6.19.2006

Mexia and Juneteenth: 25th Anniversary

It was 1981 (and I was still a teenager - barely) when the news came out that three young black men (ages 19, 19 and 18) had died in Lake Mexia after they had been arrested. For some crazy reason they were put in a boat to be transported across the lake, but the boat overturned and the three men (but none of the cops) drowned. I had always believed the three black men were handcuffed. The Morning News tells me today that a "hearing officer" (whatever the heck that is) determined they were not. But I didn't know this: The three men had been taken into custody because the police believed they were "smoking marijuana." Sheesh.