George Floyd accomplished in death what he never could have in life.
Clyde Kennard accomplished more in life than in death, although his credit was a long time coming.
The names of both Black men were in the news last week — Floyd’s more than Kennard’s
The one-year anniversary of Floyd’s murder under the knee of a white police officer was marked by a plethora of articles in newspapers and television news shows rehashing what has happened in the past 12 months, along with opinions on what changes have occurred as a result of his death.
One example was this front-page headline in the Clarion Ledger of Jackson:
“What has changed a year after Floyd’s murder?”
A deck on the headline summed up the answer: “Flag vote, prison reform in Miss. noted, but others say little impact.”
My opinion is that support for changing the state flag by athletic coaches and players at the state universities, the possibility of Mississippi not being able to host certain athletic and cultural events and pressure from the business community, along with the recognition by a large segment of the population that change was needed, had more to do with the flag decision than George Floyd.
Getting rid of the Confederate emblem on the flag was something that needed to be done and was going to occur at some point. But the protests across the nation and in Mississippi in the weeks following Floyd’s death may have caused the change to come sooner rather than later.
As for prison reform, lawsuits and pressure from the federal government, as well as publicity about conditions at the prisons, could be credited more than Floyd’s death for whatever reform has occurred.
If Floyd were still alive, if his last moments of life, videoed by a bystander, not turned into a global cry for justice, his name would not be a household word.
No memorials would be established in this honor. His family would not be invited to the White House or interviewed repeatedly on national television.
He would be just another ex-convict with a fairly long arrest record.
Another Black man who is no longer alive was memorialized in Hattiesburg last week, more than 60 years after he was victimized by a Jim Crow society.
As the Hattiesburg American reported: “He may not have been a student at the University of Southern Mississippi, but Clyde Kennard left a legacy that opened doors for others to attend.
“Kennard was the first Black student to apply for admission to the university, but was denied admission when he applied in 1955 and again in 1959.
“To honor the man who attempted to bring racial equality to the Southern Miss campus, a ceremony was held Thursday at USM's Scianna Hall. A section of U.S. 49 at the intersection of Hardy Street that extends one mile north was named Clyde Kennard Memorial Highway.”
Unlike Floyd, Kennard had no criminal record until he was framed on false charges as a result of his attempts to break the color barrier at USM.
He was a veteran of seven years in the Army, including serving in Korea as a paratrooper, and had already attended college in Chicago before returning to his native Mississippi.
In 1960, he was sentenced to seven years in prison on a trumped up charge of stealing chicken feed. He was diagnosed with cancer in 1962.
The Hattiesburg paper said, “He was denied treatment until the NAACP and the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. sought his release from prison. He died in 1963.
“Posthumous investigations into Kennard’s case showed the charges against Kennard were fabricated. After a public campaign in 2006 spearheaded by Southern Miss students, Kennard was exonerated in Forrest County Circuit Court.”
Floyd and Kennard both had a big impact on society. One was by choice; the other not so much.
