White People Are “Very Badly Treated," Says Donald Trump. What About the Scottsboro Boys, Mr. Trump?

By: Donald V. Watkins

Copyrighted on June 30, 2026 

"Scottsboro Boy" Clarence Norris in Kilby prison in Montgomery, Alabama.

It was documented in the prison records of the Alabama Department of Corrections. Plus, Clarence Norris told me about it.

Alabama law enforcement officials wanted the nine “Scottsboro Boys” to confess to raping two white female hobos on a freight train passing through Paint Rock, Alabama on March 25, 1931. The Boys ranged from 13 to 19 years old. Clarence Norris was one of them.

The nine "Scottsboro Boys" were arrested at Paint Rock, Alabama on March 25, 1931. Clarence Norris is the "Boy" on the far left.

Before each trial and between trials, prison guards savagely beat the Boys in the hope of getting a confession from one or more of them. They stripped them naked, made them lie on the floor, and beat them with a thick leather strap. On one occasion, Norris was beaten so severely he had to be hospitalized for his injuries.

The Boys maintained their innocence throughout their ordeal. They took the beatings without breaking. 

The nine "Scottsboro Boys" win prison and working with New York attorney Samuel Leibowitz. On three occasions, Leibowitz saved the "Scottsboro Boys" from being electrocuted by the state of Alabama.

After Mr. Norris was tried, convicted, and sentenced to death, he had to make his own coffin. When the coffin was finished, Norris had to lie in it. Guards would take turns urinating and defecating on him. Norris said it was the most humiliating experience of his life.

Each time one of the Boys was tried, convicted, and sentenced to death, the U.S. Supreme Court would save his life at the last minute.

In November 1976, more than 45 years after the Boys were arrested, the state of Alabama formally declared that Clarence Norris and the other eight Scottsboro Boys were innocent of the criminal charges against them. Thereafter, the state conferred a full and unconditional pardon upon Mr. Norris based upon his innocence. At the time, Norris was the last known surviving Scottsboro Boy. He never stopped fighting to clear their names. 

On November 29, 1976, Attorney Donald V. Watkins officially secured a full and unconditional pardon for Clarence Norris based upon his innocence. At the time, Norris was the last surviving "Scottsboro Boy."

To this day, I know of no accused white person in America who was “very badly treated” like the nine innocent Scottsboro Boys. MAGA officials in Alabama should brief Donald Trump on the Scottsboro Boys case so he can stop making false claims about how badly white people are treated in America.