The three names I never forget

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As a child growing up in New York, I knew very little about Mississippi. Other than trips to see my grandparents in Florida and a visit to Arlington National Cemetery, I had never been to the South.

Most of what I knew about Mississippi came from learning about the civil rights era. Even then, to a young boy who had barely traveled outside his own neighborhood, it was mostly a blur of places I had little context to understand.

There was, however, one place and three names I knew well.

Philadelphia, Mississippi, is where three civil rights workers, James Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner, were abducted and murdered in 1964 by members of the Ku Klux Klan, aided by local law enforcement.

Like me, Goodman and Schwerner were white, Jewish New Yorkers. Chaney was a 21-year-old Black Mississippian from Meridian who had grown up under the very system the three were working to dismantle.

The three men were part of Freedom Summer, the 1964 effort to register Black voters across Mississippi. Growing up, they were held up as examples of the importance of standing up for others’ rights, even at great risk and sacrifice.

They also sparked my interest in voting rights and shaped my view of politics.

In 1980, when I was 11, Ronald Reagan campaigned at the Neshoba County Fair, just a few miles from where the three men were killed. Without any mention of them, he told the crowd, “I believe in states’ rights.” Weeks later, he stood in New Jersey and promised to “make America great again.”

Eight years later, when I was in college, the movie “Mississippi Burning” was released. It was loosely based on the events surrounding the murders of Chaney, Goodman and Schwerner.

As I built my legal career, these three men and the cause they championed were never far from my mind. Ahead of the 2020 election, I had the opportunity to work with the Andrew Goodman Foundation on critical litigation to protect young voters.

I will admit that until this year, I did not expect to see a Democrat elected to the U.S. Senate from the state where Chaney, Goodman and Schwerner were murdered. Mississippi has not sent a Democrat to the Senate since 1982, and it has not had a Black senator since Reconstruction.

But then again, I had never seen a candidate like Scott Colom.

Colom is an extraordinary public figure: a prosecutor with compassion and an activist who knows how to achieve real change. He is truly a man for this moment.

Last week, when Colom and his campaign needed a law firm to protect his lead, I jumped at the chance, not only because of Mississippi’s past but because of what Colom’s victory would mean for its future.

In the days since, his lead has grown and so has my respect for him.

I am 57 years old now. The stories of the civil rights struggle of the 1960s still linger in my mind. But in addition to being a lawyer, I am now the founder of Democracy Docket, an independent pro-democracy media outlet.

So when the vote counting began in Mississippi, it was clear that Democracy Docket needed to be there to report on and document history in the making.

For the first time, Democracy Docket sent journalists to cover the hour-by-hour, day-by-day developments in a close election. I have also done near-daily livestreams explaining what is happening and why.

While the legacy media has treated this as a horse-race story between a Democrat and a Republican, Democracy Docket has covered it as what it fundamentally is: a story about democracy and free and fair elections.

In the days ahead, I expect Scott Colom to be declared the winner and his election certified. When he takes office in January, I have every reason to believe he will become a critical voice in the fight for voting rights for all.

Donald Trump and his cronies will continue to attack free and fair elections. I will return to the courtroom to stop voter suppression and election subversion.

As I do, I will keep in mind the legacy of James Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner and what they fought and died for.

That is the spirit I have tried to instill in Democracy Docket. I hope it shows every day.

If you appreciate this work and share Democracy Docket’s commitment to telling the stories that matter most to voters and democracy, please join now. A premium membership gives you access to all of Democracy Docket’s exclusive content. More importantly, it makes possible the kind of coverage this moment demands.

I have come a long way from the young boy growing up in New York learning about Philadelphia, Mississippi, and so has our country. I am proud to be in this fight for Scott Colom and Mississippi voters.