The National Park Service plans to remove the word ‘racist’ when describing Medgar Evers’ killer
By Brooklyn Joyner
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JACKSON, Miss. (WAPT) — During her visit to Jackson, Dr. Sharelle Barber viewed the history inside Medgar and Myrlie Evers’ home, a space memorialized by the National Park Service.
She said it’s one of her favorite spots to visit every time she pops into town, often showing the space to friends who never seen it before.
“Particularly for Medgar Evers and all he did for Mississippi, but also for everything he did for American democracy,” Barber said.
The next time she visits, the brochure that gives details of Evers’ life may be edited.
According to the National Parks Conservation Association, the National Parks Service was instructed to remove the word racist when describing Evers’ killer, Byron De La Beckwith, who shot the civil rights leader. While visiting the home, a bullet hole left behind from the fatal shooting is still there.
“To not refer to him as a racist, even though he was a lifelong member of the KKK, he’s a devout white supremacist, and he also shot Medgar Evers in his own home?” asked Alan Spears, a member of the National Parks Conservation Association.
Spears said he is an advocate for all national parks. He does not agree with the potential change, saying it stems from an executive order made by President Donald Trump to “Restore Truth and Sanity to American History.”
In May 2025, Trump said crews would begin reviewing public monuments to ensure they are uplifting and reminding Americans of their extraordinary heritage. Spears said this is a slap in the face to all the hard work Evers did to improve the lives of Black Americans.
“One of the first things he did was to investigate the kidnapping and murder of Emmett Till, and he went on to be a champion for voting rights for African Americans, that’s what cost him his life,” Spears said. “He devoted himself to making those changes happen, and now we want to sanitize and censor the history that’s coming out of the Medgar and Myrlie Evers Home in order to make people who like Byron De la Beckwith feel better. It’s about as ridiculous as it gets.”
While visiting the home, 16 WAPT noticed that the brochures had not yet been replaced, but Barber says even if they are, this history will live on.
“There are enough people in Jackson and Mississippi who will continue to tell the truth, even when it gets erased by the federal government,” Barber said.
Angela English, the Rankin County chapter president of the NAACP, said, “Context matters. In places like Mississippi, where African Americans were legally terrorized and silenced, removing civil rights history today echoes that same silencing. You can’t separate current erasure from a long history of segregation, voter suppression, and racial violence.”
The workers at the National Park say they could not comment on this discussion.
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