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‘Still fighting that same fight’

OPINIONThis piece expresses the views of its author(s), separate from those of this publication.
Story and art by Mike Thompson, Paste BN

DAVID WILLIAMSON JR. HAD BARELY SAT DOWN AT THE LUNCH COUNTER WHEN A POLICE OFFICER SPUN HIM AROUND ON HIS STOOL, DRAGGED HIM FROM HIS SEAT AND HERDED HIM OUT THE BACK DOOR OF McCRORY’S FIVE & DIME IN ROCK HILL, SOUTH CAROLINA...
 
THE OFFICER THEN LED THE 18-YEAR-OLD ACROSS THE ALLEY AND INTO JAIL.
WILLIAMSON WAS AMONG 10 YOUNG AFRICAN AMERICAN MEN, NINE OF WHOM ATTENDED FRIENDSHIP JUNIOR. COLLEGE, ARRESTED ON JAN. 31, 1961, FOR REFUSING TO LEAVE THEIR SEATS AT A SEGREGATED LUNCH COUNTER.

“A WAVE COME THROUGH THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT AND WE WANTED TO BE A PART OF WHAT WAS GOING ON…WE ONLY DID IT BECAUSE WE WANTED TO MAKE A CHANGE, MAKE A DIFFERENCE. AND BY SITTING DOWN WE COULD DO THAT.”

FOR THEIR ACTS OF CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE, WILLIAMSON AND THE OTHERS WERE CHARGED WITH TRESPASSING AND SENTENCED TO A $100 FINE, OR 30 DAYS IN JAIL. NINE OF 10 CHOSE JAIL.
THE “FRIENDSHIP NINE,” AS THEY CAME TO BE KNOWN, WERE THE FIRST PROTESTERS TO EMPLOY A STRATEGY CALLED “JAIL, NO BAIL” THAT WAS ADOPTED BY CIVIL RIGHTs PROTESTERS ACROSS THE COUNTRY.

DAVID WILLIAMSON JR.
...SLAMMING HIM INTO THE back DOOR ON THE WAY OUT. 
“THEY WERE LOOKING FOR $1,000 THAT WOULD GO INTO THEIR POCKET, BUT INSTEAD WE REVERSED IT, AND THEY HAD TO TAKE CARE OF US FOR THE NEXT 30 DAYS.” 

PROTESTERS HOPED THAT THE FINANCIAL BURDEN WOULD HELP FORCE AN END TO SEGREGATION.

THE NINE PROTESTERS WERE SHIPPED TO THE NOTORIOUS YORK COUNTY PRISON FARM, WHERE THEY ENDURED LONG DAYS OF HARD LABOR WITH NO TIME FOR RECREATION. 

AFTER 28 DAYS, THE FRIENDSHIP NINE WERE RELEASED. SINCE HE HAD A RECORD AND WAS BRANDED a “TROUBLEMAKER,” WILLIAMSON
COULDN’T FIND WORK, SO HE HAD TO LEAVE ROCK HILL. 

“I THINK I WAS MORE AFRAID AFTER I GOT OUT."
WILLIAMSON IS BOTHERED BY THE RECENT ATTACKS ON CIVIL RIGHTS TAKING PLACE ACROSS THE UNITED STATES AND ENCOURAGES YOUNG PEOPLE TO FOLLOW HIS GENERATION’S LEAD: VOTE AND TAKE A STAND. 
"IT SEEMS LIKE WE’RE STILL FIGHTING THAT SAME FIGHT THAT WE FOUGHT YEARS AGO.”

“IT SEEMS LIKE WE GOT TO WIN THIS WAR ALL OVER AGAIN…WE GOT TO STAY IN THE FIGHT AND BEAT THE SYSTEM AND BE WILLING TO TAKE IT ON THE CHIN IF WE HAVE TO.” 
“AND YOU ALWAYS DO IT NONVIOLENT.”
“WHEN WE FOUGHT, WE FOUGHT FOR EVERYBODY. THAT’S WHAT YOU’RE SUPPOSED TO BE FIGHTING FOR, THE BENEFIT OF MANKIND. NOT ME KIND, MANKIND.”
*Some illustrations based on historical photographs