CRRJ

Minden Branch of the NAACP wants apology from Police Jury in 66-year old lynching case

admin — Thu, 09 May 2013 13:56:13 +0000

On May 7, 2013, in Minden County, Louisiana, Rev. Kenneth Wallace, President of the Minden Branch of the NAACP, addressed the Webster Parish Police Jury regarding a 66 year old lynching case. Aided with research provided by the Civil Rights and Restorative Justice Project at Northeastern University School of Law, Rev. Wallace made an impassioned plea, requesting that the Webster Parish Police Jury make a formal apology, and hold a memorial service in recognition of the injustice suffered by U.S. veteran, John C. Jones, and his cousin, Albert Harris Jr.

The two men were victims to brutal beatings by a white lynch mob on August 8, 1946, which left John C. Jones dead and caused Albert Harris Jr. to flee town. Local law enforcement refused to commit to any arrests or prosecutions in correlation with the lynching. Eventually, the U.S. Justice Department opened a case against six suspects, including two Webster Parish Sheriff deputies. At the trial, the defense counsel played upon enduring Southern hostility towards the federal government, representing the case of the prosecution as a politically motivated attack on the South. This strategy, combined with appeals to the racial prejudices of the jury, proved successful. All of the defendants were acquitted of the charges brought against them.

Please review local news stations coverage of the case by following the links below.

http://www.kmsstv.com/news/naacp-asking-apology-1946-lynching

http://www.ktbs.com/news/webster-parish-police-jury-hears-naacp-plea-for-an-apology-in-1946-murder/-/144844/20054982/-/pagh7q/-/index.html

http://arklatexhomepage.com/fulltext?nxd_id=324262

Webster Parish NAACP wants apology from Police Jury in 66-year-old murder case

admin — Tue, 07 May 2013 20:14:11 +0000

More than six decades ago, two Webster Parish men were beaten by a lynch mob leaving one of them dead. Now, the Webster Parish NAACP wants the police jury to recognize the murder and apologize for it…Continue Reading

Survivor of ’63 Birmingham Church Bombing Files Lawsuit

admin — Tue, 16 Apr 2013 20:04:17 +0000

Sarah Collins Rudolph is the lone survivor of a 1963 Alabama church bombing that killed four black girls said she wants millions in compensation for her injuries and won’t accept a top congressional award proposed to honor the victims.

In interview with The Associated Press, Rudolph said she feels forgotten 50 years after the blast shocked the nation. Rudolph lost an eye in the Sept. 16, 1963 bombing at Birmingham’s Sixteenth Street Baptist Church and says she never got restitution…Continue Reading

Gov. Bentley signs Scottsboro Boys Act into law ahead of ceremonial signing; legislation for full exonerations pending

admin — Tue, 16 Apr 2013 16:09:25 +0000

SCOTTSBORO, Alabama – The Scottsboro Boys Act, state legislation that allows for a pardon for eight of the nine black men unjustly accused of raping two white women in 1931, has been signed into law by Gov. Robert Bentley.

The official signing last week allowed the bill to be filed in a timely manner but a ceremonial signing of Senate Bill 97 will be held Friday at the Scottsboro Boys Museum and Cultural Center in Joyce Chapel United Methodist Church. A time has not been set…Continue Reading

Alabama Opens Way for Scottsboro Boys Pardon in Rape Case

admin — Tue, 16 Apr 2013 16:07:45 +0000

Eight black teens who were convicted 82 years ago by an all-white jury of raping two white women in Alabama can now be posthumously pardoned by the state...Continue Reading

Faculty Post: Civil Rights & Restorative Justice

admin — Wed, 20 Mar 2013 15:19:42 +0000

As of this writing, the Alabama Legislature is poised to adopt a measure that would illustrate perfectly the measures that states can take to address even remote miscarriages of justice. On February 12, the legislature’s Judiciary Committee approved a bill to allow the Alabama Board of Pardons and Parole to grant posthumous pardons, paving the way to pardon the famous Scottsboro defendants, who were charged with capital rape in 1931 and who are now all deceased. Alabama joins a number of other states excavating and redressing past racial harms…Continue Reading

When Cold Cases Stay Cold

admin — Mon, 18 Mar 2013 19:02:17 +0000

FERRIDAY, La. — In the spring of 1965, the Federal Bureau of Investigation in Washington received a letter from Concordia Parish in northeastern Louisiana. Addressed to the bureau’s director, J. Edgar Hoover, the letter pleaded for justice in the killing of a well-respected black merchant…Continue Reading

Exonerating the Scottsboro Nine

admin — Wed, 20 Feb 2013 14:32:26 +0000

Decades too late, the Alabama Legislature is moving to grant posthumous pardons to the Scottsboro Boys — the nine black teenagers arrested as freight train hoboes in 1931 and convicted by all-white juries of raping two white women…Read More

East Texas civil rights murder could be added to school curriculum

admin — Fri, 15 Feb 2013 22:14:42 +0000

TATUM/RUSK COUNTY (KYTX) – Joyce Crockett was 14 when bullets flew into a Gregg County cafe, striking her in the left wrist and killing her 16-year-old cousin — John Earl Reese.

“We didn’t feel like we was doing anything wrong,” Crockett said. “We was just at my cousin’s place just having fun.”

The 1955 shooting was believed to be over a plan to build a new school for black Tatum I.S.D. students. Two men were convicted in the shooting — but they never served a day in prison…Read More

Edgar Ray Killen seeks new trial for 1964 civil rights worker murders

admin — Wed, 13 Feb 2013 19:15:32 +0000

Edgar Ray Killen has until Jan. 8 to file documents with a federals appeal court to support claims he deserves a new trial in the 1964 deaths of three civil rights workers.

U.S. District Judge Henry Wingate on Nov. 14 denied Killen’s request to pursue an appeal. Wingate ruled that Killen failed to prove he was denied constitutional rights in his trial.