Scottsboro Defendants Under Guard. Photo-Fair Use for non-profit education and news.
Clarence Norris
(photo-Fair Use for non-profit education and news reporting, source unknown)
In The Name Of The Father
THE LIFE OF THE LAW SERIES
"“A posthumous pardon causes people to think about the next case,” says John Miller, a lawyer and professor at the University of Alabama, who helped write the Scottsboro Boys Act.
Miller was not pleased by all the loopholes, but he says, the Act isn’t simply a symbolic, feel-good moment for Alabama.
“Are we going to [do] better by the next group of people that are brought up on charges when the evidence looks a little thin and when they come from a background that is not like that of the people sitting in the jury box or the prosecution sitting across the courtroom,” questions Miller.
Clarence Norris Jr. was the only family member of the Scottsboro Boys to attend the pardoning. Norris feels responsible for his father’s memory and a lack of resolution. While learning about the case, Norris discovered that in the 1982, his father had petitioned the state of Alabama for reparations — 10,000 dollars in compensation for wrongful incarceration.
“When I found that [my father] had tried and failed, I felt like this is something that I need to finish for him,” Norris explains. “Even though he is not here to benefit from it. I feel like [the state of Alabama] still owes him.”
In Alabama, a wrongful conviction can be awarded $50,000 for every year of prison. So Norris and his sisters hired a lawyer and filed a case against the state of Alabama for $750,000 in reparations. They are the only family of all nine Scottsboro Boys who can be found.
DENIAL OF TRUTH, INJUSTICE, GLORY SEEKERS and MURDER
There is one problem with this article - Ms. Washington did not collect all of the pictures, nor memorabilia, many contributed in building the museum and the multi-cultural foundation. The full truth has not been told about the pardon, there was more that could have been accomplished.
This writer believes the pardon should have been the way and means to establish a Race Relations state schools education program or to increase funding for indigent defense.
Alabama incarcerates minority peoples and the poor many times over the influential and white majority.
Only through education may racial prejudices be overcame that have been taught and encouraged via peer pressure, in families and in the local culture. The state and it's glory seeking politicians have refused to put their money where it counts. Those supporting the pardon have failed to realize that there is a cure for the disease of racism through education. Apparently some are afraid that the cure might change the face of our future for the betterment of our culture.
Then, there is the other story which goes to the very heart and soul of Jackson County Alabama and the injustice of racism and those who make a stand against wrongful conduct and social injustice. The Murder of Sheriff Matt Wann, hopefully Ms. Cleek will revisit that issue in her investigations.
The bottom line for that story is this - Shh, we have secrets and we do not want to tell the truth about our murdered Sheriff..
After research, study of local cuture, and inquiries, I believe Sheriff Wann was murdered because of his not allowing the Scottsboro Defendants to be lynched by the Klan mob. Motive - revenge for foiling the lynching. The lack of prosecution and allowing the escape of the alleged murderer of Sheriff Wann points to a crime which has not been prosecuted. The murder was a conspiracy involving Klan members, other law enforcement along with political officials of the time.
An Ode to a Sheriff from "The Odes" in part,
A story of an Odd Fellow from the heart.
*
The restless wings of time hath brought
the parting moment near.
The bell that tolls the midnight chime,
will knell a glorious day-
The memory of a forgotten time,
shall never fade away.
.
Farewell ye Brothers true and bold!
This day to you shall be.
O'er prejudice and slander old;
The Day of Victory;
And they who barr'd our infant way
Shall cheer our mighty youth,
And own the noble power to-day,
Of Friendship, Love and Truth.
.
The story of Matt Wann is told,
So the "Pale Face" may n'er agin be so bold,
Thus-this story of murder is told.
Poem by Garry Morgan in part and in part from the Odd Fellows, "The Odes".
The poem represents a murder and the lack of prosecution by past elements of our local society which supported the action of the Ku Klux Klan - the "pale face."
Past unresolved criminal acts and racism sets the stage for current cultural exclusion of those who do not agree with status quo political extremism and facilitates threatening behaviors and harassment in today's local culture from political extremists.
It was and is through Federal Law such as the Voting Rights and Civil Rights Acts that racial discrimination was prosecuted. There is an element of political neo-fascist extremists who are attempting to end the advancements of the Civil Rights Movement. Glory seeking does not resolve the age old problems of the Culture War which continues today.
