'Sins of our past': Leaders apologize for 1970 Jackson State shootings

[Judi Lynn]

The gunfire by city and state police officers killed two people and injured 12 others on the campus of the historically Black college.

May 15, 2021, 6:25 PM CDT / Source: Associated Press
By The Associated Press

JACKSON, Miss. — The mayor of Mississippi's capital city and a state senator both apologized Saturday for shootings 51 years ago by city and state police officers that killed two people and injured 12 others on the campus of a historically Black college.

Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba and state Sen. Hillman Frazier of Jackson spoke during a graduation ceremony for the Class of 1970 of what was then Jackson State College, now Jackson State University.

Lumumba apologized on behalf of the city to the families of the two men whose lives were cut short by the violent police response to the protest against racial injustice. Killed were 21-year-old Jackson State student Phillip Lafayette Gibbs and 17-year-old James Earl Green, a high school student who was on campus while walking home from work.

Jackson State’s 1970 commencement was canceled because of the bloodshed, and graduates that year received their diplomas in the mail, if at all. On Saturday, 74 of the 400-plus 1970 grads donned caps and gowns and stood in the sunshine to receive the recognition denied to them a lifetime ago.

More:
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/sins-our-past-leaders-apologize-1970-jackson-state-shootings-n1267511

[mahatmakanejeeves]

1. Adding a link:

Jackson State killings

Coordinates: 32°17′51″N 90°12′27″W

Date: May 15, 1970; 12:05 a.m. (Central: UTC−6)
Deaths: 2
Injured: 12

The Jackson State killings occurred on Friday, May 15, 1970, at Jackson State College (now Jackson State University) in Jackson, Mississippi. On May 14, 1970, city and state police confronted a group of students. Shortly after midnight, the police opened fire, killing two students and injuring twelve. The event happened only 11 days after the Kent State shootings, in which National Guardsmen killed four students at Kent State University in Ohio, which had first captured national attention.

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