Pinkins called for the debate to take place on Wednesday, July 31 amid the usual campaign speeches delivered by candidates at the pavilion at Founder’s Square.
In a letter to the Wicker, Pinkins highlighted the significance of the Neshoba County Fair as a platform for political candidates to present their visions and engage with the citizens of Mississippi. Pinkins emphasized the importance of a debate in providing voters with a clear understanding of the candidates’ positions on critical issues facing the state and the nation.
He also referenced the Neshoba County Fair hosting a 1995 gubernatorial debate between Republican incumbent Governor Kirk Fordice and Democratic challenger Dick Molpus and the 2002 congressional debate between Republican Chip Pickering and Democrat Ronnie Shows.
“In keeping with this tradition, I believe that a debate between us at the Neshoba County Fair would provide an excellent opportunity for voters to hear firsthand our positions on the critical issues facing Mississippi and our nation,” Pinkins said in a press release.
Pinkins, a Mississippi Delta attorney and decorated Army veteran, added that the debate would likely be well-received by voters. He contended that offering a “transparent and informative forum” for discussing the policies and principles that will shape the state’s future would be beneficial for those looking to cast a ballot in the fall.
“I respectfully request that you accept this challenge and join me in this important civic exercise,” Pinkins urged in his letter to Wicker. “The people of Mississippi deserve nothing less than a full and open discussion of the issues that affect their lives.”
At this time, Wicker, the ranking Republican member of the U.S. Armed Services Committee, is not scheduled to appear at this year’s Neshoba County Fair. His communications team confirmed to SuperTalk Mississippi News that he is not listed as a speaker due to a conflict with the Senate’s schedule.
The general election will be held on Tuesday, November
Delta State University is still working out the number of faculty it needs to lay off after the college board last month approved the president’s plan to achieve financial sustainability.
The regional college in the Mississippi Delta had initially planned to let its more than 200 faculty know on July 1. But the president, Daniel Ennis, wrote in an email a few weeks ago that he can’t finalize the number of layoffs until he knows more about the shape of the four new interdisciplinary degrees that will replace the 21 programs the university is shuttering.
This means faculty will learn whether they need to start looking for new jobs for the 2025-26 academic year on a case-by-case basis around the start of the fall semester — a delay that Ennis wrote is necessary but regretful.
Other considerations for layoffs, Ennis wrote, include if faculty will be needed for general education courses or to teach students who are currently enrolled in degrees the university plans to stop offering, like English, history and mathematics.
“We are working throughout the summer to finalize next steps,” Ennis told Mississippi Today through a university spokesperson.
The cuts come as Delta State has been struggling amid the region’s population decline to keep its tuition-dependent budget in the black — a situation likely to be exacerbated by increased competition among the eight public universities for the declining number of high school graduates going to college.
Last month, the Institutions of Higher Learning Board of Trustees approved Delta State’s proposal to close 21 programs the university selected through an academic review process that weighted metrics like total enrollment and awarded degrees more heavily than departmental profits or enrollment growth and decline.
Initially, some faculty were relieved to see in the IHL board book that just 16 faculty would be “affected” in four programs — music, art, languages and literature, and chemistry.
But Ennis wouldn’t say why faculty would be laid off from those four departments and not others, or if 16 is the total number of faculty that will be laid off considering some have already departed from the institution.
In total, about $750,000 needs to be cut from the payroll, Ennis previously told Mississippi Today. Seventeen staff have already been laid off, and 49 vacant positions were left unfilled.
Faculty have been working over the summer to write plans for the four new degree programs that will replace the deleted 21: Visual and performing arts, humanities and social science, digital media and secondary education.
Ennis said these four programs will be introduced to faculty in the fall through a curriculum review process, with the goal of implementing the programs by January 2025.
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This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
Three years after breaking ground, a development company can now move forward with its plan to build 200 new homes in the capital city, the Jackson City Council decided on July 2.
Retail Specialists, a commercial real-estate agency based in Birmingham, Ala., is leading the development. It is the agency’s first commercial real-estate project in the State of Mississippi.
After a heated debate among city leaders over how the project will affect the West Jackson community, the council voted 5-2 to approve the company’s final plat, or layout, for The Village at Livingston Place.
The site sits at what was once an industrial facility.
‘Be More Optimistic About Growth’
Jackson Mayor Chokwe A. Lumumba, commercial developers and community members gathered on Oct. 21, 2021, staking shovels into the ground at the construction site for new homes on Livingston Road in West Jackson.
The community, featuring homes priced between $200,000 and $250,000, will sit off Livingston Road and Woodrow Wilson Avenue, across the street from the Jackson Medical Mall.
“From someone who is from Jackson, who grew up in Virden Addition—which is just a few miles down the road—and who came in this area in high school when it was booming, it’s just a pleasure for me to see that it may boom again. This is the catalyst of doing that,” WLBT reported investor Robert Gibbs as saying at the time.
Ward 3 City Councilman Kenneth Stokes said at the Jackson City Council meeting on July 2, 2024, that he didn’t think real-estate developers responsible for The Village at Livingston Place had communicated well with residents in his ward. Photo courtesy of City of Jackson ” data-medium-file=”https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/Kenneth-Stokes_courtesy-city-of-jackson.jpg?fit=300%2C175&ssl=1″ data-large-file=”https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/Kenneth-Stokes_courtesy-city-of-jackson.jpg?fit=780%2C455&ssl=1″ tabindex=”0″ role=”button” src=”https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/Kenneth-Stokes_courtesy-city-of-jackson.jpg?resize=780%2C455&ssl=1″ alt=”Kenneth Stokes” class=”wp-image-38311″ srcset=”https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/Kenneth-Stokes_courtesy-city-of-jackson.jpg?resize=1024%2C597&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/Kenneth-Stokes_courtesy-city-of-jackson.jpg?resize=300%2C175&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/Kenneth-Stokes_courtesy-city-of-jackson.jpg?resize=768%2C448&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/Kenneth-Stokes_courtesy-city-of-jackson.jpg?resize=24%2C14&ssl=1 24w, https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/Kenneth-Stokes_courtesy-city-of-jackson.jpg?resize=36%2C21&ssl=1 36w, https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/Kenneth-Stokes_courtesy-city-of-jackson.jpg?resize=48%2C28&ssl=1 48w, https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/Kenneth-Stokes_courtesy-city-of-jackson.jpg?w=1200&ssl=1 1200w, https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/Kenneth-Stokes_courtesy-city-of-jackson-1024×597.jpg?w=370&ssl=1 370w, https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/Kenneth-Stokes_courtesy-city-of-jackson-1024×597.jpg?w=400&ssl=1 400w” sizes=”(max-width: 780px) 100vw, 780px” data-recalc-dims=”1″>Ward 3 City Councilman Kenneth Stokes said at the Jackson City Council meeting on July 2, 2024, that he didn’t think real-estate developers responsible for The Village at Livingston Place had communicated well with residents in his ward. Photo
MONTICELLO — Even with an adjusted proposal to tackle flood risk in Jackson, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers still faces a steady flow of opposition downstream along the Pearl River.
“Let me assure you that Louisiana and Mississippi will sue you,” Rep. Becky Currie, R-Brookhaven, told a panel of Corps officials Thursday night. “We will be in court fighting over you destroying our recreation, our way of life, our wildlife, our fishing and hunting and recreation. We will be in court.”
Last month, the Corps released a new draft environmental impact statement as part of the process for selecting a plan to create flood control in Jackson. The report suggested that a plan that would cost anywhere from $487 million to $655 million may be the most justifiable under the agency’s cost-benefit analysis.
The agency is receiving public feedback on the report until Aug. 6 after recently extending the deadline. The Corps will then use feedback from the public, as well as other government agencies, to craft a final EIS. The agency’s timeline projects a final decision in December from Michael Connor, the assistant secretary of the Army for Civil Works .
Over the last decade or so that Rankin and Hinds County officials have pushed a flood control plan known as “One Lake,” officials and residents downstream have shouted back. They argue that the plan, which would relocate a dam and widen the Pearl River near Jackson, would disrupt the river’s downstream flow and, thus, also the wildlife and industries that rely on it.
In its June report, the Corps suggested that One Lake may have too large of a price tag to justify. However, the report also says that “Alternative D,” which includes similar components as One Lake, may be the most justifiable based on the agency’s cost-benefit analysis.
Alternative D would create a smaller lake (about two-thirds the size) than what the One Lake plan would, and decrease mitigation costs by avoiding potential hazardous waste sites along the river. Alternative D also includes the option of elevating homes and voluntary buyouts for some of those in the floodplain.
Regardless of the differences, though, those in Monticello on Thursday still saw the fundamentals of what they’ve spent years protesting: a lake that, to some degree, is being advertised as recreation for those in the Jackson metro area.
Rep. Becky Currie talking to the Corps panel at a meeting in Monticello on July 11, 2024.
“What’s this going to do to my paper mill?” Scotty McCloud asked the panel. McCloud has spent the last 44 years working at the local Georgia Pacific paper mill, one of the largest employers in the area. He argued that, if the mill doesn’t get the right quantity of water at the right temperature, not only would the mill suffer but so would Lawrence County as a whole.
Troy Constance, an environmental expert for the Corps, said that the agency’s modeling of the remaining flood control proposals shows minimal impact to the Pearl River’s flow once it reaches Monticello.
“We’re not seeing huge changes very far from (where the proposed weir, or dam, would go),” Constance said, adding later that the models the Corps used were some of the best he’d work with in his 39 years on the job.
A chart from the Corps’ presentation about flood control proposals in Jackson.
” data-medium-file=”https://i0.wp.com/mississippitoday.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/corps-chart-july-2024.png?fit=336%2C197&ssl=1″ data-large-file=”https://i0.wp.com/mississippitoday.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/corps-chart-july-2024.png?fit=780%2C457&ssl=1″ tabindex=”0″ role=”button” src=”https://i0.wp.com/mississippitoday.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/corps-chart-july-2024.png?resize=780%2C457&ssl=1″ alt class=”wp-image-1121576″ srcset=”https://i0.wp.com/mississippitoday.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/corps-chart-july-2024.png?w=981&ssl=1 981w, https://i0.wp.com/mississippitoday.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/corps-chart-july-2024.png?resize=336%2C197&ssl=1 336w, https://i0.wp.com/mississippitoday.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/corps-chart-july-2024.png?resize=768%2C450&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/mississippitoday.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/corps-chart-july-2024.png?resize=400%2C234&ssl=1 400w, https://i0.wp.com/mississippitoday.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/corps-chart-july-2024.png?resize=706%2C414&ssl=1 706w, https://i0.wp.com/mississippitoday.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/corps-chart-july-2024.png?w=370&ssl=1 370w” sizes=”(max-width: 780px) 100vw, 780px” data-recalc-dims=”1″>A chart from the Corps’ presentation about flood control proposals in Jackson.
Others in the audience, such as Alton Letchworth, argued that the Corps’ cost-benefit analysis didn’t make sense.
“You could buy out every home in the flood area, and you wouldn’t use half the money that you’re going to spend on this,” Letchworth said.
So far, the federal government has made $221 million available for the flood control project, meaning if Alternative D were selected, the project would still need another $266 million to $434 million in funding. Moreover, the local sponsor for the project — in this case the Rankin-Hinds Pearl River Flood and Drainage Control District — would be responsible for 35 percent of those costs, or $170 million to $229 million.
Constance replied to Letchworth that Alternative D would have a wider impact in terms of flood control than simply just offering buyouts, which would vary in success depending on the participation rate of property owners.
Earlier, though, a Corps official clarified how the agency calculates a project’s potential benefits: while at least 50 percent of the benefits have to come from flood control, additional benefits from recreational opportunities can be included in the agency’s analysis. Constance explained that the benefits of damming the river — which is what separates Alternative D and One Lake from other options the Corps is considering — would be recreational, not flood control-related.
Columbia Mayor Justin McKenzie and others argued, despite the Corps’ hydrological models, that the weir would harm those downstream similarly to what they saw after the Ross Barnett Reservoir was built in the 1960s.
“I do think there’s some responsible ways to do (this project) without creating a weir,” McKenzie said. “I don’t want any of my tax revenue to be spent on recreation of the lake in Jackson.”
Another possible impediment to the project is the Pearl River map turtle.
On Tuesday, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service listed the Pearl River map turtle as “threatened” under the Endangered Species Act, estimating that only 21,000 of the species remain in existence. The Pearl River map turtle’s habitat, the agency says, includes the Pearl River system in Mississippi and Louisiana.
“The science that the Service has gathered on the Pearl River map turtle indicates it could become endangered in the near future,” said Fish and Wildlife Biologist Luke Pearson in a press release. “These native freshwater map turtles are at risk and need our help. Working with state fish and wildlife agencies and our partners to conserve them is a priority.”
According to the Corps’ draft EIS, Alternative D is “likely to adversely affect but not likely to jeopardize the continuing existence of” the turtles. During Thursday’s meeting, Corps officials said they are still consulting with the USFWS on potential impacts to animals listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act, and that the agency’s advice will be incorporated into the final EIS.
“(The project) would require some excavation for the banks (along the Pearl River), and those turtles have been known to rely on those banks,” Brandon Davis with the Corps said.
For more information on how to submit comments before the Aug. 6 deadline or on the draft EIS, visit the Corps’ project website here.
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This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
Dorothy Parker watched from her living-room window on the morning of Sept. 4, 1957, as her mother Helen Anderson walked down the street toward her workplace. The 10-year-old would normally be at school, but her mom urged her to stay home that day. A naive Parker had no idea her mother wanted her to stay home due to the violence Anderson suspected could ensue at Central High School, not far from their home in the projects.
The U.S. Supreme Court had just struck down segregation in schools in Brown v. Board of Education earlier in May. And now, nine Black students would be integrating Central High School in Little Rock, Ark. Little did Anderson know that her daughter had seen the news in a newspaper, ignorantly thinking it was a celebration for kids.
As soon as Parker was sure her mother would not be returning, she skipped down the steps of her home and ran to Central High School. As she grew closer, she could hear the noise surrounding the entrance of the school, noise she interpreted as excitement. She climbed the wall enclosing the football field, sitting perched high to watch the nine students enter the school.
Adults of various ethnicities tried to urge Parker to go home, feeling the rage of the mob surge as a vehicle pulled up with the students. As the Black students made their way toward the previously all-white school, Parker began to notice that the mob crowding the school was far from jubilant.
New York City Mayor Robert Wagner greeting the teenagers who integrated Central High School, Little Rock, Arkansas / World Telegram photo by Walter Albertin. Pictured, front row, left to right: Minnijean Brown, Elizabeth Eckford, Carlotta Walls, Mayor Robert Wagner, Thelma Mothershed, Gloria Ray; back row, left to right: Terrence Roberts, Ernest Green, Melba Pattilo, Jefferson Thomas.
New York City Mayor Robert Wagner greets the teenagers who integrated Central High School in Little Rock, Ark. Pictured, front row, left to right: Minnijean Brown, Elizabeth Eckford, Carlotta Walls, Mayor Robert Wagner, Thelma Mothershed, Gloria Ray; back row, left to right: Terrence Roberts, Ernest Green, Melba Pattilo, Jefferson Thomas. Photo New York World-Telegram and the Sun Walter Albertin
” data-medium-file=”https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Robert_F._Wagner_with_Little_Rock_students_NYWTS-scaled.jpg?fit=300%2C140&ssl=1″ data-large-file=”https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Robert_F._Wagner_with_Little_Rock_students_NYWTS-scaled.jpg?fit=780%2C365&ssl=1″ tabindex=”0″ role=”button” src=”https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Robert_F._Wagner_with_Little_Rock_students_NYWTS.jpg?resize=780%2C365&ssl=1″ alt=”Nine young black people shake hands with a white man” class=”wp-image-44144″ srcset=”https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Robert_F._Wagner_with_Little_Rock_students_NYWTS-scaled.jpg?resize=1024%2C479&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Robert_F._Wagner_with_Little_Rock_students_NYWTS-scaled.jpg?resize=300%2C140&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Robert_F._Wagner_with_Little_Rock_students_NYWTS-scaled.jpg?resize=768%2C359&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Robert_F._Wagner_with_Little_Rock_students_NYWTS-scaled.jpg?resize=1536%2C719&ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Robert_F._Wagner_with_Little_Rock_students_NYWTS-scaled.jpg?resize=2048%2C958&ssl=1 2048w, https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Robert_F._Wagner_with_Little_Rock_students_NYWTS-scaled.jpg?resize=1200%2C562&ssl=1 1200w, https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Robert_F._Wagner_with_Little_Rock_students_NYWTS-scaled.jpg?resize=1568%2C734&ssl=1 1568w, https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Robert_F._Wagner_with_Little_Rock_students_NYWTS-scaled.jpg?resize=2000%2C936&ssl=1 2000w, https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Robert_F._Wagner_with_Little_Rock_students_NYWTS-scaled.jpg?resize=400%2C187&ssl=1 400w, https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Robert_F._Wagner_with_Little_Rock_students_NYWTS-scaled.jpg?w=2340&ssl=1 2340w, https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Robert_F._Wagner_with_Little_Rock_students_NYWTS-1024×479.jpg?w=370&ssl=1 370w” sizes=”(max-width: 780px) 100vw, 780px” data-recalc-dims=”1″>New York City Mayor Robert Wagner greets the teenagers who integrated Central High School in Little Rock, Ark. Pictured, front row, left to right: Minnijean Brown, Elizabeth Eckford, Carlotta Walls, Mayor Robert Wagner, Thelma Mothershed, Gloria Ray; back row, left to right: Terrence Roberts, Ernest Green, Melba Pattilo, Jefferson Thomas. Photo New York World-Telegram and the Sun Walter Albertin
The harsh sound of a bulb flashing jolted Parker out of her daze, and she jumped off the wall, running back home as fast as her legs would carry her. She zoomed to her bedroom, closing the door, and she threw herself onto her bed with a flop. Tears spilled down her cheeks in rivulets, and she attempted to process what she saw. “Mom was right,” she thought to herself. “I should’ve stayed home.”
Her young eyes took in everything. White objectors were furious, their faces as red as cherries that they looked close to bursting. Spit flew out of their mouths like venom. They yelled expletives with such vitriol, words her mom often told her not to repeat. Their negative energy coiled around Parker, exacerbating her emotions and filling her with fear and confusion.
Helen Andersonwalked through the front door, calling her daughter’s name along the way as she slipped out of her shoes. When no answer greeted her, she walked down the hall to Parker’s bedroom, knocking before entering. The sniffles alerted her to Parker’s mood, but with strict instructions to stay inside today, she could not fathom what could make her daughter cry.
“What happened?” she asked, sitting on the edge of the bed.
“I went to the high school,” she responded. “I thought it was a celebration.”
Helen sighed, pulling her daughter into a hug and rubbing her back to soothe her. She could chastise her for not listening another day. Her daughter’s innocence of the world had been shattered, and now she had to pick up the pieces and educate Parker on the wickedness present within the world.
‘Civil-Rights Leader on Steroids’
Christopher Parker, Dorothy’s son, said people never really discussed the LIttle Rock Nine when he was growing up. Their story—the story his mother witnessed, in part, firsthand—was told in whispers, discussed behind closed doors.
It was a full-circle moment for the pianist and composer when the nonprofit Oxford American commissioned him, alongside Kelley Hurt, to write a piece of music commemorating the Little Rock Nine for the 66th anniversary of their integration in 2017. The duo formed a band named No Tears and produced a six-track album dedicated to the anniversary titled “No Tears Suite.” It was a wonderful, one-time experience. At least, that’s what Christopher thought at the time.
“The whole thing to me is miraculous,” Christopher Parker told the Mississippi Free Press. “I’m not a church person, but the universe has obviously decided that Kelly and I need to take these talents and this little musical family and do what it is we’re doing.”
No Tears, a music collective, will be visiting Jackson for a residency that aims at educating and healing through community concerts, a panel discussion and youth education programs Sept. 27 to Sept. 29 across various sites in the city. Graphic courtesy No Tears Project Jackson: Be Heard in 2024
” data-medium-file=”https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/No-Tears-Project-banner.jpg?fit=300%2C200&ssl=1″ data-large-file=”https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/No-Tears-Project-banner.jpg?fit=780%2C519&ssl=1″ tabindex=”0″ role=”button” src=”https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/No-Tears-Project-banner.jpg?resize=780%2C519&ssl=1″ alt=”No Tears Project details to be announced” class=”wp-image-44145″ srcset=”https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/No-Tears-Project-banner.jpg?resize=1024%2C682&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/No-Tears-Project-banner.jpg?resize=300%2C200&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/No-Tears-Project-banner.jpg?resize=768%2C512&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/No-Tears-Project-banner.jpg?resize=1536%2C1024&ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/No-Tears-Project-banner.jpg?resize=1200%2C800&ssl=1 1200w, https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/No-Tears-Project-banner.jpg?resize=1568%2C1045&ssl=1 1568w, https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/No-Tears-Project-banner.jpg?resize=400%2C267&ssl=1 400w, https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/No-Tears-Project-banner.jpg?w=2000&ssl=1 2000w, https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/No-Tears-Project-banner-1024×682.jpg?w=370&ssl=1 370w” sizes=”(max-width: 780px) 100vw, 780px” data-recalc-dims=”1″>No Tears, a music collective, will be visiting Jackson for a residency that aims at educating and healing through community concerts, a panel discussion and youth education programs Sept. 27 to Sept. 29 across various sites in the city. Graphic courtesy No Tears Project Jackson: Be Heard in 2024
From there, Parker, Hurt and the band partnered with the Little Rock Symphony to perform the album in 2019. Their performance went so well that National Park Services representatives from New Orleans invited them to the city to perform. COVID-19 struck, though, forcing them to play virtually in 2020. The following year, they performed in Fayetteville, Ark., and Tulsa, Okla., and then in St. Louis, Mo., in 2023.
At first, St. Louis organizers were hesitant to fund a performance telling the story of these students from the South, but they agreed when No Tears offered to change the theme to also incorporate history and information about local historical figures Dred and Harriet Scott. The Scotts, American-born slaves, filed a lawsuit against Irene Emerson for their freedom on April 6, 1846. After many appeals and new lawsuits, the case went to the Supreme Court. The verdict ruled against Scott, stating he was still a slave and not a free man or citizen. St. Louis native Oliver Lake and other local artists helped No Tears arrange the modified show near the anniversary of their case.
No Tears’ tour continued to Memphis, Tenn., afterward, where Martin Luther King Jr. was the focus. James Earl Ray assassinated Martin Luther King Jr. outside the Lorraine Motel on April 4, 1968. The collective repeated the same formula from St. Louis, employing Memphis musicians and having Memphis native Donald Brown recite “A Poem for Martin” while saxophone player Bobby LaVell composed “My Spirit is Stronger Than Your Persecution.”
James Earl Ray assassinated Martin Lurther King Jr. outside the Lorraine Motel (pictured) in Memphis, Tenn., on April 4, 1968. The hotel is now the site of the National Civil Rights Museum. Photo courtesy National Park Services / DavGreg
” data-medium-file=”https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/The_Lorraine_Motel_site_of_the_Martin_Luther_King_assassination_and_the_National_Civil_Rights_Museum_courtesy-DavGreg.jpg?fit=300%2C200&ssl=1″ data-large-file=”https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/The_Lorraine_Motel_site_of_the_Martin_Luther_King_assassination_and_the_National_Civil_Rights_Museum_courtesy-DavGreg.jpg?fit=780%2C519&ssl=1″ tabindex=”0″ role=”button” src=”https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/The_Lorraine_Motel_site_of_the_Martin_Luther_King_assassination_and_the_National_Civil_Rights_Museum_courtesy-DavGreg.jpg?resize=780%2C519&ssl=1″ alt=”The outside exterior of a motel with green doors” class=”wp-image-44165″ srcset=”https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/The_Lorraine_Motel_site_of_the_Martin_Luther_King_assassination_and_the_National_Civil_Rights_Museum_courtesy-DavGreg.jpg?resize=1024%2C682&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/The_Lorraine_Motel_site_of_the_Martin_Luther_King_assassination_and_the_National_Civil_Rights_Museum_courtesy-DavGreg.jpg?resize=300%2C200&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/The_Lorraine_Motel_site_of_the_Martin_Luther_King_assassination_and_the_National_Civil_Rights_Museum_courtesy-DavGreg.jpg?resize=768%2C512&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/The_Lorraine_Motel_site_of_the_Martin_Luther_King_assassination_and_the_National_Civil_Rights_Museum_courtesy-DavGreg.jpg?resize=1536%2C1024&ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/The_Lorraine_Motel_site_of_the_Martin_Luther_King_assassination_and_the_National_Civil_Rights_Museum_courtesy-DavGreg.jpg?resize=1200%2C800&ssl=1 1200w, https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/The_Lorraine_Motel_site_of_the_Martin_Luther_King_assassination_and_the_National_Civil_Rights_Museum_courtesy-DavGreg.jpg?resize=1568%2C1045&ssl=1 1568w, https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/The_Lorraine_Motel_site_of_the_Martin_Luther_King_assassination_and_the_National_Civil_Rights_Museum_courtesy-DavGreg.jpg?resize=400%2C267&ssl=1 400w, https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/The_Lorraine_Motel_site_of_the_Martin_Luther_King_assassination_and_the_National_Civil_Rights_Museum_courtesy-DavGreg.jpg?w=2000&ssl=1 2000w, https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/The_Lorraine_Motel_site_of_the_Martin_Luther_King_assassination_and_the_National_Civil_Rights_Museum_courtesy-DavGreg-1024×682.jpg?w=370&ssl=1 370w” sizes=”(max-width: 780px) 100vw, 780px” data-recalc-dims=”1″>James Earl Ray assassinated Martin Lurther King Jr. outside the Lorraine Motel (pictured) in Memphis, Tenn., on April 4, 1968. The hotel is now the site of the National Civil Rights Museum. Photo courtesy National Park Services / DavGreg
While in Memphis, the National Park Service hosted a panel discussion with Medgar Evers’ daughter, Reena Evers. At the time, they hadn’t decided where the next city would be, but then it just clicked one day, Parker said.
“We’re writing these grants, and I’m like, ‘Why don’t we just go down to Jackson?’ Talk about a superhero action figure for a subject, Medgar Evers; he’s like the civil-rights leader on steroids. You can’t get a better story than that,” he said.
Parker suggested Rodney Jordan write the piece on Evers, as he is a Jackson State University alum and has written pieces for the Jackson (now Mississippi) Symphony Orchestra. The No Tears residency will debut for the first time in Jackson the weekend of Sept. 27 through Sept. 29, 2024. The free event combines music and outreach programs aimed at inciting meaningful conversations and healing communities.
“We’re going to try to do voter registration at our events through One Voice, and that’ll be the last five days or so that you can do any more voter registration in Mississippi. So it’ll be like a final push to get people to register to vote,” the pianist said.
“Then we’re also going to partner with the Mississippi Book Festival and try to give away books, especially books that are on the ban list or potentially on a ban list,” Parker added. “(It will be) a literacy and voter-awareness type campaign, which makes a lot of sense given where (Evers) was going, where he was pushing.”
‘Why Mississippi?’
Rodney Jordan connected with No Tears a few years ago after they asked him to be a part of the Little Rock Nine project, so he was elated when the group approached him to write the Medgar Evers piece this year. He spent some time in Jackson during his college years at Jackson State, where he played in the orchestra and jazz band.
“Although I went to Jackson State and I spent several years in Jackson, Mississippi, I don’t know that I really studied anything about Medgar Evers,” Jordan told the Mississippi Free Press. “I didn’t know a lot about him. I’m from Memphis, Tennessee, where Martin Luther King was assassinated. That was a big part of my history. I knew a lot about that, but not as much about Medgar, and he was before Martin Luther King Jr., so it was something I wanted to just know more about.”
Before composing his piece, Jordan started reading “Mississippi Martyr” by Michael William and “Medgar and Myrlie: Medgar Evers and the Love Story that Awakened America” by Joy Ann Reid, which had a wealth of information, details, dates and places from which he could pull.
Violinist Rodney Jordan will compose an original musical piece for the No Tears Project Jackson titled “Why Mississippi?” He composed it after conducting research and spending time in Jackson, Miss. Photo by Longs Photography
” data-medium-file=”https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Rodney-Jordan_cred-Longs-Photography.jpg?fit=199%2C300&ssl=1″ data-large-file=”https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Rodney-Jordan_cred-Longs-Photography.jpg?fit=555%2C837&ssl=1″ tabindex=”0″ role=”button” src=”https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Rodney-Jordan_cred-Longs-Photography.jpg?resize=555%2C837&ssl=1″ alt=”A man with his hands on the strings of a cello” class=”wp-image-44081″ srcset=”https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Rodney-Jordan_cred-Longs-Photography.jpg?w=555&ssl=1 555w, https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Rodney-Jordan_cred-Longs-Photography.jpg?resize=199%2C300&ssl=1 199w, https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Rodney-Jordan_cred-Longs-Photography.jpg?resize=400%2C603&ssl=1 400w, https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Rodney-Jordan_cred-Longs-Photography.jpg?w=370&ssl=1 370w” sizes=”(max-width: 555px) 100vw, 555px” data-recalc-dims=”1″>Violinist Rodney Jordan will compose an original musical piece for the No Tears Project Jackson titled “Why Mississippi?” He composed it after conducting research and spending time in Jackson, Miss. Photo by Longs Photography
A few weeks before his phone interview with the Mississippi Free Press, Jordan traveled to Jackson to tour the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum and the Mississippi Museum of History, spending an entire day there gathering photos that helped put a perspective together. He also visited the Medgar Evers home for the first time.
“I got a chance to go in and really take a look at the house,” the big bass violin player said. “It’s really a house and military barracks the way he designed it. The house not having a front door, the children’s rooms was just mattresses on the floor as he had them sleeping down low just in case bullets hit the house.”
Jordan walked away from the trip with a renewed admiration for Medgar Evers, particularly in how he raised his family as a Black man in America. Evers was strong and had conviction, traits that the musician can relate to as a Black man raising his own family.
“I was really amazed at the fact that he would want to go to the University of Mississippi to study law,” Jordan said. “He could have easily gone somewhere else to study law if he wanted to, but he wanted to study law in Mississippi. He had a firm commitment to the state of Mississippi, so I wrote a piece called ‘Why Mississippi?’”
Medgar and Myrlie Evers both dedicated their lives to fighting, as he put it, “until every vestige of segregation and discrimination in America becomes annihilated.” Photo courtesy Evers family.
” data-medium-file=”https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/MyrlieMedgarEvers_OnCouch_courtesy-EversInstitute.org_web.jpg?fit=300%2C199&ssl=1″ data-large-file=”https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/MyrlieMedgarEvers_OnCouch_courtesy-EversInstitute.org_web.jpg?fit=600%2C397&ssl=1″ tabindex=”0″ role=”button” src=”https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/MyrlieMedgarEvers_OnCouch_courtesy-EversInstitute.org_web.jpg?resize=600%2C397&ssl=1″ alt=”Myrlie and Medgar Evers sitting together on a couch” class=”wp-image-3771″ srcset=”https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/MyrlieMedgarEvers_OnCouch_courtesy-EversInstitute.org_web.jpg?w=600&ssl=1 600w, https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/MyrlieMedgarEvers_OnCouch_courtesy-EversInstitute.org_web.jpg?resize=300%2C199&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/MyrlieMedgarEvers_OnCouch_courtesy-EversInstitute.org_web.jpg?w=370&ssl=1 370w, https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/MyrlieMedgarEvers_OnCouch_courtesy-EversInstitute.org_web.jpg?w=400&ssl=1 400w” sizes=”(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px” data-recalc-dims=”1″>Medgar and Myrlie Evers both dedicated their lives to fighting, as Medgar put it, “until every vestige of segregation and discrimination in America becomes annihilated.” Photo courtesy Evers family
It took him a few weeks to write the piece. The music started in his head, and he translated it to paper and then into the computer to put through music-notation software. He describes the song as a mix of blues, hip-hop and orchestra, a sound that really pulls on the state’s musical roots and the music he studied growing up.
For Jordan, music is like a second language and, at times, a first language he uses to communicate with others because it can convey things words sometimes cannot, he said.
“Music can convey so many feelings. We use music for funerals. We use music for weddings. We use music for birthdays. We use music to celebrate everything we do in life. So music is right there with water. It’s something that we have to have in our lives, and it’s part of what makes us human,” Jordan said.
The No Tears Project Jackson: Be Heard 2024 will land in Jackson, Miss., on Sept. 27 and run through Sept. 29, 2024. The show is free to the public and will include community concerts, a panel discussion and youth-education programs located at Myrlie’s Garden (part of the Medgar Evers Home National Monument property), Shady Grove Missionary Baptist Church, and other sites across the city. For more information about the No Tears Project and the work they are doing, visit notearsproject.com. Learn more about Oxford America at oxfordamerican.org.
The New York Times op-ed dropped just minutes before President Biden headed for his motorcade, and as he was driving across town to meet with union workers, all of Washington devoured the words of George Clooney, the movie star publicly calling on the president to step aside.
“It’s devastating to say it, but the Joe Biden I was with three weeks ago at the fundraiser was not the Joe ‘big F-ing deal’ Biden of 2010. He wasn’t even the Joe Biden of 2020,” Clooney wrote, setting up a betrayal worthy of the big screen. “He was the same man we all witnessed at the debate.”
It was a worst fear come to life for this White House, more evidence that concerns about the age and mental acuity of the president cannot easily be set aside. Clooney headlined a record-breaking, star-studded fundraiser for Biden in Hollywood just last month. Now the star has jumped ship, signaling to the country, as much as to other deep-pocketed Democrats, that it is okay to look past Biden.
The White House likely didn’t expect Clooney, an Obama family friend who vacations with the former president, to join the growing number of A-listers abandoning the top of the Democratic ticket. All the same, Biden had opened a preemptive broadside against the elites.
“I’m getting so frustrated by the elites,” Biden said Tuesday on Morning Joe, pausing only to tell MSNBC hosts Joe Scarborough, a former congressman, and Mika Brzezinski, sister to the U.S. Ambassador to Poland, that “I’m not talking about you guys.” Instead, the president directed his ire toward “the elites in the party who know so much more. If any of these guys don’t think I should run, run against me. Go ahead, announce for president. Challenge me at the convention.”
No challenger has stepped forward yet, but at a Wisconsin rally last week, Biden made reference to an effort behind the scenes “trying to push me out of the race.” To do that just before he accepts the Democratic nomination, the president said, would disenfranchise voters. In this way, desperately clinging to the Oval Office, Biden fell back on his reputation as “Scranton Joe,” man of the people.
It has not worked.
The co-founder of Netflix, Reed Hastings, has called on Biden to leave the ticket. The heiress to the Disney family fortune, Abigail Disney, has said she will not donate to Democrats until they dump Biden. George Stephanopoulos, a senior advisor to President Clinton before a career as a newsman with ABC, was caught on camera Wednesday telling a pedestrian in New York that he did not think Biden could serve “four more years.”
Stephanopoulos later apologized for the unauthorized commentary, but the damage was done. The journalist who landed the first interview with Biden post-debate, a test of his ability to convince the country he was still all there, just said the president flunked. Biden insists his debate performance was just “a bad night,” an unfortunate combination of a cold and jetlag. His White House has offered similar excuses for the president’s puzzling behavior.
When Biden appeared to freeze on stage at the Los Angeles fundraiser that Clooney headlined before being led off stage with President Obama, the White House said he was just “taking in an applauding crowd for a few seconds.” And edited videos of the president appearing frail or confused, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters days after the fundraiser, were “cheap-fakes.”
But what was once dismissed as a right-wing conspiracy is now being espoused by some of the Democratic elite, most notably Clooney, who said there was no difference in what he saw from Biden at the L.A. fundraiser or the presidential debate.
“Was he tired? Yes. A cold? Maybe. But our party leaders need to stop telling us that 51 million people didn’t see what we just saw. We’re all so terrified by the prospect of a second Trump term that we’ve opted to ignore every warning sign,” Clooney wrote of the presidential debate, saying he and his fellow Democrats “collectively hold our breath” anytime the president faces the press.
It was a remarkably similar sentiment to the one shared by Ben Rhodes, a former senior advisor to Obama, who tweeted after the debate that “telling people they didn’t see what they saw is not the way to respond to this.”
Biden has responded by telling the donors, pundits, and Democratic leaders now doubting him how wrong they were before to doubt him.
“Look, I remember them telling me the same thing in 2020: I can’t win. The polls show I can’t win,” the president recalled in his sit-down with ABC News. “Remember 2024 – 2020, the red wave was coming. Before the vote, I said that’s not going to happen. We’re going to win. We did better in an off year than almost any incumbent president ever has done.”
For now, the president has made clear, despite the elite lining up against him, that he will not go quietly into that good night, giving anyone a tidy Hollywood ending, no matter how nicely they ask.
This article was originally published by RealClearPolitics and made available via RealClearWire.
This article first appeared on the Magnolia Tribune and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
The New York Times op-ed dropped just minutes before President Biden headed for his motorcade, and as he was driving across town to meet with union workers, all of Washington devoured the words of George Clooney, the movie star publicly calling on the president to step aside.
“It’s devastating to say it, but the Joe Biden I was with three weeks ago at the fundraiser was not the Joe ‘big F-ing deal’ Biden of 2010. He wasn’t even the Joe Biden of 2020,” Clooney wrote, setting up a betrayal worthy of the big screen. “He was the same man we all witnessed at the debate.”
It was a worst fear come to life for this White House, more evidence that concerns about the age and mental acuity of the president cannot easily be set aside. Clooney headlined a record-breaking, star-studded fundraiser for Biden in Hollywood just last month. Now the star has jumped ship, signaling to the country, as much as to other deep-pocketed Democrats, that it is okay to look past Biden.
The White House likely didn’t expect Clooney, an Obama family friend who vacations with the former president, to join the growing number of A-listers abandoning the top of the Democratic ticket. All the same, Biden had opened a preemptive broadside against the elites.
“I’m getting so frustrated by the elites,” Biden said Tuesday on Morning Joe, pausing only to tell MSNBC hosts Joe Scarborough, a former congressman, and Mika Brzezinski, sister to the U.S. Ambassador to Poland, that “I’m not talking about you guys.” Instead, the president directed his ire toward “the elites in the party who know so much more. If any of these guys don’t think I should run, run against me. Go ahead, announce for president. Challenge me at the convention.”
No challenger has stepped forward yet, but at a Wisconsin rally last week, Biden made reference to an effort behind the scenes “trying to push me out of the race.” To do that just before he accepts the Democratic nomination, the president said, would disenfranchise voters. In this way, desperately clinging to the Oval Office, Biden fell back on his reputation as “Scranton Joe,” man of the people.
It has not worked.
The co-founder of Netflix, Reed Hastings, has called on Biden to leave the ticket. The heiress to the Disney family fortune, Abigail Disney, has said she will not donate to Democrats until they dump Biden. George Stephanopoulos, a senior advisor to President Clinton before a career as a newsman with ABC, was caught on camera Wednesday telling a pedestrian in New York that he did not think Biden could serve “four more years.”
Stephanopoulos later apologized for the unauthorized commentary, but the damage was done. The journalist who landed the first interview with Biden post-debate, a test of his ability to convince the country he was still all there, just said the president flunked. Biden insists his debate performance was just “a bad night,” an unfortunate combination of a cold and jetlag. His White House has offered similar excuses for the president’s puzzling behavior.
When Biden appeared to freeze on stage at the Los Angeles fundraiser that Clooney headlined before being led off stage with President Obama, the White House said he was just “taking in an applauding crowd for a few seconds.” And edited videos of the president appearing frail or confused, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters days after the fundraiser, were “cheap-fakes.”
But what was once dismissed as a right-wing conspiracy is now being espoused by some of the Democratic elite, most notably Clooney, who said there was no difference in what he saw from Biden at the L.A. fundraiser or the presidential debate.
“Was he tired? Yes. A cold? Maybe. But our party leaders need to stop telling us that 51 million people didn’t see what we just saw. We’re all so terrified by the prospect of a second Trump term that we’ve opted to ignore every warning sign,” Clooney wrote of the presidential debate, saying he and his fellow Democrats “collectively hold our breath” anytime the president faces the press.
It was a remarkably similar sentiment to the one shared by Ben Rhodes, a former senior advisor to Obama, who tweeted after the debate that “telling people they didn’t see what they saw is not the way to respond to this.”
Biden has responded by telling the donors, pundits, and Democratic leaders now doubting him how wrong they were before to doubt him.
“Look, I remember them telling me the same thing in 2020: I can’t win. The polls show I can’t win,” the president recalled in his sit-down with ABC News. “Remember 2024 – 2020, the red wave was coming. Before the vote, I said that’s not going to happen. We’re going to win. We did better in an off year than almost any incumbent president ever has done.”
For now, the president has made clear, despite the elite lining up against him, that he will not go quietly into that good night, giving anyone a tidy Hollywood ending, no matter how nicely they ask.
This article was originally published by RealClearPolitics and made available via RealClearWire.
This article first appeared on the Magnolia Tribune and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
I’m writing this from Charleston, S.C., at the AAN Publishers conference. What was originally known as the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies was founded as an organization in 1978 for print newspapers that served as an alternative news source to the usual daily newspapers and mainstream media that often did not tell the whole story. (Sound familiar?)
These days, we’re simply known as AAN Publishers, with many of us serving as at least one paper of record for our towns or states. From the start, membership in AAN has been competitive with the quality of writing and reporting not found in other news source a key reason for being allowed to join the organization.
Long-time AAN Publishers member Fran Zankowski talks at the organization’s Thursday, July 11, 2024, solutions circle in Charleston, S.C., about revenue solutions while holding his group’s talking stick. Photo by Donna Ladd ” data-medium-file=”https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/MFP-AAN-Solutions-Circle-07112024-4_cred-Donna-Ladd.jpg?fit=300%2C200&ssl=1″ data-large-file=”https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/MFP-AAN-Solutions-Circle-07112024-4_cred-Donna-Ladd.jpg?fit=780%2C520&ssl=1″ tabindex=”0″ role=”button” src=”https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/MFP-AAN-Solutions-Circle-07112024-4_cred-Donna-Ladd.jpg?resize=780%2C520&ssl=1″ alt class=”wp-image-44706″ srcset=”https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/MFP-AAN-Solutions-Circle-07112024-4_cred-Donna-Ladd.jpg?resize=1024%2C683&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/MFP-AAN-Solutions-Circle-07112024-4_cred-Donna-Ladd.jpg?resize=300%2C200&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/MFP-AAN-Solutions-Circle-07112024-4_cred-Donna-Ladd.jpg?resize=768%2C512&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/MFP-AAN-Solutions-Circle-07112024-4_cred-Donna-Ladd.jpg?resize=400%2C267&ssl=1 400w, https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/MFP-AAN-Solutions-Circle-07112024-4_cred-Donna-Ladd.jpg?w=1200&ssl=1 1200w, https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/MFP-AAN-Solutions-Circle-07112024-4_cred-Donna-Ladd-1024×683.jpg?w=370&ssl=1 370w” sizes=”(max-width: 780px) 100vw, 780px” data-recalc-dims=”1″>Long-time AAN Publishers member Fran Zankowski talks at the organization’s Thursday, July 11, 2024, solutions circle in Charleston, S.C., about revenue solutions while holding his group’s talking stick. Photo by Donna Ladd
I love AAN. I didn’t always. For years as the associate publisher of the Jackson Free Press—an “alt weekly” of the highest quality—I was often the only Black person at AAN conferences. I live in the Blackest state in the nation; 36% of Mississippi identifies as someone of African descent, so it weirds me out when there aren’t at least a handful of Black, Brown or beige people in the room.
I stopped attending AAN conferences in 2013 until my friend and colleague John Heaston, who passed away recently, pulled me back into the fray in 2020 with Donna Ladd’s urging of me as a board member. Upon my return, I found changes afoot. There were incredibly earnest people pushing for diversity and inclusivity, more young people like Sayaka Matsuoka, managing editor of Triad City Beat in North Carolina,asking hard questions and
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Redrawing some Mississippi legislative districts in time for this November’s election is impossible because of tight deadlines to prepare ballots, state officials say in new court papers.
Attorneys for the all-Republican state Board of Election Commissioners filed arguments Wednesday in response to a July 2 ruling by three federal judges who ordered the Mississippi House and Senate to reconfigure some legislative districts. The judges said current districts dilute the power of Black voters in three parts of the state.
The ruling came in a lawsuit filed in 2022 by the Mississippi State Conference of the NAACP and several Black residents. The judges said they wanted new districts to be drawn before the next regular legislative session begins in January.
Mississippi held state House and Senate elections in 2023. Redrawing some districts would create the need for special elections to fill seats for the rest of the four-year term.
Election Commission attorneys said Republican Gov. Tate Reeves would need to call legislators into special session and new districts would need to be adopted by Aug. 2 so other deadlines could be met for special elections to be held the same day as this November’s general election for federal offices and state judicial seats.
“It took the State a considerable period of time to draw the current maps,” the Election Commission attorneys said.
The judges ordered legislators to draw majority-Black Senate districts in and around DeSoto County in the northwestern corner of the state and in and around Hattiesburg in the south, and a new majority-Black House district in Chickasaw and Monroe counties in the northeastern part of the state.
The order does not create additional districts. Rather, it requires legislators to adjust the boundaries of existing ones. Multiple districts could be affected, and the Election Commission attorneys said drawing new boundaries “is not realistically achievable” by Aug. 2.
Legislative and congressional districts are updated after each census to reflect population changes from the previous decade. Mississippi’s population is about 59% white and 38% Black.
It is with heavy hearts that we share the passing of Bennie Sellers, who served as the City of Hattiesburg’s Director of Public Services and City Engineer for two decades. Sellers, who was appointed by Mayor Ed Morgan in 1990, played a pivotal role in shaping our city’s infrastructure until his retirement in 2010.
Sellers’ tenure coincided with a period of significant growth for Hattiesburg, particularly after the 1991 annexation. His leadership saw numerous critical projects come to fruition, including the widening of Gordon’s Creek, which alleviated flooding issues, and the Lincoln Road extension, providing a vital new east-west corridor. Among his many accomplishments, Bennie was especially proud of the renovation of the downtown train depot, a beloved landmark that stands as a testament to his dedication to preserving Hattiesburg’s history while fostering its progress.
“In an age where talent often looks for the next opportunity, Bennie Sellers stands as a testament to commitment, loyalty, and integrity,” said Mayor Toby Barker. “His role in the many projects that built the Hattiesburg we know and love – and his institutional knowledge of every neighborhood, street, and piece of infrastructure (down to the inlet, pipe, manhole, and valve) – will never be duplicated. To me, as a young legislator and then mayor, he was a voice of encouragement and optimism tempered with unquestioned wisdom. Our community has lost a giant, and we send our most heartfelt condolences to Ms. Barbara, BJ, and all his family and friends.”
Former Mayor Johnny DuPree (2001-2017) added, “Bennie Sellers was a special friend not only to me but to the citizens of Hattiesburg. Hattiesburg’s national standing as a leading city is due to the dedication of city directors who Bennie Sellers mentored and the men and women he supervised. Bennie guided Hattiesburg through some of the city’s most devastating times. Benny LOVED Hattiesburg, and if you knew him, you LOVED him as well. He will be missed. Johniece and I send our prayers and condolences to the Sellers family and a heartfelt thanks for allowing Bennie Sellers to be a part of the Hattiesburg family.”
Former Hattiesburg Mayor Ed Morgan (1989-2001) said, “Mr. Sellers certainly left his mark on the city. Bennie’s contributions to improve the quality of life in Hattiesburg were unparalleled. His leadership and ability to get things done will be remembered. I extend prayers for his family.”
Bennie Sellers’ contributions to our community are immeasurable, and his legacy will be felt for generations to come. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family and friends during this difficult time.
Visitation will be Monday, July 15 at 9:30 a.m., with services following at 11:30 a.m. at the J. Ed Morgan Intermodal Facility (Hattiesburg Train Depot).
