Smith was at an action here to draw attention to a brutal crime for which justice has never been done. On July 25, 1946, a mob of 15 to 25 racists lynched four young Blacks in the woods by the Moore’s Ford bridge. The four were Roger Malcom, 24; Dorothy Malcom, 20; George Dorsey, 28; and Mae Dorsey, 24. They were dragged from their car, beaten, and shot in three volleys along the Apalachee River. The murder was organized as a mass public event.

Nearly six decades later, about 200 people watched as members of the Black community re-enacted the brutal executions by the Ku Klux Klan.

The ceremony capped a day of activities demanding prosecution of the murderers. A crowd of 500 listened to speeches at the First African Baptist Church. A 100-car motorcade, led by state representative Tyrone Brooks of Atlanta, stopped at the jailhouse from which the Malcoms and the Dorseys were delivered to the lynching party.

“I was six,” said Learmy Malcom at the re-enactment. “Fearing violence against us, people said, ‘Get the children in the house and turn off the lights.’ My father said he paid his light bill and would do no such thing. The next day, he helped to cut their bodies down from the trees.”

“To see this many people, especially young people here, is good. We can never forget this thing that happened,” said Linda Byrd, a laid-off textile mill worker. “My grandfather was a farmer and knew these back woods. But all my life I was told never to set foot back here. This is my first time on this strange land.”  
 
‘Lack of will, not lack of evidence’
“People who knew something were threatened,” explained Armand Marshall of Monroe. “But people around here know who did it. It seems to me the problem is a lack of will, not a lack of evidence.”

The federal Justice Department, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, and Walton County District Attorney Ken Wynne have all lamented that the case is “cold.” Bobby Howard, an activist who narrated the re-enactment, disagreed.

“I’m not an investigator or a lawyer, but the eyes of the nation shall now focus on Monroe, Georgia, just as the eyes of the nation focused on Philadelphia, Mississippi, and Birmingham, Alabama,” Howard said, referring to recent prosecutions for civil rights-era murders in those cities. In June a Klan member, Edgar Ray Killen, was convicted for the 1964 murders of three civil rights workers in Mississippi.

“Walk into the courthouse and look at the names on the plaques. Look at the prominent names around in this county and you will see who was in the Klan. We want the federal government to assume jurisdiction in this case,” said Tyrone Brooks at the concluding rally.  
 
 
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