JACKSON, Miss.—This week, Mississippi House and Senate negotiators are facing major decisions that could have lasting effects on Jackson, Miss., and its relationship with the state government. We write to express our strong opposition to any legislation that will partition Jackson along racial and economic lines, or strip Jacksonians of constitutional rights other Mississippians hold. Given the lack of transparency to date, we believe it is imperative that conference committee deliberations be held in full view of the public.
As representatives of different faith traditions, we are no strangers to division and disagreement. Despite our varied theological positions, our shared ethical convictions call us to stand united as Mississippians who believe working together across religious, racial, partisan and geographic divides makes all of us stronger.
We lament how contentious debates during this legislative session about Jackson’s future illustrated these divides and an unwillingness to reason together in good faith. White Republican legislators from other parts of the state have advanced harmful bills related to Jackson without support from the mostly Black and Democratic Jackson/Hinds County delegation, and whatever good-faith efforts made to amend these bills, suspicion and mistrust have clouded them.
On Monday, Feb. 27, 2023, a diverse coalition of faith leaders from Working Together Mississippi gathered on the steps of St. Peter’s Cathedral in downtown Jackson to call upon the Legislature to extend Medicaid coverage for new mothers. Hours later, House Speaker Phillip Gunn said he would not prevent extension of postpartum Medicaid coverage for Mississippi mothers. The Legislature passed it on March 7, 2023. Photo by Working Together Mississippi
No matter what happens in the final days of this legislative session, the breach between the state and its capital city has widened, to the detriment of all Mississippians.
Because Mississippi’s future prosperity depends on the success of Jackson, we encourage state leaders to put aside racial, class and partisan bias, seek solutions emerging from all Jacksonians—especially the most vulnerable citizens—while putting your respective faith traditions and moral principles into action.
To that end, we believe the conference-committee proceedings must be transparent and public, and conferees must honor these