Author, investigative reporter Jerry Mitchell speaks at FGCU about busting KKK members

Jerry Mitchell always knew the power of the pen but never expected his to rewrite history.

Mitchell, a former investigative reporter at the Clarion-Ledger, is responsible for getting officials to reopen long-closed cases of injustices against Black people. He now works for the Mississippi Center for Investigative Reporting in addition to being a book author.

Mitchell helped get convictions for KKK members responsible for the murder of Civil Rights Leader Medgar Evers and the 1963 Birmingham Church bombing among others.

Mitchell spoke to FGCU students about his journalistic journey to justice on Wednesday.

While working at Jackson, Mississippi’s Clarion-Ledger in 1989, Mitchell watched a movie about the 1964 Mississippi burning where KKK members killed three civil rights workers but were never prosecuted.

“I had no idea when I started this journey that this case would get reopened much less than other cases would be reopened. It seemed like the odds were more than 1,000,000 to one,” Mitchell said.

Mitchell said he didn’t understand how this could happen.

“It just made me angry and I think that is what injustice should do to us,” Mitchell said.

Mitchell started digging into Mississippi government and court documents that had been sealed for decades and found a document that showed a branch of the state worked to get the man accused of killing Evers acquitted.

Mitchell wrote a story on it and it became the catalyst for the state to prosecute the case and get a conviction.

“As a person of faith, I just feel very blessed that I was able to play a small role in this and very fortunate and the real true reward in this to me is obviously in one and it is seeing justice done finally but then to see it done for these families,” Mitchell said.

Throughout his reporting, Mitchell faces opposition and threats to his own life.

His work also led to a conviction in the murder of Civil Rights Leader Vernon Dahmer.

Students who saw Mitchell speak were inspired by his presentation.

“It is so inspirational to see how powerful journalism is and where us, as students, could be one day,” said Demi Concepcion, a junior at FGCU.

“Just the fact that he kept going despite the risks, despite the circumstances, he helped justice to prevail and I think that’s really cool and something that I am going to take away to wherever I end up after this,” said Katie Fogarty, a junior at FGCU.

Mitchell said he interviewed many of the suspected killers before they were convicted. He writes about those interviews and more in his book “Rage Against Time.”