www.charlesjeromeware.com. " We are here to make a difference. We fight, you win."
For the unfortunate "Scottsboro Boys" Justice delayed is still denied, but at least to some people this delayed justice is still sweet.
Finally, from this unjust and tragic 1931 incident in which 9 young African- American males, ages ranging from 12 to 19, were maliciously and falsely accused of rape of two white females on a train in the northern Alabama area of Scottsboro, all 9 of the defendants have been posthumously vindicated.
" It has taken 82 years to clear the names of the Scottsboro Boys," said Sheila Washington, founder and director of the Scottsboro Boys Museum and Cultural Center. " And it happened today."
After considerable effort and lobbying by a consortium of law professors, lawyers, prosecutors, judges and others, a 3-person panel of the Alabama Board of Pardons and Paroles voted unanimously on Thursday, November 21st, 2013, to issue posthumous pardons to the remaining three Scottsboro Boys who had neither already received a pardon nor had their convictions dropped previously.
It must be cautioned, however, that the criminal justice system is still far from being colorblind.
Sadly and tragically, U. S. prisons are still packed with young black people who have been falsely accused of crimes. The chances today of being jailed for something you did not do are still much greater if your skin color is black or dark.
[ posthumous Pardons In 1931 Scottsboro Boys Rape Cases, CNN, 11-21-2013, by Tom Watkins and Marlena Baldacci]
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