Wharlest Jackson Sr.: His Fight For Civil Rights Ended With His Murder But His Courage Lives On

February 27, 2012
Written by Cindy Ferraino in
Latest News, Setting It Straight
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Actual crime scene photo of the bombed pickup truck Wharlest Jackson Sr. was driving the night he died. Photo Credit: The Injustice Files at discovery.com

Each year during Black History Month, the family of Wharlest Jackson, Sr. gathers at the site of his murder on a cold winter evening in 1967. On February 27, Jackson was going home after his shift ended at the Armstrong Tire and Rubber plant in Natchez, Mississippi. As he headed along Minor Street, Jackson’s truck exploded and pieces of everything including the shoes he wore covered the street and yards of the neighboring homes.


The family wants to put a permanent marker on the site where he died as a reminder of what this man did for so many. “There are a lot of people who loved my father and what he stood for, and I believe they’d like to take part in that and we want to allow them the opportunity to take part in that, “ Denise Ford said in an interview. In addition to Denise Ford, Wharlest Sr. and Exerlena had four other children, Wharlest Jr., Debra Jean, Doris Arlene, and Delresia. Wharlest Jr. was 7-years-old when his father died, and upon hearing the explosion from the family home, he rode his bicycle to the site and recovered his father’s shoe in a yard a few feet away from the charred remains of the Chevy pickup. The shaken boy returned home and handed his mother the shoe.


“I still can’t talk about that,” Wharlest Jr. said in an interview. “But I’ve forgiven my father’s killers. I’m not bitter anymore. These men’s sons may be suffering from the sins of their fathers, but I don’t wish that on anyone. I think it’s harder on the people who did this than on us. No rest for the spirit. It must be miserable.”


The family continues to reach out to the community their father fostered racial awareness in at a time when individuals received criticism and abuse for speaking out about equality among races. “His legacy is to let us know as black folks, we can stand with our fellow man and fulfill our obligations. Never say no I can’t but yes, I can, “Ford stated in an interview.


Despite efforts from local and national law enforcement agencies, Jackson’s death remains unsolved, but media reports indicate that then Police Chief J. T. Robinson “was very upset that the Jackson case was never solved, and he very much wanted the case to be reopened by the FBI.” Like many unsolved cases, the details surrounding Jackson’s death made national headlines. Jackson’s case has an extreme amount of heightened interest due to the possibility that Jackson was a victim of racial violence. Jackson was a black man who had just accepted a promotion at the Armstrong Tire & Rubber plant, shortly before his death. During this era of civil unrest, this position would normally have been given to someone who was not black.


Even Police Chief Robinson went on to believe that the attack on Jackson “was a result of the promotion at the tire plant.”


alt“I begged him not to take this position,” Exerlena Jackson in an interview after his death. Jackson worked hard for this promotion and he wanted to provide a better life for his wife and children. This promotion would be the opportunity for Exerlena to quit her job, be a stay-at-home mother, and to alleviate her suffering from Lupus.


His position as the treasurer of the local NAACP chapter, and a civil rights activist, lead many to believe these were other factors linking Jackson’s death to being a racial motivated hate crime. Exerlena Jackson thought her husband’s involvement with the NAACP caused a stir, as did his friendship with co-employee of George Metcalfe who served as president of the NAACP. Before Jackson’s death, Metcalfe’s 1955 Chevrolet exploded leaving him with permanent injuries, and Exerlena Jackson wondered if her husband would be the victim of a similar fate.


As the family prepares for another February celebration marking the anniversary of Wharlest Jackson Sr. death, they feel that the symbol of the permanent marker will keep hope alive, and that one day they will find out what happened to him. “In our hearts, we are content because God is a just God and he will execute justice. You can’t murder or harm anybody and not have it come back to you at some particular point in time. These people got by us, but they won’t get by G-O-D, God. That’s an assurance that I have in my heart today," Wharlest Jackson Jr. said in an interview.


The FBI continues to work the cold case files of the murder of Wharlest Jackson Sr., they have not given up on bringing those who killed him to justice.


Sources:
http://www.natchezdemocrat.com/2007/02/28wharlest-jackson-remembered
http://www.natchezdemocrat.com/2010/08/06/jackson-family-seeks-marker/
http://coldcases.org/cases/wharlest-jackson-case


 


 

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