Governor John Bel Edwards will be next to act on the Louisiana Pardon Board’s unanimous recommendation to posthumously pardon the late Homer Plessy. The man known as a 19th-century civil rights pioneer was arrested for trying to sit in the White section of a segregated train bound for Covington. Orleans Parish D-A, Jason Williams, spoke Friday in favor of Plessy’s pardon.
“There is no doubt that he was guilty of that act on that date but there is equally no doubt that such an act should have never been a crime in this country,” Williams said.
Plessy died in 1925 with the conviction for violating the railroad segregation law still a part of his record.
Louisiana’s 2006 Avery C. Alexander Act required the pardon board to recommend Plessy’s posthumous pardon for those convicted of violating segregation laws, and brought noteworthy comments from District Attorney Williams.
“There are small things that we can all do every day to atone for the sins of the past that we had nothing to do with. This may seem small but it is deeply symbolic,” Williams said.
Keith Plessy, Homer’s first cousin, three generations removed, also appeared before the Louisiana Pardon Board, to press the panel for the posthumous pardon of his relative.
“We have literally flipped the script on separate but equal and we hope to continue that work today with a full posthumous pardon for Homer Adolph Plessy,” Plessy said.
There’s no indication when Governor Edwards will act on the Pardon Board’s recommendation of a posthumous pardon for Plessy whose name was part of the infamous U.S. Supreme Court Case, Plessy v. Ferguson.
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