Talk:Willie McGee (convict)

Update
I tried to correct for the glaring biases that were previously visible. Hopefully this now presents a more accurate picture of events.

I re-edited and removed the last vestiges of the article's bias. Hopefully this does a better job telling the story and portraying it in an accurate light. One of the previous authors had sourced most of his claims from a 1950s Mississippi newspaper that definitely reflected the times. The author repeated this newspaper's claims verbatim, echoing the jim-crow era propaganda without recognizing it as such (i.e. calling civil rights activists communists, decrying 'northern communist agitators' and attempting to justify a the victim's three convictions.)

I tried to edit these pieces where possible (some did contain relevant information, just seen through a prism of bias) and removed them where I felt they were useless and/or present for the sole purpose of inserting bias into the article. As I previously stated, I do not think these edits were made in good faith--the editor repeatedly referenced racial tropes and sought to defend the execution of a most-likely innocent man. I tried my best to clean up these bad-faith portions of the article, please continue to edit and help me improve this article!

THanks!

Civil Rights Council, Bella Abzug, Laurel MS
This article seems to repeatedly reference a single source (source one) that continually demeans and negates the civil rights movement's participation in this case. The article uses this source (a newspaper report from Jim Crow MS) to demean the victim and attempt to alter the historical narrative. Every source I have read on this issue presents the case very differently. I don't think these are mistakes; it seems this article was written purposefully in an attempt to justify this historical injustice.

The article mentions Bella Abzug as a communist without mentioning that she later became a congresswoman; the article mentions the 'Negro Legionnaires' as defending the conviction (I can't find anything about this organization anywhere, again it seems this was taken from a Jim Crow era article written in a small-town Mississippi newspaper); and the article further goes on to attack the defendant and attempt to prove his guilt.

I am re-writing these sections of the article as they are clearly designed to mislead. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 108.4.232.138 (talk) 14:53, 31 August 2020 (UTC)

Civil Rights Council
The article says: "McGee spent eight years in Mississippi jails prior to his execution, during which time the Communist Party Civil Rights Council gained him two new trials and several stays of execution." But this isn't the same Civil Rights Council linked in Wikipedia. Aside from the questionable syntax, this sentence and/or its link should be cleaned up by someone who has access to the referenced source. HughGRex (talk) 14:31, 16 May 2010 (UTC)

Presidential Pardon?
President Truman is implicitly criticized for not granting McGee a pardon? How would the President do that? Rape is a state offense, and the President only has power to pardon federal offenses.70.57.103.68 (talk) 19:10, 31 October 2016 (UTC)

Eyes of Willie McGee
I added a reference to a new book about the case. My first edit. I hope my etiquette is correct.Scorsi914 (talk) 12:35, 18 June 2010 (UTC)