Free Don Stone!
The Great Speckled Bird ran a cover story in early 1970 calling for the release of anti-war protestor, Don Stone.
Born in Opelika, Alabama, Don Stone graduated from Morehouse College and became active in the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and the Atlanta Vine City Project in the 1960s. Stone and his SNCC comrades were adamantly opposed to the Vietnam War and began protesting at the Armed Forces induction center on Ponce de Leon Avenue on August 16, 1966.
On August 18th, Stone and several other SNCC members, including one reporting for induction, were refused entry into the facility when attempting to complain about water and debris being thrown on protestors from the windows above. Government witnesses claimed that the men tried to forcibly enter the facility after the refusal. In addition, Stone and another SNCC member were accused of physically restraining an inductee named Verbon Grimes. Stone and two others were arrested and eventually convicted of “willfully and knowingly, by force and violence, attempting to hinder and interfere with the administration of the Universal Military Training and Service Act.”
Stone was sentenced to 3 years for this conviction with an additional 6 months for damaging $25 worth of government property. He served 2 years of this sentence before release.
