Correspondence from Edwards (Alabama Coalition Against Hunger) to the Editors of the Marion Messenger

    A,.ABAMA Coanrrrcllu AnarNar H,NBEEI
P.O. BOX 409, AI'BUBI{, ALITBAIIA $6E:}O (205)821€336

January 22, 1982

Editors, The Advertiser and Journal:

0n Saturday, January 16r your papers reprinted an editoria'l from the I'larion
Messenger criticizinq civil rights leaders and groups for defending Mrs. Maggie
Bozeman and Mrs. Julia tlilder. The tone of the editorial was that because civil
right groups went through so much tribulation in securinq the right to vote that
these groups should not be supporting these two woren now that they have been
convicted and turned down in their appea'ls process.

The editorial has a sirplistic appeal to it for anyone not familiar with
the details of the case or the original trial. Possib'ly a discussion of some of
these detai'ls might help readers to understand why civil rights organizations,
as well as my own organization, feel so strongly that justice has not yet been
served in the case of Maggie Bozeman and Ju'lia l'lilder.

First, it needs to be understood that the two worren vrere convicted on the
strength of testimony from only one witness, a woman who had voted absentee and
subsequently attempted to vote on election day. This was an elderly woman,
possib'ly very confused about events, who has subsequently died. The extenuating
circumstances re'lating to the casting of the absentee ballot for th'is voter
revealed that this ba1lot was delivered to Mrs. l,lilder by a third party,
indicating that severa'l people could have filled out the ba'llot.

All of the other twelve witness called by the state testjfied that they
had indeed been aware that they had cast absentee ballots. None of them
attempted to vote on election day. So much for the oft - procla'imed contention
that these women "stole" 39 votes.

The editorial also failed to rnention that Mrs. Bozeman and Mrs. Hilder were
convicted by an all white jury in the circuit court in Carrollton. This is a
county which has a 40% black population and which, in my experiences there over
twelve years, is extrennly racially polarized and has no black elected officials
at the county level.

The question must be asked, vrere they tried by a jury of their peers?

Since 1966 there have been organized carpaigns to cast absentee ballots in
all of the counties where black candidates were'in potentia'l1y close races with
whites. Frorn 1966 thru 1972 these carnpaigns were exclusively the province of
whites with results that in counties such as Greene, Ha'le, Wilcox, Pemy and
Lowndes the count of absentee votes would routinely show 200 or more absentee
votes cast for white candidates compared to ten or fifteen for black candidates.



) -2-

From 1974 through 1980 this trend contlnued with the change being that
black political organizations began developing well organlzed absentee
ballot canpaigns. This reached a peak in last year's election in l.lilcox County
in which more than 700 absentee ballots were cast. Overlooked is the fact
that large numbers of students, military personnel and the aged have no way to
vote except thru the absentee process.

It seems to nre that we need to do more than always bemoan the low voting
turnouts and beg'in to support those who work to encourage voting.

An objective review of this case indicates to ne that Mrs. Bozeman and
Mrs. Wilder may have conmitted sorne technical errors in not having a notary
public present for the actual signing of the absentee ballots. This does not
equate vote fraud and, in fact, they may not be any more responsible for this
than several other persons.

It is the inescapable conclusion that Mrs. Bozeman and Mrs. l.,ilder are
rea'l1y victims of a "selective prosecution" campa'ign that began when they
first picked up 30 absentee ballots from the circuit clerk's office and that
office called the district attorney's office.

The reason for this is revealed in the fol'lowing quote from a wh'ite
Pickens County resident who told sorneone from Bjrmingham: "You don't understand
our situation here. Those women came with their signs to every nreetinq we had.
They never let us have a nreetinq in peace. We had to do sonething."

Finally, it was deeply d'isappointing that the editorial misquoted Dr.
Lowery, the National President of the Southern Christ'ian Leadersh'ip Conference,
so completely. The quote in the editorial read, "If these wornen go to jail,
iustjce will be lynched... if these women go to jail because they are black
and God made them black, then God's to be 1ynched."

The actual quote (as taped) was s'imilar to the above except with the
totally different fianl sentence, "...'if these women go to jail because they
are black and God made them black, then God is being 1ynched."

It is unfortunate
people to erroneously
Mrs. Bozeman and Mrs.
wi I 1 be overturned as
acti ons.

that the reprinted editorial may have caused so many
believe that justjce has been rendered in the cases of
W'i I der. I am conf ident that eventual ly thei r conv'icti ons
there appears to be cons'iderable grounds for future legal

' 
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Bi l'l Edwards
Al abama Coal i ti on Aga'inst Hunger