RaceWire
The ColorLines Blog
Posted at 4:59 PM, Aug 12, 2009
It’s about time. The Mayor of Birmingham, Alabama seeks to put a small stitch in wounds left over from the Civil Rights Movement, by issuing a blanket pardon to activists arrested during demonstrations, sit-ins and marches of the era.
In addition to erasing vestigial arrest records, Mayor Larry Langford has also called for refunding the fines imposed on protesters. People can voluntarily apply to get compensation for the fines, which ranged from $10 to $30, according to the Birmingham News. Overall, the pardons and apologies could impact thousands of protesters.
Framing the pardon as a symbolic but important milestone (an earlier state law allows for the expungement of arrest records for nonviolent civil rights protests), Langford said:
Once again the world is watching Birmingham. Only this time they are watching us do the right thing and correct the ills of the past.
In the wake of a shameful historical legacy, the process of reconciliation is a complex dance of looking back and lurching forward.
Full Story: http://www.racewire.org/archives/2009/08/an_overdue_gesture_birmingham.html
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