IN MEMORIAM: Memorial Services Set for Wilmington Ten Member Willie Earl Vereen

By Stacy M. Brown, NNPA Newswire Senior National Correspondent@StacyBrownMedia A memorial service for Willie Earl Vereen, a member of the political prisoner group Wilmington Ten, is scheduled for noon on Tuesday, May 28, at the Temple of Truth Light and Life in North Carolina. Vereen died on Saturday, May 25, at the age of 69. A viewing will be held later at John H. Shaw’s Son Funeral Home at 520 Red Cross St. Family members have scheduled a Wednesday funeral. Vereen, who had battled liver cancer and endured years of dialysis, died at 5:30 a.m. while in hospice care. His death marks the passing of another key figure in the fight for racial justice in the 1970s. The Wilmington Ten were a group of civil rights activists wrongfully convicted in 1971 for the firebombing of Mike’s Grocery Store and shooting at firefighters. The group, comprising nine Black men and one white woman, included Wayne Moore, Ann Shepard, James McKoy, Marvin Patrick, Reginald Epps, Jerry Jacobs, Connie Tindall, William Wright, and National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA) President and CEO Dr. Benjamin F. Chavis Jr. Wilmington was a flashpoint for conflict during a time of racial unrest, with violent clashes between Black...