Myrlie Evers On The Assassination of Medgar Evers

In an emotional interview which originally aired in 2013 during the 50th year commemoration of Medgar Evers martyrdom, NAACP Chairman Emeritus Myrlie Evers recounted the climate in Jackson, Mississippi in 1963, her husband's relationship with Dr. King, the details of her husband's assassination and, announced for the first time publicly, the NAACP's apology for denying her husband protection.

"This is something that I have just revealed publicly in this 50th Anniversary, where representatives from the NAACP national office were visiting {Jackson, MS], and some of the leaders asked for support, financial support to help hire someone or ones to be with Medgar to better secure his safety. And I know the quote from memory from that time, and it was, 'We have better things to do with our money than to pay someone to be with him.' That I will never forget. That I have not revealed until this time and this moment. And I'm glad that I have the strength to say it, because it speaks to the difficulty that we as people had during that particular time and how everybody did not think the same way. I know Medgar, in his fatigue, came home that night after that discussion, and sat down and cried. He was very hurt by it, but he had made his decision. And the message was that the national NAACP did not care about him. They just wanted more memberships and what not. Being his wife and the mother of his children, I asked God to help me relieve that from my heart. But up until this point I have never been able to let go of that," she says.

She described an NAACP Board luncheon in Jackson. "At that luncheon that was held with the Board members, [NAACP President Ben Jealous] put his speech aside, and he stood there and he said, 'I have an apology to make.' And he apologized to me and my daughter and other family members for what the Association leadership, top leadership said to Medgar and the way they treated him. And how very shortly after that, just a few days, he was taken from us. I don't think there was a dry eye in the place at that time. Because people didn't know. It's something only a few of us knew. I never wanted to hurt the organization in any way."

Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy