February 6, 2011
WILMINGTON, N.C. (AP) - It's been 40 years since the violence that led the imprisonment of the Wilmington 10, and its surviving members are looking back.
The seven living members gathered in Chapel Hill this week to reflect. Forty years ago on Sunday, a white-owned grocery store was burned down after a black teenager was shot and killed by a police officer.
Ten activists were convicted of the arson in 1972 and jailed until being set free in 1980. The incident came during a period of racial strife in Wilmington, when black students were boycotting county schools.
Ben Chavis, who later became the national leader of the NAACP, was one of the 10. He says it's time for a formal apology from the state of North Carolina.
(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
