Mavis Staples in Concert at S.U.

By Stephanie Marie Claytor

“Ain’t going to let injustice, turn me around, turn me around, no, turn me around. Ain’t going to let injustice, turn me around. I’m going to keep on walking, keep on talking; marching up to freedom land.”

These are the lyrics of blues singer and Civil Rights era activist Mavis Staples; words that motivate over 50 law students at Syracuse University and their Professors Paula Johnson and Janis McDonald, to continue their investigation of unsolved Civil Rights era murder cases.

In order to bring about awareness of their investigations, they are hosting a “Conversation with Civil Rights Era Cold Case Activists” and a concert with Mavis Staples this Saturday, Feb. 27th, starting at 3 pm in the Schine Student Center on the Syracuse University campus.

During the event, the murder victims’ families will talk about their experiences, living everyday not knowing who killed their loved ones. After the discussion, Mavis Staples will give a concert, singing many of the motivational songs she sang alongside Dr. Martin Luther King during the Civil Rights Movement. Johnson said she hopes the families’ testimonies and Staples’ singing will help people understand the importance and urgency behind the investigations that she and her students are conducting.

“It’s the public’s role to insist on political support so that these cases and people are not forgotten,” said Johnson.

Johnson, McDonald, and their students started the investigations back in 2007, when a woman by the name of Rosa Morris Williams called on Professor Johnson to help her solve the murder case of her grandfather, Frank Morris. Morris died on Dec. 14th, 1964 in Ferriday, Louisiana-four days after two white men entered his shoe shop, poured gasoline, and set the place on fire. Morris was able to get Rosa Williams’ 10-year-old brother out of the shop but according to Johnson, he received third degree burns over 95% of his body, which eventually caused him to pass away. According to the Concordia Sentinel, FBI agents worked on the case, but no arrests were ever made.

When Johnson received the call for help some forty years later, she and her colleague put aside their other commitments to begin the investigation. Soon after, they picked up two other unsolved murder cases within the same 20 mile radius, happening about three years apart from each other. Johnson, a criminal lawyer who specializes in human rights law, said the investigations are important because these are cases where the victims were not taken seriously.

“Even if there are no criminal charges, the families of the victims want the satisfaction that there was a serious investigation and that someone can tell them at the very minimum what they think happened,” said Johnson.

Johnson said one of the major concerns is that the victims’ families live in communities where in many cases, the perpetrators of the crime live nearby. Although three years have gone by since the group started the investigations and still no arrests have been made, the professors and students continue to fight for justice. Often times, the professors travel to the Louisiana/ Mississippi border towns to interview the families and develop relationships with them.

After awhile, the professors incorporated the investigations into classes, and they created the “Cold Case Justice Initiative.” They summoned over 50 student volunteers to help comb through FBI documents, conduct interviews and sift through old newspapers and records. In some cases, one document comprised 7,000 pages alone.

“You can’t just log onto the computer and do a Google search. You need original source material,” said Johnson. “The information we find takes us in all different directions and sometimes reveals things the families were not even aware of.”

The investigations have become so time consuming that the professors had to take a leave of absence from the university so that they could focus on solving the cases, before it is too late.

“Time is of the essence. We only have a few years before it becomes too late to solve these cases because 40-45 years have gone by,” said Johnson. “Also, these cases are more difficult to solve because people are getting older and race is at the heart. People do not want to talk about it.”

Although no charges have been filed, Johnson says the Initiative’s research has prompted the U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Louisiana and the local district attorney to re-open Frank Morris’ case, and focus on prosecuting the remaining members of the Silver Dollar Group- a violent faction of the Klu Klux Klan- for his murder. In addition, Johnson said the group met with U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder this past summer, and he said his office plans to pursue Morris’ case and the other two cases the group is investigating.

More information about the Cold Case Justice Initiative is available on their website: http://coldcaselaw.syr.edu/.