2006-05-04

Mississipi Governor Won't Pardon Wronged, Dead Man

What in the hell is wrong with the Mississippi governor? Everybody agrees that this dead guy got framed BY MISSISSIPPI OFFICIALS (!) in the 1960s, as retailiation for his attempt to integrate a state university. This hero is dead now. How could anybody deny a pardon for him, plus a statue celebrating a true southern gentleman and hero, who paid an awesome price for advancing freedom?

3 comments:

Nadir said...

I agree that a posthumous pardon would be insignificant.

The recent trend of returning to the past to right the wrongs of the Jim Crow era with symbolic pardons and prosecutions is ridiculous. It doesn't change history, and it certainly won't help Kennard in this case.

Do something real like prosecute the officials who ordered the assassination of Fred Hampton Sr. Hell, prosecute George w. Bush for his wrongdoings.

This is like the Rosa Parks pardon. If it is recognized that she didn't do anything wrong, why bother to issue a pardon. Part of the significance of her action was that she defied an unjust law. The law is off the books, and she has passed away. The pardon only seeks to asuage the conscience of the politicians of Alabama.

Horseshit.

Nadir said...

Now a statue is different. But I doubt that Barbour would approve the funds for a statue of a person he wouldn't even bother to pardon...

Paul Hue said...

I agree that an unjust conviction for a courageous action is a badge of honor. But whoever is proposing the pardon has done the work, what's lost by signing the paper? I think it is worthwhile for Mississippi taxpayers to pay for removing celebrations of the confederacy, and replacing them with celebrations of the freedom fighters.