Breaking the Chain

With the news of the day, I'd like to highlight No Fear For Freedom by Kimberly P. Johnson.  This children's book tells the story of the Friendship Nine who were arrested after a sit-in in 1961 in Rock Hill, South Carolina and left with the option to serve 30 days on a chain gang or pay a $100 fine.  Today (nearly 54 years later), the story gets a happier ending.

“We cannot rewrite history, but we can right history,” said the judge, John C. Hayes III, the chief administrative judge for South Carolina’s 16th Judicial Circuit. “Now, as to the Friendship Nine, is the time and opportunity to do so. Now is the time to recognize that justice is not temporal, but is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow.”

- Richard Fausset, New York Times, January 28, 2015