Clark Olsen still weeps over killing of fellow minister
by Jerry Mitchell, blogs.clarionledger.com
March 11th 2011
Clark Olsen can’t forget the brutal killing of his fellow Unitarian
Universalist minister James Reeb in Selma, Ala., 46 years ago — a case now
being pursued again by the FBI.
Olsen, Reeb and Orloff Miller were among the ministers who came in response to
Martin Luther King Jr.’s invitation to join the Selma to Montgomery March.
On the night of March 9, 1965, the three white men had just finished dinner in
downtown Selma at Walker’s Cafe, a historically African-American restaurant
that had also opened its doors to white patrons.
The three ministers were heading back to Brown Chapel A.M.E. Church, where
those involved with the march were meeting.
As they walked down the sidewalk, a gang of white men saw them and began
crossing the street. “Hey, you n—–s,” one man called out to the preachers.
The ministers picked up their pace, and Olsen said they whispered to each
other, “Just keep walking.”
The gang caught them from behind. Olsen saw one gang member smash a club over
Reeb’s head. The rest of the gang joined in, slugging and kicking the ministers.
When the attack ended, one gang member yelled, “Now you know what it is like to
be a real n—–.”
After the attack, Olsen made it back to Reeb, who was babbling. The ministers
helped him to a nearby business and called for an ambulance.
Olsen said he held Reeb’s hand, trying to comfort him. As the pain worsened,
Reeb’s grip tightened, but he soon let go, losing consciousness.
He was taken to a hospital, where the 38-year-old father of four died two days
later.
Three men — Elmer Cook, William Stanley Hoggle and Namon O’Neal Hoggle — were
tried for murder, but an all-white jury acquitted the trio, despite the
testimony of Olsen identifying the attackers.
A fourth man indicted, R.B. Kelley, was never prosecuted.
Kelley gave authorities the names of those he say attacked the ministers. He
denied playing a role himself, but police found a club in his car, according to
FBI records.
Days after Reeb’s death, President Lyndon Johnson introduced the Voting Rights
Act of 1965.
“At times, history and fate meet at a single time in a single place to shape a
turning point in man’s unending search for freedom,” Johnson told them. “So it
was at Lexington and Concord. So it was a century ago at Appomattox. So it was
last week in Selma, Alabama. There, long suffering men and women peacefully
protested the denial of their rights as Americans. Many of them were brutally
assaulted. One good man — a man of God — was killed.”
Today (March 11) Olsen will share his story with a group of high school
students.
And when he shares that story, tears will undoubtedly flow, both for the loss
of his friend and for the changes that resulted, he said. ”I took these
relatively innocuous steps, but I did something for the right. Turned out I
became a part of a turning point of world history.”
Original Page:
http://blogs.clarionledger.com/jmitchell/2011/03/11/clark-olsen-still-weeps-over-killing-of-fellow-minister/
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