THE

OF THE

By TOM MORRIS

28-year-old Black minis-
ter, eight Black teen-ag-
ers and a white mother
of two today face a total
of 282 years in prison in
“the port city of Wilming-
ton on the eastern coast
of North Carolina. | ;

The Wilmington Ten are vic-
tims of a massive racist frame-
up. Technically, their “crime” Is
burning a grocery store and con-
spiring to attack firemen and
policemen. In fact, their real
crime is to have been part of a
massive movement that develop-
ed acress North Carolina in the
early 1970s | to demand justice
and equal education for Black
eae were arrested after the
“Siege of Wilmington” in 1971—
a four day armed attack by rac-
ist vigilants and Wilmington
police on Black youths who had
barricaded themselves in a
church for self-defence. They
were among the victims of a
now revealed national plot to de-
stroy the movement for Black
liberation, to discredit and jail
its leaders. This, as Watergate
exposed, was a federally-organ-
ized campaign, a crackdown or-
ganized at the highest levels.

The attempted frame-up of
Angela Davis, the murder of
Black Panther Party leaders, at-
‘tacks on the anti-war movement
— all orchestrated by the men
-who ran the government were
part of this massive country-
wide effort to smash the rising
protest.

The crackdown. was especial-
ly fierce in North Carolina with
full coopetation from state and
local officials, The Wilmington
Ten are among scores of activ-
ists rounded up, brought to
court on flimsy charges and
jailed. North Carolina, which
has a long record of militant
labor history and many sacri-
fices, once again becomes the
focus of the struggle for justice.

AN OPEN SHOP STATE

In the 1940s the state was the
scene of massive drive to organ-
ize the major industries of tex-
tile, tobacco and furniture. It is
the centre of monopoly control

EACING
282

YEARS

IN JAIL

FRAME-UP
WILMINGTON 10 |

of these three industries and, by
the end of World War Two,
union organization had brought
protection to a higher percent-
age of workers than any other
Southern state.

But all hell broke loose in the
1950s when the corporations, to-
gether with the Eisenhower gov-
ernment and McCarthy hysteria,
launched an all-out drive to
smash the organized labor move-
ment. The Taft-Hartley Law, a
state “right-to-work” law, rac-
ism, anti - communism — the
works were used to destroy the
unity and fighting ability of
labor and the people’s move-
ments. No holds were barred as
the textile and tobacco magnates
used police, the National Guard,
the Ku Klux Klan, stool-pigeons
and under-cover agents to smash
unions and bring back the open
shop. More that 200 union mem-
bers were arrested — some
sentenced to savage nine and 10
year terms.

Result: from the state with
the highest wages in the South
in the 1940s, today North Caro-
lina has the lowest wages in the
United States. It is the least
unionized state in the country—
only 7% organized — but ranks
second in percentage of people
who work in factories.

RACISM RIGHT AT HOME

It is a blatently racist state
where every reactionary organi-
zation finds a home. The KKK
boasts a large membership, as
do the John Birch Society and
American Nazi Party. It is also

home for a_ militantly racist.

group called Rights of White
People,

Not coincidentally, North Ca-
rolina is also home for the larg-
est U.S. Marine, Army and Coast
Guard bases which are training
centres for U.S. “counter-insur-
gency” forces in Asia, Africa
and Latin America. Every con-
gressional representative and
both U.S. senators support the
U.S. military budget, all U.S.

foreign aggression and oppose .

detente. Alexander Solzhenitsyn
is even being proposed for U.S.
citizenship by North Carolina
senator Jesse Helms.

The “Siege of Wilmington” is

not isolated from this back-
ground. Just as the companies,
the racist, local and state offi-
cials used force and frame-up to
smash the movements in the
1950s and 60s, so they tried
again in the early 1970s.

WHO ARE THE
"WILMINGTON TEN’?

‘Rev. Ben Chavis faces the
longest sentence, 34 years. A
North Carolina native, he be-
came a civil rights activist at 15.
He was a student leader, union
organizer and widely-respected
fighter for human rights. Today,
a minister for the United Church

of Christ, Chavis is also a na- .

tional officer for the National
Alliance Against Racist and Poli-
tical Repression.

The eight Black young people
(all between 18 and 20) are
Marvin Patrick, Connie Tindell
and Jerry Jacobs, who received
sentences of 31 years each; and
James McCoy, Reginald Epps,
Wayne Moore, Joe Wright and
William Vereen who got 29
years each. All were student
leaders.

The tenth Wilmington defend-
ant is Ann Shepard, 34, a com-
munity volunteer worker on in-
ner-city problems and one of the
few whites to side completely
with the Black liberation move-

ment. Her sentence is 10 years.
All Ten served several months
before being freed on $400,000
bail pending appeals. The North
Carolina Appeals court in 1974

upheld the sentences, brought.

down in 1972, and today they
await the decision of the U.S.
Supreme Court which may -de-
cide to hear the case as early as
October.

It was around injustice in the
schools that the Black liberation
movement crystalized in ‘Wil-
mington in February 1971. Stu-
dents drew up demands — fairer
enforcement of discipline, more
Black teachers, a Black student’s
union, firing of racist teachers
and administrators. School. offi-
cials refused to meet them and a
boycott was called.

THE MOVEMENT IS BORN

Adults organized in support of
the students and a mass move-
ment was. born. Thousands

*marched in the city and, at the

request of the Wilmington
movement, the Rev. Ben Chavis
came to the city to help. Regular
rallies were held at the Gregory
Congregational United Church
of Christ in the Black commun-
ity.

As police sat by, ~Klansmen
and cther vigilantes flocked into
the city. Fully armed, they cir-
cled the church in trucks and
telephoned bomb. threats. Police
fired on a group Of young Blacks
approaching the church. Those
inside urged the city to impose
a curfew against the vigilantes,
an appeal that was turned down.

In desperation, the students
and their supporters placed bar-
ricades around the building and,
fcr four days, there was a literal
siege. Klansmen fired shots. As
Steve Mitchell, a 17-year-old
Black youth attempted to leave
the church he was shot by po-
lice, dragged off and arrived dead
at hospital. A white man drove
his truck into the barricades and
was killed in the intense cross-
fire. A block away a grocery
store was burned. :

At that point the National
Guard stormed the church. They
found it empty — evacuated by
the students and their support-
ers. A series of criminal charges
followed against Black activists.

Chavis was the tz
of these. He spent
1972 in prison and
criminal charges

the Wilmington fi
— arson and con
tack firemen and p
is enough to put

34 years in North
torious prison sys

NORTH CARC
"JUSTICE"

The trial contin
ery of justice.

Defence attorn
site moved to r
County, also a Kl
but 50% Black. Ir
jury of 10 Blacks <
was chosen, and |
took sick. The t
poned until Sep
which time the p
a jury of 10 wt
Blacks.

The only evider
Ten was given |
men, themselves fi
on sentences, on
mental patient.
General Morgan, |
ator) sent an ass
prosecute. Morga
with the judge du

The jury was “«
sentenced the de
total of 282 years.
lic knowledge tha:
inals were in hig
Washington and
ments — and cour
that cooperated.
tims still face |
North Carolina a
United States pec
izing to demand
dropped.

An internationg
being sought as
preme Court con
peal. You can he!
tice for these fre
by writing to Ri
Attorney General
Raleigh, North Ca

Sa

Materials for tl
supplied by the N;
Against Racist &
pressicn, New Y
RPR Kentucky O
mittee; and the Cc
USA.

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—NOVEMBE