Staff Writer
The
Friendship Nine, a group of nine African-American men arrested for protesting
against racial segregation in 1961, had their convictions vacated this
Wednesday. The group consisted of eight
college students from Friendship College at Rock Hill and one civil rights
activist. They were charged with
trespassing and given a labor sentence for 30 days after they sat at a
whites-only dining counter. The group’s
arrest was important for the civil rights movement, and the fact that they
chose not to pay bail after their arrest led other civil rights organizers to follow
their lead and actually serve their jail time, easing the financial burden on
protesters. The national attention that
the case received helped start other civil rights protests around the country.
Now,
over half a century later, the judicial system in South Carolina has tried to
make amends. In court, it was decided to
have a new trial for the men and vacate the charges. Of the nine men, one had passed away and one
sent his son in his place. Ernest A.
Finney, Jr., the man who defended the nine 54 years prior, represented them
Wednesday. It was argued that the
charges were based on, “values and beliefs that have since been deemed to
violate the fundamental guarantees of the United States Constitution.”
People
now look at these men as heroes, and they are embraced by their community. The fact that the charges have been vacated
is a symbolic victory for both the men and the state. Kevin Brackett, a prosecutor, apologized to
the men on behalf of the judicial system.
The Judge, John C. Hayes III, was apologetic to the men and was proud of
the acquittal. “We cannot rewrite
history, but we can right history,” said Hayes.
This
moment comes at an appropriate time, as Martin Luther King, Jr. Day was recently
observed and a movie about King and the civil rights movement, the critically
acclaimed Selma, was released this
January.
