Tuesday, August 17, 2010

W.E. A.L.L. B.E. Books Review: ‘The Eyes Of Willie McGee’ Proves That Justice Is Not Only Blind But Inconclusive…

Video: W.E. A.L.L. B.E. Books Review: ‘The Eyes Of Willie McGee’


W.E. A.L.L. B.E. Books Review: ‘The Eyes Of Willie McGee’ Proves That Justice Is Not Only Blind But Inconclusive…
 The Meeting Of Heard & Herd: Bro. Alex Heard & Bro. R2C2H2 Tha Artivist (Ron Herd II)
(photo courtesy of W.E. A.L.L. B.E. Group Inc.)

When I first met Mr. Alex Heard at his book signing @ Barnes & Noble in Memphis, he looked like your prototypical college English professor or lecturer… He was distinguished looking, befitted with large frame glasses, rail thin body and possessing a steady conversational monotone voice, one that does not necessarily put you sleep, but rather draws you in to listen a little closer to every syllable he was pronouncing…

With that said his magnum opus, The Eyes Of Willie McGee: A Tragedy Of Race, Sex and Secrets In The Jim Crow South, was anything but subdued, monotone or thin on substance…It was a very well written account and analysis of one of the landmark court cases and causes in American civil rights movement history...It is also one of the most overlooked as well as controversial U.S. court cases every tried for the elements and issues involved were very explosive for those muted times of racial intolerance and are still divisive today in Obama’s America…

Heard does a great job of providing readers with the bold known facts of the case of Willie McGee, a Black Mississippian sentenced to death for the alleged rage of Mrs. Willette “Billie” Hawkins, a white woman, in 1945 Laurel, Mississippi…He also does a superb job of providing literary flesh to theories that many on both sides thought to be true as well as giving renewed life to innuendo thought to be downright inflammatory for the times and even in some circles taboo now…Heard also was very thoughtful in including interviews of the relatives of Willie McGee, Billie Hawkins, Bella Abzug and other major players of the McGee saga in the book…It was quite intriguing to read how the relatives were able to deal or not deal with the burden of this tragedy on their own terms…

The question “did he do it or didn’t he?” may never be answered but what is for sure is that in all three trials McGee didn’t receive a fair trial by a jury of peers as evidenced by the jury tampering that went on courtesy of the collusion between the prosecution and the Mississippi courts…It should also be noted that no White man was ever executed for rape in Mississippi, something that seem relegated only to Black males…Heard does an outstanding job of expanding the official Tuskegee Lynching record by showing that many Blacks were ‘legally lynched’ as well as showing examples of long forgotten Mississippi racial tragedies where Black folks, sometimes whole families, were lynched/massacred without anyone ever going to jail or ever being tried for the crimes…

Heard also makes the case for the McGee trials as being just important to the American Civil Rights narrative as the Scottsboro Nine cases of the 1930s in terms of its national coverage, impact and lasting implications on the American judicial system in particular and psyche in general…Heard proves that history is not a one narrative story by showing us at depth how the rise of McCarthyism and the Cold War are also linked to the martyrdom of McGee because of the White fear of a Black revolt taking place among the 14 million negroes of the U.S. due to the influence of propaganda generated by the Soviet Union …As a matter of fact McGee’s last written words (“Tell the people the real reason they are going to take my life is to keep the Negro down”) illustrates how the mortal man understood his importance now as a timeless symbol for resistance and justice…

Heard, being a native of Jackson,Ms, does an admirable job of balancing the pros and cons of both the prosecution and defense in the Willie McGee saga…He quickly puts you in the mindset of what it was like to living in Jim Crow America and the perils that existed for African Americans back then...


He also does a great job of not broad brushing people for he shows examples of profiles in courage from people all walks of life such as Mississippi son and literary icon William Faulkner who thought McGee did not receive a fair trial and may not raped her at all, American transplant Jessica Mitford and her White Women Delegation driving from Oakland, Ca, to Jackson,Ms, to rally support for McGee, Winifred Feise fearlessly confronting Gov. Fielding Wright in the Mississippi state capitol, William Patterson, the progressive head of the leftist Civil Rights Congress (CRC) sparing no expense in getting McGee proper representation and exposure while he himself and his organization were being persecuted by the U.S. Government for being communist sympathizers, the young lawyer and future feminist icon Bella Abzug creating a capable defense team to get McGee a fair chance in an unfair system, McGee’s defense lawyers John Poole and Alvin London basically risking their practices and lives to represent their client, entertainment icons and human rights advocates Josephine Baker and Paul Robeson using their international platform to speak on behalf of McGee and against U.S. racism, and even Supreme Court Justice & former Klansmen Hugo Black postponing the execution of McGee at an important point in the saga are examples among others worth mentioning … 

I think one of the most touching parts of the book was when Heard orchestrated a meeting between Bertha Mae Crowell and two of Willette Hawkins’ daughters, Dorothy and Sandra…Bertha used to work for the Hawkins family alongside her mother as a maid…Bertha always believed that McGee was innocent and that Willette made the whole affair up because she was mentally disturbed and suffered from night terrors….Bertha felt that the scenario of rape never happened…This was interesting to see how Bertha and the women she took care of as kids thought about what she felt….They obviously thought their mom was raped and that Willie McGee was the one who did it..However, what most impressed me was that none of the parties involved in the discussion were hostile towards each other, it was like a family reunion where they talked about good times had and no love lost…

 Mrs.Bettie Chapman witnessed the Willie McGee electrocution almost 60 years ago...

When I was at the book signing I met an elderly White woman from Laurel,Ms, named Bettie Chapman. Now a Memphian, she stated that she was there when McGee was electrocuted at the Laurel Courthouse on May 8, 1951. She also said that she believed that Willie McGee was not only innocent of the crime, but that he and Willette had a consensual love affair that was well known by many in both the Black and White communities in Laurel…Needless to say many of us including the author was amazed to hear her perspective…She went on to say that she thought Willie McGee was very handsome and wouldn’t have had any problems with the ladies…We all laughed, albeit uneasily, at her comment…She also stated that Willette’s husband, Troy used to work at the town’s post office…She further stated that she was glad to have left Laurel and that the she lived long enough to see significant changes in our society in terms of race relations although we still have a ways to go…

And I think that her summary is the best way to sum up the Willie McGee saga: Everything isn’t always Black and White and nothing is ever what it appears to be…

The Eyes of Willie McGee is highly recommended reading for those interested in not only learning more about American history but also about current race relations as it relates to the justice system and everyday living in the U.S.…

Ronald Herd II aka R2C2H2 Tha Artivist is the founder of The W.E. A.L.L. B.E. Group Inc. (http://www.weallbe.blogspot.com/) & author of the award winning James Reese Europe: Jazz Lieutenant (http://www.jazzlieutenant.blogspot.com/). He can be reached at r2c2h2@gmail.com.

Want Your Book Reviewed By W.E. A.L.L. B.E. ?
Send Us A Copy To The Following Address:
The W.E. A.L.L. B.E. Group Inc.
P.O. Box 752062
Memphis,TN 38175

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Also check out on W.E. A.L.L. B.E. Radio...

Still Strange Fruit: 'The Eyes Of Willie McGee' Author Alex Heard
Show:
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/weallbe/2010/08/19/tha-artivist-presentswe-all-be-radio

&

***W.E. A.L.L. B.E. Radio***
'My Grandfather's Execution: The Story Of Willie McGee' & 'Thawing Out Civil Rights Cold Cases For Good
Show:
at

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