The Wilmington 10 Incident

During my time in the 82nd Airborne I had a number of wild adventures and experiences. However, one incident that I thought minor when it began, became a big learning experience. It involved a protest rally for The Wilmington 10.

A guy I was working with to try and bring about an enlisted person union (mentioned in a previous blog) asked me one time to go to this protest rally. At the time, I didn't know anything about The Wilmington 10. So, he filled me in.

I took this in 1976, not that long ago

They were these 10 high school kids (nine boys, one girl) who made the “mistake” of being outspoken advocates for civil rights while being black in North Carolina in 1971. Oh, the Klan didn't parade openly in the state anymore, but their racism and violence permeated the state nonetheless. 

Basically, what happened to these kids was that they got arrested for an arson of a local store. At the time of the arson they were in a meeting about how to train for civil rights advocacy. That didn’t matter as the prosecution got three people to accuse them. Turns out later we learned that one of the witnesses was given a mini bike to get him to testify. Plus, later all three recanted their testimony. That came much later after the 10 had served years of their 29-year sentence.

The protest I was going to take part in was in 1976 or 1977 when people were trying to get them freed. President Jimmy Carter was coming to Fayetteville where I was stationed. As my Army buddy Rick and the guy who got me involved (I think his name was Mike, but can't be sure) we’re driving to the protest, he told me he slightly felt bad about this because the reason Carter was coming to town was to attend a wedding of some relative. We needed to try to get attention to the cause though, so this seemed the best way.

The protest was pretty big and vocal. We had tons of signs and banners that were pre-made and we waved them vigorously. We were kept on the sidewalk across from the church by a number of police officers, but they didn’t have but a few barricades. They didn't really need more as we weren't unruly, just loud. 

As we stood there, one policeman walked brazenly down the line of protestors taking our pictures. No doubt to go into some file labeled “commie, pinko agitators” stuck in a file cabinet at HQ. 

One exciting thing about the protest was that I got to see Jimmy Carter's arm. He waved at us through an open window of the limo, apparently realizing we weren't dangerous enough to keep the bullet proof window up.

Another exciting thing was that I spotted a lieutenant from my company hanging out behind the crowd. He was the only black officer in the company (maybe battalion) so I guessed the Army thought he might be better able to fit in. I nudged my buddy Rick and pointed out the LT, so we turned, smiled broadly, and waved at him shouting “Hi LT!” He looked sheepishly at us, waved faintly, then tried to move away. Yeah, we had a good laugh.

This was one of the big lessons I got from this though. I had suspected the Army was spying on me because of my GI right’s advocacy and this proved it. It didn't stop me from doing it, but it did make me a little more nervous.

Rick and Jay at Wilmington 10 protest

The protest didn’t get Jimmy Carter to do anything about The Wilmington 10, but it did give the cause publicity. We made the front page of the paper the next day. Lo and behold, Rick and I had our picture on the story. I thought it was cool, but doubt the Army felt the same way.

 

I will say this positive thing about the Army, they didn't overreact. I think they (or their lawyers) knew that I was protected by the First Amendment as the protest was off base and on my own time and of course, I wore “civies.”

This was the other thing the incident taught me: the media and the police work together. Oh, I doubt it's all the time and a lot has changed from the 70s, but I'm sure it still happens from time to time. You see, there were no other photographers at the protest who could have taken the picture that was in the paper. It was straight on and really close.

Although we didn’t get the result we wanted from the protest I'm sure the publicity helped emboldened others to also take on the cause. Plus, several big organizations eventually got involved (we can't take credit for that) like the ACLU and Amnesty International. Eventually, the kids were released from prison early. For some of them, it took up to 10 years, so it's sad they paid such a big price, even though innocent. After much effort and time, they were eventually pardoned. 

I still often think about that minor incident. Sadly, I don't think the US has changed that much. I mean, just look at all the people gunned down by police for the crime of being black in a racist nation. Yeah, I've blogged about that, a lot, and probably will continue. Now you know about my first experience with government secrecy (the LT spying) and why although I support the media and see them as the Fourth Estate who play an important part in helping us keep an eye on our government, I also know to be cautious about their intentions. 

Ahhh, James Thurber