Wilmington 10

The Wilmington 10 connection

ryanteaguebeckwith — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 10:16:22 -0500

Jack Betts points out another Wilmington 10 connection.

In a post on This Old State, the Charlotte Observer editor writes that Rep. Thomas Wright's attorney has a connection to Wright's older brother's conviction in a politically charged case from the 1970s.

And by the way: Yes, Prof. Joyner is the same lawyer who did much of the work 30 years ago on the case of the Wilmington 10, where he represented Rep. Wright’s brother Joe, who was falsely accused and sent to prison on charges of firebombing a grocery store in Wilmington in 1971. Courts later overturned his conviction.

Wright has said that the emotional effects of the case on his family were "horrendous."

Betts adds that Joyner was also a vice chairman of the Wilmington Race Riot Commission, which looked into the legislature and state newspaper's role in a racially motivated 1898 coup.

Thomas Wright's older brother

ryanteaguebeckwith — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 08:47:07 -0500

Rep. Thomas Wright's older brother spent four and a half years in prison for a crime he didn't commit.

William "Joe" Wright II was one of the Wilmington 10, nine black men and a white woman arrested after violence broke out during protests of unequal treatment in school integration.

He and the others were convicted of firebombing a downtown grocery store and shooting at emergency workers, but key witnesses later recanted. Amnesty International once called the group "political prisoners."

In 2006, Thomas Wright told the Wilmington Star-News the memory was "still pretty touchy."

"The emotional, psychological and social impact and effect on my family was horrendous," he said. "My parents were looked upon in a jaundice kind of way by folks who were not friends of the family. People thought they raised a bad seed. My parents in some degree were ostracized."

In 1980, a federal appeals court judge overturned the convictions. Joe Wright died in 1990.

Why hasn't Wright resigned?

ryanteaguebeckwith — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 08:16:23 -0500

Why hasn't Rep. Thomas Wright resigned?

The Wilmington Democrat already faces criminal charges, multiple calls for his resignation and ethics hearings that could lead to his expulsion, so why is he staying?

One theory is that Wright, a self-employed EMS consultant, needs the money from his legislative pay. The Associated Press' Gary Robertson puts forward another today:

Wright's brother was one of the ''Wilmington 10,'' who were convicted of conspiracy to commit arson and to commit assault after a race riot in 1971. Label by many as political prisoners, the 10 were later were freed after a federal appeals court overturned their convictions.

Of course, Jim Black said his criminal cases were political too.