Medgar Evers: The Cost Of Telling The Truth

0:04 Welcome to True Crime, authors and extraordinary people. The podcast where we bring two passions together. The show that gives new meaning to the old adage, truth is stranger than fiction. And reminding you that there is an extraordinary person in all of us. Here is your host, David McClam. What's going on everybody? Welcome back to another episode of Trip Crime, Ballet Extraordinary People, Black History Month Fact Edition. Of course, I'm your man, David McClam. If you haven't already, make sure you follow us on all of our social media. One link to a link tree will get you every place you need to go pertaining to the show.

0:44 And as I always like to remind you, if you are someone or you know someone who feels like hurting themselves or someone else, please leave this episode on Dow 988. It is the Suicide Prevention Hotline. They will get you the help that you need. And just in case no one else has told you this today, let me be the first to tell you I do care and I do need you to be here. There is nothing worth your life. Alright, one quick note I want to give you, just in case that you are coming from the latest episode of the podcast that I just released called Defending a Friend Inside of True Crime Podcaster's Your Long Battle with Smears and Online Harassment.

1:26 I did forget to leave the links to the album as well as to We're Not Afraid Podcast. That has been updated now, and you can go and check those out if you have already. They're located in the show notes. Alright, so today's Black History Fact is on Mega Evers. If you never heard of him, you're about to learn a little bit about him. And then I'm going to tell you some interesting facts that while you have to remove race cars from a lot of things, you can't really from Mega Evers killing. And I'm going to share that with you and exactly why and what I believe would have happened to anybody else in that time if it's somebody who was of color and would have committed the same crime.

2:11 Today's title is Mega Evers: The Cost of Telling the Truth. Mega Evers knew he was going to be killed. He didn't know when, he didn't know exactly how, but he knew the work he was doing in Mississippi came with the price, and that price was likely his life. Mega Evers was the NAACP's first field secretary in Mississippi, one of the most violently racist states in the country during the civil rights era. His job was not symbolic, it was dangerous. He investigated lynchings. He organized voter registration. He challenged segregation in a place where doing so could get you beaten, bombed, or murdered.

2:55 White supremacists knew his name. They watched his house. They threatened his children. Shots were fired into his home. Molotov cocktails were thrown. His wife Merley slept on the floor with their kids to avoid stray bullets. Still, Megar kept going. On June 12, 1963, just hours after President John F. Kennedy delivered a televised address calling civil rights a moral issue, Megar Evers pulled into his driveway in Jackson, Mississippi. A sniper shot him in the back. He staggered toward his front door, collapsed, and died less than an hour later. His children watched from inside the house, and the man responsible, Byron Della Beckwith, was arrested and twice acquitted by an all-white jury.

3:44 It wasn't until 1994, more than 30 years later, that Beckwith was finally convicted. Thirty years of delay. Thirty years of injustice. Megar Everett became a martyr, but martyrdom is not justice. Justice would have been protection while he lived. Justice would have been conviction while evidence was fresh. Justice would have been a system that valued black lives as much as white comfort. Megar Everett's story is not just about courage. It is about cost, about what happens when truth tellers are treated as expendable, about how long America is willing to wait before admitting wrongdoing, and about how often the families of the fallen are asked to be patient.

4:32 Now, let me tell you a little bit more about Byron Delabeckwith and why I believe that he finally went to jail for life in 1994. And I was watching this live. So let me give you a little bit of detail about Byron Dela Beckwith. So in 1963, he was bragging about killing Megar Evers, and he indicated that he felt no remorse according to testimony and reports surrounding his trials. Let me repeat that again. He was bragging about this openly in 1963.

5:12 Remember, he got acquitted twice, but he's bragging about it. During his 1994 trial, witnesses testified that he had bragged about killing Evers. This was the trial he was convicted, right? He was quoted as saying he's dead, isn't he? That's one end who isn't going to come back. They looked for refusal and remorse in 1979 while he was in the prison infirmary. He was in there for a different conviction, and a guard overheard Beckwith telling a black nurse's aide that if he could get rid of an upper DN like Mega Evers, he would have no trouble dealing with her.

5:57 And finally, after two trials in 1964, resulting in hung juries, Beckwith was finally convicted in 1994, largely based on the testimony regarding his boast and fingerprint evidence on the rifle scope. He was sentenced to life in prison without parole and died in 2001 at age 80. Let me tell you why I think he got convicted finally. That's a small part of it. Remember, there usually is double jeopardy. Now I may not really attribute to him because both of his Jews was hung, right? So they never really didn't convict him and then they didn't say he was innocent.

6:39 They hung the jury. I think you have to get a fallout not guilty to not face double jeopardy, which is why he was able to go back and be tried again in 1994. There was an interview around that time with Byron Delabeckwith. I wish I could find the video to this day because I was mad the whole day after I saw this. They were in a park, and it was him and a reporter. And I guess he had agreed to give this reporter an interview. I don't think anybody had really interviewed him since he killed Mega Evers, and he agreed to give this dude one. During that interview, the reporter asked, Did he kill Mega Evers?

7:25 And without hesitation, here's what he said. Yeah, I killed him, and I'll kill the N again. I want you to keep this in mind. He's in a public park with a reporter who is airing this live on the news. It's going around to everybody's TV. What do you think black people did after they saw that? Man, it was not pretty. People's voices started being heard. People was getting violent, which they should never have, but they're like, he just admitted to killing them. What you gonna do about it? The only reason why I believe that Byron Dela Beckwith faced one dig in jail was because of that.

8:09 It is reminiscing to me of the whole George Floyd situation. Everybody wanted to deny that he was killed or modern day lynched. People have blamed black people for years, but we just overreacting and this stuff don't happen. But when you saw George Floyd on that ground with that cop's knee pressed in his neck and he was getting lynched live on TV, you couldn't deny that anymore, could you? That was the same thing with Mega Evers. Now, shortly after that, Baron DillaBeckwith, gets what? Arrested, he goes to jail. He now stands trial in 1994. He gets convicted now for life. He spent the rest of his life in prison where he should have been.

8:50 He got no parole, and he died in 2001 at the age of 80. But disagree with me if you want to. I promise you on my life and everything I own. And you guys all know this. If the shoe would have been on the other foot and a black man went and killed a white man up in his driveway and admitted at that time at least, that yes, I killed the white man and now kill him again, man, they would have made a special cell block just for that brother. I mean, Mega Everett rest in peace. He didn't deserve to die, but he knew he was going to, much like Martin King Jr.

9:31 And he knew that the work that he was doing was that important that the only way to shut him up is if they took his life. Alright, guys, it does it with this one. Hope you guys have been enjoying this Black History Facts as I have enjoyed presenting them to you. I want to thank you for joining us today. I know you have many choices in true crime and interview podcasts. I am grateful that I am one of your choices, and you have been listening to the only three faceted podcasts of its kind. Be good to yourself and each other. And always remember, always stay humble.

10:11 An act of kindness can make someone's day. A little love and compassion can go a long way. And remember that there is an extraordinary person in all of us. I'll catch you guys on the next one. Don't forget to rate, comment, and subscribe. Join us on social media. One link to the link tree has it all. Feel free to drop us a line at TrueCrime and Authors at gmail.com. Sound mixing and editing by David McLean. IntroScript by Sophie Wilde and David McLean. Theme Music, Legendary by New Alchemist. Introduction and Ending Credits by Jackie Voice.

10:54 See you next time on True Crime, Authors, and Extraordinary People.