James Thompson and David Simpson – Children Arrested in the Kissing Case of 1958
This week I am enjoying several days with family in western North Carolina. As I looked over the Racial Justice Calendar for this month, I noticed a particularly disturbing story from 1958 that took place in the western North Carolina town of Monroe. Two Black children, James Thompson age 9 and David Simpson age 7, were arrested and jailed after a white girl kissed them on the cheek and told her parents about it. With their guns drawn, police arrested the unsuspecting boys and put them in jail without allowing them to contact their parents for six days. During that time, they were beaten and terrorized with death threats by men dressed in white sheets. After a sham hearing in which they were denied an attorney, the boys were charged with molestation and sentenced to indefinite incarceration at the state reformatory. The so-called Kissing Case received national and international attention at the time. Due to outside pressure, the Governor eventually ordered the boys to be released after several months. Neither state nor local officials ever admitted wrong doing or apologized to the boys’ families. The trauma inflicted on the boys followed them for the rest of their lives. In addition to their suffering, the boys’ families endured loss of employment, shots fired into their homes, crosses burned on their lawns , and forced relocation to another city.
Until this week, I had never heard of the Kissing Case. It reminds me that stories of racial injustice and violence are not limited to the most famous cases from the past or the present. The depths and legacies of racism touch every corner of our nation. We can only begin to heal as individuals and as a nation when we recognize this reality and work to repair the impacts of racism.
The video posted below features a 1993 interview by Oprah Winfrey with James Thompson and David Simpson.