While I would be the first to admit that African Americans endured great injustices in the Deep South during the Civil Rights Movement, what most people don't know (and which Hollywood continues to ignore) is the underground efforts being made my local law enforcement to take down the KKK. One such incident happened in Meridian, MS, a town where I spent much of my youth. I've often thought the secret efforts of these men would make for a good movie but unfortunately, it wouldn't follow the agenda that Hollywood wants to project on today's audiences.

"The FBI ADL and Meridian police arranged a death trap for Tarrants and Hawkins using two Klan informants to encourage the bombers to hit the home of Meyer Davidson a local ADL leader. Hawkins was replaced at the last minute by Kathy Ainsworth. On the evening of June 30, 1968 Meridian police were waiting in ambush.

By Tarrants account he approached the Davidson’s home walking up the driveway toward the carport carrying a box with the bomb inside. His pistol was in stuck in the waistband of his trousers. The police fired first. Tarrants dropped the box, turned and ran back toward his Buick Electra. The pistol he had fell out of his belt onto the ground. The police were firing from a little hill across the street. Tarrants had to run toward them to get back to the car. When he got to the front of the car he was hit with buckshot in his right leg. He got to the driver door which was opened by Kathy when she was hit by a rifle round in the neck. Her last words were "I been hit."

The police began their pursuit with officer Mike Hatcher hanging out the window firing at the car with a shotgun. The police rammed back of the car and it came to a stop. Tarrants got out first with a submachine gun and sprayed the officer’s car hitting him twice in the chest and missing the driver. He emptied the entire clip and dropped the machine gun. Then officer Tucker, the driver, had on shotgun round left and fired it at Tarrants. Tarrants ran around the corner of a house and tired to climb an electrical fence but fell back onto some bushes.

Tarrants lied there for about ten minutes until the other police arrived. They shined a light on him, turned it off, and then fired four more shotgun blasts at a distance of ten feet to finish him off. Two of the blast hit his right arm. The police pulled him out of the bushes asking "Is he dead?" The reply, "Nah the S.O.B. is still alive."[6]

Tarrants was convicted and given a 30-year sentence. In 1969 he briefly escaped prison and was recaptured by the FBI. Similarly to the shooting a year earlier, one of his companions, a fellow escaped prisoner was killed by the FBI. In prison he became a born-again Christian and was released in 1976 after serving eight years."

Link

"Received a 30 year sentence and served 8 years.".....smh. Our justice system is a joke.

Missing the point....the point is, most of the South didn't own slaves....the war wasn't about slavery to them....and many in the south fought against the kkk ultimately making it less than relevant...

Oh, they also conveniently forget to mention that democraps founded and made up the KKK ....

But Trump is the racist.....being screamed from the true racists....

Jes my

I read he got 8 years for killing a cop....

Democraps typically skate when it comes to crime vs. punishment....

Would you have ever imagined such an attractive young woman being a member of the KKK?

"Kathy Ainsworth has been mentioned in conspiracy theories involving the assassinations of Robert F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King, Jr. Some have speculated Kathy Ainsworth was the girl in the polka dot dress who Sirhan Sirhan saw before he shot the senator.[22] Robert Kennedy as US Attorney General was instrumental in integrating the University of Mississippi in 1962 by sending in Federal Marshals and placing the University under military occupation.

In the King assassination, the mother of Kathy Ainsworth said her daughter and Tarrants were in Memphis, Tennessee April 4, 1968 the day King was shot and played a role in jamming police communications."

More details on the shootout in Meridian at the link below.

Kathy Ainsworth

I don't think I missed the point...I do agree with you 100%.

I was just pointing out an interesting fact from the story and something I thought was rather strange.

No way to know for sure but perhaps they cut him some slack as a result of the setup and attempt by local law enforcement to kill him, which did result in the death of the woman in his car. It really was similar to the setup that took down Bonnie and Clyde.

Got it....I was the one that missed your point......

I failed to mention that Officer Mike Hatcher survived despite being hit twice and eventually retired from the Meridian Police Department. He would later go on to sell life insurance after his retirement.

Officer Joyner, who led the underground effort within the MPD, had a German Shepard tied to a light pole in his yard by day and allowed it to roam his house at night as a deterrent against KKK paybacks. I know this because my sister was friends with his daughter and would often stay for sleepovers. They would have to keep the bedroom door shut once the dog was allowed to roam the house after everyone went to bed. It would be decades before my sister learned the purpose of the dog.