Radio Host Tom Joyner Wants Pardon For Executed Ancestors Thomas and Meeks Griffin

Nationally syndicated radio host Tom Joyner is asking South Carolina to posthumously pardon two of his great-uncles -- Thomas and Meeks Griffin -- black landowners who were executed in 1915 after being convicted of murdering an elderly Confederate Army veteran. He said he learned of their fate during the filming of the PBS documentary "African American Lives 2," which first aired in February 2008 and was based on research by Harvard scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr.

Joyner said a pardon would bring long-overdue justice, adding "I started trying to put myself in my great-uncles' position and tried to imagine what they must've been going through." Really Tom? What if we all traced our family lineage and realized that our relatives were lynched, should we seek for their posthumous pardon as well? Isn't this opening up a Pandora's Box?

The program traces the lineage of 12 people, including Joyner. The host of "The Tom Joyner Morning Show" said he was stunned to learn of his South Carolina roots and two great-uncles he didn't know existed -- much less of their execution. "The records will show they did not do what they were executed for, and maybe now they can rest in peace," Joyner said from his Dallas studio.

The Griffins were forced to sell their 130 acres to finance their defense. After they died in the electric chair on Sept. 29, 1915, Joyner's grandmother moved to Florida where the family's known history begins."It's very unusual for stories like this to be passed down from generation to generation among African-Americans. As a people, we don't like to pass along bad news about family," Joyner said.

In June 2008, Joyner, Gates and legal historian Paul Finkelman wrote Gov. Mark Sanford seeking a pardon. The case is scheduled Oct. 14 before the state's parole and pardon board. If a pardon were granted, it would be South Carolina's first awarded posthumously in a capital murder case, said Pete O'Boyle, spokesman for the S.C. Department of Probation, Parole and Pardon Services.

Court documents show the Griffin brothers were executed with two other black men for the April 1913 shooting death of John Lewis, 73. Lewis was a wealthy veteran living in Blackstock, a Chester County town 40 miles north of Columbia. The four were indicted July 6, 1913, and the trial began two days later. With only a day to prepare, defense attorney W.H. Newbold asked for a delay, but the request was denied. The state Supreme Court later deemed that denial insignificant. Source: WSB-TV

Nearly a century has passed since this unfortunate incident occurred and I do understand Tom Joyner's position, but it could open the floodgates for many similar cases. Why not focus on the people who are imprisoned today for crimes they did not commit? South Carolina has some real issues that need to be addressed -- high school drop out rates in the black community, skyrocketing unemployment, schools in black areas that are in horrible disrepair, and so on. What are your thoughts on this?