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In his heyday in the sixties, the Reverend Isaiah Street had been the hts activity in Ford County He walked with Martin Luther King in Meanized marches and protests in Clanton and Karaway and other towns in north Mississippi In the sureeted students froister black voters Some had lived in his home that memorable summer, and they still visited him from time to tient, and had earned the respect of all blacks and most whites His was a calm, cool voice in the midst of hatred and controversy He unofficially officiated the great public school desegregation in &039;69, and Ford County saw little trouble
A stroke in &039;75 deadened the right side of his body but left his ht, he walked by hinified, erect as possible He was ushered into the sheriffs office and seated He,declined coffee, and Moss Junior left to get the defendant
"You awake, Carl Lee?" he whispered loudly, not wanting to wake the other prisoners, ould begin screairlfriends
Carl Lee sat up immediately "Yeah, I didn&039;t sleep much"
"You have a visitor Come on" Moss quietly unlocked the cell
Carl Lee had met the reverend years earlier when he addressed the last senior class at East High, the black school Desegregation followed, and East becah He had not seen the reverend since the stroke
"Carl Lee, do you know Reverend Isaiah Street?" Moss asked properly
"Yes, we o"
"Good, I&039;ll close the door and let y&039;all talk"
"How are you, sir?" Carl Lee asked They sat next to each other on the couch
"Finej ood as possible"
"I&039;ve been in jail too, you know Years ago It&039;s a terri-
ble place, but I guess it&039;s necessary How are they treating you?"
"Fine, just fine Ozzie lets me do as I please"
"Yes, Ozzie We&039;re very proud of hiood man" Carl Lee studied the frail, feeble old man with the cane His body eak and tired, but his
"We&039;re proud of you too, Carl Lee I don&039;t condone violence, but at tiood deed, my son"
"Yes, suh," answered Carl Lee, uncertain of the appropriate response
"I guess you wonder why I&039;m here"
Carl Lee nodded The reverend tapped his cane on the floor
"I&039;m concerned about your acquittal The black community is concerned If you hite, you would o to trial, and most likely be acquitted The rape of a child is a horrible cri? A white father, that is A black father evokes the sa blacks, but there&039;s one problem: the jury will be white So a black father and a white father would not have equal chances with the jury Do you follow me?"
"I think so"
"The jury is all important Guilt versus innocence Freedom versus prison Life versus death All to be deter of lives to twelve average, ordinary people who do not understand the law and are intimidated by the process"
"Yes, suh"
"Your acquittal by a white jury for the killings of thite men will do more for the black folk of Mississippi than any event since we integrated the schools And it&039;s not just Mississippi; it&039;s black folk everywhere Yours is awatched carefully by many people"
"I just did what I had to do"
"Precisely You did what you thought was right It was right; although it was brutal and ugly, it was right And most folks, black and white, believe that But will you be treated as though you hite? That&039;s the question"
"Ana 11 I&039;m convicted?"
"Your conviction would be another slap at us; a symbol of deep-seated racism; of old prejudices, old hatreds It would be a disaster You must not be convicted"
"I&039;m doin&039; all I can do"
"Are you? Let&039;s talk about your attorney, if we may"
Carl Lee nodded
"Have you met him?"
"No" Carl Lee lowered his head and rubbed his eyes "Have you?"
"Yes, I have"
"You have? When?"
"In Me Marsharfsky was one of the attorneys representing the garbage workers on strike against the city He asked Dr King to leave Me the blacks, and that he was iant and abusive He cursed Dr King-in private, of course We thought he was selling out the workers and getting ht"
Carl Lee breathed deeply and rubbed his temples
"I&039;ve followed his career," the reverend continued "He&039;s sters, thieves, and piuilty When you see one of his clients, you know he&039;s guilty That&039;s orries uilty by association"
Carl Lee sunk lower, his elbows resting on his knees "Who told you to come here?" he asked softly
"I had a talk with an old friend"
"Who?"
"Just an old friend, my son He&039;s concerned about you too We&039;re all concerned about you"
"He&039;s the best lawyer in Memphis"
"This isn&039;t Memphis, is it?"
"He&039;s an expert on criminal law"
"That could be because he&039;s a criminal"
Carl Lee stood abruptly and walked across the room, his back to the reverend
"He&039;s free He&039;s not costin&039; me a dime"
"His fee won&039;t seem important when you&039;re on death row, my son"
Moments passed and neither spoke Finally, the reverend lowered his cane and struggled to his feet "I&039;ve said enough I&039; Good luck, Carl Lee"
Carl Lee shook his hand "I do appreciate your concern and I thank you for visitin&039;"
"My point is sih to win Don&039;t make it more difficult with a crook like Marsharfsky"
Lester left Chicago just before ht Friday He headed south alone, as usual Earlier his ent north to Green Bay for a weekend with her family He liked Green Bay much less than she liked Mississippi, and neither cared to visit the other&039;s family They were nice people, the Swedes, and they would treat him like family if he allowed it But they were different, and it wasn&039;t just their whiteness He grehites in the South and knew them He didn&039;t like thes toward him, but at least he knew them But the Northern whites, especially the Swedes, were different Their custon to him, and he would never feel comfortable with them
There would be a divorce, probably within a year: He was black, and his wife&039;s older cousin had married a black in the early seventies and received a lot of attention Lester was a fad, and she was tired of him Luckily, there were no kids He suspected someone else He had someone else too, and Iris had proo once she ditched Henry
Both sides of Interstate 57 looked the sahts from the small, neat far town like Chaham The north here he lived and worked, but it wasn&039;t hoh he would never live there again Too norance and poverty He didn&039;t mind the racism; it wasn&039;t as bad as it once was and he was accusto less visible
i ne w, and that in itself was not unbearable It was not about to change What he found intolerable was the ignorance and stark poverty of h infant mortality rate, the hopelessly unemployed, the unwedto the point of being intolerable, and intolerable to the point he fled Mississippi like thousands of others andjob which could ease the pain of poverty
It was both pleasant and depressing to return to Mississippi Pleasant in that he would see his fa because he would see their poverty There were bright spots Carl Lee had a decent job, a clean house, and well-dressed kids He was an exception, and noas all in jeopardy because of two drunk, low-bred pieces of white trash Blacks had an excuse for being worthless, but for whites in a white world, there were no excuses They were dead, thank God, and he was proud of his big brother
Six hours out of Chicago the sun appeared as he crossed the river at Cairo Two hours later he crossed it again at Memphis He drove southeast into Mississippi, and an hour later circled the courthouse in Clanton He&039;d been awake for twenty hours
"Carl Lee, you have a visitor," Ozzie said through the iron bars in the door
"I&039;m not surprised Who is it?"
"Just follow me I think you better use my office This could take a while"
Jake loitered at his office waiting on the phone to ring Ten o&039;clock Lester should be in town, if he&039;s coh some stale files and made notes for Ethel Noon He called Carla and lied about et lunch He would work in the yard later One o&039;clock He found an ancient case fro down the man who raped his wife In 1893 He copied the case, then
threw it in the garbage Two o&039;clock Was Lester in town? He could go visit Leroy and snoop around the jail No, that didn&039;t feel right He napped on the couch in the big office
At two-fifteen the phone rang Jake bolted upright and scrarabbed the phone "Hello!"
"Jake, this is Ozzie"
"Yeah, Ozzie, what&039;s up?"
"Your presence is requested here at the jail"
"What?" Jake asked, feigning innocence
"You&039;re needed down here"
"By who?"
"Carl Lee wants to talk to you"
"Is Lester there?"
"Yeah He wants you too"
"Be there in a minute"
"They&039;ve been in there for over four hours," Ozzie said, pointing to the office door
"Doing what?" asked Jake,
"Talkin&039;, cussin&039;, shoutin&039; Things got quiet about thirty o Carl Lee came out and asked o in"
"No way, oin&039; in there They didn&039;t send for me You&039;re on your own"
Jake knocked on the door
"Come in!"
He opened it sloalked inside and closed it Carl Lee was sitting behind the desk Lester was lying on the couch He stood and shook Jake&039;s hand "Good to see you, Jake"
"Good to see you, Lester What brings you home?"
"Family business"
Jake looked at Carl Lee, then walked to the desk and shook his hand The defendant was clearly irritated
"Y&039;all sent for me?"
"Yeah, Jake, sit down We need to talk," said Lester "Carl Lee&039;s got somethin&039; to tell you"
"You tell hihed and rubbed his eyes He was tired and
irusiraiea "i ami saym&039; anotner word This is between you and Jake" Lester closed his eyes and relaxed on the couch Jake sat in a padded, folding chair that he leaned against the wall opposite the couch He watched Lester carefully, but did not look at Carl Lee, who rocked slowly in Ozzie&039;s swivel chair Carl Lee said nothing Lester said nothing After three minutes of silence, Jake was annoyed
"Who sent for me?" he demanded
"I did," answered Carl Lee
"Well, what do you want?"
"I wanna give you my case back"
"You assume I want it back"
"What!" Lester sat up and looked at Jake
"It&039;s not a gift you give or take away It&039;s an agreeh you&039;re doing er apparent
"Do you want the case?" asked Carl Lee
"Are you trying to rehire ht"
"Why do you want to rehire me?"
" &039;Cause Lester wants me to"
"Fine, then I don&039;t want your case" Jake stood and started for the door "If Lester wants me and you want Mar-sharfsky, then stick with Marsharfsky If you can&039;t think for yourself, you need Marsharfsky"
"Wait, Jake Be cool, man," Lester said as he met Jake at the door "Sit down, sit down I don&039;t blame you for bein&039; ht, Carl Lee?"
Carl Lee picked at his fingernails
"Sit down, Jake, sit down and let&039;s talk," Lester pleaded as he led hi chair "Good Now, let&039;s discuss this situation Carl Lee, do you want Jake to be your lawyer?"
Carl Lee nodded "Yeah"
"Good Now, Jake-"
"Explain why" Jake asked Carl Lee
"What?"
"Explain why you wantMarsharfsky"
"I don&039;t have to explain"
"Yes! Yes, you do You at least owe o and didn&039;t have the guts to call h-priced laho evidently can&039;t find his way to Clanton Now you call e your ain Explain, please"
"Explain, Carl Lee Talk to Jake," Lester said
Carl Lee leaned forward and placed his elbows on the desk He buried his face in his hands and spoke between his palms "I&039;m just confused This place is drivin&039; me crazy My nerves are shot I&039;irl I&039;m worried about my family I&039;m worried about my own skin Everbody&039;s tellin&039; me to do somethin&039; different I ain&039;t ever been in a situation like this and I don&039;t knohat to do All I can do is trust people I trust Lester, and I trust you, Jake That&039;s all I can do"
"You trust my advice?" asked Jake
"I always have"
"And you trust me to handle your case?"
"Yeah, Jake, I want you to handle it"