Friendship Nine: les activistes disculpés 43 ans plus tard!!!

Décision historique et hautement symbolique en Caroline du Sud alors qu'on a disculpé les "Frienship nine" pour des accusations portées en 1961. Ce groupe de neufs individus avait décidé de protester contre la ségrégation raciale en occupant des sièges d'un comptoir de restauration à Rock Hill en Caroline du Sud. Ils répétaient ainsi un geste posé pour la première fois en 1960 dans un comptoir du magasin Woolworth en Caroline du Nord (photo du haut). La pratique du "sit-in" est ainsi devenue un moyen pacifique de lutter contre la ségrégation et on va y recourir très souvent dans les semaines et les années qui vont suivre. La fille de Martin Luther King a salué la décision rendue aujourd'hui. Le juge qui a disculpé les accusés est le neveu du juge qui les avait condamnés à l'époque.

 "He went on to say, "The record is abundantly clear: There's only one reason these men were arrested. There was only one reason that they were charged and convicted for trespassing, and that is because they were black. This could not happen today. It was wrong then. It was wrong today. These convictions, if they are allowed to stand, would be an offense to justice, and they must be vacated."

 Brackett closed by calling the men "my heroes" and extended his appreciation for their bravery: "Our community here and our country is a better place because of what y'all did. ... It's a better place for me, and it's a better place for my daughter, and for that, I owe you my thanks."

When Circuit Court Judge John C. Hayes III, the nephew of the judge who sentenced these largely unsung civil rights heroes almost 5½ decades ago, announced that the convictions and sentences were officially vacated, the 250 people in the courtroom broke into a 20-second standing ovation. Another 250 spectators looked on in two overflow rooms within the courthouse."

   http://www.cnn.com/2015/01/28/us/south-carolina-friendship-nine-sit-in-convictions-vacated/index.html