Two days after posting “1 Down and 10,000 to go” (the title being a reference to our guess as to the number of ex-KKK murderers still alive and in need of arrest and prosecution, in retrospect the title should have been “1 Down and 1 Million to Go”), I still have the following question:

What in the world was Killen’s defense attorney thinking when he called up Harlan Majure as a character witness?

By now, everyone has heard about Majure’s incredible statement:

“They [the KKK] did a lot of good too. As far as I know, they’re a peaceful organization.”

However his other, lesser reported, comments are equally preposterous:

“Back then, a warning from the Klan was enough to prompt a change in behavior.”

“The Klan would pay them a visit. The Klan would tell a man to straighten up, and if he didn’t, they would whip the devil out of him. They whipped more white people than black people.”

“…I don’t have a prejudiced bone in my body.”

“They (the civil rights movement) were trying to force something on us. We weren’t ready for it.”

The internal inconsistencies are so apparent that it’s almost sad and probably sealed Killen’s fate. Majure swears that the Klan is peaceful but then tells about how they beat both blacks and whites. He says that he isn’t prejudiced but then criticizes the civil rights movement.

Best quote of the trial however came after Majure’s testimony when he said, “That lady from what-do-you-call-it, Court News, done me in pretty bad.” Yep, she did.

This entry was posted on Thursday, June 23rd, 2005 at 7:49 am by Insider and is filed under Big Thoughts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.