JACKSON, Miss. – Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour has apologized to dozens of civil rights activists who were carted off to the state’s notorious Parchman prison in the 1960s for attempting to desegregate interstate travel.
“We apologize to you for your mistreatment in 1961, and we appreciate this chance for atonement and reconciliation,” Barbour told the so-called Freedom Riders during a dinner at a Jackson hotel on Sunday.
The Freedom Riders, college students and other activists, who challenged segregation on commercial bus lines, are in Jackson this week to mark the 50th anniversary of the 1961 protest. Barbour is among the leaders hosting them.
At the dinner at the Marriott Hotel, Barbour thanked the group for their “courage, your commitment, your sufferings and your sacrifices of 50 years ago.” On Monday, the Republican welcomed them at a breakfast at the Governor’s Mansion.
The governor’s apology comes months after a string of remarks his critics have described as racially insensitive, and weeks after he announced he wouldn’t be a candidate for the GOP presidential nomination in 2012.
Last December, Barbour defended comments he made to the Weekly Standard magazine about how the Citizens Council helped to prevent violence during the integration of public schools in his hometown of Yazoo City. Critics had said Barbour’s account skimmed over the segregationist role of the councils in Mississippi.
Hezekiah Watkins said Barbour’s comments on Sunday reflect how times have changed in the last five decades.
