OPINION: Dennis Dahmer’s campaign against the distortion of his father’s life and death benefits us all

By Ivory Phillips

JA Contributing Editor

Last week Dennis Dahmer, the son of martyred civil rights activist Vernon Dahmer, brought his campaign for the truth about his father’s murder and the conviction of those responsible for it to the Two Museums facility in Jackson Mississippi. The appearance was part of his broader campaign that is two-fold in nature: 1) revealing the distorted nature of the recently released film, entitled “By Any Means”; and 2) promoting voter activism among African Americans.

Dennis’ position is that the film gravely distorts the investigation into the Ku Klux Klan attack on the Dahmer home, the prosecution of the perpetrators, and the eventual conviction of Sam Bowers as the chief conspirator in the attack. To help get his point across, Dennis was assisted by film-maker Charles Stewart and his documentary entitled “Killed by the Klan.” Additionally, Dennis recommends reading the book Race Against Time by Jerry Mitchell as a source of truth about the attack and the following investigations and conviction. 

In the “Killed by the Klan” film, viewers learn the testimonies of Billy Roy Pitts and T. Weber Rogers is what got Sam Bowers and several of the Klan conspirators convicted. That revelation contradicts the version presented in “By Any Means,” which credits a Black FBI agent and a white mobster with the major role in solving the crime. That fictionalized version, Dennis claims distorts history and is done for the purpose of creating a sensationalized movie more likely to attract movie goers. Dennis points to the fact that during those days there were certainly no African American FBI agents in Mississippi and, although a white mob hit-man did travel to Mississippi, there is no evidence he played a major role in the investigation. 

Going further down the road in criticism of the “By Any Means” film, Dennis relates that, although his father Vernon was not killed in the attack as he remained in the family’s burning house while they fled to the barn, he died a few days later from injuries received from the fire and smoke. He also indicates the investigation began immediately because his father was well respected in the Hattiesburg community and after the prosecutor had a heart-to-heart conversation with the Dahmer family. 

Dennis says those facts need to be emphasized in order to clear the historical record. Those facts, however, just as was the role of Pitts and Rogers, were not emphasized, but down-played in order to enable the film to be more sensational, with a Black FBI agent and a white hero riding to the rescue.

Dennis noted that although his sister Bettie worked with the “By Any Means” film-makers, the Dahmer family as a whole condemns the film and discourages others from paying their money to go and see it. 

On that score, what Dennis is doing is opposing these and other such distortions of history. It was done in the case of “Mississippi Burning,” dealing with the murder of three civil rights workers in Mississippi in 1964, and in the case of “JFK,” dealing with the assassination of President John Kennedy in 1963. 

Dennis stated that he asked the producers of “By Any Means” and Paramount Pictures to add a prologue to the film indicating that it is a fictionalized version rather than factual. Such an action could have benefitted us all since many may otherwise come to see the fictionalized movie as true history rather than the distortion that it is. He and the family also wanted that prologue to spotlight the role of Vernon in promoting voter activism and to encourage viewers to register and vote in his honor. Rather than developing and displaying such a prologue, the film producers added a trailer, which runs at the end, with the other credits, a statement recognizing the film as a fictionalized account. 

Although the Dahmer family’s proposed prologue was not added, the family is still attempting to negotiate with the company in order to affect an arrangement whereby funds would be donated to an independent Vernon Dahmer foundation to promote voter activism. An effort along that line would benefit us all, helping to keep the life and legacy of Vernon alive and helping to elect more people to office who are champions of human and civil rights, as was Vernon.