A Jackson State member of the Class of 1970 laughs after being handed a diploma during an official graduation ceremony, as one of 74 graduates honored by the historically black university, Saturday, May 15, 2021, at the Jackson, Miss., historically black university. The graduates were bestowed diplomas, 51 years after the school canceled its 1970 graduation ceremony after white law enforcement officers marched onto campus near the end of the spring semester and violently suppressed protests against racism with gunfire, killing two and wounding 12, on May 15, 1970. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)
The Associated Press
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) - The mayor of Mississippi's capital city and a state senator both apologized Saturday for shootings 51 years ago by city and state police officers that killed two people and injured 12 others on the campus of a historically Black college.
Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba and state Sen. Hillman Frazier of Jackson spoke during a graduation ceremony for the Class of 1970 of what was then Jackson State College, now Jackson State University.
Lumumba apologized on behalf of the city to the families of the two men whose lives were cut short by the violent police response to the protest against racial injustice. Killed were 21-year-old Jackson State student Phillip Lafayette Gibbs and 17-year-old James Earl Green, a high school student who was on campus while walking home from work.
Jackson State's 1970 commencement was canceled because of the bloodshed, and graduates that year received their diplomas in the mail, if at all. On Saturday, 74 of the 400-plus 1970 grads donned caps and gowns and stood in the sunshine to receive the recognition denied to them a lifetime ago.
'œAs James Baldwin once wrote: '~When we cannot tell the truth about our past, we become trapped in it,''ť Lumumba said. 'œI believe, as a city, we must publicly atone for the sins of our past and proclaim a new identity of dignity, equity and justice.'ť
The May 15, 1970, shootings at Jackson State had largely been overshadowed by violence from days earlier, when Ohio National Guardsmen shot and killed four Kent State University students amid a Vietnam War protest.
Lumumba and Frazier are both Black, and both represent a city now more than 80% Black. Jackson was majority-white in 1970, and the Jackson Police Department and Mississippi Highway Patrol officers who went on campus were white.
Lumumba said the Jackson Police Department officers 'œunjustly gunned down two innocent young Black men, terrorized and traumatized a community of Black students and committed one of the gravest sins in our city's history.'ť
Frazier was a Jackson State student in 1970. He said he had gone to dinner that night and was delayed in returning to campus. But he believes he might have been standing near his friend Gibbs during the gunfire, if not for that delay.
'œThe state of Mississippi never apologized for the tragedy that occurred on this campus that night - never apologized,'ť Frazier said. 'œSo, since I'm here representing the state of Mississippi in my role as state senator, I'd like to issue an apology to the families, the Jackson State family, for the tragedy that occurred that night because they took very valuable lives.'ť
Officers marched onto Jackson State the night of May 14, 1970, to quell protests against racial injustice. According to a report by President Richard Nixon's Commission on Campus Unrest, Jackson State students had been throwing rocks at white motorists. James 'œLap'ť Baker, a member of the Class of 1970, told The Associated Press on Wednesday that students were fed up with white people driving through campus shouting racial slurs, throwing bottles and endangering Black pedestrians.
Students had gathered outside the Alexander Hall women's dormitory and B.F. Roberts dining hall across the street - some protesting, others simply enjoying each other's company as women returned to the dorm before curfew.
After midnight that May 15, a Highway Patrol officer used a bullhorn to address students, Baker said. Someone in the crowd threw a bottle, and officers started shooting indiscriminately, later falsely claiming they had seen a sniper in a dorm window.
A Jackson TV reporter recorded 28 seconds of gunfire. When it had ended, Gibbs and Green were dead and 12 other people were bleeding. Windows of Alexander Hall shattered and its walls were left with pockmarks still visible today.
John A. Peoples Jr., who was Jackson State president from 1967 to 1984, said during Saturday's ceremony that he remembers 'œthe sickening smell of blood'ť streaming down the stairway of Alexander Hall after the shootings.
'œWe sat on that lawn the rest of the night singing freedom songs,'ť Peoples said.
Baker crawled through grass after the shootings to return unharmed to his off-campus apartment after what he calls a planned 'œmassacre.'ť No officer ever faced criminal charges, and an all-white jury awarded no money to the Black victims' families in a civil lawsuit.
Jackson State on Saturday awarded posthumous honorary doctorate degrees to Gibbs and Green, and their sisters accepted those. The graduation took place on the site of the once-busy street that was closed years ago and turned into a pedestrian zone named the Gibbs-Green Memorial Plaza.
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Nerene Gibbs Wray, sister of Phillip Gibbs, a Jackson State student who was shot to death by white lawmen May 15, 1970 on the campus, holds a honorary doctorate of humane letters, awarded him Saturday, May 15, 2021 on the historically black campus in Jackson, Miss. A special ceremony was held 51 years after the school canceled its 1970 graduation ceremony after white law enforcement officers marched onto campus near the end of the spring semester and violently suppressed protests against racism with gunfire, killing Gibbs and James Earl Green, a high school student and wounding 12. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)
The Associated Press
A Jackson State member of the Class of 1970 carries her diploma, as one of 74 graduates honored by the historically Black university with an official graduation ceremony, Saturday, May 15, 2021, in Jackson, Miss. The ceremony was held 51 years after the school canceled its 1970 graduation ceremony after white law enforcement officers marched onto campus near the end of the spring semester and violently suppressed protests against racism with gunfire, killing two and wounding 12. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)
The Associated Press
A Jackson State member of the Class of 1970 reads the commemorative program prior to being one of 74 graduates honored by the historically Black university, with an official graduation ceremony, Saturday, May 15, 2021, in Jackson, Miss. The ceremony was held 51 years after the school canceled its 1970 graduation ceremony after white law enforcement officers marched onto campus near the end of the spring semester and violently suppressed protests against racism with gunfire, killing two and wounding 12. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)
The Associated Press
Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba issued an apology on behalf of the city to the families of those killed at Jackson State for the shootings 51 years ago by city and state police officers that killed two people and injured 12 others on the campus of the historically Black institution of higher learning, Saturday, May 15, 2021, in Jackson, Miss. The apology was issued during a special graduation ceremony on the campus, honoring the members of the Class of 1970, that had their graduation canceled because of the violent incident. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)
The Associated Press
Mississippi State Sen. Hillman Frazier, D-Jackson, a Jackson State student in 1970, issued an apology to the families of those killed and injured as well as the Jackson State family, for the shootings 51 years ago by city and state police officers that killed two people and injured 12 others on the campus of the historically Black institution of higher learning, Saturday, May 15, 2021, in Jackson, Miss. The apology was issued during a special graduation ceremony on the campus, honoring the members of the Class of 1970, that had their graduation canceled because of the violent incident. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)
The Associated Press
FILE - In this May 20, 1970, file photo, U.S. Sens. Walter Mondale, D-Minn., left, and Birch Bayh, D-Ind., right, look from the shattered windows of Alexander Hall, a women's dormitory, during a visit to Jackson State College, in Jackson, Miss., days after an assault by local white police and members of the Mississippi Highway Patrol, who claimed they had seen a sniper. Pointing out the view is student Carl Griffin. The historically Black school canceled its 1970 commencement after the violent incident. Fifty-one years later, the school now called Jackson State University is honoring its Class of 1970, as members are being invited back to salute their academic achievements with a graduation ceremony on Saturday, May 15, 2021. (AP Photo, File)
The Associated Press
FILE - In this May 15, 1970, file photo, the bullet-riddled windows of Alexander Hall, a women's dormitory at Jackson State College in Jackson, Miss., are shown after two African-American students were killed and 12 injured when police opened fire on the building claiming they had seen a sniper. The historically black school canceled its 1970 graduation ceremony following the violence. Fifty-one years later, now named, Jackson State University is honoring the Class of 1970 back to salute their academic achievements with a graduation on Saturday, May 15, 2021. (AP Photo, File)
The Associated Press
FILE - In this May 15, 1970, file photo, two students at Jackson State College, peer from a window at Alexander Hall, that was shot out by police on campus that morning, in Jackson, Miss. Two Black students died and 12 people were wounded as police shot indiscriminately, riddling the windows of the women's dormitory as officers claimed they had seen a sniper. The historically Black school canceled its 1970 commencement after the violent incident. Fifty-one years later, the school now called Jackson State University is honoring its Class of 1970, as members are being invited back to salute their academic achievements with a graduation ceremony Saturday, May 15, 2021. (AP Photo/Jack Thornell, File)
The Associated Press
File - In this May 21, 1970, file photo, U.S. Sen. Birch Bayh, D-Ind., right, passes demonstrators protesting the slaying of two African Americans on the campus of Jackson State College, in Jackson, Miss. Sen. Bayh and several other congressmen inspected the site where two men died and 12 people were wounded as white lawmen shot indiscriminately, riddling the windows of a women's dormitory as officers claimed they had seen a sniper. The historically Black school canceled its 1970 commencement after the incident. Fifty-one years later, the school now called Jackson State University is honoring its Class of 1970, as members are being invited back to salute their academic achievements with a graduation ceremony. Saturday, May 15, 2021. (AP Photo, File)
The Associated Press
FILE - In this May 15, 1970, file photo, Mayor Charles Evers, of Fayette, Miss., a civil rights leader, talks with students outside the bullet-riddled women's dormitory at Jackson State College, in Jackson, Miss., where two young African-Americans were shot to death by police. More than a half century late, Jackson State University, in Mississippi, is honoring its Class of 1970, on Saturday, May 15, 2021. Commencement was canceled after white law enforcement officers marched onto campus of the historically Black school and violently suppressed protests against racism. (AP Photo, File)
The Associated Press
James "Lap" Baker, a 1970 Jackson State College graduate, speaks on May 13, 2021, in Jackson, Miss., about the May 15, 1970, incident where white local police and Mississippi Highway Patrol troopers marched onto campus of the historically Black school and opened fire on students, claiming they had seen a sniper. Baker is among about 70 graduates being honored as the school, now called Jackson State University, is holding a graduation ceremony 51 years after it canceled the 1970 commencement after the violence. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)
The Associated Press
Gloria Green McCray, a younger sister of 17-year-old James Green, one of two men killed by lawmen on the morning of May 15, 1970, on the campus of Jackson State College, recalls her late brother as being both handsome and personable Thursday, May 13, 2021, at her home in Jackson, Miss. Green, a high school student was returning home from work at a convenience store, when killed along with 21-year-old Phillip Gibbs, a married Jackson State student. The school is awarding posthumous honorary doctorate degrees to Gibbs and Green during a Saturday, May 15, 2021, graduation for members of the Class of 1970, whose own graduation was canceled following the violent incident. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)
The Associated Press
A memorial, funded by the Class of 1971, honors the two people killed and 12 injured on the then named Jackson State College campus, in May 15, 1970, in Jackson, Miss., when local police and Mississippi Highway Patrol troopers opened fire indiscriminately at Alexander Hall, a women's dorm at the school, and across the campus, claiming they had seen a sniper. Over 70 graduates will be honored by the historically Black university with a Saturday, May 15, official graduation ceremony, 51 years after the school canceled its 1970 graduation ceremony following the violence. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)
The Associated Press
James "Lap" Baker, a 1970 Jackson State College graduate, looks at a memorial funded by the Class of 1971, during a visit to the now Jackson State University, on Thursday, May 13, 2021, in Jackson, Miss. The memorial honors two people who were killed and 12 injured on May 15, 1970, when local police and Mississippi Highway Patrol troopers opened fire indiscriminately on Alexander Hall, a women's dorm at the school, and across the campus, claiming they had seen a sniper. Baker will be among about 70 graduates honored by the historically black university with a Saturday, May 15, official graduation ceremony, 51 years after the school canceled its 1970 graduation ceremony following the violence. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)
The Associated Press
James "Lap" Baker, a 1970 Jackson State College graduate, stands before Alexander Hall, now Jackson State University during a visit to the campus, Thursday, May 13, 2021, in Jackson, Miss. The women's dorm on the plaza is named after the two men killed, when on May 15, 1970, local police and Mississippi Highway Patrol troopers opened fire on the students, claiming they had seen a sniper. Baker will be among about 70 graduates honored by the historically Black university with a Saturday, May 15, official graduation ceremony, 51 years after the school canceled its 1970 graduation ceremony following the violent incident. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)
The Associated Press