6月21日，美国密西西比州地方法院判决今年80岁的前三K党成员埃德加·雷·克林犯有杀人罪，因为他于1964年6月21日伙同几名同伴截住三名民权运动工人，一番殴打之后，又极其残忍地将他们射杀。这标志着密西西比州正努力补偿其血腥、充满种族主义仇杀的过去。外电报道如下：Forty-one years to the day after three civil rights workers were beaten and shot to death, an 80-year-old former Ku Klux Klansman was found guilty of manslaughter Tuesday in a trial that marked Mississippi's latest attempt to atone¹ for its bloodstained, racist² past.

The jury of nine whites and three blacks took less than six hours to clear Edgar Ray Killen of murder but convict him of the lesser³ charges in the 1964 killings⁴ that galvanized the struggle for equality and helped bring about passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act.

Atone表示“赔偿，补偿，弥补”，如例句：Blood must atone for blood. （血债要用血来偿。）

在20世纪五六十年代，美国民权运动风起云涌，其中黑人呼声最高，要求享有与白人平等的政治权利，但却遭到了种族主义者的极端仇视，尤其是三K党，疯狂迫害黑人及进步工人，在密西西比州更为猖狂。黑人民权运动的杰出领袖马丁·路德·金就是被白人种族主义者暗杀的。