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Fool Wants Kennard Conviction Reinstated

By TChris, Section Innocence Cases
Posted on Wed May 24, 2006 at 06:02:44 AM EST
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by TChris

After criticizing Haley Barbour for refusing to pardon Clyde Kennard, TalkLeft praised Judge Robert Helfrich for vacating Kennard's conviction. Kennard was wrongly accused of buying stolen chicken feed and sentenced to prison after he tried to enroll in an all-white university in Mississippi.

This happy ending is under attack by Richard Barrett. Sadly, Barrett is a lawyer. He's also the newspaper editor for the white supremacist organization the Nationalist Movement. He filed a petition asking Judge Helfrich to reverse his decision on the ground that Helfrich had no authority to act.

Barrett filed his petition on behalf of five "common folks" from Central Mississippi.

Barrett professes to be concerned that the correction of racial injustice might become a trend that will lead to the renaming of Forrest County, "because its namesake is Confederate Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest - founder of the Ku Klux Klan." And that would be a bad thing why?

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    Fool Wants Kennard Conviction Reinstated | 11 comments (11 topical)
    Re: Fool Wants Kennard Conviction Reinstated (none / 0) (#1)
    by Punchy on Wed May 24, 2006 at 06:50:15 AM EST
    Mississippi is a third-world country. Any lawyer still defending the KKK in 2006 should be disbarred. In MS, they're heros. Good Lord...

    Re: Fool Wants Kennard Conviction Reinstated (none / 0) (#2)
    by peacrevol on Wed May 24, 2006 at 06:57:33 AM EST
    "He started up this club called the Klu Klux Klan. They'd all dress up in their robes and their bed sheets, and act like a bunch of ghost or spooks or something. They'd even put bedsheets on their horses and ride around."

    Re: Fool Wants Kennard Conviction Reinstated (none / 0) (#3)
    by Che's Lounge on Wed May 24, 2006 at 07:17:11 AM EST
    Said Barrett: "Ah'm not a smart man. But Momma always said..."

    Re: Fool Wants Kennard Conviction Reinstated (none / 0) (#4)
    by roger on Wed May 24, 2006 at 07:26:12 AM EST
    In fairness, Forest renounced the KKK when it became overtly racist.

    Re: Fool Wants Kennard Conviction Reinstated (none / 0) (#6)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Wed May 24, 2006 at 07:58:52 AM EST
    Plexix, Well said. I practice in Georgia and often the most outrageously racist/stupid lawyers here (inevitably called Georgians) are from the North. Not that we don't have our fair share of home grown stupid racists. Perhaps the title of the post could just be changed to "Fool." Roger, Forest made all his money as a slave trader. I'm not sure he was worried about racism...overt or otherwise.

    Re: Fool Wants Kennard Conviction Reinstated (none / 0) (#7)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Wed May 24, 2006 at 08:01:56 AM EST
    Just another sample of our ugly underbelly steeped in hatred and deceit. It must be taken seriously.This is what I call The New Racism. It is always cloaked in stealth and denial. "I'm not against Blacks I'm against reverse descrimination". This "New Racism" is pervasive and it doesnt take much to recognize it and dangerous.

    Re: Fool Wants Kennard Conviction Reinstated (none / 0) (#8)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Wed May 24, 2006 at 08:11:21 AM EST
    Punchy - Please let me make on other point. You certainly retain the right to paint Mississippi with such broad strokes, but I don't see that as being much different from judging an entire group of people because of their skin color. I would suggest to you that Mississippi has come as far as any state in the nation with regard to race relations in the past 20 years. I encourage you to read this article written by another person that many Mississippians consider a hero, Jerry Mitchell. Barrett's lawsuit has no chance of succeeding, and just because one crack-pot lawyer files a suit doesn't mean that it has any support from the general population, and it's unfair to suggest otherwise. TalkLeft, I greatly enjoy your site, please keep up the good work.

    Re: Fool Wants Kennard Conviction Reinstated (none / 0) (#9)
    by TChris on Wed May 24, 2006 at 09:04:34 AM EST
    While I understand and applaud the desire to disassociate a fool like Barrett from Mississippi, the archives of the Nationalist Movement website brag about his activities as a Mississippi lawyer as early as 1987. I don't think the headline implies that Mississippi, as a state, agrees with Barrett's foolishness, but I've removed the state's name from the headline nonetheless.

    Re: Fool Wants Kennard Conviction Reinstated (none / 0) (#10)
    by Punchy on Wed May 24, 2006 at 09:40:55 AM EST
    Please let me make on other point. You certainly retain the right to paint Mississippi with such broad strokes, but I don't see that as being much different from judging an entire group of people because of their skin color. How dare you insinuate I'm racist. I've been to Mississippi, have relatives that live there, I've seen this crap before. No, not all MS is bad. Duh. But I find it incredible that the governor found it politically difficult to pardon/exonerate an egregiously imprisoned African-American in 2006. Why didn't he issue the pardon straight-up? Why?

    Re: Fool Wants Kennard Conviction Reinstated (none / 0) (#11)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Wed May 24, 2006 at 10:49:12 AM EST
    Punchy - Well, how dare you insinuate that I'm 3rd-world and that Richard Barrett is my hero just because I live in Mississippi. Look, I have no intentions of a flame war with you, and I did not insinuate that you were racist. In fact, you have done nothing racist as far as I can see. But in broadly dismissing an entire state based on the actions of one crack-pot lawyer - who was raised in NYC and attended Rutgers and did not move to MS until he was an adult and who has virtually no support here - you employed the same thought processes as racists. And it's a bit ironic that you are so harshly criticizing the State of Mississippi when it is the State that officially exonerated Kennard through the actions of Judge Helfrich. And the State will certainly fight Barrett's lawsuit and ultimely win. As it should. As for Barbour, I do not know why he failed to pardon Kennard, but you are assuming that it was "politically difficult" and I would like to know what evidence you have for that. Finally (I have taken up far too much space here already) anyone who studies racism - Dave Neiwart's Orcinus is a good place to start - knows that places like California are currently having far more problems with racism than Mississippi. Did you read the article I referenced in my previous post? My apologies for upsetting you, Punchy, I just hope you will realize why you upset me in the first place.

    Re: Fool Wants Kennard Conviction Reinstated (none / 0) (#12)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Fri May 26, 2006 at 12:48:47 PM EST
    Barrett racked up 466,000 votes, winning the Confederate-flag vote by a 2-to-1 margin. He's also won in the US Supreme Court, knocking off some pretty big boys. Jim Hood, Mississippi's attorney-general, has backed down to him a number of times. He's the only lawyer (so I'm told) to have beaten Morris Dees in court. Before counting him out, maybe we ought to wait and see how he does. If he wins, we don't want to have egg on our face by prematurely calling him a "fool." If he loses, well, that's a different matter!

    Fool Wants Kennard Conviction Reinstated | 11 comments (11 topical)