Samuel Bowers

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Samuel Holloway Bowers
Born August 25, 1924(1924-08-25)
New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S.
Died November 5, 2006 (aged 82)
Hattiesburg, Mississippi, U.S.

Samuel Holloway Bowers (photo [1]) (August 25, 1924, New Orleans – November 5, 2006, Hattiesburg, Mississippi) was a leader of the White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, a militant Mississippi offshoot of the Ku Klux Klan.

The former Imperial Wizard, who was serving a life sentence for the 1966 bombing death of civil rights leader Vernon Dahmer, died in a state penitentiary of cardiac arrest on Sunday, November 5, 2006, aged 82.

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[edit] Early life

Bowers was born on August 6, 1924, in New Orleans, Louisiana, to his salesman father, Sam Bowers Sr., and his mother Evangeline Peyton, daughter of a well-to-do planter. He attended Fortier High School and was regarded as an above-average student.

After the attack on Pearl Harbor, Bowers joined the Navy and was honorably discharged four years later.

[edit] White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan

The Mississippi of his time was a hotbed of activism. Bowers, along with many other southern whites, was highly disturbed by and deeply feared the new changes that were sweeping the nation. He perceived the new civil rights legislation and forced integration as a direct threat to the "Southern way of life."

Bowers perceived the original Ku Klux Klan as being too passive. On February 15, 1964, at a meeting in Brookhaven, Mississippi, he convinced about 200 members of the original Knights to defect and join a highly secret Klan, to be called the White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, that would not hesitate to use violence to achieve its goals.

Bowers adopted a strict code of secrecy with the purpose of preserving White supremacy in the South.

[edit] Philosophy of the White Knights

His Klan, as Bowers wrote in one of his internal memoranda, was "a nocturnal organization that works best at night. We must remember that the Communists who are directing the agitators want us to engage in pitched battles in the streets so they can declare martial law."[citation needed]

In an Imperial Executive Order issued at a Klan meeting June 7, 1964, and recorded by the FBI, Bowers wrote:

"This summer, within a very few days, the enemy will launch his final push for victory here in Mississippi. This offensive will consist of two basic salients[...]
One. Massive street demonstrations by blacks[...]designed to provoke white militants into counterdemonstrations and open, pitched street battles[...]to provide an excuse for:
Two. A decree from communist authorities in charge of the national government[...]declaring martial law[...]
When the first waves of blacks hit our streets this summer, we must avoid open daylight conflict with them[...]we must counterattack the individual leaders at night."[1]

Weaving religion into the mix, he further declared "As Christians we are disposed to kindness, generosity, affection, and humility in our dealings with others. As militants we are disposed to use physical force against our enemies. How can we reconcile these two apparently contradictory philosophies? The answer of course, is to purge malice, bitterness, and vengeance from our hearts." (Charles Marsh, God's Long Summer, p. 61) (See also: Christian Identity)

[edit] Violent campaign

In 1964, Civil rights workers, primarily from Northern states, launched Freedom Summer. Later that year, four of these activists: Charles Eddie Moore, James Chaney, Henry Hezekiah Dee, Michael Schwerner and Andrew Goodman were murdered by Klansmen.

In 1966 the White Knights firebombed the house of Vernon Dahmer. Dahmer was a Black activist who was working successfully to register Blacks to vote. Dahmer died of injuries sustained in the firebombing.

According to later testimony by ex-White Knights member T. Webber Rogers, Bowers gave the direct order to have Dahmer killed "in any way possible." After four previous trials ended in deadlock (a 1968 jury split 11 to 1 in favor of guilty, and in 1969 a jury split 10-2 in favor of conviction[2]), Bowers was convicted for the murder in August 1998 and sentenced to life in prison.

In 1967, the White Knights began a campaign against Jewish targets in Mississippi. Synagogues in Jackson and Meridian were bombed. Also, the home of Rabbi Perry Nussbaum was attacked. The actual perpetrators of these crimes were Thomas Tarrants III and Kathy Ainsworth. The pair conducted their terror campaign in complete secrecy.

The bombings were a direct embarrassment to the Jackson and Meridian police departments. The FBI became involved in the case and, working with local law enforcement, began to track down the bombers.

The break in the case came when two Klan brothers, Alton Wayne Roberts and Raymond Roberts, met with the FBI and police in exchange for reward money and immunity. Alton Wayne Roberts previously had been sentenced to 10 years for violating the civil rights of Chaney, Schwerner and Goodman. He agreed to cooperate in order to receive a reduced sentence.

A joint FBI and local police operation ambushed Tarrants and Ainsworth. Ainsworth was killed in the gun battle and Tarrants was severely wounded.

Sam Bowers was convicted in the Chaney-Schwerner-Goodman killings and served more than six years at McNeil Island Federal Prison in Washington. He was released in 1976. At the time of his death, the former Imperial Wizard was serving a 1998 sentence of life in a Mississippi prison for the 1966 bombing.

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Whitehead, Don (1970). Attack on Terror. New York: Funk and Wagnall's. 

[edit] References