"Let Justice Be Done Though The Heavens May Fall!!!"
W.E. A.L.L. B.E. Radio: The Official Scottsboro Boys Pardon & Exoneration Ceremony @ The Scottsboro Boys Museum & Cultural Center 4/19/2013
About the radio show/podcast:
This is the historic Scottsboro Boys Pardon & Exoneration Ceremony that took place on 4/19/2013 in its entirety along with interviews I did with Bro. Clarence Norris Jr., the son of the last living Scottsboro Boy and the only one to be actually pardoned during his lifetime, Clarence Norris Sr. and Dr. Kwando M. Kinshasa a leading expert on the Scottsboro Boys and a friend of the late Clarence Norris, Sr....Also featuring the music of Lead Belly (The Scottsboro Boys), United Front, Brothas Keepa' & FreedomWriter PreciseScience...Share with your networks...Also featured in the ceremony are Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley, State Rep. Laura Hall, State Sen. Arthur Orr, Tony Award winning producer Catherine Schreiber, Scottsboro Boys Museum & Cultural Center founder Shelia Washington and the music of Franklin McDaniel…One ♥!!!
This is the historic Scottsboro Boys Pardon & Exoneration Ceremony that took place on 4/19/2013 in its entirety along with interviews I did with Bro. Clarence Norris Jr., the son of the last living Scottsboro Boy and the only one to be actually pardoned during his lifetime, Clarence Norris Sr. and Dr. Kwando M. Kinshasa a leading expert on the Scottsboro Boys and a friend of the late Clarence Norris, Sr....Also featuring the music of Lead Belly (The Scottsboro Boys), United Front, Brothas Keepa' & FreedomWriter PreciseScience...Share with your networks...Also featured in the ceremony are Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley, State Rep. Laura Hall, State Sen. Arthur Orr, Tony Award winning producer Catherine Schreiber, Scottsboro Boys Museum & Cultural Center founder Shelia Washington and the music of Franklin McDaniel…One ♥!!!
W.E. A.L.L. B.E. TV:
The Official Scottsboro Boys Pardon & Exoneration Ceremony @ The Scottsboro Boys Museum & Cultural Center 4/19/2013
http://youtu.be/cP5rNOSptc8
http://youtu.be/cP5rNOSptc8
About video:
This is the historic Scottsboro Boys Pardon & Exoneration Ceremony that took place on 4/19/2013 in its entirety…Featured in the ceremony are Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley, State Rep. Laura Hall, State Sen. Arthur Orr, Tony Award winning producer Catherine Schreiber, Scottsboro Boys Museum & Cultural Center founder Shelia Washington and the music of Franklin McDaniel…One ♥!!!
This is the historic Scottsboro Boys Pardon & Exoneration Ceremony that took place on 4/19/2013 in its entirety…Featured in the ceremony are Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley, State Rep. Laura Hall, State Sen. Arthur Orr, Tony Award winning producer Catherine Schreiber, Scottsboro Boys Museum & Cultural Center founder Shelia Washington and the music of Franklin McDaniel…One ♥!!!
Bro.Clarence Norris, Son of Scottsboro Boy Speaks Out on The Scottsboro Boys' Pardon & Exoneration 4/19/2013
Dr. Kwando M. Kinshasa on The Scottsboro Boys' Pardon and Exoneration. (4/19/2013)
Never Too Late But Still Bittersweet: The Official Exoneration & Pardon of The Scottsboro Boys
"The lesson to black people, to my children, to everybody, is that you should always fight for your rights, even if it cost you your life. Stand up for your rights, even if it kills you. That's all that life consists of." ~Clarence Norris, Sr., The Last Of The Scottsboro Boys, on his pardon by Alabama Gov. George Wallace in 1976
Bro. Ron aka r2c2h2 tha artivist with Sis. Shelia Washington, the visionary behind the Scottsboro Boys Museum & Cultural Center and the main advocate for the Scottsboro Boys (9) Official Pardon and Exoneration
On April 19, 2013, W.E. A.L.L. B.E. News was there to document ‘history on history’ as we recorded Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley signing the official pardon and exoneration of the Scottsboro Boys also known as the Scottsboro 9…The event took place at the Scottsboro Boys Museum & Cultural Center which was the brainchild of the resilient visionary Shelia Washington who has been arguably the biggest advocate for the Scottsboro Boys and their exoneration since she was a teenager growing up in Scottsboro…This day was 82 years in the making…And make no mistake about it these were not men but they were boys…
On April 19, 2013, W.E. A.L.L. B.E. News was there to document ‘history on history’ as we recorded Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley signing the official pardon and exoneration of the Scottsboro Boys also known as the Scottsboro 9…The event took place at the Scottsboro Boys Museum & Cultural Center which was the brainchild of the resilient visionary Shelia Washington who has been arguably the biggest advocate for the Scottsboro Boys and their exoneration since she was a teenager growing up in Scottsboro…This day was 82 years in the making…And make no mistake about it these were not men but they were boys…
In March 1931, 9 Black boys, ranging in age from 13 to 19, in Great Depression Era America were riding the rails from Chattanooga, TN, to Memphis, TN, looking for employment in order to support themselves and their families…Unfortunately, they ended up finding trouble, more trouble than even their worst nightmares probably could ever conjure…Some of the Black boys ended up getting in a fight with a gang of white boys (the white boys by all accounts initiated the confrontation) on the train, handily defeated them, and threw them off the train…However, little did they know that the skirmish was only the beginning of their problems…
Some of the white boys alerted other white folks as to what happened to them on the train…The Black boys were then pulled off the train by white men in Paint Rock, Alabama, after being accused by two white women on the train, Ruby Bates and Victoria Price, of rape…The two white women were well known prostitutes and lied about being raped in order to avoid vagrancy and prostitution charges under The Mann Act which could have led to jail time…Their little white lie ended up destroying the lives of these young Black boys as well as left behind psychological scars and trauma that still effect their families to this day…
The boys were then taken to jail in Scottsboro, Alabama, where they were almost lynched by a mob of angry white men…Fortunately, the sheriff did not give in to the mob vigilante justice mentality and got the governor to send in the National Guard for reinforcements…During their first trials, all 9 boys were found guilty and with the exception of Roy Wright, the youngest, were sentenced to death in the electric chair… The Scottsboro Boys plight ended up becoming a landmark case in U.S. Judicial history and also ended up becoming the catalyst and foundation for what would later be known as the modern American Civil Rights Movement…
"My name is Clarence Norris, one of the Scottsboro Boys. I was arrested in Alabama in 1931 and sentenced to the electric chair three times. The governor commuted my sentence to life in prison. I was released on parole twice, once in 1944, and I broke my parole and went back to prison until I got out in 1946. I broke my parole again and I have been free ever since. I want to know if Alabama still wants me." ~Clarence Norris explaining the reason for his call to Alabama Governor George Wallace, 1973
Clarence Norris, Sr. was the only Scottsboro Boy pardoned during his lifetime…Although Norris receiving his pardon is indeed inspiring and triumphant If you read about the stories of how these boys were forced to become men early and brutally it will make even the most hardened skeptic shed at least a tear…For example, the boys were brutally beaten on a regular basis by sadistic prison guards and fellow prisoners…Ozie Powell was shot in a head by a police man which caused him permanent brain damage…On several occasions Haywood Patterson was stabbed multiple times by prisoners and was even marked for death by prison guards…Everything you can think of as it pertains to prison life that you have gotten from pop culture and mass media happened and even worse…Please check out the resources listed below to find out more…
"If I have to spend more than one or two years longer, I just as well spend the rest of my life. If I was an old man perhaps I wouldn't mind it so much but that's what's against me; I'm young and innocent of the crime…I was put in solitary confinement in January 1936 and got fresh air once out of the thirteen months and that was last Friday. Some may count it a year but I count it thirteen months."~Roy Wright at age 19, January 1937
Although I do agree with Gov. Robert Bentley that it is never too late to do the right thing I must say that this victory came at too high of a cost, really almost Pyrrhic…These boys were brutalized by the system of White Supremacy to the extreme degree…They were victimized beyond any ‘reasonable’ monetary compensation because they were robbed of their youth and hopes which are indeed priceless …With that said it is also sickening for me to know that these men who are now all dead won’t ever be compensated financially at all for their hardships let alone their surviving families and yet Alabama, Mississippi and other places with rich civil rights movement history stand to make or are making millions of dollars in tourism off these horror stories…That to me a blood money and blood relatives should have a share in it…
Whether it's The Scottsboro 9, The Central Park 5, Liberty City 7, or the Jena 6 it has been proven time again that Black Males are the ultimate Prison Bitches of the Amerikkkan Judicial System…With that said never forget the sacrifices of those who came before…In closing let us take this history lesson learned and use it today as a foundation to build a better tomorrow…One heart.
~Bro. Ron aka r2c2h2 tha artivist for W.E. A.L.L. B.E. News 5/11/2013
P.S.
Check out pics by W.E. A.L.L. B.E. News from historic day at the following link:
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10100187590693572.1073741828.3111521&type=1&l=31f0e4134e
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10100187590693572.1073741828.3111521&type=1&l=31f0e4134e
More coverage of Scottsboro Boys Exoneration & Pardon Ceremony:
Some great resources to find out more about The Scottsboro Boys:
No comments:
Post a Comment