FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 17, 2012
For More Information: Rev. Dr. William J. Barber, II, President, 919-394-8137
Mrs. Amina J. Turner, Executive Director, 919-682-4700
DURHAM - The North Carolina State Conference of the NAACP is releasing a letter petitioning Governor Beverly Perdue to pardon the Wilmington 10. The NC NAACP joined members of the Wilmington 10 and their attorneys for a news conference at the State Capitol on Thursday morning.
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May 17, 2012
Hon. Beverly Eaves Perdue
Governor of North Carolina
20301 Mail Service Center
Raleigh, NC 27699-0301
RE: Petition to Pardon the Wilmington Ten
Dear Governor Perdue:
In September 1972 ten young North Carolinians were tried and convicted of major felonies in New Hanover County. After the dust settled, it turned out their main crime was trying to obey the Law, namely the requirements of the U.S. Constitution and the U.S. Supreme Court to dismantle the separate and unequal school systems of New Hanover County. The young people were called the Wilmington Ten: Ben Chavis, Wayne Moore, Marvin Patrick, Connie Tindall, James McKoy, Willie Vereen, Reginald Epps, Anne Shepard-Turner, William "Joe" Wright, and Jerry Jacobs.
In 1980, after many had served 8 years in prison, the U.S. Court of Appeals ruled they had been victims of outrageous acts of prosecutorial misconduct. Chavez v. State of North Carolina, 637 F.2d 213. In language that has become too familiar to those of us who believe in racial justice in North Carolina, the Appeals Court found: "The prosecution's failure to produce . . . to defense counsel the 'amended' statement and the record of the hospitalization of the state's key witness and the restrictions upon cross-examination of the key witness and another about favorable treatment which might have induced favorable testimony require us to overturn the convictions."
Such gross prosecutorial misconduct is often associated with the trials of poor minorities and civil rights activists. Each time this linkage is validated by higher courts, it widens the breach in our human family. . . it aggravates the hurts of past indignities. Our system does not empower our courts to repair and heal such breaches and wounds. Our constitution, instead, places such acts of human compassion in your hands.
Therefore, on behalf of the North Carolina Conference of 125 adult, college and youth NAACP Branches across the state, I ask you to pardon the Wilmington Ten. "And you shall be called, the repairer of the breach, the restorer of paths to dwell in." Isaiah 58:12.
Yours in the Spirit of Truth and Justice,
Rev. Dr. William J. Barber, II, President
North Carolina State Conference of the NAACP
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Founded in 1909, the NAACP is the nation's oldest and largest civil rights organization. Its members throughout the United States and the world are the premier advocates for civil rights in their communities, conducting voter mobilization and monitoring equal opportunity in the public and private sectors.
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