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Mississippi Democrat Bennie Thompson is facing one of the most high profile moments in a political career spanning more than 50 years — leading this month’s hearings intended to show Americans what fueled the violence of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.
Some who tune in to Thursday’s prime-time hearing will encounter for the first time the chairman, a political leader from rural Mississippi with deep roots in civil rights activism.
“I’m a passionate believer that, in a democracy you have to follow the rule of law,” Thompson told NPR. “It has nothing to do with individuals, it has nothing to do with wealth. It has nothing to do with status in the community. It’s the law. The law is colorblind.”
That personal history, said Majority Whip Jim Clyburn, made Thompson the perfect fit to chair the select committee investigating the insurrection.
“We have so many people over here who are much more interested in the headline than they are in making headway,” Clyburn recently told NPR. “Bennie is not interested in making the headlines.”
While Thompson’s work as a small town leader taught him how to listen, a skill critical for getting to the bottom of the insurrection, Clyburn said the most important quality he brings to his role leading the committee is his search for a more perfect union.
“Here he is, growing up, under the imperfections of this country — being affected adversely by this country’s imperfections. Yet he is one being looked to now to do what is necessary to preserve it,” Clyburn said.
From segregation to rising through the ranks to Congress
The Mississippi town where Thompson grew up, Bolton, had a whites-only pool and park. As a teen, he traveled 51 miles past two schools for whites to attend one for Blacks.
“I never saw my hometown of Bolton when I was in high school during the day, because I caught the bus at night. It was so early in the morning, I got back so late, it was dark,” he told a national civil rights symposium in 1989 as he was fighting for equal access for Blacks in education and at the ballot box.
By then, Thompson had defied racial barriers to become an alderman in that same town, followed by roles as a mayor and then county supervisor.
In 1993, he won a special election to represent his majority African American district in Congress, which is anchored by the state capital in Jackson. Three years ago, he became chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee.
“It’s kind of interesting that somebody like Bennie Thompson, with the experiences he had growing up in Mississippi, would be the one that was out there trying to keep this democracy on track,” said Clyburn, a South Carolina Democrat who is a bit of a kindred spirit and is often seen having extended conversations with him during hours long floor votes.
Read More: Chairman of the Jan. 6 committee says the U.S. came close to losing democracy : NPR