The Mississippi Fires were nothing more than old-fashioned lynching. Hidden and disguised with the help of county officials, this case was overlooked and no trial was brought. Nothing was done and three innocent men lost their lives. Michael Schwerner, James Chaney, and Andrew Goodmen were all three civil rights activists who all fought for what they believed in, equality (Linder). Michael Schwerner, the first white civil rights worker, earned the enmity of the KKK by organizing a black boycott of a white-owned business and aggressively trying to register blacks in and around Meridian to vote (Linder). James Chaney, a black Meridian native, was in Ohio attending a program to train recruits for the Mississippi Summer Draft, a program that aimed to improve the lives of black Mississippians (Linder). College student Andrew Goodmen (Linder) was also being trained. Sam Bowers, the imperial wizard of the white knights of the Mississippi KKK, sent word to Klansmen in Lauderdale and Neshoba County in May 1964 that it was time to activate “plan 4” (Linder). Plan 4 called for “the elimination ” of the despised civil rights activists, occurred during a meeting in the Mount Zion church. It was unsuccessful because they could not find who exactly they were looking for. After receiving the news of the execution attempt, the three activists for civil rights left the Mississippi summer project to go to Longdale to find out what they could about the disturbing news of the attempted execution. When they began the journey back to Longdale, the KKK became aware of it because inside. they were people who were part of the Neshoba County police force. During the trip they were stopped by a sheriff, one who was in the KKK. Once the gang... in the center of the paper... seen everywhere they started arguing. Martin Luther King Jr. praised the FBI for its work in arresting the men involved in the murders, but he was still not satisfied with how the case ended. Racial discrimination in this period was a crucial issue. This case should never have happened. Why were these men murdered for fighting for what they believed in? The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was a great example of what should have been done before these men were murdered and all of these executions could have been avoided. Even today, racial, religious segregation and other forms of discrimination continue, but something is being done about it. Innocent people are not killed because of three men who lost their lives due to discrimination. Even though these men are gone, it is because of their deaths that people continue to fight for equality.