CFCC group hosts screening of “Wilmington 10 – Pardons of Innocence”

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) – Five years ago they were acquitted for a crime that shook the Wilmington community in 1971.

Students and community members viewed a screening of “Wilmington Ten Pardons of Innocence.”

“With everything going on in terms of politically the conversations we are having as a country. I think it’s powerful because a lot of the things that I witness in the film it’s almost like nothing has changed, we know certain things have but it’s a conversation that needs to be had,” says Nixon Minority Male Leaders Center program director Travis Corpening.

The screening was hosted by the Nixon Minority Male Leaders Center at CFCC.

The film talks about the racial tensions in Wilmington that led to the fire bombing of a white owned grocery store near the Gregory Congregational Church, known for being the home base of a school system boycott by African American students.

Those with the Leaders Center say sharing it again now with the Wilmington community is timely.

“You had active student who were protesting for a cause. You had local government that was punishing students for speaking out. And how this turned into a huge criminal case that not only is a part of North Carolina history, but a part of American history,” says the film’s producer Cash Michaels.

The film was produced in 2013, The year after North Carolina Governor Beverly Perdue pardoned the ten people who were convicted of the fire bombing and shooting.

The film will also be screened in October at a Cincinnati Film festival.