Sala Udin has a unique request—presidential clemency. “I don’t know if anyone can show a more exemplary life than my application,” he said.
When asked why 2015 was the right time to finally ask for clemency, Udin responded, “It takes a long time for the process to work itself through. No particular reason for right now. It is something that has been on my mind and I decided in 2012 to go ahead and apply.”
Udin has led an extraordinary life by most standards, from becoming a freedom rider in ’65, to a Pittsburgh City Councilman from 1995-2005. Udin went on to be CEO of the Coro Center for Civic Leadership, but from between 1965-1970 Udin found himself involved in the criminal justice system for a myriad reasons: vehicle offenses, firearms violations, robbery and receiving stolen goods.
Udin attended the March on Washington in 1963 and was inspired by the “I have a dream” speech. Two years later, at the age of 22, Udin volunteered to join the Freedom Riders traveling to the Mississippi Delta for four years. Reminiscing on how the walls of the old Jim Crow society were crumbling about that time, with the Civil Rights Act being passed in 1964 and the Voting Rights Act in August of 1965, he also recalled what made him continue his struggle.
“Even after the voting rights act and civil rights acts had been passed, there were still atrocities being committed. Medgar Evers was killed in 1965.”
“Just because the laws had been passed in Washington D.C., as far as the deep-south was concerned, they were determined to continue segregation as usual and the KKK was determined to defend segregation despite the passing of those laws,” he said
For those reasons, Udin began believing it would be better to be caught by the police with a gun than by the Ku Klux Klan without one. While he avoided the wrath of the KKK, his luck temporarily ran out on Sept. 30, 1970, in Louisville, Ky. That night the police stopped him and they found an unloaded shotgun in his trunk.
“I didn’t even remember when I got in the car that the gun was in the trunk. I always carried it unloaded because of safety reasons and if I needed to get to it, I’d have time to get to it.” He was arrested for illegally transporting firearms and possession of non-tax paid distilled spirits. In September 1972 he was paroled.
Afterwards, Udin had no more trouble with the law. He returned to Pittsburgh, but with the core of the civil rights movement centered on Martin Luther King Jr. and nonviolence dissolving, Udin engaged himself in the civil rights issues of the modern age like working to improve public education in the Hill District, getting more Black students and faculty into the University of Pittsburgh; establishing the Black Horizons Theatre; establishing a residential drug treatment program, the House of the Crossroads and advocating for more political involvement through voter registration campaigns. While on City Council, Udin was instrumental to the launch of the August Wilson Center for African American Culture and serving on its board.
Udin, while believing himself more than deserving of the pardon, isn’t holding his breath for the president to make a decision in his favor, adding, “President Obama has been rather reluctant to do pardons so there are no direct indications that he would give me a pardon. He doesn’t pardon very much.”
There are more than 800 pleas for clemency currently on President Obama’s list and Udin is just one. When asked what he would tell President Obama if he could state his case before him, he said, “I think the purpose of a pardon is to validate an extraordinary life after the felony has been dealt with in the courts. My charge has been dealt with in the courts, I have lived an exemplary life since then and that is exactly what pardons are for. All of the other things that were in my criminal record have already been pardoned. I received a pardon in 2007 from Gov. Rendell. They were state related charges. The only thing that remains is the federal gun charge.”
Either way, Udin feels good about the legacy he has left behind and is already at peace with either decision.
“I continue to lead my life looking forward not looking back. If the pardon comes I would be gratified but if it doesn’t I will continue to fight for the things that I think will move my community forward. My focus is more on an out of control criminal justice system that disproportionately arrests, charges and sentences and imprisons African Americans and Latinos more than other races, so I am looking at things systemically and not individually.”
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