Murder in McComb: The Tina Andrews Case

American studies professor Brown (One Homogeneous People: Narratives of White Southern Identity, 1890–1920, as Trent Watts) effectively conveys the tragedy of a young life cut short, but his efforts to imbue the murder of 12-year-old Tina Andrews with greater meaning fail. The evening of August 13, 1969, Andrews slipped out of her McComb, Miss., home to go to a teenage hangout. According to a 13-year-old friend, Billie Jo Lambert, the two of them and another girl accepted a ride from two men, who dropped off the third girl before driving Tina and Billie Jo to an isolated area used by couples seeking privacy. Billie Jo was able to flee after seeing one of the men hit Tina in the face. Tina’s body was discovered 10 days later, with a bullet wound to the back of her head. Two local cops were indicted in 1971 for the girl’s murder, but the only one to stand trial, twice, was never convicted. While Brown acknowledges that Tina, who was white, “was not killed because of her race,” he insists that her death “occurred within social and political structures... shaped by race.” That comes across as a stretch, and doesn’t enhance this sad account of a murder victim whose killers were only linked to the crime by one eyewitness. Brown’s reach exceeds his grasp. (Feb.)