Arrested for Sit-In, 'Friendship 9' Convictions To Be Overturned

[Major Nikon]

Source: NBC News

Rock Hill, S.C. — Fifty-four years after they were arrested and sentenced to hard labor for sitting at a whites-only lunch counter in South Carolina, a group of African-American student protesters known as the "Friendship Nine" will have their convictions overturned Wednesday.

"What these men did wasn't wrong, in fact it was right. And what they did wasn't illegal, it was an act of principled courage," said Kevin Brackett, the York and Union County Solicitor who has agreed to have the guilty verdicts vacated.

All eight surviving members of the "Friendship Nine" are invited to attend the morning hearing in a municipal courtroom in Rock Hill, S.C.

Presiding over the session, and expected to clear the men's records, will be Circuit Court Judge John C. Hayes III, who is the nephew of the judge who sentenced the "Friendship Nine" to jail in 1961.



Read more: http://www.nbcnews.com/news/nbcblk/arrested-sit-friendship-9-convictions-be-overturned-n294146

[TexasProgresive]

1. If anyone needs to have heroes

These fit the bill. It would create a shitstorm from the RWNJs but I think they should receive the Medal of Freedom and soon as one has died.

[Enthusiast]

2. Kicked

and recommended!

[msanthrope]

3. It is never too late to seek justice and redress. nt

[KingCharlemagne]

12. It is if you've been wrongly convicted and then executed. - nt

[heaven05]

4. THIS

Last edited Wed Jan 28, 2015, 04:40 PM - Edit history (1)

is justice? Redemption? Atonement? Reparative action? 54 years later? That better late than never garbage is getting old. "Gifts", magnanimous gesture by the ruling 'elite'? again? My aren't they nice and enlightened, finally. Never should have happened in the first place. Wouldn't have if this country had not then, as now, practice gross hypocrisy. Voting rights being restricted again. Human rights abuse and street executions by the 'protect and serve people. I could go on and on. No back slapping here for a gross injustice that has happened and is still happening today. Occupy arrests anyone? Oakland pepper spraying anyone? Not impressed with this action at all. Although the 'criminals' did finally get some kind of justice from the good 'masters'.

[SammyWinstonJack]

6. +100000!

[marym625]

7. +1000

[mountain grammy]

9. Good post..

It's been two steps forward, one step back for more than a century. I keep this article around for occasions like this one. Until the whole country makes it right, it'll never be right..

"The Case for Reparations" appeared in the Atlantic Monthly in June of 2014.

"Two hundred fifty years of slavery. Ninety years of Jim Crow. Sixty years of separate but equal. Thirty-five years of racist housing policy. Until we reckon with our compounding moral debts, America will never be whole."

read the rest here:

http://www.theatlantic.com/features/archive/2014/05/the-case-for-reparations/361631/

[heaven05]

11. thank you

bookmarked for study....

[KingCharlemagne]

13. Wonder whether Michael Brown or Eric Garner will have to wait that long (or longer) - nt

[NBachers]

5. Will we have to wait 54 years for a token redress over republican voting rights crimes?

Same people, same shit.

[Duval]

8. About time nt

[niyad]

10. so what kind of restitution will be made to these brave souls?