The Friendship Nine and the Next Phase of the Struggle

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CNN reports that:

A South Carolina judge on Wednesday threw out the convictions of the Friendship Nine, who were jailed in 1961 after a sit-in protest in Rock Hill, South Carolina, during the civil rights movement. "Today is a victory in race relations in America," said Bernice King, daughter of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., said in a news conference following the ruling. "It is a new day." The prosecutor who pushed for this momentous day, 16th Circuit Solicitor Kevin Brackett of Rock Hill, cited King's father when explaining to CNN on Tuesday why he was motivated to take up the cause of the Friendship Nine: "The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice."

I commend these brothers for their courage and sacrifice. They risked life and limb. They went to jail so that we can be free from segregation and humiliation. They were not simply fighting for the right to eat a particular white owned restaurant. They were not fighting for the right to give their money to their oppressor. They were fighting for basic human dignity and respect.

Those Jim Crow laws were oppressive and degrading. Instead of obeying such unjust laws, civil rights workers such as the Friendship Nine realized that they had a moral duty to defy and disobey those despicable laws. Today, those brothers were vindicated. History has absolved them.

As a result of their work, we can eat wherever we what. The "Whites Only" and "No Coloreds" signs are down. Such progress is commendable. However, today's social justice movement must advance to new heights by emphasizing entrepreneurship.

Instead of giving all of our money to white businesses and other non-black businesses, we must create more black businesses. Ultimately, that is the route towards true independence. It makes no sense for the vast majority of the businesses in our communities to be owned by foreigners and outsiders. Often, we do not even own the soul food restaurants in the black community. That is not integration. That is exploitation and economic disintegration.

As I reflect on the Friendship Nine's struggle, I think about political prisoners such Mumia Abu Jamal who unjustly languish in America's prisons. I think about those Black Panthers who were wrongfully convicted of crimes that they did not commit. Moreover, I think about Assata Shakur who is in asylum in Cuba.

Those sisters and brother fought against the same oppressive system that the Friendship Nine fought against. Like the Friendship Nine, our political prisoners should be exonerated, pardoned and redeemed as well. They are heroes, not villains. They should not be stigmatized for fighting against an unjust system. They should be celebrated.

Free Kelley Williams-Bolar Now!

Thanks Facebook friends for sharing this story.  The Grio reports that:

"Few things in life are as simple as black and white. And it doesn't take a lawyer to understand the theory of mitigating circumstances, which can diminish the severity of a sentence handed down to a defendant. Kelley Williams-Bolar, a black mother living in the projects of Akron, Ohio, and her father Edward L. Williams were convicted last week of felony. She was convicted of fraud, for a very common practice often utilized in many lower income communities: she simply used a relative's address to send her children to a better (read: white) school district. Williams-Bolar was sentenced to ten days in jail, and quickly taken into custody. After her release, she will serve two years probation, and is required to serve eighty hours of community service. The judge's apparent rationale; you break the law, you suffer the consequences, end of discussion."

Due to structural inequality, many African Americans are economic hostages. Since they cannot afford to escape to affluent neighborhoods, they are forced by residency requirements to send their children to inferior, segregated, failing schools in poor inner city communities.  No one should be compelled to send their children to violent, drug infested schools. 

Consequently, the cycle of poverty is perpetuated.  As Malcolm X said, "When you live in a poor neighborhood, you are living in an area where you have to have poor schools. When you have poor schools, you have poor teachers. When you have poor teachers, you get a poor education. When you get a poor education, you are destined to be a poor man and a poor woman the rest of your life."

Quality education should be a civil and human right for all citizens.  The quality of one's education should not be determined by race, income or zip code.  Unjust laws that promote the cycle of poverty must challenged, opposed and abolished.

In some respects, Ms. Williams-Bolar is a modern day Rosa Parks. Like the legendary Rosa Parks, Ms. Williams essentially engaged in an act of civil disobedience to challenge an unjust law.  As Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. wrote in the Letter from the Birmingham Jail, 

"How can you advocate breaking some laws and obeying others?" The answer lies in the fact that there are two types of laws: just and unjust. I would be the first to advocate obeying just laws. One has not only a legal but a moral responsibility to obey just laws. Conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws. I would agree with St. Augustine that "an unjust law is no law at all." 

I encourage all people of goodwill to join the effort to free Kelley Williams-Bolar.  She should be immediately pardoned and released.  Also, her criminal record should be expunged.  Click this link for more information about how you can help.