Writer needs help
I’m a writer conducting research on the 1951 execution of Willie McGee in Laurel, Mississippi. I’m eager to hear from anyone who was involved in the case, has memories of it, or knows of anyone who was affected by it. I also seek surviving relatives of the principal persons in the case, all deceased: Willie and Rosalee McGee, and Troy and Willette Hawkins, all of Laurel.
Willie McGee was a Black Mississippian who was convicted in 1945 on a charge of raping Willette Hawkins, a white woman. He was defended, in part, by the Civil Rights Congress.
After three trials and numerous appeals that made the case internationally famous — among those who played a role in it or commented on it were Bella Abzug, Emmanuel Bloch, Jessica Mitford, Norman Mailer, Rep. Vito Marcantonio, Josephine Baker, William Patterson, Paul Robeson, and Howard Fast — McGee was executed by the state on May 8, 1951.
Anyone who has leads can contact me at alexheard@yahoo.com, or by phone at (505) 989-7100.
Alex HeardSanta Fe NM
Aliant strike is over
I just wanted to let you know that the strike at Aliant in the Atlantic Provinces is now over. (“Canada phone strike solid after 4 months” by Tim Wheeler, PWW 8/21-27). The tentative agreement was voted in by 76 percent of the membership and we returned to work on Sept. 20. Many thanks for your interest and support.
Penny FawcettNova Scotia, Canada
Fawcett is a member of the Atlantic Communications and Technical Workers Union.
Bush must go
I am enclosing a $40 donation to help keep presses rolling. The main reason for this is to get evil President Bush out of office on Nov. 2. We cannot let Bush have another term. On a scale of 1 to 10, I rate Bush and Cheney minus-100. They are both rotten to the core. Bush and Cheney should be impeached and removed from office. The People’s Weekly World should print stories that Bush and Cheney are “war criminals” who should be put in jail for life.
Edward BroderichWest Haven CT
Republican for Kerry
I’m a Republican and have been since I first registered to vote in 1955. I changed parties after my son-in-law was killed on 9/11 and George Bush decided to invade Iraq.
When I joined the Republican Party, it was the party of fiscal responsibility, a party that believed in the free enterprise system, the separation of church and state, conserving resources and fighting wars only as a last resort. Today the Republican Party seems to believe in reckless spending, raping the environment, supporting the wealthy, prayer in the schools, and invasion of privacy.
I believe that our country was duped into going to war against Iraq by an ignorant president who now insists that any deviation from his ill-considered action is a mark of disloyalty.
Disloyalty to whom, I might ask? Disloyalty to a president who lied to us, who caused the deaths of over a thousand American soldiers and over ten thousand Iraqis? Disloyalty to an administration that rewards its supporters with lucrative no-bid contracts to rebuild what it has destroyed?
I’m going to vote for Kerry, and I urge all other freedom-loving Republicans to do the same.
Wright SalisburyLexington MA
The author is an architect and the former chairman of the Republican Committee of Irvington, N.Y. His son-in-law, Ted Hennessy Jr. of Belmont, Mass., was killed on 9/11.
Bushie threatens Irish America
I read that the former U.S. ambassador to Ireland and one of President Bush’s top fund-raisers — Richard Egan — threatened the publisher of Irish America magazine that she had “better think twice before trying to influence American politics” as “the Irish are not the only ones with long memories.” This Bush group is nothing but an organized crime syndicate. They bully, bribe, threaten and kill to be the kingpins of imperialism. (Going to war is killing, right?)
I’m so glad Patricia Harty, the publisher, stood up to the menacing tactics. She told Egan Irish America was an American publication and she was an American citizen. “I’m sure I need not remind you of the First Amendment, which, in my opinion, is one of the greatest freedoms ever given to any country,” she said.
So many other Americans who are standing up, across the country, and fighting to “take our country back” from the organized crime/corporate syndicate in the White House and Congress also hearten me. Together we can do it.
Mary LyonsMilwaukee WI
Liberty demands participation
I am an American and I would be proud to serve or die for it. To many Americans this holds true. Since birth we are told of the greatness of America. We pledge allegiance to the flag. The United States is a country reputed for its stances on liberty, justice, and the democracy that we live by everyday. However, is that true?
Until I visited another country, did I understand that with us there are barriers that we never talk about. We are losing our liberty without noticing, and our democracy is more imagination than truth. I do not blame, for I have been blind too. Now is the time to awaken, since in November there will be an election that will be decisive in American history.
Why are we still in Iraq with thousands of men and women dying, for what? For businesses to grow their infrastructure in Iraq while so many Americans are unemployed or looking for jobs? Did those people on September 11th die for our soldiers to help build the infrastructure of Iraq or find the man who caused those innocents to die?
This election will be decisive and we all must take a part.
Jodie Quince Bronx NY
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