Why would you give a thief a pat on the back?

From 2001 to 2003, James Fantroy embezzled more than $20,000 from Paul Quinn College. Still maintaining his innocence, he was convicted of the crime. Fantroy does not deny he wrote the checks to himself and his family. He says they were loans, and he always intended to pay them back, but he told no one about the loans, and he made no payments until confronted by officials who discovered the checks. Prosecutors introduced evidence showing that when Fantroy had the means to do so, he still didn't return the money.

Fantroy is sick now with kidney cancer (Or so he claims. I remember Al Lipscomb looking as if he were on his deathbed at his trial; after it was all over, he seemed to make a remarkable comeback). The judge offered him the opportunity to avoid jail time if he would admit his guilt. Fantroy will go to jail -- he refuses to say he was wrong. "I've said from day one, 'Not guilty.' That hasn't changed."

Reaction to his stubbornness from Tennell Atkins, his handpicked successor on the Dallas City Council is a little disconcerting. He says that Fantroy's unwavering proclamation of innocence is a sign of strength. "He's his own man and his own person, and you've gotta commend him for that. He's standing by what he said and what he believes, and he deserves a pat on the back for that."


Could we say the same thing for, say, Adolph Hitler? Saddam Hussein? Jim Jones? Fidel Castro? They all stood by what they said and believed. Do they deserve a pat on the back? I think not! If you're a thief, and what you say and what you believe is a lie, why on earth do you deserve a pat on the back? I could be wrong, but I don't believe Mr. Atkins would have said the same thing if Mr. Fantroy had been white.