[Vision2020] Edgar Ray Killen (was "Killian")

[Joan Opyr]

On Jun 22, 2005, at 12:20 PM, donald toogood wrote:

> Spend all that time and money on putting a sick old man in jail. 
> That's crazy.  Look at all the sick perverts running around raping and 
> killing kids. A lot of them have been in jail for it, but the cops 
> don't know where half these ex con perverts are even. They caught one 
> the other day in California who was in prison for it over and over but 
> got out and raped hundreds or even thousands more kids. Cops should 
> worry about stopping these sex perverts and killers and saving kids 
> now instead of about something 40 years later. That was just for show.
>


First, the man's name is not Killian; it's Killen.  Edgar Ray Killen.  
He ordered the murders of three young men, Goodman, Schwerner, and 
Chaney, 41 years ago.  Mr. Killen has enjoyed 41 years of life -- life 
that he robbed from those three young men.  So he's 80 years old now.  
So he's sick.  So what?  Why should Edgar Ray Killen spend the final 
years of his miserable life in peace and comfort simply because he's 
managed to avoid justice for more than four decades?  Does the passage 
of time make the guilty innocent?  If Ted Bundy had escaped the 
clutches of the law for four decades, would you be making this same 
argument, Mr. Toogood?  Edgar Ray Killen will kick the bucket in 
prison, in the jail cell in which he has belonged since 1963.

The only difference between this evil old man and the evil young men 
about whom Donald Toogood seems so concerned is age.  But someday, 
those young perverts will be old perverts.  Will they no longer deserve 
punishment for their actions?  Will time have healed the wounds they 
inflict?

Yes, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, but I, for one, 
am happy to see Edgar Ray Killen finally receive punishment for his 
crimes.  Justice delayed is justice denied, but better late than never. 
  Killen's sentence and conviction is just one small step on the road to 
redemption for Mississippi and indeed the whole of this nation.  There 
are many others like Killen who must be made to answer for their 
crimes, however long ago they committed them.

We can dispense delayed justice *and* prevent new crimes, Mr. Toogood.  
This is not an either/or proposition, and it's not a zero sum game.  We 
can care about both old crimes and new.  The punishment of the former 
does not preclude the prevention of the latter.

Joan Opyr/Auntie Establishment
www.auntie-establishment.com