The Wichita NAACP Blog: Sign the Petition: Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour should free the Scott Sisters

Profile in Courage: Dr. Ronald W Walters

As the President of the Wichita NAACP Youth Council in July of 1958, Dr. Walters led the group as they conducted the first successful student-led sit-in of the Civil Rights movement. Sit-Ins were not an approved tactic of the NAACP in 1958 so when the Branch and Youth council asked for the support of the National Office, they were turned down. It required an extraordinary amount of courage for Ron as the Youth President and Chester I Lewis, the branch President, to press forward over the objections of the National Office. When the sit-in ended in August of that same year, the Dockum drug store on the corner of Broadway and Douglass in Wichita Kansas was integrated - along with the entire Rexall Drug store chain and all its subsidiaries. Following the success of the Dockum Sit-In, the Oklahoma City Branch Youth Council conducted a sit-in that August. From there, the tactic spread throughout the Midwest. In 1960, a group of young men and women from SNCC conducted a sit-in in Greensboro North Carolina which many mistakenly believe to have been the first... Dr. Walters went on to become known throughout the world for his knowledge of African American politics and leadership. He headed the African American Leadership Institute and Scholar Practitioner Program of the University of Maryland, served as Distinguished Leadership Scholar at the James MacGregor Burns Academy of Leadership, and retired as Professor Emeritus of the University of Maryland College Park. Dr. Walters was a dear friend, a supporter, and a mentor, and he will be sorely missed... July 1938 - September 2010

Thursday, September 16, 2010

Sign the Petition: Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour should free the Scott Sisters

Known as the “Scott Sisters”, Jamie and Gladys Scott were convicted in a 1994 armed robbery which yielded $11, a crime in which they have consistently denied any involvement. Both sisters were sentenced to double-life sentences and have remained imprisoned since their convictions, despite the fact that they were convicted primarily on testimony from three teenagers reportedly coerced by the County Sherriff’s office. One of the witnesses has since recanted his statement and acknowledged that the Scott Sisters are innocent.

The Scott sisters did not have the resources to adequately defend themselves in court or to pursue the case through the appellate system [1]. The sisters did not testify at their trial and no one testified on their behalf. They were represented at trial by Firnist Alexander, a local attorney who was disbarred two years later for demonstrating a "lack of diligence" and a failure to communicate with clients.

In a letter to Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour, NAACP National President and CEO Benjamin Jealous has requested a pardon for the Scott Sisters based on several grounds. In addition to the legitimate questions regarding the accuracy of the testimony against the Scott Sisters and the questionable manner in which it was obtained, Jealous citeed the fact that their sentences were excessively severe given the nature of the alleged crime.

“It is a travesty that in the state of Mississippi, the lives of two Black women are valued at little more than 11 dollars,” said Jealous. “From the outset, the measures in which the Scott Sisters were convicted were questionable and pattern themselves after dubious criminal justice trends in Mississippi and nationwide. We intend to pursue justice to the fullest extent for the Scott Sisters, and will continue our push for criminal justice reform throughout America.”

The NAACP also expressed concern over a history of questionable judgments by Marcus Gordon, the judge who presided over the Scott Sisters’ case. In 1964, Judge Gordon granted bail to the KKK murderer of three civil rights workers.

In addition to the pardon, Jealous’ letter asked that Governor Barbour grant a “compassionate medical release” to Jamie Scott in light of her current medical condition. Scott lost renal function in both of her kidneys and cannot survive without a transplant; her sister and several others have agreed to be a donor but the the Department of Corrections has refused to allow any tests to determine donor compatibility.