| Belzoni, Mississippi, a small Delta town once known | | | | tissues contained pellets "fired at close range from |
| for lynching and Saturday night gun fights, | | | | a high-powered gun." They also found powder |
| survived a tornado following Hurricane Katrina. | | | | burns. |
| "We're up here in the Delta, away from the coast | | | | Over the next few days, Evers and two national |
| where they really got it. We didn't get the | | | | NAACP representatives met with eyewitnesses |
| hurricane but we did get a tornado and it was | | | | and the full story emerged: |
| pretty bad," said the owner of a used car lot at | | | | Lee had been followed by three men in another |
| the northern edge of this cotton hamlet once | | | | car. |
| known as "Bloody Belzoni." | | | | His right rear tire was punctured by a rifle shot |
| Katrina's subsequent winds and severe rains did in | | | | and as he slowed, the second car "pulled parallel |
| fact hurt most businesses in this community that | | | | and a shotgun was fired point-blank into his face. |
| has been slowly lifting itself up by the bootstraps | | | | There were also descriptions of the three men, |
| since earlier days of civil rights violence. | | | | with tentative identifications." |
| In recent years Belzoni leaders created a | | | | Evers always doubted that any FBI investigation |
| marketing plan, hoping to bring in new business: | | | | took place, since there was never any public |
| colorful five and six-foot acrylic statues of smiling | | | | report "or even a solid rumor" as to what was in |
| catfish wearing polka-dot bow ties advertise | | | | the report. |
| Belzoni's newly self-acclaimed status of Catfish | | | | Rev. Lee's murder was a cold-blooded answer to |
| Capital of the World. | | | | demands for equal treatment coming from more |
| The catfish are scattered throughout downtown. | | | | Mississippi blacks and was backed by the lies of |
| And a catfish barbecue and Delta blues celebration | | | | the sheriff and local police, Evers later reported; |
| takes place each summer. | | | | Evers was assassinated ten years later in his |
| For many Belzonians memories of past violence | | | | Jackson driveway by a Delta Klansman and |
| will never be erased despite marketing efforts, | | | | member of the white Citizens Council. |
| and it is near downtown, in a poor and vandalized | | | | Recalled Aaron Henry of Clarksdale also a black |
| neighborhood, where African Americans have | | | | Mississippi leader: "We felt we needed protection |
| placed a granite block at the beginning of a city | | | | because the past had taught us that when one |
| street. | | | | Negro is killed, stay out of town if your skin is |
| Only "George Lee Avenue" is etched into the cold | | | | black." |
| stone. | | | | Yet surprisingly for one of the first times, no |
| But this tribute is to a beloved leader who died a | | | | protection was needed at the public funeral that |
| violent death fifty years ago for their right to | | | | took place in Belzoni. |
| vote. | | | | "There wasn't a white man on the streets the |
| * * * * | | | | day of the service, except for the press. There |
| Rev. George Washington Lee, the first black | | | | was a great turnout of Negroes for the funeral. |
| person to register to vote in Humphreys County | | | | This large presence of Negroes and absence of |
| since Reconstruction, was shot to death on a | | | | whites marked a turning point," Henry said. |
| neighborhood street while driving his car on the | | | | * * * |
| night of May 7, 1955. | | | | As Aaron Henry predicted, the murder of Rev. |
| Some who knew Lee and have remained to grow | | | | Lee became a critical turning point back in 1955; |
| old in this Delta town say their friend was a kind | | | | his untimely death would help prompt later |
| and brave man who was brutalized and killed by | | | | passage of the 1965 Voting Rights Act (VRA) - |
| white men angered over his voting rights | | | | one of the most successful civil rights laws in |
| advocacy. | | | | American history, guaranteeing millions of minority |
| LEE AND THE SECOND of Belzoni Citizen Council's | | | | voters the equal opportunity to participate in |
| prime targets, Gus Courts, both lived and ran | | | | elections and have their voices heard. |
| small grocery businesses. Citizen's Councils were | | | | VRA ended literacy tests, poll taxes and other |
| private Klan-influenced organizations formed in the | | | | methods of keeping blacks from voting that had |
| Delta in 1954 to scare black citizens away from | | | | long poisoned the roots of this country's |
| the polls and keep integration from taking place. | | | | democracy. In 1964, only 300 African Americans |
| Lee also preached, often using his pulpit and his | | | | served in public office nationwide, including just |
| printing press to urge others to take action and | | | | three in Congress. |
| vote. | | | | But today, more than 9,100 black elected officials |
| White officials once offered Lee protection on the | | | | serve, including 43 members of Congress, the |
| condition he end his voter registration efforts, but | | | | largest number ever, according to the NAACP |
| Lee refused. | | | | Legal Defense and Education Fund, Inc. often |
| Heading the town's new NAACP Chapter, Courts | | | | simply called Inc. |
| was ordered by his banker to turn over all | | | | The VRA also opened politics for more than |
| NAACP books and when he refused, Courts was | | | | 6,000 Latino public officials including some 260 |
| told to leave town. But he stayed. | | | | elected at the state or federal level, with 27 |
| Once Courts was handed a list of ninety-five | | | | serving in Congress. Native Americans, Asians and |
| blacks registered in Humphreys County by a | | | | others who have historically encountered harsh |
| Citizens Council member who warned that anyone | | | | barriers to full political participation also have |
| not removing their name from the voting list | | | | benefited greatly. |
| would lose their job. He later testified about his | | | | Yet violations of the VRA still occur and the |
| experiences before a Congressional Committee. | | | | United States has yet to achieve the |
| Both Courts and Lee had tried for years to pay | | | | constitutional goal of equality of political |
| poll taxes in order to vote and were finally | | | | opportunity. |
| allowed to sign the register only after the county | | | | Inc. leaders and other who support voting rights |
| sheriff feared federal prosecution. Casting a ballot | | | | reauthorization point to three crucial sections of |
| required a separate battle. | | | | the Voting Rights Act that will expire in 2007 |
| The day of his murder, almost a year after | | | | unless Congress votes to renew them: |
| Brown vs. Topeka Board of Education and three | | | | *A requirement that states and local jurisdictions |
| months before the lynching of Emmett Till in | | | | with a documented history of discriminatory |
| nearby Sunflower County, Rev. Lee visited with | | | | voting practices submit planned changes in their |
| Courts to talk about the latest warning. | | | | election laws or procedures to the U.S. |
| Lee reported getting an earlier anonymous death | | | | Department of Justice or the U.S. District Court in |
| threat demanding he remove his name from the | | | | Washington, D.C. for pre-clearance. A bipartisan |
| voting list. He told Courts that he had a strange | | | | Congressional report in 1982 warned that without |
| feeling about this particular threat. | | | | this provision, discrimination would reappear |
| That night as Reverend Lee drove his car along | | | | "overnight." |
| Belzoni's Church Street, two gun blasts shattered | | | | * Requirements that communities with |
| the night stillness, and the minister's Buick sedan | | | | concentrations of voters who are Limited English |
| swerved over the curb and rammed into a frame | | | | Proficient provide them with bilingual election |
| house. | | | | assistance including bilingual ballots, election |
| With the lower left side of his face gone, Rev. | | | | materials, and pollworkers. |
| George Lee staggered from the wreckage but | | | | *The authority to send federal examiners and |
| died during transportation to the Humphreys | | | | observers to monitor elections. |
| County Memorial Hospital. | | | | Inc. leaders and others involved in voting rights |
| When NAACP leader Medgar Evers arrived in | | | | see these provisions as critical to ensuring fairness |
| Belzoni to investigate the murder of Rev. Lee, he | | | | and equal opportunity for minorities in American |
| was told by Sheriff Ike Shelton that Lee lost | | | | politics: |
| control of his car and died from the crash; the | | | | "At a time when America is vigorously engaged in |
| lead pellets found in his jaw tissues were dental | | | | promoting the ideal of multi-ethnic democracy in |
| fillings. | | | | Iraq and across the globe, we need to ensure |
| An autopsy was not necessary for the "freak | | | | that lawmakers preserve and strengthen the |
| accident," Shelton said. | | | | necessary tools to ensure the continued success |
| But at Mrs. Lee's insistence, two black physicians | | | | of democracy here at home. Reauthorization of |
| examined her husband's body and reported the | | | | the 1965 Voting Rights Act is a first step. |