Buffalo Soldiers hanged after 1917 race riot should be pardoned, advocates say
FORT WORTH, Texas - In 1917, 118 black soldiers were charged with murder, mutiny, aggravated assault and disobeying orders after a race riot in Houston. Nineteen of the soldiers were eventually hanged.
More than 100 years later, Priscilla Graham, a Houston author and historian, is among those seeking to have all the soldiers pardoned on the basis that their arrests and trials were unjust.
Graham has written to President Donald Trump and before him President Barack Obama asking for the pardons but has yet to receive a reply from the White House.
Actor James McEachin, the author of a fictionalized account of the trial of the soldiers titled "Farewell to the Mockingbirds," said he has tried to bring attention to the injustices that followed the riot and is also pushing the government to pardon those who were executed.
McEachin and Kyev Tatum, pastor of New Mount Rose Baptist Church in Fort Worth, were in Washington, D.C. on Nov. 10 and Nov. 11, lobbying for the pardons during the Centennial Commemoration of Veterans Day.
McEachin served in the 24th Infantry Regiment, the same Army unit in which the executed men served. They are known as Buffalo Soldiers. McEachin said he cannot let go of what he believes is a calling to right a wrong.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/buffalo-soldiers-hanged-after-1917-race-riot-should-be-pardoned-advocates-say/ar-BBPWnKC?li=BBnb7Kz
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