How ironic that the very one who STARTED all of it--the girl's father--is the one who chickened out at the end and tried to talk them out of killing the kid.
This is the most horrific ending of all of the cold case episodes, the racism and the horror with MLK in the background....absolutely horrible, its almost too awful to watch
I'm kinda in a journey to go to very old comments to see if the persons who commented are still on RU-vid (or using the exact same account), just for fun, so 😄... Are you still here, nowadays 🤗?
One of the most saddest episodes in Cold Case. And hearing the MLK´s speech in the background! I screamed along with the little girl .... Shame! Horror....Insanity, Sadness....
I think best friend, forever blue , a time to hate , and thrill kill are my favorite also like the one about the man who killed the guy by burying him alive having him write is own will and did to the other guy but he lived love that episode too
Wish they make more Cold Case Shows. They were creative with the music of the times and the related music to the plot. Very genius. Wrote them to not cancel, but it didn't work. So sad it ended.
It was interesting that they had the father, who was the overt with prejudice and bad behavior throughout the episode, be the one who could follow through the murder, while the brother, who seemed the most amenable to the black family as neighbors, end up being the most malicious. Just adds some nuance to the characters that most will probably not notice.
Not really. One’s a racist pu$$y POS with no balls and no morals, and one is the same but more violent. Sorry, there’s no nuance to racism. Either you’re a racist or you’re not.
This was such a powerful scene. I was never able to watch it again after the first time I saw it. The fact that lynchings were seen as acceptable not that long ago (when you think about it) is what makes this so overwhelming.
"Not that long ago"? 60 years sounds like quite a long time to me...and if you weren't even living during those times, then there is no way possible that something like this directly affects you.
@@Barber747 innocent people were still getting lynched up until the 80’s, even then it was 50 years for the original comment 50 or 60 years isn’t even a lifetime, average lifespan in the US is 78. Your grandparents if they weren’t themselves probably knew someone who harbored an unnecessary resentment for African Americans, for you to genuinely believe that. Some of our grandparents were there to see the end of segregation. Some of us lost them before we got a chance to meet them because of it. Ruby Bridges family suffered death threats, losing jobs, land and being shunned because they gave there daughter an education, they hated them for no other reason than they sent there daughter to a “whites only school”. Pick up a history book. US Marshall’s were walking that little girl in and out of schools in the 60’s. She’s not even 70 yet. Emmet till would’ve been 80 next month.
@fix_it Felix 1998. That was awhile ago. And it was Texas. You're acting as if this is universal all across the country. Texas is in the south, where most of the racism is active in the U.S.
This was absolute AGONY to watch, and having Dr. King's speech playing in the background made it even worse. EXCELLENT episode though. Probably one of Cold Case's best.
After watching this for the first time, I honestly couldn't stop thinking about this specific part. The cruelty, the lynching, the harassment.. Everything. While he was getting kicked and pushed around, it was like I was getting the same treatment. It hits a soft spot because in my History course, we're learning about segregation, racism against African-Americans before and after the Civil War. I'm only fourteen. To see the sixteen year old getting beat up b/c of his race, it's really horrible!
It was 1963--what else did you expect? Imagine if something like this happened in more recent times (i.e., the 2010s). It would be complete pandemonium!!!
This is so hard watching this knowing it was only 60 years from now. And this is even harder when racism is still so real today.. Black people being killed for nothing, not taking seriously when they have a job with responsability. That show was so powerful !
I love Cold Case but I've never seen this episode. Seeing this scene, I can't imagine how scared Zeke must have been when he was being killed by those horrible men, they killed him because he stood up for his dad and wanted the little girl's dad to admit of what he did to his friend, and it cost him his life. That little girl would have to live with the trauma for years seeing her uncle and his friends kill a sixteen year old boy, and you can see in her dad's eyes that he felt guilt and knowing it was all his fault and he was a damn coward Martin Luther King Jr., leader of the Civil Rights movement Emmett Till, a 14 year old African-American boy who was accused of offending a white woman Jimmie Lee Jackson, Civil Rights activist whose murder sparked the marches from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama Johnathan Daniels, a white Civil Rights activist, martyr, and hero Viola Liuzzo. a white housewife and Civil Rights activist Herbert Lee, a dairy and cotton farmer and Civil Rights activist Addie Mae Collins, Cynthia Wesley, Carole Robertson, and Carol Denise McNair , four young girls 11-14 killed in the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner , Civil Rights activists and field workers of Congress of Racial Equality Paul Guihard, French-British reporter for Agence France-Press who was killed in a 1962 riot and only reporter who was murdered during the Civil Rights Era Medgar Evers, Civil Rights activist, WWII veteran and field secretary of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People Willie Brewster, an innocent African-American man who worked at Union Foundry Benjamin Brown, a college student and Civil Rights activist Johnnie Mae Chappell, an African-American woman killed in a drive-by during the Jacksonville, FL riots Vernon Dahmer, a white leader of the Civil Rights movement and president of NACCP known for his recruitment of African-Americans to vote Henry Hezekiah Dee and Charles Eddie Moore, two 19 year old African-American boys, one a college student and the other a mill worker Roman Ducksworth Jr., an African-American military police officer who was killed in a hate crime by his fellow racist officers Willie Edwards, an African-American husband, father and Winn-Dixie driver Samuel Ephesians Hammond Jr., Delano Herman Middleton, and Henry Ezekial Smith, college students and protesters killed in the Orangeburg Massacre Rev. Bruce W. Klunder, a white Civil Rights activist and Presbyterian minister who was killed by a bulldozer during a protest on construction grounds of a segregated school George W. Lee, an African-American Civil Rights leader, vice president of the Regional Council Negro Leadership, and head of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People Oneal Moore, the first African-American deputy sheriff in the parish William Lewis Moore, a white postal worker and member of CORE who staged lone protests against racial segregation Mack Charles Parker, an African-American man who was accused of raping a white pregnant woman Lemar Smith, a farmer, WWI veteran, Civil Rights activist, and organizer of black voter registration Lemuel Penn, a decorated WWII veteran and Lieutenant Colonel killed 9 days after the Civil Rights Act 1964 James Reeb, a white Unitarian minister and Civil Rights activist who was killed during the Selma to Montgomery marches while participating John Earl Reese, a 16 year old boy killed in a hate crime Clarence Triggs, an African-American bricklayer and participant of the Civil Rights march for voting Virgil Lamar Ware, a 13 year old eighth grader killed after the Birmingham church bombing Ben Chester White, a Deacon and caretaker who was not involved in the Civil Rights movement Sammy Younge Jr., Civil Rights activist and the first black college student to be murdered when he was trying to desegregate a "Whites Only" restroom These were the people who risked their lives and killed for no reason because they were trying to make America a better place for all. I hope their killers rot or rotting in Hell. RIP to the brave men and women and thank you
There's also George Stinney. He was given the electric chair aged only 14 for a crime he didn't do by a racist all-white jury in 1944 in South Caroline.
I'm french and I'm amazed : No one in the comments said something about the famous Billie Holyday's song "Strange Fruit" from 1939 saying : " Black bodies swingin' in the Southern breeze / Strange fruit hangin' from the poplar trees" But I have not seen the episode but with a title like this, for those who knows the song it's obvious.
I think no one says it, because the episode was about that in fact... and we came here to see this scene and remember how music says exactly what it's happening... that's why this show was amazing...
The saddest thing about this episode is that it happened in real life to so many during the Civil Rights era and before that. And is still going on today to a certain extent through police brutality.
@SCORPION FLAMEZ yep smh. That had to be one of the most horrific things to happen during that time. They were going to make a movie on him but I guess they backed out or delayed it. I think Jay-Z and Will Smith was supposed to be working together on the project. Hopefully they still do it. His story should have been told in a movie format.
But there are contrasts to this and police brutality. For example, black men were lynched in the old days just for looking at white women. That's not the case with police brutality; black men don't typically get shot for lusting after white women. That's not how it works in today's society. Plus, lynching was legal (and often premeditated) in the old days. Police brutality is not.
Oh shut the fuck up it is not. 99% of those "police brutality" cases are a bunch of criminal thugs doing shit they know they shouldnt and not listening. Comparing that crap to these actual instances of real racism against innocent people is just a massive slap in the face to those victims.
You hit the nail on its head, parents have 18-21 years to teach their kids to be respectful of the laws in this country, put the blame right where it belongs: the lousy job of parenting
Of all episodes of cold case, this is hardest to watched duel that is was based on a true case and it not one of those pieces of garbage was never brought to justice
I'm kinda in a journey to go to very old comments to see if the persons who commented are still on RU-vid (or using the exact same account), just for fun, so 😄... Are you still here, nowadays 🤗?
Such a sad ending. I couldn’t hold back my tears when I first saw this. The saddest thing is that we can hear Martin Luther King on the radio speaking out against racism while this disgusting hate crime is taking place.
Let this be a lesson to the white supremacists Let this be a lesson to racists Let this be a wake up call for homophobes Let this be an awakening for Murderers Let this be a time of change for killers and rapists WE ARE PEOPLE TOO! WE ARE ALL PEOPLE! WHITE MEN BLACK MEN CHINESE ARAB WE ARE ALL PEOPLE IN THE EYES OF GOD! AND GOD WILL CALL YOU TO ACCOUNT FOR YOUR SINS! still powerful in 2019...and i'm crying
I'm kinda in a journey to go to very old comments to see if the persons who commented are still on RU-vid (or using the exact same account), just for fun, so 😄... Are you still here, nowadays 🤗?
@@darkstorm84 Holy wow, someone else who uses the same account so many years later 🙀😄! Hahaha'. You got surprised by a reply after so long, I presume 🤗😅...
I saw this on TV the other night. It's the most horrible, devastating, heart-wrenching thing I've ever seen in a TV show, had me in tears. Well done to Cold Case for having the guts to show this in such horrific detail, giving us some idea of the brutality and horror these poor people endured. Well done Cold Case.
I'm kinda in a journey to go to very old comments to see if the persons who commented are still on RU-vid (or using the exact same account), just for fun, so 😄... Are you still here, nowadays 🤗?
The mistake was telling them he would tell everyone. I would've told them I won't tell and then ratted them out and disppeared. Always have to think about winning the war against evil people like this.
That's what happens in murder cases, when a victim tells the killer that they would tell everyone of what they did to them and their loved ones, they signed their death warrants. But I'm not blaming victims of them being killed, it proves that they were not afraid and had more of a humanity than their killers never did. But in the end no matter how long it takes, the truth finds a way to be set free and get justice
god, this was so powerfull... i cried so much! i love this series, and this is one of my favourite eps. The M.L.King spech sounded really good here, more than usual.
As a little kid, I had passed by the TV when I saw this episode airing. The murder stuck with me forever. Years passed and i am now in the process of getting my history teaching certificate. I plan on showing this episode to my students.
I read up that this episode was inspired of Emmett Till, it's a shame that Emmett Till will never get justice for what was done to him, unlike the character in this episode.
I have never seen this episode! Very disturbing, but this is what went on in America during this time. Very sad! Cold Case is such a great show! I wish it'd be released on DVD!
Almost made me cry... saw it a while ago on TV and haven't stopped thinking about this episode since then. I wish Zeke had just not said anything... made me sad that they killed him :*(
So true...the white men were walking away and gave Zeke a chance to live IF he didn't say anything. But he became defiant and "uppity", as it was called then, and talked back and said he will tell everyone about the rape. That is when they decided to lynch him Same as the Emmett Till case
I never seen this episode before but i love watching cold case. It was really sad to watch but I can't help but think when they told him not to say anything he should have not said anything back and waited till they had left him alone,then he should have got help....
Don't forget too that Henry's wife (girl's mother),had to betray Zeke when she bailed him out of jail to try to save him. She was found out by her husband and brother in law (eventual mind behind the killing) to have been at the station. She had been given the ultimatum to either say where Zeke was, or leave his house, and as the guy before me mentioned, the little girl (by accident) mentioned the chess move, cause he used to play chess with the wife and it was to be a secret.
In response to pica624. Not all because a little girl mentions a chess move, but because a man decides to rape a young black girl, is too weak and self serving to confess his sins, and too arrogant to think that he had anything to confess. -Because a young black man went to the police expecting justice in 1960s South
I can't help but cry. This episode shows the true nature of racism. I hate racism, it leads to nothing but violence and death. Hate is making this world a horrible place. Also, this episode is based loosely on the death of Emmett Till who was killed during the black civil rights movement. He was murdered by two white men. Wanna know why he was killed? He whistled at a white woman.
this is too horrible, even to watch as a fiction, and i didn't watch it.... reading the comments was enough... i'm ashamed of what people do to other people... i pray that all the innocent souls that were tortured and killed have found some kind of peace...
When the kid said she forgot she suppose to keep the secret about chess playing between her mum and zeke. I bet she didn't forget she revealed on purpose to her dad
I don't believe that! Charlotte cared about Zeke to much to do that and she was just a child! Children forget to keep secrets. Even though she loved her uncle she still ratted him out.
Wonderful i'm a black man..an' i still have a dream like M.L. King. STOP RACISM. eu chorei muito ao assistir este episódio...muito...eh triste viver num mundo onde pessoas matam por haver diferença de cor nas suas peles...é triste...espero que meus filhos vivam num mundo onde as cores naum são mais importantes que as pessoas...mas se este mundo ainda naum existir..eu as ensinarei que cores,são apenas oque preenche algo vazio e naum a definiçaõ de carater, alma.Amo ser negro, amo todas as cores
It's the final shot that's the punch in the gut--his legs dangling as Dr. King's speech climaxes, "perfectly" juxtaposing ugly racial violence with the uplifting hope for racial harmony and equality. Bone-chilling.
yeahh free at last!! i never saw this episode but i can tell it was a great one... i love cold case because they are not afraid to show the past, the present, the horror and the joy... they have touched sensitive subjects such as homosexuality, racial issues, political, poverty and injustice in the homes of the poor people of usa... the american dream is nit for everyone, right??
