"During the late 1800s and early 1900s, thousands of African-Americans, primarily living in southern U.S. states, were lynched by mobs blinded by racial hatred and little sense of fairness or evidence of criminal wrongdoing.

Even so, the country's largest mass hangings didn't happen in the Jim Crow south, but on Minnesota soil, in Mankato, under the directive of President Abraham Lincoln. Thirty-eight Dakota Indians were executed in 1862 on the day after Christmas.

With the 150th anniversary of the execution approaching in 2012, there's talk of a federal pardon for one of the dead, We-Chank-Wash-ta-don-pee, also known as Chaska. Lincoln didn't order his execution but, in fact, commuted his sentence.

A pardon, even all these years later, deserves support.

U.S. Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., who sits on Indian Affairs Committee, has said he may push for the pardon. Rep. Jim Oberstar, D-Minn., who's leaving the U.S. House after a long career, supports the move, calling it a "grand gesture" and "a wrong that should be righted.""

Get the Story:
Editorial: Righting the wrongs of history (The Minneapolis Star Tribune 12/18)

Related Stories:
Pardon possible for Dakota man who was executed in Minnesota (12/14)