[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 88 (Friday, May 23, 2025)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E476]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  REMEMBERING PHILLIP LAFAYETTE GIBBS AND JAMES EARL GREEN--55 YEARS 
                                 LATER

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. BENNIE G. THOMPSON

                             of mississippi

                    in the house of representatives

                          Friday, May 23, 2025

  Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the 
memory of two young Black men--Phillip Lafayette Gibbs and James Earl 
Green--whose lives were violently taken 55 years ago on May 15, 1970, 
on the campus of Jackson State College in Jackson, Mississippi.
  Phillip Gibbs was a 21-year-old junior at Jackson State College. He 
was majoring in political science and planned to attend law school. He 
was a husband and a father to a young son, Phillip Jr. At the time of 
his death, his wife Dale was home with their child and pregnant with 
their second son, Demetrius who would never get the chance to meet his 
father.
  In the late-night hours, nearly 500 rounds of ammunition were fired 
at students gathered near Alexander Hall. Phillip Gibbs was killed 
outside the dormitory, while James Green was struck and killed across 
the street near B.F. Roberts Hall. Twelve others were wounded. The 
walls and windows of Alexander Hall still bear the scars of that night.
  Despite multiple investigations, no one was ever held accountable for 
the shootings. Local and federal probes concluded that the use of force 
was excessive and unjustified. Yet, legal doctrines shielded those 
responsible, and justice we never served.
  To this day, the names Gibbs and Green are spoken with reverence in 
Jackson and beyond. Their memory lives on in the Gibbs-Green Plaza, 
which stands where blood was once spilled--now transformed into a space 
of reflection, remembrance, and resolve. In 2021, Jackson State 
University conferred honorary degrees posthumously on both young men--
an acknowledgment of the futures they were denied.
  Mr. Speaker, on this 55th anniversary, we do more than remember--we 
reaffirm our responsibility to tell their story with truth and dignity. 
Phillip Lafayette Gibbs and James Earl Green were sons of Mississippi 
whose lives mattered. Their futures were stolen, but their memory fuels 
our pursuit of justice and accountability.
  Let us ensure that future generations know their names--not just as 
victims, but as young men who deserved to grow old, to dream fully, and 
to live freely.
  In honoring them today, we commit ourselves to building a nation 
where no young person's life is met with such disregard--and where 
history is neither buried nor forgotten.
  May we speak their names, tell their story, and carry their legacy 
forward.

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