"Spies of Mississippi" is an unusual new documentary. While films about the civil rights era of the 1950s and 60s are not uncommon, one like this one sure are! The film is about a secret state government organization, the Mississippi Sovereignty Commission--a group dedicated to preventing a change in the racist class system in the state. While the existence of this organization didn't surprise me, the fact that many black men helped them did! Yep, some of the Commission's most ardent supporters were blacks who were either afraid of change, greedy for their 40 pieces of silver or were just freaking insane!! All in all, a very informative and strange look at the times--one that surely will shock a few folks!
3 Reviews
Who watches the watchmen?
tieman6418 January 2015
Warning: Spoilers
"Two white adults, armed, in the dark, kidnap a fourteen-year-old black boy and take him away to frighten him. Instead the fourteen-year-old boy not only refuses to be frightened, but, unarmed, alone, in the dark, so frightens the two armed adults that they must destroy him. What are we Mississippians afraid of?" - William Faulkner ("On Fear", 1956)
In 1956, the Governor of Mississippi, J.P. Coleman, created The Mississippi State Sovereignty Commission. The innocuously titled Commission was essentially a publicly funded spy program formed for the sole purpose of preserving the state of segregation. Over the next two decades, it would infiltrate civil rights organisations, black communities, churches, hire spies, informants and thugs, and do everything in its power to halt change.
In total, the Commission is estimated to have closely monitored almost 90,000 Americans. With the help of African Americans themselves, many of whom were bribed, manipulated or blackmailed, the Commission also infiltrated many major black organisations (NAACP, CORE, SNCC etc). Many of the Commission's powers – its ability to investigate and arrest private citizens, keep secret files, torture, engage in violence, coax false testimonies etc – would ordinarily be deemed illegal, were they not rubber-stamped by state officials.
Unsurprisingly, given the US Government's past and on-going history of funding, fanning and arming far-right movements, dictators and governments, the Commision had close ties to numerous White Supremacist Organizations; it bankrolled groups who were working to stop integration and hounded anyone who was pushing progressive policies/legislation. Murders committed by these groups were also oft covered up, whilst crimes that actually made it to the courts were oft derailed. Consider Byron De La Beckwith, who assassinated black activist Medgar Evers. Byron would walk free thanks to hung juries. Consider too the murder of Emmett Till, a 14 year old black boy who was killed and had his eyes gouged out. The killers likewise walked free. Elsewhere the Commission would actively seek to frame African American activists for crimes (Clyde Kennard et al). "Spies of the Mississippi", a documentary by Dawn Porter, details all these nefarious acts.
8.9/10 - Worth one viewing.
In 1956, the Governor of Mississippi, J.P. Coleman, created The Mississippi State Sovereignty Commission. The innocuously titled Commission was essentially a publicly funded spy program formed for the sole purpose of preserving the state of segregation. Over the next two decades, it would infiltrate civil rights organisations, black communities, churches, hire spies, informants and thugs, and do everything in its power to halt change.
In total, the Commission is estimated to have closely monitored almost 90,000 Americans. With the help of African Americans themselves, many of whom were bribed, manipulated or blackmailed, the Commission also infiltrated many major black organisations (NAACP, CORE, SNCC etc). Many of the Commission's powers – its ability to investigate and arrest private citizens, keep secret files, torture, engage in violence, coax false testimonies etc – would ordinarily be deemed illegal, were they not rubber-stamped by state officials.
Unsurprisingly, given the US Government's past and on-going history of funding, fanning and arming far-right movements, dictators and governments, the Commision had close ties to numerous White Supremacist Organizations; it bankrolled groups who were working to stop integration and hounded anyone who was pushing progressive policies/legislation. Murders committed by these groups were also oft covered up, whilst crimes that actually made it to the courts were oft derailed. Consider Byron De La Beckwith, who assassinated black activist Medgar Evers. Byron would walk free thanks to hung juries. Consider too the murder of Emmett Till, a 14 year old black boy who was killed and had his eyes gouged out. The killers likewise walked free. Elsewhere the Commission would actively seek to frame African American activists for crimes (Clyde Kennard et al). "Spies of the Mississippi", a documentary by Dawn Porter, details all these nefarious acts.
8.9/10 - Worth one viewing.
Who Was Medgar Evers?
eved-3664516 December 2019
Warning: Spoilers
And why is he being spied on? I watched the movie for 23 minutes until it reached 1964 and not once did it mention Medgar Evers! By then he had been assassinated. You can see in the movie's highlighted texts concerning spies for the Mississippi State Sovereignty Commission the name "Evers".
"Evers applied to the then-segregated University of Mississippi Law School in February 1954. When his application was rejected, Evers became the focus of an NAACP campaign to desegregate the school, a case aided by the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in the case of Brown v. Board of Education 347 US 483 that segregation was unconstitutional. In December of that year, Evers became the NAACP's first field officer in Mississippi..."
"Evers applied to the then-segregated University of Mississippi Law School in February 1954. When his application was rejected, Evers became the focus of an NAACP campaign to desegregate the school, a case aided by the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in the case of Brown v. Board of Education 347 US 483 that segregation was unconstitutional. In December of that year, Evers became the NAACP's first field officer in Mississippi..."
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