A Ghost of Christmas Past

Christmas Day in Mims, 1951
(Florida State Photographic Archive)

The Christmas season always brings a flood of spirits. Some sing joyous carols as others mournfully hum dirges. Its the later that the conquistador is considering at this hour.

Attorney General Charlie Crist's decision to reopen the investigation of the assassination of civil rights leader Harry T. Moore reminds us of that tragic Christmas Eve in 1951 when a bomb snuffed out one of Florida's most visionary - and, yes, radical- citizens. Everyone who was frightened by this racial terrorism hangs this dirty ornament upon their internal tree every December. But some of its branches are left untouched, even in this winter of their lives, and General Crist might have some tinsel to add.

The facts of the case are sorrowfully familiar: Man bravely advocates for civil rights; man is killed in a gruesome fashion; no charges are filed; the assassins are never identified; folks move on with their lives; people forget.

It's sad, but that's how things worked in the dark days of the 1950s. The simple act of urging blacks to register to vote was a death-defying feat. In our modern world, the decade has taken a kitschy go-go feel. But it saw some serious unrest in Florida: race riots, legal challenges, KKK rallies, a bus boycott. Nowhere was the unrest more explosive than Mims, where a 1950s-era IED was placed under Moore's bed, ripping apart his house and fraying the gentle fabric of Florida race relations.

It's possible that Crist has some new evidence; it's even possible that the ghosts of Brevard County might yield some of their secrets. If the AG is able to name names- even dead names- it could have a profound effect upon the folks in Mims who feel that nobody cares who perpetrated this heinous crime. Crist would do well to read Ben Green's wonderful book, Before His Time, which is full of old white guys unburdening their guilty souls about what happened in the 1950s. (By the way, the conquistador has heard that Green is working on a new book about the Harlem Globe Trotters.)

Whatever the reopened investigation unearths, justice delayed is better than no justice at all.