Sad 50th Anniversary for a Fallen Heroine: Viola Liuzzo (died March 25, 1965)

Folks and comrades:

Today marks the 50th anniversary of the death of a civil rights heroine: Viola Liuzzo. She was shot to death by a group of Alabama Klansmen this day in 1965, while driving back from the airport in Montgomery, AL. She had traveled from Detroit to Selma in response to the inspiration of Martin Luther King, Jr. and the events of Bloody Sunday on the Edmund Pettus Bridge.

The KKK assassins were initially acquitted by an all-white jury in the state trial but eventually convicted in federal court on civil rights charges.

Liuzzo's story is fascinating and so sad. The Wiki article gives a good introduction to Liuzzo's life and heroism and briefly discusses the FBI's less-than-stellar response. (One of the four KKK members on the hit squad was a long-standing FBI informant.)

The world is a better place because of Liuzzo's sacrifice.

RIP

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viola_Liuzzo