CLYDE KENNARD
Justice for Clyde Kennard
Joyce Ladner
March 22, 2006

Dear friends:

I am writing to you for your help in seeking justice for the late
Clyde Kennard. The historian, John Dittmer said of Clyde's
incarceration: "That is the saddest story of the whole
movement."

There is a large campaign afoot to clear Clyde's name. This
means that Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour will have to
take a stand (he has a policy of not granting clemency to
anyone). The Mississippi Parole Board has agreed to hear the
case, and Steven Drizin and The Center for the Wrongfully
Convicted at Northwestern University Law School are
providing legal representation.

A group of Illinois students are coordinating part of this effort.
Check out their site at
www.clydekennard.org. They are urging
that letters be sent to the Mississippi Attorney General Jim
Hood at
msag05@ago.state.ms.us.

My concern for Clyde's case is deeply personal. My sister
Dorie and I joined the Hattiesburg, Mississippi NAACP Youth
Council in 1958. Clyde Kennard was our president and Vernon
Dahmer was our founder/advisor. Medgar Evers was present
at our first meeting.

As you may know, Clyde was jailed on false charges of
receiving stolen chicken feed because he tried to apply to the
now University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg. Clyde
was sent to Parchman penitentiary and despite a campaign to
have him released, Governor Ross Barnett did not do so until
he was near death with cancer. He died shortly thereafter in
Chicago.

When I was a student at Tougaloo College, I led a campaign to
free Clyde from prison when he was terminally ill. The late
Larry Still of Jet magazine wrote a piece about Clyde's
incarceration that got national publicity and help from Dick
Gregory, Martin Luther King, Johnson Publishing Company,
and others.

Now, Governor Haley Barbour is going to honor Clyde
Kennard on March 30. He does not intend to grant clemency
nor does he intend to expunge his record. I always said that
my life's work would be to work to clear Clyde's name. Many
others feel the same. Let us all take this on as our civil rights
cause. I will send new information as I receive it.

Sincerely,
Joyce Ladner
Reprinted with permission by Joyce Ladner
April 30, 2006
Three Stevenson High Schools students, Mona Ghadiri, Agnes
Mazur and Callie McCune are working on a unique collaboration
with Professor Steven A. Drizin and the Northwestern University
School Of Law Center On Wrongful Convictions, to convince
MS
Governor Haley Barbour to issue a posthumous pardon and
expungement of the record, so as to clear Mr. Kennard's good
name for the record.  They have also created a documentary for
National History Day Contest as a result of their research;  
Carrying The Burden:  The Story of Clyde Kennard.  Check back
(www.clydekennard.org)
 to see when you can request a free copy.
LETTERS OF SUPPORT FOR CLYDE KENNARD'S CLEMENCY

Julian Bond - Chairman of NAACP

Raylawni Branch - One of First Two African American Students
at Southern Mississippi

Taylor Branch - Pulitzer Prize Winner Historian

John Dittmer- Mississippi Historian andAuthor

Ron Hollander - Journalist, Professor and Mississippi Activist

Hunter Gray - (John R. Salter, Jr.) Civil Rights Leader and
Friend of Medgar Evers

The Innocent Network

Dorie Ladner - Civil Rights Leader and Friend of Clyde Kennard

Joyce Ladner - Civil Rights Leader and Friend of Clyde Kennard

Jim Loewen - Author of "Lies My Teacher Told Me" and
"Mississippi: Conflict and Change

Marion Wright Edelman - Civil Rights Pioneer and President of
Children Defense Fund

Gwen Patton - Civil Rights Activist and Author

Glen Pearson - Hattiesburg Physician and Friend of Clyde
Kennard

Monte Piliawsky - Author of Exit 13:  Oppression and Racism in
Academia

Hans Sherrer - Publisher of "Justice Denied: The Magazine for
the Wrongfully Convicted"

Congressman Bennie Thompson

Patricia M. Thompson - Founder of "Repaying Our Ancestors
Respectfully" (ROAR)
CLYDE KENNARD
COMPLETELY
EXONERATED IN A
MISSISSIPPI COURT
FOR THE LATEST INFORMATION ON CLYDE
KENNARD CHECK
www.clydekennard.org.
ROAR extends a "Special Thanks" to all who responded to Dr.
Joyce Ladner & Dorie Ladner's request to send letters of support
to MS Governor Haley Barbour and the Mississippi State Parole
Board.  The Ladner sisters have worked, feverishly, for over 40
years to clear their friend, Clyde Kennard, name.  Additionally,
three Stevenson High Schools students, Mona Ghadiri, Agnes
Mazur and Callie McCune worked on a unique collaboration with
Professor Steven A. Drizin and the Northwestern University School
Of Law Center On Wrongful Convictions to exonerate Kennard.

May Our Brother, Clyde Kennard, Finally Rest In Peace!
Disclaimer:  THE ROAR FOUNDATION, INC. provides information on this
web site for educational/informational and networking purposes only!  Use
of any copyrighted materials must be approved by its owner.  ROAR claims
no responsibility for misuse of information obtained on this web site.


(c) copyrighted THE ROAR FOUNDATION, INC.                 April 2006