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 atone for its bloodstained, racist 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 lesser charges in the 1964 killings 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。