Talk:Byron De La Beckwith

More info needed

We should perhaps have more on this guy. I think I remember seeing him interviewed on TV — wasn't he in the oil industry? David.Monniaux 06:35, 22 Jun 2005 (UTC)

He was never in the oil industry. He never approached being affluent.TL36 (talk) 12:28, 2 July 2010 (UTC)

Date of birth

I have changed the date of birth from 1921 to November 9, 1920 as the latter is what other Web sites (including Britannica) have, and our date had been there, unsourced, since the first version of the article. If anyone has more or conflicting information, please speak up!

—John Mark Williams <⌂|☏> 30 June 2005 14:31 (UTC)

Membership in organization ??

This article says that Byron De La Beckwith was a member of the Ku Klux Klan, but the article about Medgar Evers says he was a member of the White Citizens' Council

Also, he may have run for Lieutenant Governor of Mississippi (year??) and once sold the anti-communist newspaper, The Southern Review, door-to-door. (unconfirmed - http://web.archive.org/web/20040625021918/http://www.nationalist.org/alt/2001/jan/unreconstructed.html )

--Samatva 23:26, 11 June 2006 (UTC)

On the first point, my understanding is that the two organizations had quite a bit of overlap in their membership rolls - which they also shared with the various police and sheriffs' departments, city councils and chambers of commerce, attorneys general and judges. All part of the "Invisible Empire" that enforced the Southern "way of life".

On the second, the website you link to provides quite an illuminating glimpse into that "way of life" and its proponents. To call The Southern Review an "anti-communist newspaper" is at best a partial description. It is, as the linked-to page proudly proclaims, a white-supremacist paper, which refers to struggle for civil rights as "negro agitation", and speaks of the jury that finally convicted Beckwith as an "Ojay jury", an "affirmative action" jury that consisted of "eight minorities, three American women and one American man" as if "minorities" were not "Americans" at all. If all of that is contained within the definition, "anti-communist", then everyone I know or want to must be a communist too. --Davecampbell 08:07, 12 February 2007 (UTC)

First, I agree with the last sentence of Davecampbell's statement. Despite a lifetime of opposition to communism, I suppose I too would have to fall under that rubric.

Second, it's almost certainly true that there was overlap between Klan membership and the White Citizens' Council. However, the two organizations are not, to my knowledge, duplicates of each other. I am not aware that the latter was ever involved in the organized terrorist violence that the Klan was during, and, sadly, after the Civil Rights' era. I could be wrong.

Many prominent Mississippians have belonged to the White Citizens' Council. The fact that Sen. Trent Lott (the utterly ineffectual former Republican Senate Majority leader but that's another article...) spoke to a White Citizens' Council gathering at a county fair, or some such gathering, was used against him by the Drive-By media. While this may show poor judgment on Lott's part, I don't think anyone can accuse him of having been a racist in the way that self-admitted former Ku Klux Klan member Sen. Robert Byrd (Democrat from West Virginia and the longest serving Senator) most certainly was.

To be fair, I suppose one should mention (former "Dixiecrat") and anti-integrationist South Carolinian GOP Senator the late Strom Thurmond--the longest serving Senator in history; after all, one wouldn't want to be "partisan".

PainMan 00:18, 3 March 2007 (UTC)

"Assassination" is not a crime

The article states that Beckwith was convicted of the "assassination" of Medgar Evers. The only problem with this is that "assassination" is not a crime, per se. Beckwith was convicted of murder. So I'm going to make that slight change. If someone can demonstrate that assassination is a crime in Mississippi, pls provide the citation. While in some languages, notably Spanish, use "assesino" as a synonym for murder, the word is not used thusly in English. Assassination is reserved for murders committed for political or religious reasons, etc. If one shoots one's neighbor dead over a neighborly dispute, that's not assassination.

I just think it's important that articles state the exact facts. Some might find this nit-picking but Britannica would not make such an error and I should hope that wikipedia strives to at least equal Britannica in exactitude.

I have no quarrel with describing Evers' murder as an assassination; it most certainly was.

But Beckwith was convicted of murder and died in prison after thirty years of undeserved freedom due to racist all-white, all-male juries. It's just too bad he didn't see the inside of the death chamber. The needle would have been a far more humane death than the one he dealt to Medgar Evers.

PainMan 00:05, 3 March 2007 (UTC)

Removed Blatant POV--and racist--statement

I removed the following sentence from the aritcle because it's clearly and indisputably POV and thus violates wikipedia policy (NPOV).

I can't imagine anyone seriously arguing that this sentence should not be removed. I don't think I need to wait for "consensus." Not on this one.

The sentence in question written, I believe, by Kingbotk* :

He fully deserved more time in prison but due to racist America a Ku Klux Klan member was free for an extra 32 years of his life.

Not only is the grammar bad, but this editorializing is not suitable in an encyclopedia article. Beckwith was scum but the purpose of the article isn't to heap abuse on the man.

Nor is it to smear and entire nation by labelling it racist. "America" didn't sit on the juries that ended in mistrials in '64. "America" didn't wait till 1994 to rety--and convict him of murder. 36 jurors and the DA's office in Mississippi did that.

There's a place for this kind of polemic, it's a called a blog.

Certainly, Beckwith should have either been executed for First Degree Murder or sentenced to life in prison in 1964. But the juries hung. If they had all been the horrible racists, as Kingbotk asserts, wouldn't they have acquitted him? Clearly some--if not just two, one on each jury-- wanted to convict him of the crime. Are those jurors racists simply because the other jurors refused to convict? Simply because they happened to be European-Americans as well?

This is simply anti-European-American racism, in my opinion, by Kingbotk. And our supposedly "racist" society did put Beckwith in prison--where he spent the rest of his life, short as that unfortunately was.

A truly racist society would never have allowed African-Americans on the jury, let alone sent the old assassin to prison. This crime is just one of the excellent reasons there's no statute of limitations on murder. It may have taken more than 30 years to bring Beckwith to justice but it did happen. Justice delayed can indeed be justice denied, but I doubt that Myrlie Evers and her children would agree with that axiom in this case.

• If I'm wrong about who wrote this, pls feel free to correct my misapprehension, I'm merely going by the History page for this article.

PainMan 09:41, 1 June 2007 (UTC)

No longer stub article

I rewrote the article in more encyclopedic form and, I believe, it is now suitable to stand on its own without the stub designation.

The larger part played by the Edgars murder in the Civil Rights movement is beyond the scope of an article on the late Byron De La Beckwith; obviously it belongs in an "omnibus" history of the African-American struggle for civil rights as well as the modern Civil Rights Movement.

A larger discussion about the biased, racist justice system in the South and in MS in general is also beyond the scope of an article about this man.

Thus a short article is entirely appropriate for Beckwith.

Therefore I removed the stub designations.

I look forward to discussing the matter with anyone who disagrees with me.

PainMan 09:41, 1 June 2007 (UTC)

Biography assessment rating comment

The article may be improved by following the WikiProject Biography 11 easy steps to producing at least a B article. --KenWalker | Talk 02:49, 29 June 2007 (UTC)

Silver Star

Is there a citation for this?

I updated his military info based on public USMC records. Beckwith's file is now public at NPRC per the new archival record rule. He was never awarded the Silver Star. His unit was twice cited at the Presidential level, which is the unit equivalent of the Silver Star, but Beckwith is definitely not a Silver Star recipient. -OberRanks (talk) 22:11, 24 June 2009 (UTC)

Bob Dylan Reference

Sorry, but shouldn't the sentence

Also, Byron De La Beckwith was the subject of the 1963 Bob Dylan song "Only a Pawn in Their Game", which deplores Evers' murder and the racist element in "The South" of that time, while dismissing the regrettable action De La Beckwith himself as merely a tragically pitiful product of his environment.

be rewritten as:

Also, Byron De La Beckwith was the subject of the 1963 Bob Dylan song "Only a Pawn in Their Game", which deplores Evers' murder and the racist element in "The South" of that time, while dismissing the regrettable action of De La Beckwith himself as merely a tragically pitiful product of his environment.

Battle of Guadalcanal?

The article says De La Beckwith enlisted in 1943 and fought in the Battle of Guadalcanal. That battle ended the first week of February, 1943. Is it really possible that he enlisted in the USMC in January 1943, completed all of his initial training, was shipped out, and managed to get to Guadalcanal to fight in that battle, all before the battle ended on February 9, 1943? Something is wrong there. Cla68 (talk) 05:39, 11 June 2009 (UTC)

Incorrect "Conviction overturned" citation

I removed this statement cited to a book written before Beckwith died. His conviction was upheld on 12/23/1997, not vacated on that date. Don't take my word for it, read it here. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 199.173.224.32 (talk) 17:26, 18 December 2009 (UTC)

Removed quote about prosecutor being imprisoned

There was something mentioning the imprisonment of DeLaughter in the "Imprisonment for Evers murder" section. While that is true, its not relevant to the article on de la Beckwith. Or to his trial. Mention of it should be made in DeLaughter's article. Scryer_360 (talk) 17:35, 4 January 2010 (UTC)

I will be honest I know this man very well and now that the real person whom killed evers is dead I will say that I know that beckwith was not the one whom done it. he covered up for someone else bc he was with the chief of police when it actually happened. if someone wants to know if that is true look at court transcripts from the trials.216.79.146.128 (talk) 14:02, 27 June 2013 (UTC)

sweet sweet blues award reference

really, we don't use one wikipedia article as a source for another one. if that one has a reference for this fact, then take it and put it in here or something, but please don't keep silently slipping it in. read WP:WINARS. i am not making this up, ok? — alf.laylah.wa.laylah (talk) 23:17, 12 September 2011 (UTC)

ok for the crystal reel award. that web site doesn't mention anything about naacp awards. — alf.laylah.wa.laylah (talk) 23:41, 12 September 2011 (UTC)

would you mind using edit summaries so that people can see what it is you're up to? also, if you're going to add more references, maybe you could put them in the cite.php format, as that's what we're using on this page. thanks! — alf.laylah.wa.laylah (talk) 23:50, 12 September 2011 (UTC)

Double Jeopardy

Everyone is protected from being tried twice for the same crime (Fifth Amendment), regardless if "new evidence" arises at a later date. Why was Byron De La Beckwith not afforded this basic Constitutional right? Was there something else mentioned in the article that I'm missing as to why they brought him back up on murder charges three decades after the alleged murder? I understand a mistrial can be retried, but the same evidence was used, except for some hearsay at a Klan rally about him bragging about the murder. Hardly "new evidence". It seems so-called 'civil rights' leaders elevated to god-status and can enjoy (even if postmortem) extralegal protection. [sarcasm] — Preceding unsigned comment added by 50.29.16.118 (talk) 23:65, 3 May 2012 (UTC)

A "hung jury" results in a "mistrial" and such cases are often retried. Hung juries and mistrials do not result in "double jeopardy". =//= Johnny Squeaky 06:45, 10 March 2013 (UTC)

That's not what the 5th amendment says: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fifth_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution#Text --197.229.54.66 (talk) 00:08, 17 February 2014 (UTC)

If you're going to cite Wikipedia (always a weak reference!), at least cite the most relevant article:

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double_Jeopardy_Clause#Non-final_judgments

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double_Jeopardy_Clause#Retrial_after_mistrial

Excerpt: "As double jeopardy applies only to charges that were the subject of an earlier final judgment, there are many situations in which it does not apply, despite the appearance of a retrial. For example, a second trial held after a mistrial does not violate the double jeopardy clause because a mistrial ends a trial prematurely without a judgment of guilty or not..." NCdave (talk) 18:44, 31 October 2020 (UTC)

organization

Why does the "career" section list that he attended such and such a Church? It is also not clear why the "career" section says he joined the White Citizens Council. I am not sure if the the author is trying to suggest a certain inference be made. In any event, the entire section is about a sentence once one removes the stuff irrelevant to his career, and should probably be merged with another section. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.65.169.68 (talk) 18:27, 20 August 2013 (UTC)

Reference to Ukraine 2022

Totally out of place in a page regarding this subject. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2601:585:8102:2D90:0:0:0:15A3 (talk) 17:49, 5 June 2022 (UTC)

Children

It’s listed as 1 daughter but his son is Delay de la Beckwith 2604:2D80:9C82:7600:0:0:0:EF9 (talk) 20:31, 15 November 2022 (UTC)

“Mississippi had effectively disenfranchised black voters since 1890”

This reads very much like an unsupported opinion (although one I sadly don’t have trouble believing). I’d personally like a link to an article dealing with this or at least a link to a source giving some background to this claim, or the paragraph added to to give some clarification to this statement. 2A02:C7C:6E39:3D00:6DAF:852C:17C9:2AF7 (talk) 21:05, 17 January 2023 (UTC)

How is he a politician?

He's in the category "American politicians convicted of murder" I see no mention of him being a politician ever. Just because he sought to become a politician, doesn't mean he was one, he never held any office. Is there something I'm missing? I've removed him from the category. Qwexcxewq (talk) 23:40, 9 November 2023 (UTC)