Haley Barbour and Race

I did not intend for today to be "pick on Republicans for their stands on race" day at dcat. really, I didn't. Nonetheless, I am handcuffed by the news cycle. Today's New York Times reports that Mississippi's governor Haley Barbour will not grant a posthumous pardon to Clyde Kennard, who was falsely convicted of attempting to steal chicken feed after he attempted to enroll at, and thus desegregate Mississippi Southeren College (now the University of Southern Mississippi). This is appalling on so many levels. The refusal to allow Kennard to enter Mississippi Southern for his last year (after three years at the University of Chicago) of course, and the way Kennard was treated by state authorities (some of whom discussed, and possibly even plotted, to kill Kennard). But what possible rationalization can there be for not granting this man, who received a seven-year sentence on false charges and who died in prison of cancer in 1963, a pardon? Barbour's lame answer is grating:

"The governor hasn't pardoned anyone, be it alive or deceased," said Mr. Barbour's spokesman, Pete Smith. "The governor isn't going to issue a pardon here."

Mr. Smith added that a pardon would be an empty gesture.

"The governor believes that Clyde Kennard was wronged, and if he were alive today his rights would be restored," Mr. Smith said. "There's nothing the governor can do for Clyde Kennard right now."

Barbour acknowledges the wrong that has been perpetrated. Yet he sees no problem with the fact that in the eyes of Mississippi law, Kennard still goes down as guilty. barbour, with the stroke of a pen, could right a histroical wrong. he has chosen not to do so. This ghastly and loathsome decision couldn't possibly have anything to do with election year politics, could it? Barbour could not possibly be weighing his constituencies and deciding that the white supremacist vote in Mississippi still resonates. Could he? Alas, I think we all know the answer to this question.