[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 83 (Friday, May 28, 2010)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E985]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




    COMMEMORATING THE 40TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE JACKSON STATE COLLEGE 
 SHOOTING THAT CLAIMED THE LIVES OF PHILLIP LAFAYETTE GIBBS AND JAMES 
                               EARL GREEN

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. BENNIE G. THOMPSON

                             of mississippi

                    in the house of representatives

                         Thursday, May 27, 2010

  Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi. Madam Speaker, I would like to 
commemorate the 40th anniversary of the Jackson State College shooting 
that claimed the lives of Phillip Lafayette Gibbs and James Earl Green.
  Gibbs was a college student exercising his first amendment right to 
freedom of speech. Green was a prospective college student looking 
forward to the opportunity to make his mark during the Civil Rights 
Movement and define his place in society. Both young men lived in a 
time and place plagued by racial prejudice and discrimination
  Four decades ago, four students were killed at Kent State University 
(Ohio) when National Guardsmen opened fire on hundreds of unarmed 
students during an on campus antiwar rally. The killings received 
national media and public attention and have annually been remembered 
in the 40 years that followed.
  Just 10 days after the Kent State fatal shooting, on May 14, 1970, 
around 9:30 p.m., rumors began to circulate that Fayette, Mississippi's 
Mayor Charles Evers (brother of slain civil rights activist Medgar 
Evers) and his wife had been shot and killed. Protesters, both students 
and non-students who were still tense from demonstrations held the day 
before, gathered throughout the campus grounds of Jackson State 
College, in Jackson, Mississippi to protest. Some protestors damaged 
property and set a construction truck on fire. About 75 law enforcement 
officers from both the Jackson Police Department and the Mississippi 
Highway Patrol arrived on the scene armed with carbines, rifles, 
submachine guns, shot guns, service revolvers and other undocumented, 
non-service weapons and began to open fire on the student protesters.
  It was not until after nearly 30 seconds of continuous, relentless 
shooting that officers yelled commands to cease fire. An investigation 
filed later by the Federal Bureau of Investigations reported that 
Alexander Hall dormitory had been struck over 450 times by bullets or 
bullet fragments. In that same report the FBI said no evidence was 
found to support that any officers had come under fire before the 
shooting started or that anyone in the immediate crowd of protesters 
had displayed a weapon. Miraculously, many lives were spared during the 
ordeal, but sadly two were not.
  Phillip Lafayette Gibbs, a 21-year-old junior pre-law student, was 
shot three times in the head and once under his left armpit. Gibbs, who 
was married and the father of an 18-month old son was pronounced dead 
at the scene. James Earl Green, a 17-year-old Jim Hill High School 
student and track standout, was shot once in the side of the chest. 
Green, just weeks away from graduation, planned to attend the 
University of California, Los Angeles, collapsed and died just blocks 
away from his home. In the early morning hours of May 14, 1970, this 
country lost two potentially prominent and profound components of the 
legal and sports world.
  Unfortunately, this tragic incident, similar to the Kent State 
shooting, received no national media coverage.
  The FBI investigated the incident as well as President Nixon's 
Commission on Campus Unrest. Both bodies agreed that the shooting was 
an, ``. . . unreasonable, unjustified overreaction . . .'', and that a 
law enforcement response of this nature is, ``. . . never warranted.'' 
However, no charges or arrest were ever made in the killing of these 
two young men and justice never prevailed.
  In the spirit of remembrance and appreciation I stand before you to 
bring attention to the loss of two precious lives which sparked the 
ignition for change for a campus, a community, a state and a nation.
  Please join me today in honoring the lives of Phillip Lafayette Gibbs 
and James Earl Green.

                          ____________________