Digging Up The Past

The FBI is currently investigating over 100 cases involving murders committed during the Civil Rights Era. Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez seems committed to prosecuting as many of these cases as possible even though many may be far beyond the boundaries of what the federal government can legally prosecute. He had this to say:

Much time has passed on these crimes. The wounds they left are deep, and still many of them have not healed. But we are committed to re-examining these cases and doing all we can to bring justice to the criminals who may have avoided punishment for so long.

In contrast to Gonzalez's strong tone of reconciliation and belief that justice can still be served Horace Harned, 86, a former Mississippi legislator and member of the segregationist Sovereignty Commission, said: "I think we shouldn't dig up too much of these things."

One of the high-profile cases being investigated involves Maceo Snipes, a black WWII veteran who was shot by four white men after he voted for the first time in 1946. There is no evidence that an investigation was ever opened by the state of Georgia.