Written Sarah Kyle
For those who knew this year’s Distinguished Alumnus during his years at Harding, it may seem odd that the man who traveled miles to see Elton John and wrote humor columns for the Bison has spent his adult years ensuring the convictions of four murderers and criminals.1982 Harding graduate Jerry “Boo” Mitchell was working as a court reporter for the Clarion-Ledger in Jackson, Miss. in 1989 when he covered the premiere of “Mississippi Burning,” a movie detailing the murderers of three civil rights workers killed in 1964.Mitchell said it was his interaction with some FBI agents and the original journalist who covered the victims’ cases that drove him to the investigative work that would make his career, even inspiring a movie based on his work: “Ghosts of Mississippi.””I remember how horrified I was that all these guys involved in these killings never got prosecuted for murder,” Mitchell said. “That stunned me.”It began with one story, Mitchell said, and evolved into his lifetime mission. With source after source, Mitchell said he was able to uncover key parts to civil rights murder cases.”If you’re like me, if somebody tells me I can’t have something, I want it a million times worse,” Mitchell said. “All of those records were sealed. I wanted them, so I began to develop sources who had access to those files and began to get those files leaked to me.”Mitchell discovered that a Mississippi segregationist spy agency called the Mississippi Sovereignty Commission worked to get Byron De La Beckwith, a Ku Klux Klan member suspected in the murder of Medgar Evers, acquitted for any crimes.When Evers’ wife, Myrlie, requested the case be reopened, Mitchell said that step by step, the way to Beckwith’s conviction was paved.”The way I tell this story is that at the time I wrote that story, the odds were a million to one against the case being reopened,” Mitchell said. “Myrlie Evers believed, and she prayed, and some amazing things happened. … It’s like all these things that had to happen did happen. It’s a matter of faith with me: I believe God’s hand is involved in these cases.”Now, Mitchell has helped convict four people for hate crimes and murders since Beckwith’s conviction in 1994 and said he continues to work toward justice for the victims of such crimes.”I want to work on these cases until they’re done,” Mitchell said.Mitchell’s wife, Karen, is also being recognized as a Distinguished Alumnus, a tradition Director of Alumni and Parent Relations Liz Howell said is representative of the trying role she has had in Mitchell’s work.”We … believe that a marriage is a team, and the success is the result of both parties,” Howell said. “Karen has carried a huge load with the publicity surrounding the cases that resulted in death threats to her family.”Karen said that while the road has never been easy, she has found purpose in Mitchell’s mission that makes the dangers just another part of life.”I was scared in the early years. After each case I would beg him to work on something that didn’t involve murders. The death threats and the negative letters to the editor, etc., really impacted me,” Karen said. “Once I met the victim’s families, I think I finally understood how he felt. His fight for justice is bigger and more important than me worrying if someone was going to come and blow up our car or house.”I knew that in order for our marriage to work, I had to support him and be okay with whatever he investigated.”Longtime friend Michael Roden said it is Mitchell’s tenacity and desire for justice that makes him a true hero.”He is doing the work of the angels,” Roden said. “When people had just about given up hope of any justice in this life, he came to Mississippi and began his investigative work. He is this generation’s Simon Weisenthal, racing against time to bring these killers to justice in this life.”Mitchell said he is just doing what he believes a journalist should: Using his talents to change the world.”In a lot of ways, journalism is a service. At least I think of it in that way,” Mitchell said. “It’s something bigger than us. We have the ability to change the world, and I think it’s kind of a neat thing to be able to do. We can change it for the better.”
