The Eulogy, "Freedom Summer" clip 17

"And then looking up and seeing Ben Chaney. James Chaney's little brother. I lost it. I totally just lost it."
Watch a clip from "Freedom Summer" premiering June 24, 2014 on American Experience PBS.

[@shalamigri]

I don't care how many people are around me when I watch this clip. I ALWAYS tear up. ALWAYS!!!!!

[@deloreswillis9224]

ME 2😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢

[@bozm9961]

This can never grow old the tears must continue until it's all dealt with once and for all..I weep with you in solidarity ❤😢❤

[@HearthERB]

Every time I hear him say "don't bow down anymore" I get this heavy feeling in my chest...terrible that humans had to go through this suffering.

[@alexandraaaron9705]

Still.

[@deloreswillis9224]

Lord yesssssss I do too

[@dme1016]

In my 61 years, same age as Ben, I can't recall ever seeing someone shed tears with the heartbreak & pain that young Ben showed over the loss of his older brother.

[@deloreswillis9224]

Oh my LORD🙏🏿… this clip is soooooooooooo HESRTBREAKING!!!😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢 Dave Dennis SPOKE FROM HIS COMPLETE HEART & SOUL!!!!!!!!!!!!’ Bless his soul🙏🏿& little “ BEN CHANEY!!’❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤ my heart feel the pain & agony they suffered🙏🏿🙏🏿🙏🏿🙏🏿🙏🏿🙏🏿🙏🏿🙏🏿

[@deloreswillis9224]

Amen….. JESUS WE STILL NEED YOU🙏🏿

[@natureboygolfer]

This is such a powerful moment. Every time I see it I well up.

[@dariusfrowner3787]

my goodness.I saw this as part of PBS's show about 1964. This eulogy stopped me in my tracks.

[@yellolab09]

I was in middle school when this happened, and vividly remember the search, the found bodies and the trial. Ive seen this media footage many times since then. I still tear up for the lost and for the miles we all still have to travel to dissolve this kind of hatred from the American bloodstream..

[@arimasmemphis4061]

Ben Chaney's crying is so heart breaking. I'm in my 40's now and of course I wasn't alive during this era but I've always been interested in black history, from slavery and Jim Crow to the Civil Rights movement. As a child, about the age Ben was in this clip, I remember seeing a documentary of Ben Chaney at the funeral and that picture has never left me. The obvious agony in his heart as the tears flow down his face, yet he stands there and sings "We shall overcome" with his head held high. Seeing that made the story and the people involved real for me and urged me to want to know as much as I could about those young men, who sacrificed their lives to make a difference and a change for people that they had never met.

[@natureboygolfer]

I see your name is Memphis. I live in Memphis. And this stuff going on right now with what happened to Tyre Nichols tells you that we still don't get the kind of respect we deserve.

[@deloreswillis9224]

Absolutely I echo the very same sentiments

[@tupa24]

God, this video is heartbreaking. I can feel the pain piercing through my soul

[@deloreswillis9224]

Also

[@rossmorebaz]

huge respect for Mr .Dennis ... ..im tired .. hold your head up ..thats a real powerful moment right there

[@deloreswillis9224]

OmGOD YESSSSSSS

[@ricorob100]

His little brother crying broke my heart. Such evil, and if they didn't repent and turn from their wickedness I trust now they wished they would of.

[@tHE6tH]

First time I saw it was in my college history class a couple weeks ago. I held it together during the class, but when I got to my car after, I broke down. There's no reason people had to go through this kind of suffering. Seeing his little brother in tears like that was too much.

[@deloreswillis9224]

Amen

[@1984isnotamanual]

The Bible was used to justify whites treatment of blacks in the South

[@flowersandcandyflowersandc9093]

This was a beautiful but meaningful profound speech........

[@blafred]

Mr. Dennis, I SALUTE YOU for your BRAVERY!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@deloreswillis9224]

Absolutely

[@jenniferhampton5171]

He is a beautiful young man.

[@wubbsie1]

So powerful, and still so relevent today.

[@deloreswillis9224]

Still sadly in 2023 lord we need you🙏🏿

[@AntajuanGrady]

@@deloreswillis9224 Amen to that. There's a lot about this world you have to protect yourself from, a lot of good in you that have to find for yourself in as well..

[@brandonwalker2365]

Damn he got my eyes bleary. Yet we are still dealing with the racism and stigma. It hasn't changed and those Mississippians, who felt that way in 63, still feel that way today.

[@The_Clip_Keeper]

I saw this clip in the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum and it stuck with me

[@Perfectpearl]

1:44 Omg! So sad. Smh That poor little boy.

[@aevi09]

all of the feels...its crazy man...died over wanted to keep the status quo...this was powerful

[@YT4Me57]

I was 9 that year; about the same age as your Ben. The 60s were traumatic for young Black Americans. Most of us continue to keep the grief of that decade buried in our psyches. So don't ask us why we are angry, why we are impatient and fed up with the B.S. This is why.

[@jaegosushaesyuemarshall-br8304]

Nov 11 2019 this is still going on

[@deloreswillis9224]

Yessss still exiting in 2023!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@chrisjohnson7039]

When I saw Ben Chaney crying I was mad as hell bc how could people do this to other people 😡😥😢😭

[@allenfreeland6494]

This is a world of devils that wants to break our spirits.

[@maryanng6841]

@chris johnson - agree - how could people do this to other people? Evil in the world.

[@Biggdoom344]

In order to be a person you have to be human. Those killers didn’t qualify. There are devils on earth.

[@mgtowdream8972]

rip chaney , goodman and schwerner all though there will be haters and racist comments around vids of this topic. . you paid the highest price for the secured freedom off your future generations. if only people these days had as much guts and diginity to stand up for what is right. admiration from UK

[@Alkebulani_Shujaa]

We still have work to do!

[@iyarnaanderson]

GOD THAT JUST HURT WATCHING THIS!!!!!!!!

[@allenfreeland6494]

It breaks me up that there was no justice in the South.

[@sharicebutler4048]

Damn, we still saying the same stuff today. We’re tried just plan old tried. They got away with it then still getting away with it now. 😡

[@Alkebulani_Shujaa]

Powernomics is where we start. The church and it's doctrine has kept us docile and ignorant. Learn, teach and Do!

[@Houdini774]

I don't think I need to see a documentary about southern racism. I don't think I need to see a documentary about economic oppression or the suppression of civil rights. All I had to do was look into the face of Dave Dennis as he was giving his eulogy to see what the affect of brutal tyranny can do to the human soul. In his face I saw the entire horror of segregation and discrimination perpetrated on one group of people. "We must live together as brothers or die together as fools." Martin Luther King.

[@tbonepercussion]

Took the words right out of my mouth!

[@kayn6099]

Houdini774 Thank you! This vid made me cry.

[@jenniferhampton5171]

I am so very sorry for all that happened.

[@allenfreeland6494]

The sad thing is that it is still going on and never stops.Satan is busy as ever and we must resist and fight harder and harder.

[@juicy9644]

Dave Dennis came to my school

[@bozm9961]

Justice will be served, I think of George Steney , Emmet Teal and so on and I know, Justice will come 😢

[@martilives896]

Ladies and gentlemen…that is God talking

[@deloreswillis9224]

The spirit of the living GOD🙏🏿

[@charlesmelonson2827]

I remember when this shit happened,it's sooo FU_KED UP and it's STILL THE SAME,with the grand wizzard as THE PRESIDENT

[@773SleepyHollow]

It's unfortunate that AE felt the need to add music to the words of Mr. Dennis; his words on their own were more than enough to convey everything that he was trying to get across.

[@susanwhaley2483]

There is a movie made about those 3 activist's, I believe Blair Underwood played Chaney. I remember watching it but can't think of the name of the movie

[@andrewilliams4180]

Murder in mississippi it on KZbin

[@ItsJustJodieLove-ej4il]

Born twenty miles away..i pass the location daily...it always feels cold and heavy...worked with the descendants of the black guys that helped killed Emmit Till..yea you heard THAT right ..we in Mississippi know what REALLY happened

[@swiyyahgreer-lyons1996]

Sad

[@Richbar-qe6bx]

Angry black man.

[@briancordova1299]

And for a good reason.

[@Cleopatra12ification]

@@briancordova1299 Amen

[@maryanng6841]

@Opie Cunningham - Are you for real?

[@shalamigri]

"Angry black man." He's angry alright, but only because our government and SO many people were unconcerned about the UGLY EVIL that killed those innocent young men who were simply trying to push equality and justice in our "so called" Christian nation.

[@Richbar-qe6bx]

@@shalamigri yup he's angry and not much has changed