Pardon the Slave-Stealers

Hard as it is to imagine anyone could object to this, you know they're out there. If only they had to wear facial tattoos identifying them as irredeemable scumbuckets.

The Rev. Calvin Fairbank spent 17 years in a Kentucky prison — suffering beatings and brutal labor — for committing the felony of helping slaves escape to freedom. Released in 1864, a broken man, he kissed the dirt of Ohio upon reaching that free state.

"Out of the jaws of Hell!" Fairbank cried, according to his autobiography.

In the 19th century, Kentucky convicted at least 58 people for "seducing or enticing slaves to leave their lawful owners." Defendants faced 20 years in the Kentucky State Penitentiary, where some died. One, David C. McDonald, was forgotten and languished in prison until 1870, five years after slavery was abolished.

Now, several men are working to clear the names of those — men and women, black and white — whose "crimes" today would be recognized as among mankind's finest acts.

They want Gov. Steve Beshear to issue pardons for the slave rescuers, albeit posthumously.

"I want to resurrect their names and deeds and give them their proper place in history," said James Prichard, 56, a retired state archivist who spent much of his career studying slavery in Kentucky.

Prichard is working with public defender Rodney Barnes and Barnes' intern Jared Schultze, both of whom are volunteering their time.

Read the whole thing.

Apparently no other slave state has pardoned its convicted slave stealers. Kentucky leads the nation in so many horrible measures - abuse deaths of children for example - this is a rare chance to set a national example of justice and human rights.

Call Governor Beshear at 502-564-2611 and demand he issue these pardons today.