Justice. It’s a powerful word and a concept that touches every part of our lives, from personal relationships to the laws that govern our society.

And, it’s a word spoken often these days as both Mississippi and the nation take a renewed interest in resolving several &uot;unsolved&uot; civil rights era cases.

With Wednesday’s arrest of Ernest Avants, the Bogue Chitto man charged with murder in the 1966 death of farmhand Ben Chester White, justice is once again a buzzword.

And it is once again the goal.

Justice, in this case, comes cloaked in the federal indictment against Avants, one of three former Adams County residents who were original suspects in White’s murder. Avants, whom some law enforcement officers say confessed to the crime, was acquitted by an Adams County jury in 1967. One of his alleged co-conspirators’ case ended with a hung jury; the third suspect turned state’s evidence and was never prosecuted.

The lack of justice became an outrage — justice not only in terms of a conviction, but justice in terms of having a fair, open trial.

And that is what federal officials expect will happen now.

Some 34 years after White was brutally shot to death in the Homochitto National Forest, one of the men who was charged in that crime will stand trial for the murder with what should be an unbiased, far-removed federal jury.

The justice comes through the process — and the relentless commitment to finding the truth.

We believe, justice will be served — whether Avants is ultimately prosecuted or found not guilty.

And people such as White deserve nothing less than a constant search for justice, regardless of the color of their skin.