By Rene Childress

The Ben Chester White story starts with some members of the Ku Klux Klan hatching a hair brained scheme to murder the Late Martin Luther King Jr. It is June 1966. The United States Congress in 1965 had passed the Voting Rights Act making it a federal crime to deny United States citizens the right to vote because of race. 

The ballot box was still  being denied to African-american  by extra-judicial means mainly through intimidation, terror and murder. The country is in turmoil. All over the South,African-americans are trying to register to vote. 

They are being frightened off by their fellow white citizens. There are fire bombings. There are kidnappings. There are beatings. There is a carnival-like atmosphere in most Southern towns where law enforcement has turned a blind eye to the enforcement of the 1965 Voting Rights Bill. 

A movement begins to rise among those disenfranchised by the lack of access to the ballot box. This movement had many leaders and adherents. One was a former U.S Air Force veteran named James Meredith. 

He decided to make a personal commitment to this struggle by establishing his “March Against Fear”. He started his  solitary march from Memphis Tennessee to Jackson on June 6,1966. A day after he started his trek he was shot by a sniper. This so shocked the Civil Rights community that it motivated thousands including Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to finish the march for him. 

The “March”s continuing gave rise to the idea that if our Natchez  Klan conspirators could somehow duplicate the killing of another black person it would draw the movement to Natchez bringing Dr.King with it. 

As the march winded its way from Memphis to Jackson the trio of Claude Fuller, James Jones and Ernest Avant put their scheme into effect.  They found an easy mark in Ben Chester White a 66 year old unassuming black farm caretaker. He worked  on this farm his whole life, a farm where his grandparents worked as slaves. 

He was known to his community as a decent religious Deacon who could recite complete bible verses. He was always helpful to everyone he came into contact with. This attribute would lead to his undoing. 

Our Klan trio approached Mr. White on June 10, 1966 early in the afternoon with a ridiculous story that they were looking for a lost dog and enlisted his help. They convinced him to get in a vehicle with them. They offered him two dollars and a cold soda to go along with them. 

They took him to Homochito National Forest. Ben Chester White’s body was found two days later in a creek riddled with bullets. His remains were so shot up that he was almost unrecognizable. 

Martin Luther King and the march did not come to Natchez as our  Klan trio would hope for. Avants and Jones were eventually tried for murder in the state court, A jury acquitted Avants while Jones’ case ended in a mistrial. Fuller was never charged. 

They all lived long lives unmolested for their roles in the killing of Mr. White. Fuller and Jones died without ever having to answer for this murder in this life. Avants would eventually be convicted in a Federal trial in 2003. He was sentenced to life in prison. He served only one year as he died in 2004. 

In 1966 the White family joined a long unending list of families that share the anguish of having a loved one ripped from their familial bosom simply because of the color of their skin. This story was brought to my attention by a friend at our local watering hole Dr Michael Jackson. He was from Natchez and knew Mr White as a good man that everyone in their community respected. Again another story we need to remember and bring forward so that we don’t forget.