Benjamin Chavis Jr., 24 at the time, Southern regional program director of the United Church of Christ’s Commission for Racial Justice
Ann Shepard (later Ann Shepard Turner), a 35-year-old white social worker
Reginald Epps. 18
Jerry Jacobs. 19
James “Bun” McKoy, 19
Wayne Moore, 19
Marvin “Chili” Patrick, 19
Connie Tindall, 21
William “Joe” Wright Jr., 19
Willie Earl Vereen, 18
Except for Chavis and Turner, all the defendants were Wilmington residents.
The violence resulting in the arrest and prosecution of the young, black men, their leaders; a social worker and regional director of the United Church of Christ; was a methodology of the KKK. If the Klan could bring about unrest, violence, destruction and death while pinning it on African American activism in town they would succeed in ending desegregation and return the white race to supremacy. It was the Klan, Governor Purdue.
Now, if there was to be any further prosecution or investigation of these people it would show them as victims to political oppression existing as a strategy against them. This is real injustice and it time it ends in the pardoning of the innocent. All they are guilty of is saving their own lives. Any actions by them was in self-defense or aggravated by circumstance out of their control.
Boycotting is a non-violent method to express injustice and/or inequity. Non-violence is the method of the late Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. These people were victims of injustice and not simply released on a technicality. They should be pardoned as an apology to the African American community in the State of North Carolina.
The petition delivered by Reverend William Barber to Governor Purdue is a remarkable and resounding attempt to emulate the non-violent pleading of the boycott over 40 years later. How much longer will the pleadings of the boycott go on? There is no political pitfall or blunder here, except, if the injustice continues.
Benjamin Chavis, (click here) a young man by any measure, arrived in Wilmington to help black students who had announced a boycott of the New Hanover County public schools the previous months. Racial tensions had worsened since the desegregation of the county’s school system in the 1969-70 school year and the closing of Williston High School, a beloved institution in the local black community.
Soon, black youths were confronting local Klansmen and members of a militant group called Rights of White People. On the night of Feb. 6, 1971, several firebombs were set in downtown Wilmington....
...Gregory Congregational Church, 609 Nun St., Wilmington [Map this], where Chavis and a number of boycotters had barricaded themselves. Two nights of rioting followed; a policeman shot a black teenager, and a middle-aged white man was killed by unknown assailants. On Feb. 8, National Guard troops entered the church, only to find it deserted.
Rev. William Barber (click here) after delivering signatures for Wilmington 10 to Gov.Purdue.
Governor Purdue needs to pardon the innocent.
Peace and a New Year of prosperity.
Good night.
Ann Shepard (later Ann Shepard Turner), a 35-year-old white social worker
Reginald Epps. 18
Jerry Jacobs. 19
James “Bun” McKoy, 19
Wayne Moore, 19
Marvin “Chili” Patrick, 19
Connie Tindall, 21
William “Joe” Wright Jr., 19
Willie Earl Vereen, 18
Except for Chavis and Turner, all the defendants were Wilmington residents.
The violence resulting in the arrest and prosecution of the young, black men, their leaders; a social worker and regional director of the United Church of Christ; was a methodology of the KKK. If the Klan could bring about unrest, violence, destruction and death while pinning it on African American activism in town they would succeed in ending desegregation and return the white race to supremacy. It was the Klan, Governor Purdue.
Now, if there was to be any further prosecution or investigation of these people it would show them as victims to political oppression existing as a strategy against them. This is real injustice and it time it ends in the pardoning of the innocent. All they are guilty of is saving their own lives. Any actions by them was in self-defense or aggravated by circumstance out of their control.
Boycotting is a non-violent method to express injustice and/or inequity. Non-violence is the method of the late Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. These people were victims of injustice and not simply released on a technicality. They should be pardoned as an apology to the African American community in the State of North Carolina.
The petition delivered by Reverend William Barber to Governor Purdue is a remarkable and resounding attempt to emulate the non-violent pleading of the boycott over 40 years later. How much longer will the pleadings of the boycott go on? There is no political pitfall or blunder here, except, if the injustice continues.
Benjamin Chavis, (click here) a young man by any measure, arrived in Wilmington to help black students who had announced a boycott of the New Hanover County public schools the previous months. Racial tensions had worsened since the desegregation of the county’s school system in the 1969-70 school year and the closing of Williston High School, a beloved institution in the local black community.
Soon, black youths were confronting local Klansmen and members of a militant group called Rights of White People. On the night of Feb. 6, 1971, several firebombs were set in downtown Wilmington....
...Gregory Congregational Church, 609 Nun St., Wilmington [Map this], where Chavis and a number of boycotters had barricaded themselves. Two nights of rioting followed; a policeman shot a black teenager, and a middle-aged white man was killed by unknown assailants. On Feb. 8, National Guard troops entered the church, only to find it deserted.
Governor Purdue needs to pardon the innocent.
Peace and a New Year of prosperity.
Good night.
