For better or for worse."
How about you? Are you married?
Well, I was, as I remember.
It didn't last very long. I was never home.
I guess she got fed up with... phone calls from Miami, postcards from Des Moines.
There was always a guy around.
Any guy that could spare the time for a movie or a beer...
...or a quarter for the jukebox.
She left.
- How about you? - Well, you know the South, Mr Anderson.
You leave high school and marry the first boy who makes you laugh.
Hey, your husband's quite a guy.
You know, my boss has this thing about an hour - 50 minutes, to be exact -
...that your husband says that he was with you.
- And I guess he was. - Guess he was.
Well, that's a pity.
That means that I don't have an excuse for hangin' around here any more.
Well...
Thank you for the iced tea.
- Thank you for the flowers. - Sure.
Do you know what kind they are?
- I heard they're called trumpet-pitchers. - Oh, that's right.
My daddy used to call 'em ladies-from-hell because they're carn...
Carnivorous.
- That's the word? - Yeah.
That pretty colour's the bait. Insects just home in there and wham, they're dead...
...even before they got their shoes off.
Maybe I should've picked something else.
Maybe.
# Sing the wondrous love of Jesus
# Sing his mercy and his grace
# In the mansions, bright and blessed
# He'll prepare for us a place
(congregation sings)
- #... day of rejoicing that will be - # That will be
# When we all see Jesus
# We'll sing and shout the victory
(minister) May the peace and the joy in the Holy Ghost abide with all of you...
...for now and for ever. Amen.
(screaming)
# When we all
# Get to heaven
# What a day of rejoicing
# That will be
# When we all
# See Jesus, Jesus
# We'll sing and shout
# The victory
You already been told once, nigger. We don't wanna have to tell you again.
You make any more trouble by flappin' them boot-lips off to them federal men...
...we'll sure as hell put you in the ground, boy, and that's without a pine box!
You understand me?
(reporter) How are Negroes treated in Mississippi?
They're treated about fair. About as good as they oughta be.
The niggers around here have been treated awful bad for a long time.
I think Martin Luther King's one of the leaders.
I mean, J Edgar Hoover said that he was a communist...
...and they had proof to that effect.
But I don't know that for sure. I hadn't seen it myself, but that's what they say.
Hey, you really wanna find that nigger?
They say we've got to eat together and use the same bathroom as the niggers.
And that's awful hard for some Mississippi folks to do.
They're not like us. They don't take baths. They stink, they... they're nasty...
...they're just not like white folks.
What do you think has happened to the three boys?
Dead.
Just as dead as they can be.
It feels so good.
- Is she asleep? Is she? - Yeah.
Oh, my Lord. I'm sorry I woke you up.
- Bye, hon. I'll be a couple of hours. - All right.
Well, Mary, is that your Betsy's kid?
Yeah. She's growin' up real quick, ain't she?
Tuesday'll be just fine on those, Mary.
Funny.
Their kids are so cute.
Is that thing back on me again?
If the entire Secret Service couldn't protect the president...
...how in hell are we supposed to protect a few nigras?
It ain't nothin' but a bunch of lowlife white trash drinkin' too much cheap alcohol.
More like paint thinner and snake juice, because this state's as dry as a martini...
...and we got the alcoholics to prove it.
Give me a little room here. Excuse me, Bob.
- Is this OK? - Your name, please?
Clayton Townley. Local businessman.
Are you, sir, a spokesman for the White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan?
I told you. I'm a businessman.
I'm also a Mississippian. And an American.
And I am sick and tired of the way many of us Mississippians...
...are havin' our views distorted by your newspapers and on TV.
So let's get this straight.
We do not accept Jews because they reject Christ.
Their control of the international banking cartels are at the root of communism.
We do not accept Papists because they bow to a Roman dictator.
We do not accept Turks, Mongols, Tartars, Orientals nor Negroes...
...because we're here to protect Anglo-Saxon democracy...
...and the American way. - Thank you, sir.
(men laughing)
Lefty, you are livin' proof that cousins shouldn't fuck.
(laughter)
What I was tryin' to say... there's this coloured boy.
He wants to play football for Bear Bryant over at Alabama.
So Bear says "I'm gonna give you a tryout."
What's he gonna run with? A watermelon?
He's gonna keep on runnin' too.
"OK, boy" he says. "You get down there on one goal line."
He puts a whole team on the other goal line. He throws the boy the ball and says...