Claudette Colvin had her juvenile record expunged, 66 years after she was arrested for refusing to give her but seat up to a white person.
You may only know about Rosa Parks, as the heroic activist that refused to give up her seat but what you may not know is that Parks made that move in protest of Colvin’s arrest.
In 1955, when Colvin was only 15-years-old she was arrested because she refused to give up her seat to a white person on an Alabama bus.
Nine months later Rosa Parks’ made the news by getting arrested for the same act of ‘civil disobedience‘ in the Jim Crow era.
Now 82-years-old, Colvin’s record has finally been expunged. A Montgomery Country Juvenile Judge Calvin Williams signed the order for the records to be destroyed, including all references to the arrest.
Colvin made an appeal to a judge in Alabama and when Judge Williams read it, he expunged her 66-year-old criminal record.
In an interview with CBS Mornings, the host surprised Colvin by introducing her to the Judge who had expunged her record.
As soon as Judge Williams sat down beside Colvin he said: “On behalf of myself and all of the judges of Montgomery, I offer my apology for the injustice that was perpetrated upon you.”
Yeah, you may want a box of tissues for this one.
FINALLY! After 66 years, Claudette Colvin’s courageous act of civil disobedience against racism and segregation will no longer be a stain on her criminal record.
The moral arc of the universe is long, but it bends towards justice.https://t.co/RFr5jSYBzj
— Joyce Beatty (@RepBeatty) December 16, 2021
Williams was not even alive when Colvin was arrested but he said he benefited from her bravery and conviction.
“I want to thank you for your courage. Your courageous act. I want to, on behalf of myself and all of the judges in Montgomery, offer my apology for an injustice that was perpetrated upon you,” Williams said sitting with Colvin.
“What Miss Colvin did has such great significance. And that’s because it holds such great symbolism,”
“When she did this in 1955, there were no African American judges in Montgomery. And now, I’m one of several African American judges in Montgomery. And so, the remarkable thing is that I sit in a position to look and do something judicious in a judicious way to correct an injustice that was perpetrated against her so long ago that never should have happened. That’s the uniqueness of this whole circumstance. That she stood up for right, and now I’m the beneficiary and byproduct of that and I can correct the wrong that was done to her. That’s the significance of it.”
Colvin had been contacted about the ruling, clearing her name, but she hadn’t yet met Judge Williams, nor had she seen him.
“I’m so glad I’m sitting next to the judge. And he’s coloured,” Colvin said.
“No, it doesn’t matter what colour you are. Righteous is righteous.”
After a touching moment, Williams told Colvin that black children won’t be treated unfairly because of their race anymore.
Williams told Colvin, “You are a hero. To all of us.”
Colvin said clearing her record was important to her for the message it would send to her grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
