A "Recurring American Affliction"
Joel Connelly
The young civil rights lawyer from Seattle who ventured to Mississippi some 60 years ago is now 90 years of age. But Henry Aronson carries vivid memories that are salient as the Trump administration seeks to rebuild components of Jim Crow in the Deep South.
“There was no trust whatsoever,” recalls Aronson. “Not even the rudiments of common courtesy. No limits were put on conduct.” The sheriff of Dallas County, one Jim Clarke, greeted Aronson’s presence with these words: “You tell that son of a bitch if he comes into the county alive he won’t be leaving.”
Aronson drove carefully to Jackson, but still was pulled over, in a remote part of the Delta. Elsewhere in the Mississippi, three young civil rights workers were slain, the bodies not recovered for a half century and only then because of a deal with their killer.
A University of Mississippi historian, James Silver, wrote it all down in his book, Mission: The Closed Society, only to be driven out of the state. He ended up teaching at Notre Dame, bringing with him fascinating reminiscences carried forward to my years at that college.
https://www.postalley.org/2026/04/12/a-recurring-american-affliction/
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