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 these jokers playing at?
Oh, they ain't playing. You better believe it.
- What are we gonna do? - I don't know.
Okay, hold on, you guys.
There's a truck, too.
Shit, it is a cop.
You better stop.
Okay, 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 call me man, Jew-boy.
No, sir. What should I call you?
You don't call me nothing, nigger-loving Jew-boy. You just listen.
Yes, sir.
Hell, you even starting to smell like a nigger, Jew-boy.
Take it easy. We'll be all right.
Sure you will, nigger-lover.
He's seen your face. That ain't good. You don't want him seeing your face.
Oh, it don't make no difference no more.
Oh, shit! We into it now, boys!
You only left me a nigger,
but at least I shot me a nigger.
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 mixing 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 #
# 'Cause the Ku Klux Klan is here to stay #
These Ku Kluxers are better with lynchings than they are 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 humor.
Sometimes that's all you got left.
How long have you been in the bureau?
Three years.
Right out of 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.
They put me in charge, because I've been through this before.
- Birmingham, Montgomery? - Oxford.
- I was with Meredith at Ole Miss. - Oh, yeah.
You got hit in the head with a brick, so they gave you a promotion, right?
No. Shot in the shoulder.
Well, at least you lived. That's important.
No, Meredith lived. That's what's important.
What's got four eyes (I's) and can't see?
- What? - Mississippi.
# Never, never, never I say #
# 'Cause the Ku Klux Klan is here to... #
Big building for a small town.
Howdy.
Good morning.
My name's Alan Ward. I'm with the FBI.
Federal Bureau of Integration?
In that get-up, you ain't exactly undercover, are you, now?
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.
Listen to me, you backwoods shit-ass, you.
You got about two seconds to get the sheriff out here,
or I'm gonna kick the goddamned door in, okay?
Well, hell, looks like we got some company.
Some Hoover boys come down to visit.
- How you doing? - Good.
I'm Sheriff Stuckey.
Rupert Anderson.
- Rupert? We been expecting you. - Uh-huh.
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.
Hmm. Well, come on.
Say, 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.
In fact, you know what I think it is, it's a publicity stunt
cooked up by that Martin Luther King fella.
Come on.
At around 3:00 p.m., Deputy Pell says he arrested the three boys for speeding.
He held them in jail until 10:00 p.m., 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?
Mr. Anderson, these boys were trained activists.
They're taught to check in every hour,
and if they're arrested, the moment they're released from custody.
The hotel is two minutes from the jail. They could have phoned from the lobby.
It just doesn't follow.
Maybe they went for a beer.
Not these boys.
The civil rights office in Rossville started making calls as soon as they didn't check in.
The sheriff's office here said they had no idea where the boys were.
First lie.
By who? The sheriff's office or the civil rights office?
Who would you believe?
Mr. Ward, I don't know if you knew it or not,
but I was a sheriff in a little Mississippi town just like this.
Yes, I'm aware of that, Mr. Anderson.
Well, lying just don't come into it, you know?
We were right on the border, 10 miles from Memphis,
and a million miles from the rest of the world.
Now, if a sheriff in a little town like this says that's what happened,
then that's what happened.
Let's go eat.
We're full up right now, honey. Y'all wanna wait a while?
Is the wait worth it?
We're not full for nothing, sugar. Y'all want to look at a menu while you wait?
- Sure. - Thank you.
Well, what y'all gonna do, wait or leave?
We're gonna wait, 'cause we want to be near you.
There's some empty seats down there.
Mr. Ward.
That's the colored down there. Don't even think about it.
There's some people over here getting ready to leave right now.
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 nothing to say to you, sir.
Just a few questions.
I ain't got nothing to say to you, sir.
Three civil rights boys came here
to propose setting up a voter registration clinic.
Before the locals got a chance to say yes, the Klan burned them down.
Give a man a vote, but don't let him use it.
Wekk, that's the way it works.
What'd their office in Rossville have to say?
They confirmed that the boys came back here to apologize 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.
Well, you can talk to them, but they won't talk to you.
These people have to live here long after we're packed up and gone.
They'd rather bite their tongue off than talk to us.
Bureau procedure, Mr. Anderson.
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.
Come on, boy.
Open up.
Your brother Hollis here?
Yes, sir.
Well, wake his ass up. We want to see him.
- Why? - Just wake him up, boy.
Why? What's the matter?
There you are!
Come here, boy!
Hollis!
Get your ass back here, you fucking nigger!
Hollis! Hollis!
Shit!
We better not catch you talking to the FBI.
You'll be dead, boy.
You admire these kids, don't you?
Don't you?
I think they're being used.
I think they're being sent down here in their Volkswagens and their 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 ever occur to them they were gonna end up dead?
Maybe.
In Washington they sure as hell knew, didn't they?
Some things are worth dying for.
Down here they see things a little differently.
People down here feel some things are worth killing for.
Where does it come from, all this hatred?
You know, when I was a little boy,
an old Negro farmer lived down the road, name of Monroe.
And he was...
I guess he was 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.
'Cause his friends were always kidding him about
how they saw Monroe plowing 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.
And after that, there was never any mention about that mule around my daddy.
Just never came up.
So one time, we were driving down the road,
and we passed Monroe's place and we saw it was empty.
He just packed and left. I guess gone up north or something.
I looked over at my daddy's face
and I knew he'd done it.
He saw that I knew. He was ashamed.
I guess he was ashamed.
He looked at me and he said,
"If you ain't any better than a nigger, son, who are you better than?"
You think that's an excuse?
No, it's not an excuse. It's just a story about my daddy.
Where's that leave you?
With an old man that was just so full of hate
that he didn't know being poor was what was killing him.
Get the light! Get the light!
You all right?
I guess they know we're here.
Now you know what you're getting into.
I'm gonna call Washington. I need more agents.
Would it make any difference if I told you 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 100 more agents. 200, maybe.
More on the balcony.
We're 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?
That's the Klan.
No pointy hats, but plenty of pointy heads.
Let me run a check on the plates.
Good afternoon, gentlemen.
Anderson.
Won't you say hello to our mayor, Mr. Tilman, here?
How do you do, Anderson?
Mr. Mayor, Mr. Barber.
This looks like the place to be.
Even for me.
Nothing like a barber shop for jawing your socks off.
Where you from anyway, 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 telling us how to live our lives.
And I'm here to tell you our nigras were happy,
till those beatnik college kids came down here stirring things up.
Before that, there wasn't anybody complaining.
Nobody dared.
We got a real peaceful community down here, Anderson.
Of course they're just like any other folks, I reckon, and push them too far...
The way I figure it, it's like three sticks of old dynamite.
You shake it up, and we're gonna be scraping bodies off the street.
I'm just down here to investigate the missing three kids, ask some questions.
If this all boiled down to gravy,
there wouldn't be enough to cover up a chicken-fried steak.
Them kids you're looking for? I'll just about bet you a shiny new dime
they're sitting up in Chicago right now
drinking a cold beer and having a big laugh
about all the commotion they've stirred up down here.
Well, I sure hope so.
You tell your bosses
people got the wrong idea about the South.
You know what I'm talking about.
Everybody running around ragged, backwards, illiterate,
eating sow-belly and corn pone three times a day.
Simple fact is, Anderson, we got two cultures down here.
White culture, and the colored culture.
That's the way it always has been.
That's the way it always will be.
Rest of America don't see it that way, Mr. Mayor.
Rest of America don't mean jack shit.
You in Mississippi now.
That's for sure.
What's the score, Mr. Barber?
St. Louis on top, five to nothing.
What inning is it?
Bottom of the seventh.
You like baseball, do you, 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. Oh, and I think we have a lead on the car, sir.
A Choctaw on the reservation thinks he knows where it is.
I'm waiting for a call.
Good.
You have your appointment next Tuesday, right?
I'll see you then. Bye-bye.
You gonna go to...
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 bleached job or something?
Now, that looks pretty good. Did you have that done in here?
No! Jackson.
I think a wig's your only hope, hon.
You ain't gonna be able to do much with that cue ball.
Thank you.
If you wanna ask custom questions, this is where you'll hear it all.
Yeah, well, matter of fact, I do, you know.
Yeah.
I was just wondering who that gentleman was that just drove in over there?
Now, I know that isn't President Johnson.
He's name is Townley, Clayton Townley.
Are you one of them FBI gentlemen?
Yes, ma'am, I am.
Well if you ask me, I think it's a shame those two kids are dead,
but I sure hope you find them.
Thank you. Actually, it's three kids that are missing. There is a colored kid also.
Do you honestly think you people'd be down here at all, 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.
Look out! Here they come!
Hollis?
Get back. Move out of the way.
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 having blood on Main Street. How'd that look on TV news?
- Okay, easy. - Get up.
Okay, I got him. I got him.
Get out of the way, now.
That's the kid from the diner.
Now maybe you'll think twice before you talk to colored kids with an audience.
They're just sending a message from the big boss from Tupelo and you know it!
I know it, yes. Clayton Townley, a chief pointy head.
Yeah, that's right. How did you know?
Bureau procedure, Mr. Ward. You ought to try it sometime.
We did!
We found the car the kids were driving.
Good morning.
Two beer cans, a Coca Cola bottle, green plastic bottle,
badly burned wristwatch stopped at 12:45, set of keys.
No bodies.
I want the entire area searched.
Every inch.
Yes, sir.
It's a big swamp.
Every inch, Mr. Bird.
I guess they never left Mississippi.
Yeah, they're dead. They're dead.
Mr. Bird!
Yes, sir?
There's a telephone back at the truck stop.
Get to it, get on it and get me a hundred more men here by morning.
- A hundred? - A hundred.
What, Bureau people, sir?
I don't care if it's the goddamn 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.
You too!
Wake up! Come on!
Get the fuck out of here, nigger! Go on!
Sir?
The sheriff's alibi is solid.
He was playing poker with his wife's brother and two cousins.
The whole time?
No, for three hours. He lost $11.38.
There's something else, sir.
We're having a little trouble with the motel manager.
What kind of trouble?
He wants us out.
He says 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 that has erupted here this week,
the eyes of the nation had been firmly fixed on the search
for the three missing civil rights workers.
Well, I think it's all a big hoax.
But if they are in that swamp, then they asked for it.
Naval reserves have been brought in to join scores of FBI agents
in their search for the missing men.
I think they planned the whole thing.
They're sitting up there in New York laughing at us Mississippi folks.
- You think it's a hoax? - Yeah, I think so.
I think it's a big hoax. They ain't gonna find nothing.
Civil rights leaders here are still optimistic as to the men's young whereabouts,
but privately, there is mounting concern that they will ever be found alive.
They came down here looking for trouble and I think they found it.
This is Marek Barlbobi, Network News, Jessup County, Mississippi.
I'll tell you what. I'll tell you what they ought to be doing.
They ought to be looking up there in Canada for them boys
instead of our swamps around here.
I'll tell you something else too. I think it's a publicity stunt
dreamed up by these NAACP people.
NAACP people?
Yeah, NAACP.
I bet you're all wondering what it stands for.
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 that mess is?
B-U-L-L-S-H-l-T. You got it?
Sheriff, will this be a federal case?
One day there'll come a time when 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 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 seeing them all over the place here and...
I 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 talking to you.
Sorry about interrupting your meeting here,
but we can't seem to get anybody to talk to us.
They just zip up, like my mama used to say.
The reason people don't wanna talk to you
is because they're afraid it'll get back to the law.
We are the law.
Not around here, you ain't.
We were sent here to find out what happened to those three boys.
They were here to help you.
It ain't colored floks you should be talking to.
Who should we be talking to?
Come on, Aaron.
You should start with the sheriff's office.
Why ain'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 runner's home!
On to the next pitch by the ruffled Bob Gibson. He is upset.
Ron Hunt singled to center.
Hickman rounded third and scored the Mets' second run of the game.
Hunt holds on at first, and the Mets now lead 2 to 1.
And the next one up there will be Joe Christopher,
who struck out and popped out again Boyer.
He's 0 for 2, and hitting a mere .252.
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 gotta bother me at home?
Well, I just wanted to run through, once again,
your movements on June 21 st.
June which?
June 21st.
Now, deputy, we both know what day we're talking about.
So let's be civilized and the sooner you can get back to your ball-game
and we can get back to Washington.
Please, don't let me interrupt you.
It's just that when you've heard a question
asked a dozen times, it gets kind of 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 something? - 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 one night a long time ago.
We've been paying rent ever since.
It's a wicked game.
Poker.
Wicked.
Mr. Anderson?
It was nice talking to you. Guess I gotta go.
Them pork chops still any good, honey? Bring me a beer, will you?
Good night.
Let's get back to baseball. You know what they say, don't you?
It's the only game where a black man can wave a stick and--
I know that. I already heard that one.
50 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 Shithead in there?
You know these small towns are like.
A girl spends her entire time in high school
looking for the guy she's gonna marry,
then spends the rest of her life trying to figure out why.
There's something's too wrong with him. He's too confident.
- Did you see the wedding photograph? - No.
His three pals are ushers, they had this way of hooking their thumbs in their belts
with the three fingers pointing down like that.
So, what is that? Some sort of Masonic thing?
No!
KKK.
I know you ain't drunk. I ain't gonna argue.
- 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.
- Who's driving? - Watch your head.
Hi.
There was a couple things I need to check with you.
My husband's not here.
Well, actually, it was you I wanted to talk to.
- Me? - Yeah.
Okay. Well, you better come in, then.
Just take a minute.
My boss, he's kind of a pain. You know, the college kid.
He has to dot all the I's and cross all the T's.
What is it you want to ask me about?
Well, it's a time time thing.
A couple of things we're just not clear about...
Wouldn't it be better if I put your flowers in some water while you're here?
Yeah. Well, 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? Would you like some tea?
Yeah, I would. 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 sure looks recent to me.
We were married 14 years ago.
Are you kidding me? No, that... 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?
Two.
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
and 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?
Oh, you know the South, Mr. Anderson.
You leave high school, marry the first boy that makes you laugh.
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's with you.
And I guess he was.
Guess he was.
Well, that's a pity.
Because that means that I don't have an excuse for hanging around here anymore.
Well...
Thank you for the iced tea.
Thank you for the flowers.
Sure.
Do you know what kind they are?
A fellow told me they're called trumpet pitchers.
Oh, that's right.
My daddy used to call them "ladies from hell", because they're car...
Carnivorous.
- That's the word? - Yeah.
You see, that pretty color's the bait.
Insects just home on in, and, wham, they're dead
even before they got their shoes off.
Maybe I should've picked something more appropriate.
Maybe.
May the peace and the joy in the Holy Ghost
abide with all of you for now and forever. Amen.
You already been told once, nigger!
Now we don't want to have to tell you again!
You go making any more trouble
or flapping them bootlips off to any of them federal men,
and we sure as hell gonna have to put you in the ground, boy.
And that's without a pine box!
You understand me?!
How do you think the Negroes have been treated here in Mississippi?
They're treated about fair. About as good as they ought to be.
If you ask me, the niggers around here have been treated bad for a long time.
Again, 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, you know, 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 bathrooms as the niggers.
That's awfull hard for some Mississippi folks to do.
They're not like us. They don't take baths. They stink.
They... They're nasty.
They just not like white folks.
What do you think has happened to the three boys?
Dead.
Just as dead as they can be.
Feels so good.
Is she asleep? Is she?
I'm sorry I woke you up.
Bye, hon. I'm gonna be a couple hours.
All right.
Well, Mary, is that your Betsy's kid?
Yeah, she's growing up real quick, isn't she?
Come on.
Tuesday will be just fine on those, Mary.
Funny.
Their kids are so cute.
- Here we go. - Is that thing back on me again?
If the entire Secret Service couldn't protect the president of the United States,
how on the hell are we supposed to protect a few nigras?
I'm telling you again, it ain't nothing but
a bunch of low-life white trash drinking 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.
Excuse me. Give me a little room here. Excuse me. Excuse me, Bob.
- Is this okay? - 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'm getting sick and tired of the way many of us Mississippians
are having our views distorted by you newspaper people and on the TV.
So let's get this straight.
We do not accept Jews, because they reject Christ.
And their control of the international banking cartels
are at the root of what we call Communism today.
We do not accept papists, because they bow to a Roman dictator.
We do not accept Turks, Mongols, Tartars, Orientals now Negroes,
because we're here to protect Anglo-Saxon democracy and the American way.
Thank you, sir.
I swear to God, Lester, you are living proof that cousins shouldn't fuck.
What I was trying to say, there's this colored boy.
He wants to play football for Bear Bryant over at Alabama.
So Bear says, "I'm gonna give you a tryout."
What color was that boy again?
What's he gonna run with, a watermelon?
And he's gonna keep on running too.
He says, "Okay, boy, you get down there on one goal line."
He puts the whole other team on the other goal line. Whole other team!
He throws the boy the ball and he says...
Are you open?
You gotta be a member to drink here.
Member?
A member of what?
Member of the social club.
I thought you'd just buy me a beer.
Give him a beer, Frank.
Nice to be back in a dry county again.
When I was sheriff, about half of my take-home pay
was from collecting taxes on illegal jukes like this.
Probably works the same here.
I was thinking you'd haul in a tidy penny here, winking at the bootleggers.
I know nothing about that.
Yeah.
A tidy penny.
You got anything stronger than this, deputy?
No. No, we ain't.
Oh! You know, in Thornton, Mississippi, there's a joy juice still in every yard.
Yeah, well, all you need is just some corn, sugar, and a pot to boil it in.
I tried to take the fingerprints of this old boy one time.
And he had his hands in a mash barrel all his life.
You know, there was no skin and all on there.There was no prints.
We ain't interested in your good old Mississippi boring stories, Anderson.
- You ain't from here no more. - Mm-hm.
Why'd you leave, anyway?
Well, I just wanted a change of scenery, you know...
The grits started leaving a bad taste in my mouth.
If that's how you feel about it, Mr. FBI man,
why don't you drink up that beer and get the hell on out of here,
and back to your Commie, nigger-loving bosses up north?
You must not know my boss, Mr. Hoover.
He's not too fond of Commies. He'd be on your side there.
I don't give two shits whose side your Mr. Hoover's on, boy.
All I konw is we got 5,000 niggers in this county who ain't registered to vote yet.
And as far as I'm concerned, they never will.
So you can tell your stiff suits up there in Washington, D.C.,
that they ain't gonna change us one bit.
Unless it's over my dead body. Or a lot of dead niggers.
You'd kill, Frank? Is that what you're saying?
I wouldn't give it no more thought than wringing a cat's neck.
And there ain't no court in Mississippi that'd convict me for it.
How about you, deputy? How are you with wringing necks, huh?
Just keep pushing me, Hoover boy.
You get this straight, you fucker!
You tell your queer-ass nigger-bosses up north
they ain't never gonna find them civil righters down here.
So you might as well pack up your bags
and head your ass back up on north where you belong.
You get this straight, shitkicker!
Don't you go mistaking me for some whoever body.
You got brains in your dick, if you think we're just gonna fade away.
We're gonna be here till this thing's finished.
How about you, Deputy?
Is that gun just for show?
Or do you get to shoot people once in a while?
Thanks for the beer.
And ask them if they wanna help save this country
from the onslaught of integration.
You know the system is they want to throw white children and colored children
into the melting pot of integration,
throughout of which will come a conglomerated
mulato, mongrel class of people!
Both races will be destroyed in such a move.
I, for one, under God will die before I'll yield one inch
to that kind of a movement in America.
Do you know how much trouble you've caused?
They've been on the radio all day,
everyone from Townley to the Governor talking about FBI intimidation.
We're not thugs, Mr. Anderson. We're gonna do this thing my way!
I know, bureau procedure.
And what the hell were you doing at the beauty parlor?
If that was Bureau business, I wanna know about it.
If it wasn't, I won't allow it. Do you understand me?!
Get in here!
You know what your problem is?
You don't know when to speak and when to shut up! That makes you a fool.
Mrs. Pell ain't gonna say anything to me her husband doesn't want her to say.
Now, I'm not gonna choke it out!
This can of worms only opens from the inside.
I know that.
Freedom!
White nigger!
Hurry up!
- Hi. - Hey, now.
Just passing by, just saying hello.
You're not out watching the parade?
Say, how come none of you guys didn't ask me any questions?
It seems everybody in town has been talked to except me.
Why don't you send some of them good-looking FBI boys to talk to me?
Sorry about the intrusion. I was over at the hardware store and...
Pecan?
I'm sick of pecans.
Freedom!
You willing to stand up and fight?
Yes!
Freedom!
Equality!
How'd you find out about this?
Bureau procedure, Mr. Ward.
Sheriff Stuckey.
He got his phone call.
Wonder who else was called.
Where're you going, boy?
Go on. Go on, get out of here.
Here they come.
Come on. Let's go.
We'll wait until they go back inside.
Get him!
Get him in the truck now!
Get inside, you sons of bitches!
Come on, let's go. Come on!
- Wait until they go back inside! - Let's go! Come on!
Come on! Let's go! Come on!
Come on!
- Turn left. - How do you know?
I don't. Just turn left.
There's the truck.
Go up that little road there.
Stop, stop. Stop right here.
What's wrong with these people?
Mrs. Walker, I know this is difficult for you, but I really need your help.
If you could just persuade your son to press charges,
then we could pick up the deputy at least right away.
He won't talk to no one.
And it won't do no good anyway.
I promise it will.
Leave him alone.
Maybe then, they'll let us alone.
If this is a pattern,
I guess at least we know what happened on June 21st.
Pell stopped the three boys for speeding at 3 o'clock.
He held them in jail until the Klan could get organized.
Then he released them at 10:30.
And by that time, his buddies were ready and waiting.
No, Deputy Pell went with them that night.
I'm sure of it. You think he'll crack?
Down here they say rattlesnakes don't commit suicide.
Deputy Pell, did you release the three civil rights workers
into the hands of the Klan on the night of June 21st?
No.
Are you yourself a member of the Ku Klux Klan?
No.
Have you ever been a member of the Ku Klux Klan?
No.
Are you familiar with the term Grand Cyclops?
I've heard of it.
Were you in fact the Grand Cyclops of the East Mississippi Klavern
of the White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan for the past three years?
Objection. My client's already told you he's not even a member of the Klan.
Objection? This is just an interview, sir. There's really no need to be so formal.
Well, if this is just an interview, I guess I don't have to stay here, do I?
I got work to do.
I guess you do too, don't you?
Yes, sir. And you can be sure that we'll do it.
Good luck.
You get enough to indict me, you know where to find me.
- How'd it go? - Fine. It went just fine.
Don't you worry about a goddamn thing.
Are you gonna be indicted?
Does the FBI have evidence that the Sheriff's office is invovled?
Are you cooperating in this investigation?
We're cooperating just like we have all along.
They have no damn evidence either. It's all circumstancial.
Sir, could you not do that, please? Sir, do not do that, please!
Don't you understand? Now, get the fuck out of here!
We have to tell you two thousand times?
Now get out of here and go back where you belong!
Get out of my face, boy!
Get on out and leave us alone!
Leave us alone!
Go on home where you belong! Boy, you're gonna get hurt now.
Mr. Ward, this is getting to be just about as much as we can take.
I cannot register my complaints more strongly.
Not now, sir.
Now, you just a minute.
I resent your public pursuit of my Sheriff's department.
You have made every effort to implicate them in these disappearances.
But your goddamn slimey innuendos are not evidence
that they were any way connected with any crime.
We're just trying to get to the truth. It's frustrating for us too!
Anyone jackass can point a finger, Ward. Now, that ain't evidence.
Down here, us old cotton-choppers are still stupid enough to believe in democracy.
And you can rest assured, sir, we know our rights under the law!
You know something all right. I'll bet a cotton-chopping dollar on that.
You know what, Anderson? You're starting to get so far up my nose,
I'm beginning to feel your boots on my chin.
And I'm telling you one more time, Mr. apple-red,
a couple of crazies dressed in bed sheets
dancing around the countryside scaring Negroes
is not the goddamn fault of the entire state of Mississippi!
I'm telling you, Tilman, there are three dead kids out there somewhere,
and a lot of scared people because of your goddamn Sheriff's department.
So you better get used to having us around.
And you better get used to my boots on your chin too.
You people better back off!
Goddamn FBI! Just who on hell do they think they are?
Coming down on my part of the goddamn country harassing--
Do you have a statement, Mr. Mayor?
You got got damn right I got a statement!
For a moment there, Mr. Anderson,
it sounded like we were both on the same side.
Are you all right, honey?
Yeah, I'm fine.
Let me know if you need anything.
Thanks, I will.
Mama, Mama, come quick!
There's no sign of him, sir. He's long gone.
His mother, she lives across the street. She won't talk to us. Won't even answer the door.
I want the whole area covered. Someone must have seen something.
They won't talk to us, sir.
Get going, Mr. Bird. If they won't talk to us, shake it out of them.
All right, let's go. Every house. Come on.
What?
Sending all these white guys chasing around these dog tracks with their little notebooks
is gonna get you nowhere.
Okay. What would you do?
It's okay to be afraid.
Go on, Willie.
Tell them what you saw.
The defendants will rise.
In this country, a man's home is his castle.
That is one of the principles by which this community survives.
You men have done violence to that principle.
But I want you to know that the court understands
that the crimes that you have comitted
have been, to some extent at least,
brought about by outside influences.
Outsiders have come into Jessup County and they've been people of low morality.
And unhygienic.
And their presence here has provoked a lot of people.
So the court understands, without condoning them, mind you,
that the crimes to which you men have pled guilty were, to some extent at least,
provoked by these outside influences.
So with all this, I'm gonna make your punishment light.
I'm gonna sentence you each to five years imprisonment.
But I'm gonna suspend these sentences.
You can't go in there, sir.
FBI. Let us through.
I'm sorry, sir. You can't go in there.
Sheriff!
You started something this time.
Can you move these cars? I wanna go in there and talk to them.
No, you're gone as far as you're gonna go.
This ain't nothing we can't handle.
Just a bunch of crazy coloreds tearing up their own assholes.
Local problem.
Look at those flames, Mr. Ward.
That's why they sent you down here, wasn't it?
It would've happened anyway and you know it.
You know, if I was a Negro, I'd probably think the same way they do.
If you were a Negro,
nobody would give a damn what you thought.
Aaron, Aaron, Aaron, get up!
Take your mama, you grand-mama and the children out the back door. You hear?
When you hit the road, keep going. You understand? Keep going, son.
Nathan! Come on, Nathan! Get up! Get up, Nathan, now!
Come on! Get out the bed!
What's happening?
Come on, Mama! Let's go! Come on, Mama!
Come on, y'all!
Get up, child.
Come on, Grandma!
Let's go!
Who's there?
If you're in there, come on out. You hear?
I ain't taking this shit no more!
You'll be okay, Papa.
Mama and the girls are fine.
They just cracked your head some.
You just keep on breathing. Don't you go dying on me now.
You hear me?
You're gonna be just fine.
You know, cows won't run away.
No one knows why. They're just stupid, I guess.
They just stand there until their bellies swell up and they pop.
They have relatives in Detroit.
Are they gonna go?
I didn't give them any choice.
At least, we know who did this.
We did.
Don't fret. It's progress.
Twenty years ago, they'd strung them up for stealing watermelons.
I don't understand you, Mr. Anderson. Not at all.
Let's get something straight, all right?
This whole thing was fucked up the moment we turned it into a show for the newsmen.
The moment these three kids disappeared, it was news.
The moment the three civil rights workers disappeared, it was news.
To me they're just kids. They're still missing.
What's missing is the 50 minutes Pell said he was with his wife.
Okay.
I love Mississippi.
They...
They hate Mississippi.
They hate us, because we present
a shining example of successful segregation.
These northern students, with their atheist, Communist bosses,
that have come into our community this summer with the wish to destroy it,
this week, have taken a terrible blow.
This week, their cause has been crippled.
This week, all of these federal policemen you see out here
prying into our lives violating our civil beliefs
have learned that they are powerless against us,
if every single Anglo-Saxon Christian one of us
stands together!
This week...
Mr. Ward, we got company, sir.
You got no right to be here. This is a political meeting.
Doesn't smell that way to me, Deputy.
It's a goddamn political meeting, Hoover boy!
Oh, it looks like a political meeting, but smells more like Klan to me.
With or without the Halloween costumes.
Gentlemen.
In the courts of Mississippi, they have been reminded
that they cannot by force turn our com- munities into relicas of their communities.
Communities in which Negroes run riot, unrestrained and unpunished
as they do this summer in the streets of Harlem,
or they do in the streets of Oakland,
or they do in the streets of Chicago!
Can I come in?
It's not good for you to be here.
Why?
It's ugly.
This whole thing is so ugly.
Have you any idea what it's like to live with all this?
People look at us and only see bigots and racists.
Hatred isn't something you're born with.
It gets taught.
At school, they said segregation's what said in the Bible.
Genesis 9, verse 27.
At seven years of age,
you get told it enough times, you believe it.
You believe the hatred.
You live it. You breathe it.
You marry it.
My husband drove one of the cars that night.
That's what you wanted to hear, isn't it?
The bodies are buried on the Roberts' Farm
in an earthen dam.
Sir.
Take a break, Mr. Bird.
Put some handkerchiefs around your faces.
The bodies of the three missing civil rights workers were discovered this afternoon
at an undisclosed grave.
Neither the FBI nor the Sheriff's department will comment on the case.
The bodies have been brought here to Jessup County Hospital,
where officials have also refused to comment.
There is speculation that there will be an autopsy performed later tonight.
Keep it open.
Open it up. Coming through. Open it up.
Hold it back.
Clinton, you got some problems at home you need to tend to.
What do you mean?
I mean pull your head out of your ass and get home!
I, Vincent Thompson,
am the cheddar cheese champion of the world.
In international competition with 42 other entries,
my cheddar won first prize based on flavor,
texture, appearance, and color.
I've been a liscenced cheesemaker since I was 17 years old.
Clinton, I didn't expect you home so early.
Hi, Frank.
I'm sorry! I'm sorry!
Sir.
Say again.
I'll be right there.
- Mr. Bird. - Yes, sir?
Get five men and meet me outside.
Where's Anderson?
He's at the motel, sir.
You two take the front door.
If anyone tries to get past you, break them down.
You two take the door on the corridor.
- Mr. Bird. - Sir?
Okay. Go get Anderson. Bring him here.
Don't tell him why, don't tell him anything. Just get him here.
Mr. Anderson, stop!
- Mr. Anderson! - Go to hell.
I'm telling you to stop and I mean it.
We're not killers.
That's the difference between them and us.
That's the difference between them and you!
You're not anymore like them than I am.
Wrong! What do you care what I do to some son-of-a-bitch hiding behind a Sheriff's badge?
Don't you have the whole world to change?
That's right. And I'm changing it.
You're just as arrogant as you are stupid!
You're changing it, too.
Hot damn, I'm gonna make some changes right now.
Don't be so stupid. Don't go messing this up,
just because you're patrial fooling around with witnesses.
You!
It don't mean shit to have a gun unles you're ready to use it.
I'll kill you righ tnow, if you don't listen to what I have to tell you.
Fuck you!
Let me go.
We'll go after all of them, together.
You wouldn't know how.
You're gonna teach me how.
You don't have the guts.
Not only do I have the guts, I have the authority!
What does that's supposed to mean?
New rules.
We nail them any way we can. Even your way.
Is this you talking or some guy's pulling your strings, huh?
Both.
- We do it my way! - Your way.
- With my people! - Whatever it takes.
Okay.
Give me a minute.
You think he would have shot me?
Oh, yes, sir.
He's a ballsy little bastard, isn't he?
They want me to say let us not forget that two white boys also died
helping Negroes help themselves.
They want me to say
we mourn with the mothers of these two white boys.
But the State of Mississippi
won't even allow these white boys to be buried in the same cemetery as this Negro boy.
I say, I have no more love to give.
I have only anger in my heart today, and I want you to be angry with me!
I am sick, and I am tired, and I want you to be sick and tired with me!
I am sick and tired of going to the funerals of black men,
who have been murdered by white men.
I am sick and tired of the people of this country,
who continue to allow these things to happen.
What is an "unalienable right", if you are a Negro?
What does it mean "equal treatment under the law"?
What does it mean "liberty and justice for all"?
Now I say to these people, look at the face of this young young man
and you will see the face of a black man.
But if you look at the blood shed, it is red!
It is like yours! It is just like yours!
You...
I'm gonna tell you a story.
A young kid named Homer Wilkes, lives about 30 miles north of here.
He'd just taken his girlfriend home and was walking back along the road,
when a car pulled up.
Three white boys took him for a ride.
Now,
he hadn't done anything
except
be a Negro.
And they took him to a shack.
A shack like this one.
They took out a razor blade.
Regular razor blade like this one.
They pulled down his pants,
they spread his legs
and they sliced off his scrotum.
Put it in a coffee cup.
Do you know how much you bleed when somebody cuts off your balls?
Huh?!
When they found Homer they said he looked like
he'd been dipped in blood up to his waist.
He was barely alive when they got him to the hospital.
He can hardly walk now.
Mayor, we know you know who was there
when those three civil rights boys were murdered.
We know you know who pulled the trigger.
Is there something you wanna say to me?
Okay.
Is he with the Bureau?
Yeah, he's kind of a specialist.
You're sure the mayor won't talk about any of this?
No, they'd kill him.
- All right, what do you have? - Well...
It was three cars, seven men involved.
Pell and Bailey, they did the killing.
Sheriff Stuckey?
He knew about it, but he's too smart to be there. So Pell pulled the trigger for him.
And Townley?
It was his idea.
Grand Dragons, they don't get their hands dirty.
The whole thing, huh? Bullet by bullet.
I don't suppose you're interested in words like
coercion or hearsay or duress?
This is no good in court.
We're not in court, Mr. Ward.
We'll never get them on murder anyway. That's a state charge.
- These hastings will never prosecute. - I know that.
Well, we've got to pick them in Federal Court.
Violation of civil rights!
Just don't lose sight of whose rights are violated!
Don't put me on your perch, Mr. Ward!
Don't drag me into your gutter, Mr. Anderson!
These people crawled out of the sewer, Mr. Ward!
Maybe the gutter's where we should be!
Thank you.
This better be important.
Who the hell called this meeting?
We thought you did.
Of this group? Are you stupid?
You didn't call this?
Shit! Then if you didn't call this, who the fuck did?
- Shut up! - Now, wait a minute!
Is this some kind of a bullshit setup?
Ray, you're sure you didn't call this?
'Cause I got a note from my wife and it said it was from you and Clinton.
Lester, shut up!
Now, we're all gonna walk straight out of here
and say nothing.
That means nothing, Lester.
First one who opens his mouth is a dead man.
Shut up!
Hey, Clinton.
Clinton?
It looks like the rattlesnakes are starting to commit suicide.
Hi, Lester.
We'll give you that ride home.
What?
Well, I know you said 4:30,
but we're running a little late, so...
I'll meet you in the car.
You're cracked.
You have change for a $20?
Sure.
Get in the car, Lester.
Else you're gonna have a real hard time picking your nose
once I've close this drawer shut.
Lester, you could make it a whole lot easier on yourself by going on the record right now.
I ain't got nothing to say.
You're barking up the wrong tree, mister.
Lester, I've got to tell you something.
We've got you cold. Your buddies've already talked.
You're lying.
You're in a lot of trouble, Lester.
We know you drove the second vehicle, the green truck.
And your buddy says, refresh my memory here, Mr. Bird.
Yes, sir. "Lester Cowens dragged the Negro from the car,
"kicked him twice in the face and then shot him."
That's a goddman lie!
No, it's true. What else you've got in there, Mr. Bird?
"Lester Cowens then said, 'They only left me a nigger, but at least I shot me a nigger.'"
I didn't kill him. I only shot him in the ass.
We know that. He was already dead by the time you put a slug in him.
But your buddy sees it differently. Your buddy tells it that you killed the kid.
Now either you go on the record for us right now,
or it's gonna be your ass we're talking about, not just a black kid's!
Think about it, Lester.
Come on out of there.
Come on out.
This is tricky.
They make it look so easy, don't they?
I got a question for you, Clinton.
You don't mind if I call you Clinton, do you?
I feel like I know you so well.
The way we have it, on the night of the murders,
you made a short speech as the bulldozer buried the kids in the dam.
How does Lester tell it? "Mississippi would be proud of you.
"You've struck a blow for the white man."
Is that what you said, Clinton?
Is that what you said? It must have been you.
Because Clayton Townley and Ray Stuckey, they were too smart to be there.
You're too stupid to think anybody would remember what you had to say.
But old Lester, he got a good memory.
I'm sorry. I haven't done this for a long time.
Did you make a speech
the night that you beat up your wife, Clinton? Huh?
Did you?
Did you strike a blow for the white man that night?
You got a stupid smile. You know that, pal?
Can you see it? Huh?
Did you smile when the bulldozer ran over the black kid's body? Did you?
Did you smile when the bodies were covered over?
Get up here. Come on! Get up here.
Did you smile that same stupid smile? Huh? Did you?
Did you smile, Pell? Did you smile?
Make no mistake about it, Deputy.
I'll cut your fucking head clear off
and not give a shit how it reads in the report sheet.
One more bite. One more bite.
One more bite, darling. One more bite.
Shit, Lester! What the fuck is going on here?
Shut up! You get in the bedroom and lock the door!
And stay away from the windows!
Shit!
Please! Please! I didn't say a thing!
I swear it's a setup! I didn't say nothing!
Nothing! I didn't say nothing!
I didn't say nothing!
You're lucky we've been watching your ass, Lester.
If you go on the record, Mr. Cowens, we'll give you protection.
If not...
If not, they're gonna kill you anyway.
Oh! You need a toilet, Lester.
Really had him going, huh?
We'll take care of the check for you.
Well, I suppose I'll just be back for supper.
Why did he do it?
He wasn't even in on it.
He wasn't even Klan.
Mr. Bird, he was guilty.
Anyone's guilty who watches this happen and pretends it isn't.
No, he was guilty, all right.
Just as guilty as the fanatics who pulled the trigger.
Maybe we all are.
Hello?
Yeah.
I just missed you at the hospital. They said you'd gone home.
What's left of it.
I'm real sorry.
So am I.
What are you gonna do?
I don't know.
Where will you go?
I'm not going anywhere. I'm staying.
This is my home. Born here.
Probably die here.
If I wanted to leave, I would've done it a long time ago.
Things will work out.
There's enough people around here know what I did was right.
And enough ladies like the way I fix their hair.
Hey.
If you're ever in Des Moines, don't send me a postcard.
# We cannot see #
# In the future #
# No, no, no, no, no #
# And it's hard #
# To smile #
# Through trials #
# No we #
# cannot see #
# Every pitfall #
# But we must walk on #
# By faith #
# Each day oh, Lord! #
# Woah, on Monday #
# Walk on #
# And on Tuesday #
# Walk on #
# Woah, let Jesus be #
# Let me him be #
# Your guide #
# He's able #
# He can carry your load #
# And he can see way down the road #
# Walk on by faith #
You wanna drive, Rupert?
Yeah.