The Hero of the Ghost of Mississippi

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Based on a true story, Ghosts of Mississippi recounts the 1963 murder of Medgar Evers, a civil rights activist of the time. Scripted by Lewis Colick and directed by Rob Reiner, the film is about the cold-blooded murder of Evers and the decades-long struggle to bring his killer to books. The tale screams outrage over racism that is still rampant in the new integrated South of America. The hero in his film is Robert ” Bobby” Delaughter. Alec Baldwin played the role. This essay discusses Bobby Delaughter as the main hero of the film Ghosts of Mississippi.

In June 1963, Medgar Evers was shot dead outside his driveway. Evers was the leader of the NAACP in Mississippi. Byron De La Beckwith was charged with Evers’ murder, but he was later set free after two juries comprising of white people overturned the decision. Although it is evident that Beckwith was the killer, it was impossible to get a conviction, noting the apparent parallel case of OJ. The Mississippi courtroom atmosphere was so poisoned that the-then governor, Ross Barnett walked and shook hands with the accused. Bobby Delaughter re-opened the case in 1989, and eventually he won against De la Beckwith. Worth noting, De LaBeckwith had spent the years openly boasting about the murder and how nobody could do anything about it. Justice was eventually served because of DeLaughter’s persistence and his need thirst to see justice served.

Twenty-five years after the death of his civil rights activist and lawyer husband, Myrlie decided that it was time to pursue justice for his death. She reopened the case against the suspected murder De La Beckwith with the help of his lawyer Bobby Delaughter. At the time, DeLaughter was a mere assistant attorney who had a lot to lose but despite this, he decided to help her. DeLaughter is a hero because the case could kill his political aspirations, but this did not stop him from pursuing justice for Evers (Rucker, Baden, Llewellyn, & Pappas, 2021). Delaughter is a hero because he single-handedly managed to bring Evers’s killers to justice with the help of his wife. DeLaughter worked on the case for a couple of years. People who supported De La Beckwith and did not want to see him behind bars targeted and threatened his family. This coupled with his commitment to bring De La Beckwith to books made his marriage to Dixie collapse. His marriage was already strained at the time. But soon enough, DeLaughter met and fell in love with Peggy Lloyd, a nurse he had met when taking one of his children to the local emergency room for an emergency. Pursuing this case cost DeLaughter his first marriage.

With the evidence from past trials saved by Myrlie, De laughter took the case to trial and laid it out before the grand jury. He told the jury that it was never too late to rectify and injustice and that no statute of limitations existed on the crime of murder. After both the prosecution and the defense rested, the trial was now in the hands of the jury. Delaughter admitted to Mrs. Evers that this was the hardest part of the trial; waiting to see the verdict that the jury would arrive at. Upon extended deliberations, the jury resided back to the courtroom where they found De La Beckwith guilty of Medgar Evers murder.

In closing, the Ghost of Mississippi is about the quest for justice by Evers widow whose husband was murdered in the driveway outside their home in 1963. After twenty-five years, Mrs. Evers reopens the case with the help of DeLaughter, an assistant attorney at the time. Despite having so much to lose, Delaughter decided to help her pursue justice. Delaughter is a true hero because in pursuing justice for Medgar Evers, he lost his first marriage, his life was threatened, and he jeopardized his political aspirations.

References

Rucker, A. J., Baden, M. M., Llewellyn, M., & Pappas, T. N. (2021). The Assassination of Medgar Evers. The Annals of thoracic surgery.