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April 10–16, 2014
Lumina News — Your Coastal Community Newspaper since May 2002
Documentary honors, inspires By Miriah Hamrick Staff Writer
Hundreds gathered at 9:30 a.m. on a Saturday to revisit a forgotten slice of local history. “Pardons of Innocence: The Wilmington Ten” premiered at University of North Carolina Wilmington’s Kenan Auditorium on April 5. The documentary was written, produced and directed by Cash Michaels of The Wilmington Journal, with support by the National Newspaper Publishers Association. The film explores racial tensions in Wilmington that led to false convictions of arson and conspiracy for eight black high school students, a white anti-poverty worker and an activist from Oxford, N.C., in 1971. Following the 1969–70 integration of New Hanover County Schools, black students felt scorned by new classmates and teachers. Fights between white and black students were common,
resulting in suspensions and arrests for black students. In January 1971, a group of high school students planned a boycott to voice complaints with help from Rev. Benjamin Chavis, an established young activist from Oxford. When a grocery store near the students’ headquarters at Gregory Congregational Church, located on Nun Street, was firebombed on Feb. 6, 1971, violence engulfed the city. Based on testimony of three men who falsely claimed to be in the church that night, Chavis and nine others associated with the boycott were arrested. No evidence beyond the testimonies was provided, yet the Wilmington Ten were convicted and sentenced to a combined 282 years in prison. A few years after the trial, all three witnesses recanted. Despite national attention, including an Amnesty International attempt to repeal the case, the Wilmington Ten were not cleared of the crimes until Gov. Beverly Perdue issued
Staff photo by Emmy Errante
Rev. Benjamin Chavis, Jr. speaks to the audience after the screening of “Pardons of Innocence: The Wilmington Ten” at the University of North Carolina Wilmington’s Kenan Auditorium Saturday, April 5.
Staff photo by Emmy Errante
North Carolina historian Timothy Tyson, left, shakes hands with the president of Charlotte’s NAACP, Kojo Nantambu, after the screening of “Pardons of Innocence: The Wilmington Ten” at the University of North Carolina Wilmington’s Kenan Auditorium Saturday, April 5.
a pardon in 2012. Members of the audience, including surviving members of the Wilmington Ten, commented and asked questions after the film. Michaels explained the intent of the film, saying it was created to educate young people. New Hanover County Commissioner Jonathan Barfield Jr. questioned how much has changed in county schools. “When you go to one school that has 11 black students and another has 98 percent black students, something is wrong with that picture. We as a community have got to demand what we want and make it happen,” Barfield said. Chavis said the film should be a mandatory part of the curriculum in North Carolina public schools, adding that young people were not the only ones who need to see it.
“Not only do young people need to see this, but some of us need to see it who are not so young but have a bad case of amnesia,”
Chavis said. He said he needed to see the film to be reminded of the continued need for unity.
“This is a step-forward moment in Wilmington, across the state and also in America,” Chavis said. email miriah@luminanews.com
Lollipops from the cops
FEELS LIKE WINTER, BUT
spring is almost here!
As a part of the entertainment, policemen hand out lollipops to guests during the Domestic Violence Fashion Show and Fundraiser at the Hilton Wilmington Riverside Friday, April 4. ~ Emmy Errante
Sherman’s Lagoon
By Jim Toomey
There’s a lagoon called Kapupu near the island of Kapupu in the sunny North Pacific just west of the Elabaob Islands in the Palauan archipelago of Micronesia. Sherman the Shark, his wife, Megan, and a host of other ocean occupants call it home. Occasionally, the hairless beach apes with their so-called civilized human ways try to encroach on the Lagoonies’ tropical paradise. So, there’s bound to be high jinks in this coral-reef heaven...
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