Walter Edward Fauntroy

Released
Date of birth:06. 02. 1933
Age:93
Gender:Male
Race:Black
Era:1980s
State:District of Columbia
Time Imprisoned:
1 Day
Support
Anti-Apartheid Civil Rights Anti-Imperialism
Walter Edward Fauntroy

Biography

Walter Fauntroy was the District of Columbia's first elected nonvoting delegate to the U.S. House (1971-1991) and a Baptist minister who had served as DC coordinator of the 1963 March on Washington. As a co-founder of FSAM, he was arrested in the November 21, 1984 sit-in alongside Robinson and Berry. He chaired the Congressional Black Caucus and helped shepherd the Comprehensive Anti-Apartheid Act of 1986 through the House.

Case

Charges: Misdemeanor DC Code 22-1307 (congregating within 500 feet of a foreign embassy / failure to disperse) or unlawful entry.
Arrested: Nov 20, 1984
Incarcerated: Nov 20, 1984
Released: Nov 21, 1984
Sentence: Released same day or following morning; charges declined / dropped (typical FSAM disposition). Verdict as recorded: No — charges declined / dropped Charges as recorded: Misdemeanor DC Code 22-1307 (congregating within 500 feet of a foreign embassy / failure to disperse) or unlawful entry. Free South Africa Movement civil disobedience at the South African Embassy on Massachusetts Avenue. The DC U.S. Attorney (Joseph diGenova) declined to prosecute most arrestees, holding the cases lacked "prosecutive merit." Approximately 5,000 such arrests in DC alone Nov 1984 - 1986; daily sit-ins helped produce the Comprehensive Anti-Apartheid Act of 1986, passed over President Reagan's veto.
Convicted: No — charges dismissed

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