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CHARLESTON'S LEGACY         O'DELL
but Judge Singletary did issue an injunction limiting the number of pickets to "ten people picketing at a time - twenty yards apart." There were also other provisions of the injunction that were vaguely worded. 
The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled against such injunctions declaring that they cannot be enforced by the police. Nevertheless, the injunction was enforced; more than 150 were arrested during the early weeks of the strike for violating this illegal injunction. The courts set bond for those arrested at $500 for the first offense, $1500 for the second offense, and $5000 for the third. The union had little chance to secure relief in Federal Court because the presiding judge at the time was Strom Thurmond's former law partner, Judge Charles E. Simons. Judge Simons is one of several segregationist judges appointed to the Federal Courts in the South by the Kennedy Administration. 
  Following nationwide April 4 activities commemorating the first anniversary of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., SCLC turned its attention to helping the Charleston hospital workers. Much of the national focus which had been built up around April 4 now shifted to Charleston as the Reverend Ralph David Abernathy and other members of his staff entered into the struggle. One of the immediate by-products of their presence was a sharp decline in the kind of night-riding terrorism which some of the hospital workers had been experiencing. "It was really rough here those early weeks of the strike," commented Henry Nicholas, one of the top leaders of the union who had been sent in from New York to assist the local organization. His room had been fire-bombed the night before the Charleston County Hospital workers went on strike. "We were glad to see Reverend Abernathy and the others come in here because it certainly eased the pressure on us. Up to that time the workers had to organize security for the Union Hall and take other measures to guarantee the safety of the union leaders."
  The SCLC staff, of course, brought to the Charleston situation their rich experience in organizing civil rights demonstrations-with particular talents in organizing the black community in support actions. Carl Farris, James Orange, Stoney Cooks and others of the Field Staff organized daily marches and toured the sea islands around Charleston, organizing for mass meetings to rally the community to support the hospital workers. In press conferences, television appearances and mass meetings in many parts of the country, the Reverend Andrew Young brought the issues of the Charleston strike to a large nationwide audience with impressive clarity. 

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---------- Reopened for Editing 2024-02-13 15:49:22