Vol. 73/No. 7      February 23, 2009

O’Rourke, who has been held in prison without bail since October 31, 1979, is charged with overstaying his visitor’s visa. He is the longest imprisoned person in the history of the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service.

O’Rourke is fighting deportation to Ireland, where he would face a return to prison for his involvement in the struggle to end British rule in Northern Ireland. A native of Dublin, O’Rourke joined the IRA following a visit to Northern Ireland in 1971, where he was shocked by the treatment of the nationalist population in that British-ruled enclave.  
 
February 23, 1959
Mounting international pressure compelled racist authorities in North Carolina to reverse themselves yesterday and free Hanover Thompson and David Simpson from a state reformatory. The two Negro children, 8 and 10, were incarcerated last October because one of them had been kissed by a seven-year-old white girl.

The Committee to Combat Racial Injustice, which sparked the fight for release of the boys in cooperation with the NAACP, said it had received numerous copies of letters of protest and news stories and editorials from here and abroad.

Protests were registered against the brutal treatment of the two children in Britain, France, Italy, Scandinavia, Belgium, China, Brazil, Canada and Holland. The CCRI said it has been receiving petitions signed by thousands of people throughout the country.  
 
February 24, 1934
Minneapolis—After a whirlwind strike battle which electrified the whole city and tied up every coal yard tight as a drum, the coal drivers won complete recognition of their union in two and a half days.

The Minneapolis Labor Review of February 16 says, “The workers of the city were thrilled, both organized and unorganized, at the masterly manner in which the struggle was conducted … Picketing of the coal yards was carried on continuously during the strike and there has never been a better example of enthusiastic efficiency than displayed by the coal driver pickets.”

The same paper reports “a memorable meeting of the Central Labor Union, that heard Miles Dunne, member of the coal drivers’ strike committee, declare that anyone who doubts that the American workers will fight for their rights is sadly misinformed.”  
 
 
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