yep...a group I was with was stopped by a police car waking to a meeting that night...2 cops & a BIG kid got out..we talked our way out of a confrontation, but I asked later why the fillback for the football team seemed to be riding with the cops..

"Oh," the locals said, "don't you get it? Too much news getting out about cops beating up marchers...so if anything 'happens' now, they just say this 'helpful' young fellow stepped in to aid the law...and they pretend to fine him."

but...you are right, things did start to change..(I also spent a week in McComb a few months later, and it was relatively quiet)