"What is it?" " What do they want?" " I do not know." "Pass..." "Pass." "Is it a cop?" "I cannot see." " What are they playing at?" " They are not playing..." " What are we going to do?" " I do not know." "Okay, hold on, guys." "There is a truck, too." "It is a cop." "You had better stop." "Sit tight and do not say anything, let me talk." "We will be all right." "Just relax." " You ride at the speed you want here?" " You scared us to death, man." " Do not call me "man", jew boy." " Sir, what should I call you?" "Do not call me anything, nigger-Ioving jew boy, just listen." "Yes, sir." "You even smell like a nigger, jew boy." " Take it easy, we will be all right." " Sure you will." "He is seeing your face, that is no good." "It does not make a difference anymore." "They only left me a nigger, but at least I shot me a nigger." "Yes, indeed." "Listen communists, niggers and jews." "Tell your buddies to spread the news." "The day of judgement 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." "The Ku Klux Klan are better with lynches than with lyrics." "Just read the file, Mr Anderson." "I can do without the cabaret." "You do not like me, boss?" "Sure I do, but I do not share your sense of humour." "Sometimes that is all you have left." " How long have you been in the bureau?" " Three years." " Right out of college?" " No, from the Justice Department." "Kennedy boy, now I see." "No, I do not think that you do." "Let us get this straight:" "I have not 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 am in charge because I have tried this before." " Birmingham, Montgomery?" " Oxford." "I was with Meredith." "You were hit on the head and got an promotion?" "No." "Shot in the shoulder." " At least you lived." " No, Meredith lived." "That is important." " What has four eyes and cannot see?" " What?" "Mississippi." "Never, never, never, I say!" "For the Ku Klux Klan is here to..." "A big building for a small town." "Good Morning." "My name is Alan Ward, I am with the F.B.I." "Federal Bureau of Integration?" "You are not exactly undercover, are you?" " We are here to see Sheriff Stuckey." " The sheriff is busy now." "You will have to wait or come back some other time." "We will wait." "Listen, you ass, you have two seconds to get him out here,   or I will kick the door in, okay?" "Looks like we have some company." "The Hoover boys have come down." " How are you?" " Good." " I am Sheriff Stuckey." " Rupert Anderson." "Rupert, we have been expecting you." " I assume you have met Deputy Pell?" " I sure have." " Are you here about our nigger problem?" " No, it is a missing person case." "Come on." "Do you want the boy with us?" "Sir, I am Special Agent Ward and I am in charge of this case." "We think it might be more serious than missing persons." "I do not think so, boy." "I think it is a publicity stunt cooked up by that Martin Luther King." "Around 3 p.m. Deputy Pell arrested 3 boys for speeding." "He held them in jail until 10 p.m. And then released them." "They drove off." "He says he followed them to the county line   and never saw them again." " Why did they not make a phone call?" " Why should they?" "These boys were trained activists." "They are to check in every hour and the moment they are released from custody." "The hotel is two minutes from the jail, they could phone from the lobby." " Maybe they went for a beer?" " Not these boys." "The Civil Rights Office made calls when they did not 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?" "Maybe you do not know it, but I was a sheriff in a town like this." " I know that." " Lying does not come into it." "We were right on the border   and so far away from everything." "If a sheriff in a little town says "that is what happened," then that is so." "Let us go and eat." " We are full up, do you want to wait?" " Is it worth it?" "We are not full for nothing." "Will you look at the menu while you wait?" " So will you wait or leave?" " We will wait, just to be near you." " There are some empty seats down there." " Mr Ward..." "That is coloured." "Do not even think about it." "Some people here are ready to leave." "Are you not hungry, Mr Anderson?" "Good afternoon." "Looks good." "Do you mind if I ask a few questions?" "I am looking for some information." " I have nothing to say to you, sir." " Just a few questions." "I have nothing to say to you, sir." "The three civil rights boys came here to set up a voter registration clinic." "Before the locals could say yes, the Klan burned them down." "Give the man a vote, but do not let him use it." "What does the office in Rossville say?" "They confirm that the boys came to apologise to the congregation." "Sorry the folks did not get to vote." "Most probably did not know they had one." "Now you have no place to go on Sunday." "After they came here, they talked to some locals down the road." "That is where we should start." "You can talk to them, but they will not talk to you." "They have to live here long after we have gone." "They would rather bite off their tongue." "Bureau procedure, Mr Anderson." "The church caught fire and you ran home?" "Yes, sir." "And then the four white men stopped you?" " And they attacked your husband?" " Yes, sir." "But you cannot identify them?" "No, sir." " Did you report this to the police?" " No, sir." " You told the civil rights boys about it?" " Yes, sir." "Did they tell you where they were going after that?" "No, sir." " Nothing?" " No, sir." " All right, thank you." " You are welcome." "Open up." " Is your brother Halifair Finn?" " Yes, sir." " Wake him up, we want to see him." " Why?" " Just wake him up." " What is the matter?" "Get back here, you nigger!" "We had better not catch you talking to the F.B.I." " You admire these kids, do you not?" " Do you not?" "I think they are being used." "They are being sent down here just to get their heads cracked open." "Maybe they believed in what they were doing." " Did they know they could end up dead?" " Maybe." " In Washington they knew, did they not?" " 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?" "When I was a little boy there was an old negro farmer down the road, named Monroe." "He was..." "I guess he was a little luckier than my dad." "He bought himself a mule." "That was a big deal around that town." "My daddy hated that mule   because his friends were always kidding him about Monroe and his mule." "And Monroe was to rent another field now he had a mule and..." "One morning that mule was dead." "Poison in the water." "After that there was never any mention of that mule around my daddy." "One time we drove down the road, Monroe's place was empty." "He just packed up and left, gone up north or something." "I looked over at my daddy's face and I knew that he had done it." "He saw that I knew." "I guess he was ashamed." "He looked at me and said:" ""If you are not better than a nigger, who are you better than?"" " Do you think that is an excuse?" " No, it is just a story about my daddy." "Where does that leave you?" "The old man was so full of hate   that he did not know that being poor was what killed him." "Get the light!" "Get the light!" "Are you all right?" "I guess they know we are here." "Now you know what you are getting into." "I will call Washington for more agents." "Will it make a difference if I say that is the wrong thing to do?" "No." "The whole place for $75 a month." "It is private, central and perfect." "There is room for 100 more agents." "200 maybe." "More on the balcony." "We are trying to find the three boys." "I take all the help I can get." "When does the show start?" " Who is the big shot?" " It is the Klan." "No pointy hats, but plenty of pointy heads." "Let me run a check on the plates." "Good afternoon, gentlemen." " Say hello to Mayor Tilman here." " How do you do, Anderson?" "Mr Mayor, Mr Barber." "This looks like the place to be." "Even for me." "There is no place like a barbershop to get the latest gossip." " Where are you from?" " Thornton, Mississippi, sir." " Just a spit from Tennessee." " Then you know how we feel down here." "We do not like outsiders telling us how to live our lives." "Our negroes were happy until those college kids came and stirred things up." " Before that nobody was complaining." " Nobody dared." "We have a peaceful community down here." "They are like any other folks   if you push them too far." "It is like three sticks of old dynamite." "Shake it up... and we will be scraping bodies off the street." "I am here to investigate the missing three kids, ask some questions." "It all boils down to gravy." "It would not be enough to cover a chicken steak." "The kids you are looking for, I bet you a shiny new dime   they are sitting up in Chicago now   drinking a cold beer, laughing about all the commotion." "I sure hope so." "Tell your bosses that people have the wrong idea about the South." "You know what I am talking about." "Everybody running around ragged, backwards, illiterate,   eating sour belly and corn pone three times a day." "The fact is we have two cultures down here:" "White culture..." "and the coloured culture." "That is the way it always has been and the way it always will be." "The rest of America do not think so." "The rest of America do not mean a shit." "You are in Mississippi now." "That is for sure." " What is the score, Mr Barber?" " St. Louis on top, five to nothing." " Do you like baseball?" " Yes, I do." "It is the only time a black man can wave a stick at a white man   and not start a riot." "We checked the plates:" "Clayton Townley." "Townley, grand wizard of the white knights of the Ku Klux Klan." "I think we have a lead on the car, sir." "We are waiting for a call." "Good." "You have an appointment for next Tuesday." "See you then, bye." "Good afternoon, ladies." " Can I help you?" " Yes." "I just hate the way I look." "What do you think, a permanent wave maybe, or a bleach job?" "That looks good, did you get that here?" "No, in Jackson." "I think a wig is your only help, you cannot do much with that cue ball." "You can ask us some questions, this is where you will hear it all." "Actually, I will." "I wondered who that was who drove in over there?" " I know it is not President Johnson..." " His name is Clayton Townley." " Are you one of those F.B.I. Gentlemen?" " Yes, ma'am." "I think it is a shame if those two boys are dead." "I hope you find them." "Thank you." "Actually it is three kids." "There was also a coloured kid." "You think you would have come if it was not for those two white boys?" " Maybe not, Miss." " Mrs." "Pell." "Her old man is Stuckey's deputy." "But I am single." "Keep out of the way." "We will take care of this." "We will handle this." "We do not need your help!" "Blood on the main street." "How will that look on the TV news?" "It is the kid from the diner." "Do not talk to coloured kids with an audience!" "They sent a message from the big boss." "I know, Clayton Townley, chief pointyhead." " Yes, how did you know?" " Bureau procedure, you should try it!" "We did!" "We found the car the kids were driving." "Good morning." "Good morning." "Two beer cans, a coca cola bottle, a green plastic bottle,   a wristwatch that stopped at 12:45, a set of keys." "No bodies." " I want the entire area searched." " Yes, sir." "It is a big swamp." "Every inch, Mr. Bird." "I guess they never left Mississippi." "They are dead." " Mr Bird?" " Yes, sir." "There is a telephone at the truck stop." "Get on it and get me 100 more men." "100?" "..." "Bureau people, sir?" "I do not care if it is an army." "I want this entire swamp searched." " Do not do it." "You will start a war." " It was a war long before we got here." "Get the fuck out of here!" "The sheriff's alibi is solid." "He was playing poker with his wife's brother." " The whole time?" " For three hours." "He lost $11.38." "There is something else, sir." "We have trouble with the motel manager." " What kind of trouble?" " He wants us out." "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 erupted,   the eyes of the nation have been fixed   on the search for the three missing civil rights workers." "I think it is a big hoax." "If they are in that swamp, then they asked for it." "Naval reserves have been brought in to join F.B.I. Agents   in their search for the missing men." "I think they planned the whole thing." "They sit in New York and laugh at us..." " You think it is a hoax?" " Yes." "They will not find anything." "Civil rights leaders are still optimistic as to their whereabouts." "But privately there is concern that they will never be found alive." "They came looking for trouble and they found it!" "This is Merrick Bobby, Network News, Jessup county, Mississippi." "You ought to look up in Canada for the boys." "They are not in our swamps here." "It is a publicity stunt dreamed up by these N.A.A.C.P. People." "It stands for niggers, alligators, apes, coons and possums." "You got your N.A.A.C.P., your S.N.C.C., your C.O.F.O." "You know what it all is?" "B.U.L.L.S.H.I.T. You got it?" "One day we will not have to say:" ""Good morning, sir, Mr Sheriff."" "Maybe we will not have to say:" ""Mr. Stuckey"." "One day we will just say:" ""Stuckey, our sheriff."" "And one day the sheriff will not even be a white man." "Hello." "Can I ask a few questions?" "Can you tell me what kind of flower these are?" "I see them all over the place here." "I never saw such a pretty plant." "They are trumpet pitchers." "They are beautiful." "They do not smell so good, but they are really pretty." "It was nice talking to you." "Sorry about interrupting your meeting   but we cannot get anybody to talk to us." "They "zip up", like my mum used to say." "They will not talk to you because they are afraid it will get back to the law." " We are the law." " Not around here." "We were sent here to find out what happened to those three boys." " They were here to help you." " You should not talk to the coloured." "Who should we be talking to?" "You should start with the sheriff's office." " Why are you not afraid?" " Why are you not afraid?" "Aaron, come on, son." "Good evening, Mrs Pell." "I am Agent Ward, this is Agent Anderson." "We are with the F.B.I. Is your husband home?" "We want to have a word with him." "Come in." "The F.B.I. Gentlemen want to ask you some more questions." "I will put your dinner in the oven." "Leave us alone." "Do you mind if I take a seat?" "What is so important you have to bother me at home?" "I just wanted to run through your movements on June 21st once again." " June which?" " June 21st." "Deputy, we both know what day we are talking about." "Let us do this civilised   so you can get back to your ball game and we can get back to Washington." "Please, do not let me interrupt you." "But when you have heard a question asked a dozen times, it gets boring." "I guess so." " You do not eat together?" " He works funny hours." " Do you think it is odd?" " No, I work funny hours myself." "I eat when I am hungry, he eats when he can." "Can I get you something?" "No, thank you." "It 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 have been paying rent ever since." "It is a wicked game." "Poker." "Mr Anderson?" "It was nice talking to you." "I have to go." "Do the pork chops still look good?" "Bring me a beer, honey." "Let us get back to baseball." "It is the only game where a black man can I know, I have heard that one." "50 minutes of his alibi hinges on his wife." "What is she like?" "She is a nice lady." "How does a woman like that end up with the shithead in there?" "You know these small towns." "The girl spends her time in high school looking for a guy to marry   and the rest of her life wondering why." "There is something wrong." "He is too confident." " Did you see the wedding photograph?" " No." "The three ushers have this way of hooking their thumbs in their belts   with three fingers pointing down." "What is that?" "Some sort of masonic thing?" "No!" "KKK." "Hi." "There was a couple of things I needed to check with you." " My husband is not here." " It was you I wanted to talk to." "Me?" "..." "Okay, you had better come in then." "It will just take a minute." "My boss is a pain, a real college kid." "He has to dot all the i's..." "What is it?" "It is a tiny thing we are not clear about." " Shall I put your flowers in water?" " Actually, they are for you." " They are beautiful." " They are pretty, are they not?" "But they do not smell nice..." " Can I get you anything?" "Some tea?" " Yes, thank you." "Do not look at that!" "It is a terrible photo." "I do not know about that." " Is this recent?" " No." "I wish." " This sure looks recent to me." " We were married 14 years ago." "You are kidding me!" " Do you take sugar." " I sure do." " I grew up in a town like this." " You were smart enough to leave." " Why did you not leave?" " "For better or for worse."" "How about you?" "Are you married?" "I was... as I remember." "She did not last very long, I was never home." "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?" " You know the South, Mr Anderson." "Leave high school, marry the first boy who makes you laugh." "Your husband is quite a guy." "My boss has this thing about an hour." "50 minutes that your husband says he is with you." " And I guess he was?" " Guess he was." "That is a pity." "Then I do not have an excuse for hanging around here." " Thank you for the ice-tea." " Thank you for the flowers." " Do you know what kind they are?" " I was told they are trumpet pitchers." "Right, my daddy used to call them ladies from hell because they are Carnivorous." " Yes, that is the word." "The pretty colour is the bait." "The insects tune in on them and they die..." "Maybe I should have picked something more appropriate." ""May the peace, the joy and the holy ghost abide to you forever." "Amen."" "You have already been told once, nigger." "We do not have to tell you again." "If you make any more trouble flapping your lips at those federal men,   we will have to put you in the ground." "Without a pine box." "Do you understand me?" "How have the negroes been treated?" "They are treated about fair." "As good as they ought to be." "The niggers around here have been treated bad for a long time." "I think Martin Luther King is one of the leaders." "J. Edgar Hoover said that he was a communist, they had proof of that." "I do not know that for sure, but that is what they say." "You really want to find that nigger?" "They say we have to eat together and use the same bathrooms as the niggers." "That is hard for some Mississippi folk." "They are not like us." "They do not take baths, they stink..." "They are nasty..." "They are just not like white folks." " What happened to the three boys?" " Dead." "They are as dead as they can be." "Is she asleep?" "Is she?" "I am sorry I woke you up." "Honey, I will be away a couple of hours." " Mary, is that your Bessie's kid?" " Yes, she is growing up real quick." "Tuesday will be fine on those, Mary." "Funny..." "Their kids are so cute." "Is that thing on again?" "If all of secret service could not protect the President   how are we suppossed to protect a few negroes?" "It is nothing but a bunch of lowlife white trash drinking too much alcohol." "More like paint thinner and snake juice." "This state is as dry as a Martini." "We have the alcoholics to prove it." " Your name, please?" " Clayton Townley, local businessman." "Are you spokesman for the Ku Klux Klan?" "I told you:" "I am a businessman." "I am also a Mississippian and an American." "I am tired of the way the Mississippians' views are being distorted   by the newspapers and on TV." "So let us get this straight:" "We do not accept Jews because they reject Christ." "Their control of the international bank cartels are today's communism." "We do not accept papists because they bowed to a Roman dictator." "We do not accept Turks, Mongrels, Orientals or Negroes   because we want to protect Anglo-Saxon Democracy and the American Way." "Thank you, sir." "This coloured boy wants to play football for Barry Bryan in Alabama." "So Barry says: "I will give you a try."" "What will he run with?" "A watermelon?" "He is going to keep on running, too." "He says:" ""You get down there on the goal line."" "He puts a whole other team there." " Are you open?" " You have to be a member to drink here." "Member of what?" " Member of the social club." " I will let you buy me a beer." "Give him a beer." "Nice to be back in the dry county." "When I was sheriff about half of my take home pay was taxes   from illegal bars like this." "It is probably the same way here." "I would think you could haul in a tidy penny here." "Moonlighting." "I do not know anything about that." " Have you got anything stronger?" " No, we have not." "In Thornton, Mississippi, there is a juice distillery in every yard." "All you need is some corn, sugar and a pot of water." "I took the fingerprints of a boy once, he had got his hand in the mash barrel." "There was no skin at all on there, no prints." "We have no interest in your Mississippi stories, you are not from here anymore." " Why did you leave?" " I wanted a change of scenery." "The grits started to leave a bad taste in my mouth." "If that is how you feel, then drink up and get out of here." "Go back to your nigger-Ioving bosses." "You do not know my boss, Mr Hoover." "He is not fond of commies." "He is on your side." "I do not give a shit whose side he is on." "All I know is that we have 5000 niggers who are not registered to vote yet   and I hope that they never will." "Tell your stiff suits up in Washington that they will not change us one bit." "Unless it is over my dead body..." "Or a lot of dead niggers'." "You would kill, Frank?" "I would give it no more thought than wringing a cat's neck." "No court in Mississippi would convict me for it." "How about you, Deputy?" "How are you with wringing necks?" "Keep pushing me, boy." "Get this straight:" "Tell your queer-ass nigger bosses   they will never find the civil rights folks here." "You can pack up your bags and head home where you belong." "You get this straight, asshole:" "Do not mistake me for someone else!" "You got your brains in your dick if you think we will fade away." "We will be here until we are finished." "How about you, Deputy?" "Is that gun just for show?" "Or do you get to shoot people sometimes?" "Thank you for the beer." "Ask if they want to save this country from the onslaught of integration." "The system is that they want to throw white and coloured children   into the melting pot of integration." "Out of this will come a conglomerated Mongrel class of people." "Both races will be destroyed in such a move." "I will die under God before I yield one inch for such a movement." "You know how much trouble you caused?" "They have been on the radio all day   everyone from Townley to the Governor talking about F.B.I. Intimidation." "We are not thugs." "We will do this my way." "Bureau procedure." "What where you doing at the beauty parlour?" "If it was bureau business, I want to know." "If not, I will not allow it!" "Get in here." "Do you know what your problem is?" "You do not know when to speak or shut up!" "Mrs Pell will not tell me anything her husband will not let her say." "I will not choke it out of her." "This can of worms only opens from the inside." "I know that." "Freedom!" "Just passing by, saying hello." "You are not out watching the parade?" "Why do you not ask me any questions?" "You have talked to everyone in town." "Why do you not send some good-Iooking F.B.I. Boys to talk to me?" "Sorry about the intrusion, I was at the hardware store..." " Pecan?" " I am sick of pecans." " How did you find out about this?" " Bureau procedure, Mr Ward." "Sheriff Stuckey." "He got his phone call." "I wonder who else was called." "Watch where you are going, boy." "Come on, get out of here." "Here they come." " Come on, let us go." " We will wait until they go inside." "Get inside, you sons of bitches!" " Let us go!" " Wait until they go inside!" "Let us go, come on." "Turn left." "Just turn left." "That is the truck." "Go up that little road there." "What is wrong with these people?" "I know this is difficult for you, but I really need your help." "If you could persuade your son to press charges, we could pick up the deputy." "He will not talk to anyone." "It will not do any good anyway." "I promise you." "It will." "Leave him alone." "Maybe then they will leave us alone." "If this is a pattern, at least we know what happened on June 21st." "Pell stopped the boys at three o'clock." "He held them in jail until the Klan could get organised." "Then he released them at 10:30 and by that time his buddies were ready." " No, Pell went with them that night." " Do you think he will crack?" "Down here they say:" ""Rattlesnakes do not commit suicide."" "Did you release the three civil rights workers into the hands of the Klan   on the night of June 21st?" " No." " Are you a member of the Ku Klux Klan?" " No." " Have you ever been a member?" " No." " Do you know the term "grand cyclops"?" " I have heard of it." "Were you the grand cyclops of the East Mississippi   white knights of the Ku Klux Klan for the past three years?" "Objection." "My client already told you he is not a member." "Objection?" "This is just an interview." "There is no need to be so formal." "If this is an interview, I do not have to stay here." "I have work to do." " I guess you have, too." " Yes." "You can be sure we will do it." "Good luck." "If you get enough to indict me, you know where to find me." " How did it go?" " Fine." "Do not worry about a thing." "Does the F.B. I have evidence that the sheriff's office is involved?" "Are you cooperating in the investigation?" "Yes, as we have been all along." "They do not have an iota of evidence." "Sir, do not do that, please." "I have told you 2000 times." "Get out of here and go back where you belong!" "Get out of my face!" "Get all out of here and leave us alone!" "Go on home where you belong." "You will get hurt now." "This is just about as much as we can take." "I cannot complain more strongly..." " Not now, sir." " Just a minute." "I resent your public pursuit of my sheriff's department." "You try to implicate them in the disappearences." "Your slimy innuendos are not evidence that they were connected with any crime!" "We are just trying to get to the truth." "Anyone can point a finger, that is not evidence." "Down here we are still stupid enough to believe in democracy." "Be sure that we know our rights under the law." "You know something, I will bet on that." "You are starting to get so far up my nose " " I can feel your boots on my chin." "I will tell you again, Mr Applered:" "A couple of crazies   dressed in bed sheets scaring negroes   is not the fault of all of Mississippi." "There are three dead kids out there and a lot of scared people   because of your sheriff's department." " So get used to having us around." " Get used to my boots on your chin, too." "You people had better back off." "Godddamn F.B.I., who do they think they are?" "Coming to my part of the country..." "Do you have a statement, Mr Mayor?" "For a moment there, it sounded like we were both on the same side." " Are you all right?" " Yes, I am fine." " Let me know if you need anything." " Thank you." "I will." "Mamma, go quick!" "There is no sign of him." "He is long gone." "His mother lives across the street, she will not talk to us." "I want the whole area covered." "Someone must have seen something." " They will not talk to us." " Then shake it out of them." "What?" "All these white guys chasing around with their notebooks will get you nowhere." "Okay, what would you do?" "It is 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." "You should know that the court understands that your crimes   have to some extent been brought about by... outside influences." "Outsiders have come into Jessup county and they have had low morality." "Unhygienic..." "Their presence here has provoked a lot of people." "The court understands without condoning them, mind you   that the crimes to which you have pled guilty   were to some extent provoked by these outside influences." "So I will make your punishment light." "I sentence you each to five years in prison." "But I will suspend these sentences." " You cannot go in there." " F.B.I. Let us through." "I am sorry, sir." "You cannot go in there." " You sure started something this time." " Move the cars." "I want to talk to them." " No, this is as far as you go." " We can handle this." "A bunch of crazy coloured assholes." "Local problem." "Look at those flames, Mr Ward." "That was why they send you here, right?" "It would have happened anyway and you know it." "If I were a negro, I would think like they do." "If you were a negro, nobody would give a damn what you thought." "Take your mother, grandmother and the children out the back." "When you hit the road, keep going, son." "Nathan, come on." "Get up!" "What is happening?" "Come on, Mamma." "Come on, Grandma." "Let us go!" "Who is there?" "If you are there, come out." "I am not taking this shit no more!" "Pappa, you will be fine." "They just cracked your head." "Keep on bleeding." "Do not die on me." "Do you hear me?" "It will be just fine." "The cows will not run away." "They are stupid, I guess." "They stand there until their bellies swell up and pop." "They have relatives in Detroit." " Will they go?" " I did not give them any choice." " At least we know who did this." " We did." "Do not fret, it is progress." "20 years ago, they would hang them for stealing watermelons." "I do not understand you." "Not at all." "Let us get this straight:" "This whole thing was fucked up when we turned it into a newsstory." "When the three boys disappared, it was news." "When the three civil rights workers disappeared, it was news." "To me they are just missing kids." "What is missing is the 50 minutes Pell said he was with his wife." "Okay." "I love Mississippi." "They hate Mississippi!" "They hate us because we are a shining example of succesful segregation." "These northern students with their atheist, communist bosses   who have come into our community with the wish to destroy it   this week have taken a terrible blow." "This week their cause has been crippled." "All these federal policemen you see down here prying into our lives   have learned they are powerless against us   if every single Anglo-Saxon Christian one of us stands together." "This week..." "Ward, you have company, sir." "You may not be here." "It is a political meeting." " It does not smell like it." " It is a political meeting, Hoover boy." "It looks like a political meeting, but it smells more like the Klan." "With or without the Halloween costumes." "Gentlemen." "The courts in Mississippi have minded that they cannot by force   turn our communities into replicas of their communities   where negroes run wild, unrestrained and unpunished." "As they do this summer in the streets of Harlem, Oakland or Chicago." "Can I come in?" " It is not good for you to be here." " Why?" "This whole thing is so ugly." "Have you any idea how it is to live with this?" "People look at us and they see bigots and racists." "Hatred is not something you are born with." "It gets taught." "In school they said segregation is taught by the Bible." "Genesis 9:27." "At seven years of age, if you are told enough times, you believe it." "You believe their hatred." "You live it." "You breathe it." "You marry it." "My husband drove the car that night." "It is what you want to hear, is it not?" "The bodies are buried on the Robert's Farm in an earthen dam." "Sir?" "Take a break, Mr Bird." "Put some handkerchiefs around his face." "The bodies of the 3 missing civil rights workers   were discovered this afternoon at an undisclosed grave." "Neither F.B.I. Nor the sheriff's department will comment on the case." "The bodies have been brought to Jessup County Hospital   where officials have also refused to comment." "It is speculated that an autopsy will be performed later tonight." "You have some problems at home you need to attend to." "Pull your head out of your ass and get home!" "I did not expect you home so early." "How if I..." "I am sorry!" "Say it again..." "I will be right there." "Mr Bird." "Get five men and meet me outside." " Where is Anderson?" " At the motel, sir." "You take the front door." "Do not let anyone past you." "You take the door in the corridor." "Okay, go and get Anderson." "Do not say why, just get him here." "Mr Anderson." "Stop!" " Go to hell." " I am telling you to stop, I mean it!" "We are not killers." "That is the difference between them and us." "No, between them and you." "You are not anything like them." "Why do you care what I do with her behind the sheriff's badge?" " Go and change the world." " Right, I will." "You are as arrogant as you are stupid!" "I will make some changes right now." "Do not mess this up because you have fooled around with a witness." " Why have a gun if you will not use it?" " I will kill you now if you do not listen." "Let me go." "We will go after all of them." "Together." " You would not know how." " You will teach me." " You do not have the guts." " I have the guts and the authority." " What does that mean?" " New rules." "We nail them any way we can." "Even your way." "Is this you talking or someone pulling your strings?" "Both." " We do it my way; with my people." " Whatever it takes." "Okay." "Give me a minute." " Do you think he would have shot me?" " Yes, sir." "He is a ballsy little bastard." "They want me to say: "Let us not forget the two white boys also died   helping negroes help themselves."" "They want me to say: "We mourn with the mothers of the white boys."" "But the state of Mississippi will not even allow us to bury them   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 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 tired of the people who continue to allow this to happen." "What is an unalienable right if you are a negro?" "What does equal treatment under the law mean?" "What does "liberty and justice for all" mean?" "I say to these people:" "Look at the face of this 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 just like yours." "I will tell you a story." "A young kid named Homer Wilkes lives about 30 miles north of here." "He had just taken his girlfriend home and walked back along the road." "A car pulled up." "Three white boys take him for a ride." "He had not done anything." "Except being negro." "They took him to a shack." "A shack like this one." "They took out a razor-blade." "A regular razor-blade like this one." "They pulled down his pants." "They spread his legs..." "They sliced off his scrotum." "Put it in a coffee cup." "Do you know how much it bleeds when someone cuts off your balls?" "When they found Homer, he looked as if he had been dipped in blood to the waist." "He was barely alive when he got to the hospital." "He can hardly walk now." "Mayor, we know you know who was there when those three boys were murdered." "We know you know who pulled the trigger." "Is there something you want to say to me?" " Is he with the bureau?" " Yes, he is a specialist." " And he will not talk about this?" " No, they would kill him." "What do you have?" "There was three cars and seven men." "Pell and Bailey did the killing." " Sheriff Stuckey?" " He knew, but was too smart to be there." "Pell pulled the trigger for him." "It was his idea." "Grand dragons do not get their hands dirty." "The whole thing, huh?" "Bullet by bullet." "Are you not interested in words like "coercion", "hearsay" or "duress"?" " This is no good in court." " We are not in court, Mr Ward." "We will never get them on murder anyway." "That is a state charge." " They will never prosecute." " I know." "We have to get them in federal court." "Violation of civil rights." "Do not lose sight of whose rights." " Do not put me on your perch!" " Do not drag me into your gutter!" "These people crawled out of a sewer." "Maybe the gutter is where we should be." "Thank you." "This had better be important." "Who the hell called this meeting?" " We thought you did." " Of this group?" "Are you stupid?" "You did not call this?" "Then who did?" "Is this some bullshit set-up?" "Ray, you did not call this?" "My wife gave me a note   from you and Clinton..." "Lester, shut up!" "We are all going to walk out of here and say nothing." "That means nothing, Lester." "The first one who opens his mouth is dead..." "Shut up." "It looks like the rattlesnakes have started to commit suicide." "Hi, Lester." "We will give you that ride home." "What?" "I know you said 4:30, but we are running late..." " I will meet you in the car." " You are cranks." "Do you have change of a 20?" "Get in the car   or you cannot pick your nose after I close this drawer." "You will make it easier on yourself by going on record right now." "I have nothing to say." "You are barking up the wrong tree." "Let me tell you something:" "We have you cold." "Your buddies have already talked." "You are lying." "You are in a lot of trouble." "We know you drove the second vehicle, the green truck." "Your buddies said..." "Refresh my memory, Mr Bird." ""Lester Cowens dragged the negro from the car   kicked him in the face and shot him."" " That is a lie." " No." "What else, Mr Bird?" ""Mr Cowens said: 'They only left me a nigger, but at least I shot him."'" "I did not kill him." "I only shot him in the ass." "We know that." "He was dead when you put the slug in." "But your buddies tell us you killed the kid." "Go on the record for us now, or it will be your ass we are talking about!" "Think about it, Lester." "This is tricky." "They make it look so easy." "I have a question for you, Clinton." "You do not mind if I call you Clinton?" "I feel like I know you so well." "On the night of the murders   you made a short speech as the bulldozer buried the kids in the dam." "How did Lester tell it?" ""Mississippi will be proud of you." "You have struck a blow for the white man."" "Is that what you said, Clinton?" "It must have been you because Townley and Stuckey were too smart to be there." "You were too stupid to think anybody would remember what you said." "Old Lester had a good memory." "I am sorry." "I have not done this for a long time." "Did you make a speech the night you beat up your wife?" "Did you strike a blow for the white man that night?" "You have a stupid smile." "Can you see it?" "Did you smile when the bulldozer buried the dead kids' bodies?" "Did you smile when the bodies were covered over?" "Did you smile that same stupid smile?" "Did you?" "Make no mistake about it, Deputy." "I will cut your head off and not give a shit about how it looks in the reports." "Lester, what is going on?" "Shut up!" "Get in the bedroom and lock the door   and stay away from the windows." "Please, I did not say anything." "I swear it is a set-up!" "You are lucky we have been watching your ass, Lester." "If you go on the record, we will give you protection." "If not..." "They will kill you anyway." "You need a toilet, Lester." "We really had him going, huh?" "Why did he do it?" "He was not even in on it." "He was not even in the Klan." "Mr Bird, he was guilty." "Anyone is guilty who watches this and pretends it did not happen." "He was guilty all right." "Just as guilty as the fanatics who pulled the trigger." "Maybe we all are." "Hello?" "I just missed you at the hospital." "They said you had gone home." "What is left of it..." " I am really sorry." " So am I." " What will you do?" " I do not know." "Where will you go?" "I am not going anywhere, I am staying." "This is my home, I was born here." "I will probably die here." "If I had wanted to leave, I would have done it a long time ago." "Things will work out." "There are enough good people here who know that what I did was right." "There are enough ladies who like the way I fix their hair." "If you are ever in Des Moines, do not send me a postcard." "Do you want to drive, Rupert?"