Mississippi officials who could reopen the 1955 lynching case of Emmett Till do not have plans to proceed despite the recent discovery of new evidence. 

Evidence that has come to light in the past few weeks are an unpublished memoir by Carolyn Bryant Donham, who accused Till of whistling and grabbing her, which was shared with and reported on by The Associated Press, and the unserved original arrest warrant in Till’s case which lists Donham alongside the men who kidnapped and killed the teenager. 

Michelle Williams, chief of staff for Attorney General Lynn Fitch, told The Associated Press Friday there isn’t new evidence to reopen the case and that her office hasn’t been in contact with the Leflore County District Attorney’s office, which would be responsible for a case against Donham.

Leflore County District Attorney Dewayne Richardson and Sheriff Ricky Banks were not immediately available for comment Monday. 

The Emmett Till Legacy Foundation, started by members of Till’s family, is asking supporters to help to demand justice by contacting the district attorney’s office. In a Friday tweet, the foundation said the memoir and warrant are new evidence of Donham’s role as an accomplice in Till’s death. 

“We never accepted (the) closing of this case by the authorities or gave up hope,” Deborah Watts, Till’s cousin and head of the foundation, said in a June 30 statement. “We have always pushed for full accountability of all those involved in Emmett’s murder who may still be alive.”

A representative from the foundation was not immediately available for comment Monday. 

The Associated Press obtained a copy of Donham’s unpublished memoir Thursday titled, “I am More Than a Wolf Whistle.” In it, she said she didn’t know what would happen to Till after she accused him of whistling at and grabbing her at the store she worked at in the Delta.

She said her former husband Roy Bryant and his half brother J.W. Milam kidnapped the 14-year-old from his family’s home and brought Till to her in the middle of the night for identification. She denied it was him and claimed Till identified himself. 

Timothy Tyson, a historian and author, shared a copy of the manuscript he obtained from Donham while interviewing her in 2008 for his book, the Associated Press reported. He put the manuscript in a University of North Carolina archive with the agreement not to make it public for decades, but he publicized it now after the discovery of the unserved warrant for Donham. 

Last month, a team including Till family members searched the basement of the Leflore County Courthouse in Greenwood and found the warrant dated Aug. 29, 1955, and listing “Mrs. Roy Bryant,” Bryant and Milam. 

The men were acquitted of Till’s murder but later admitted to the crime in a magazine interview. 

The U.S. Department of Justice had investigated the Till case several times without filing charges.

Donham is now 87 and had a last known address in North Carolina. She nor relatives did not respond to requests for comment from the Associated Press. 

The post Officials have no plans to reopen Emmett Till lynching case despite new evidence appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Share this article

The President wants convenience stores to cut profits and fix high gasoline prices. Can they? Distribution and marketing account for 5% of gasoline’s price at the pump (WSJ “Bidenomics 101” July 5, 2022). That was 22 cents a gallon in May. Out of that, labor, freight, utilities, real estate, and credit card fees took 10 cents. So, store operators and local distributors got 12 cents for their efforts. They can’t fix the President’s gas problem with 12 cents.

Tax collectors took 49 cents without breaking a sweat. They can’t fix high prices either. Neither can Big Oil. Majors own fewer than 5% of the gas stations in the U.S. They quit retailing because there’s no money in it.

How about refiners? They make gasoline, diesel, jet fuel, fuel oil, etc. from crude oil. They’re making money now. The U.S. crack (not that kind) margin was a record $55 per barrel (42 gallons) in May. That’s the difference between revenues from refinery products and cost of crude oil. It varies with crude price, seasonal demand for products, and refinery capacity. It’s been high recently despite high crude prices because of summer gasoline demand and a shortage of refinery capacity. Why a shortage?

Thirty-year crack margins (excluding the Ukraine disruption) averaged about $10.50 a barrel. That doesn’t justify investments in new refineries. They are expensive to build and hard to permit due to government regulations. No major refinery has been built in the U.S. since 1976.

There’s more money in crude oil. Prices are high. Russia makes more from higher crude prices now than before Ukraine. The Saudi’s do too. U.S. crude producers, too – despite efforts to shut them down. What caused high crude prices?

Stopping the Keystone Pipeline from bringing heavy crude from Canada to Gulf Coast refineries to make diesel caused a shortage. Restricting U.S. offshore oil leases discourages long term exploration for big barrel reserves. Threatening U.S. shale producers discourages drilling for quicker smaller reserves. Sanctions disrupt world crude trade. Crude prices rose on supply shortages and uncertainty. Commodities do that.

The President favors the liberal world over America’s interests. Globalist politicians shutter reliable fossil fuel and nuclear plants in favor of unreliable renewable energy. California and Texas lead the way to electric grid chaos and blackouts from intermittent wind and solar power. Why?

The answer is: Green Energy Madness. That’s the belief that electricity from wind and solar will supply our needs. (Solar generated 2.8% of U.S. electricity last year.) And belief in the theory that burning oil, natural gas, and coal will lead to future climate catastrophes because it releases carbon dioxide to the atmosphere. That’s a theory. Not a fact.

But it is a fact that England and Europe suffer energy shortages because they shut down their nuclear plants, natural gas, and coal plants to rely on unreliable wind power. They will suffer more this winter. The European Commission knows this. So, it now says nuclear and natural gas are Green.

Read original article by clicking here.

Recent news reports of shooting across the country have shocked the public. While Americans have unfortunately become accustomed to some of these scenes, revelations about the law enforcement response to the shooting in Uvalde, Texas have sparked unique outrage.

These events have caused policymakers to once again discuss the topic of body cameras as a tool for accountability in the criminal justice system. Body-worn cameras, commonly referred to as body cams or BWCs, are recording devices that can be attached to law enforcement officers to capture interactions with the public.

Body cams have sometimes been promoted as a way to “hold officers accountable” in cases of police misconduct. Body cams were promoted as one solution to address encounters that led to the death of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and numerous others.

But now, even advocates who were skeptical of these causes have come to recognize the value of body cameras as a tool for accountability for all parties involved. Creating an audiovisual record of police encounters can serve to protect not just citizens, but also law enforcement officers who are wrongly accused of misconduct. Bodycam footage can serve to verify witness accounts or testimony at trial, helping prosecute serious offenses.

While there’s tremendous upside to the use of body cameras, not all officers in Mississippi are equipped with them. State policy can have a huge impact on the use of body cams by law enforcement agencies across Mississippi.

According to Grading Justice, Mississippi receives a failing grade of F for its body camera policies. Examining this score reveals how the state could improve accountability in the criminal justice system by making body cameras more widely available.

Statewide policies regarding use, recording, and data retention. As of 2022, Mississippi has no statewide policies for the use of body cameras by law enforcement agencies. The state sets no standards for the use of cameras, recording policies, or data retention policies. If standards exist at all, they are set by local agencies and vary between jurisdictions. A recent review indicated that many jurisdictions don’t have policies, and those that exist don’t serve to provide accountability.

Mississippi ranks behind neighboring Louisiana in this regard, which does some limited state policies that require local departments to adopt usage policies and set guidelines for the use of data collected by body cams.

Additionally, Mississippi provides no dedicated state funding for body cams. This means that local agencies are on their own to provide body cams. To the extent local law enforcement agencies are funded by the state, a portion of those funds can support the purchase and maintenance of body-worn cameras to promote safety and accountability in policing.

Proceeds from forfeited assets can also be prioritized for the purchase and maintenance of body-worn cameras. Mississippi could dedicate a portion of these funds to provide body cameras and ensure that this doesn’t result in any additional costs for taxpayers.

Criminal justice is an essential function of government, and when trust in law enforcement is undermined, we all pay the cost. Body-worn cameras are a powerful tool that provide accountability and help build trust in the law enforcement process. Policymakers can make the state safer by ensuring these tools are available to every officer in Mississippi.

You can help provide second chances in Mississippi. Please sign the petition below.

(function(d, s, id) {
var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];
if (d.getElementById(id)) return;
js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id;
js.src = ‘//p2a.co/js/embed/widget/advocacywidget.min.js’;
fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);
}(document, ‘script’, ‘advocacy-actionwidget-code’));

Across Mississippi, there are two challenges (aside from inflation) which I hear about the most. The first is the lack of good workers and coworkers in the economy. Businesses are struggling to find good employees, meaning the good employees they already have are forced to carry an extra load. The second problem I hear about is crime.

Data suggest Mississippians are right to be concerned about these things. When it comes to the labor force, our state has a smaller percentage of adults who are working or looking for work than every state except West Virginia. That number, called the labor force participation rate, hovers around 55% according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. We need more of our adults in the work force, pulling alongside the people who already bust their tails for a living.

Mississippians’ concerns about crime are well-founded, too. The CDC says Mississippi has the highest number of per capita deaths due to homicide of any state. Our capital, Jackson, had the highest number of per capita homicides of any major city in the United States last year. Someone argued to me not long ago that our per capita crime numbers were high simply because we had a low population. Not quite. Other states like West Virginia and Iowa have small populations but have better per capita crime numbers.

What do these two issues—labor force participation and crime—have to do with one another? First, they cost taxpayers a lot of money. That’s my concern as State Auditor. Fewer adults in the labor force mean our businesses will struggle. We will have less economic activity and less tax revenue to fund roads, schools, and police as a result.

Crimes cost us, too. My office estimates each new homicide costs taxpayers between $900k and $1.2 million. Those costs come from the expense of investigating and cleaning the crime scene, treating the victim if they need care before they pass away, prosecuting the defendant, and then imprisoning the guilty.

Here’s something else these two issues have in common: they have fundamental causes rooted in the dissolution of families and the lack of fathers in the home. Social science backs that up. If you grow up in a home without the added discipline that comes from two parents, your economic fortunes are bleaker and the likelihood that you’ll be in prison is higher. Strong families have an easier time teaching discipline, providing structure, and imparting all the soft skills that prepare one to be a good contributor to society. Parents can also provide the role modeling necessary to keep kids away from destructive peers. Parents must raise their children so the streets don’t.

So if these problems are so fundamental and often go back to the family, what can be done to address them? The answer for the Left is often, “Give people more stuff.” That won’t help. History is full of stories of the failure of government giveaways. We also know that this kind of insane spending has fueled inflation, which hurts—not helps—working families.

There are potential solutions, though. I’ll mention two that I’ve seen. The first is the JROTC program—the junior military program—at Jackson Public Schools. It’s a small program that has achieved big results. Former military service members run it. They take a group of students—often students from troubled homes—and teach them discipline, military history, and basic life skills. The program graduates have a 100% high school graduation rate, a 95% college acceptance rate, and nearly perfect school attendance. That’s amazing compared to the general population of Jackson Public Schools. And as an Auditor, I love the fact that those results are audited regularly by a team from Fort Knox, Kentucky. JROTCs should be expanded.

Another great program is the “career coach” initiative in high schools in Alcorn County, Jackson County, and a few other places. Those coaches, which often come from outside the school system, find high schoolers and show them firsthand careers that can change their lives. I’ve heard stories from the best coaches who effectively become parents outside the home for their students, providing clothes for an interview or instructions on how to introduce yourself in a room.

These are not perfect solutions, but they get at the more fundamental causes driving two of Mississippi’s biggest challenges. We need more ideas like this on the table. We should do more to send the message that parents must step up. Churches and community organizations need to get involved, too. And together, our state can achieve its highest potential.

Shad White is the 42^nd State Auditor of Mississippi

The post The breakdown of the family hurts us all—and we can address it appeared first on Mississippi Office of the State Auditor News.

Andrew Aydin listens back to old voicemails from John Lewis. 

To Aydin, the congressman wasn’t just a mentor and collaborator. He was the closest thing the former congressional aide had to a father.

Lewis’ voice was booming and deep, even when playful: “Andrew?” the voicemails play. “Where are you, young man?” 

Aydin recorded phone calls as the two were at work on their historical non-fiction graphic novel series. Lewis would fall asleep talking, the recordings capturing his snores. The two would later joke about those snores during book talks for their work on the “March,” a trilogy covering the lead-up to the voting and civil rights acts. 

“I guess the John Lewis I knew is not the John Lewis everyone else knew,” he told Mississippi Today. 

Lewis died on July 17, 2020, from pancreatic cancer. He was 80. His latest graphic novel, “Run,” published the following year picking up where the March trilogy left off. 

Now Aydin and illustrator Nate Powell, who worked closely with Lewis on the books, are faced with a new challenge: touring and speaking about their work without Lewis at their side. When the two come to speak at the Mississippi Book Festival on Aug. 20, it will likely be the first in-person talk they have given since the pandemic began – and since Lewis died. 

“I’m excited to go to Mississippi,” Aydin said. “I’m excited to be back. I’m excited to get to talk to people about this work. These experiences that I’ve had to help keep John Lewis, the human being, alive for people. I don’t want him to become a mythic figure or something that seems unreachable.” 

The two told Mississippi Today that continuing promoting and explaining the comics and their influence is vital. Especially now, when materials used to teach about the civil rights movement in schools are threatened under so-called critical race theory laws across the South and in Mississippi. 

“We know we’re under attack,” Aydin said. “It’s why it’s so important that Nate and I get out on the road and go speak and tell this story. As the congressman would say: ‘Go preach the gospel.’ Because we have to keep these works in schools.” 

The three “March” books follow a young John Lewis and organizers using nonviolent civil disobedience in the fight for civil rights and end to segregation. They chronicle a slew of events, from Lewis first meeting Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to the Mississippi Freedom Summer and Bloody Sunday. “Run” shows the conflicts that arise in the aftermath of the movement’s victories. 

They’re comic books – the same medium as classics such as “Amazing Spider-Man.” There are no super powers, but real-life high stakes. Aydin, Powell and Lewis went to great lengths to make the works historically accurate, down to the dialogue. The panels move quickly and create something easy to digest despite the amount of historical context, which is why they’ve been lauded as an incredible teaching tool. 

In the lead-up to working on the graphic novels, Lewis recalled a comic book about King published in the late 1950s that covered the Montgomery bus boycotts. The comic was sold out of car trunks and passed out in churches. It inspired nonviolent protests across the South. Lewis saw the accessibility comics offered. 

“Congressman Lewis’ context for the power of comics, in educating contextualized nonviolent movements, absolutely not only set the precedent for the book and the mandate for the book,” Powell said, “but it was, by itself already, kind of a proof of concept in John Lewis’ mind.”

Powell has used the books in his personal life to teach his own children history. They’ve also helped him re-examine the gaps in his own education and the sensitized version of the civil rights movements often delivered in classrooms. 

The books have won several awards – the third “March,” a National Book Award – and spent six weeks on the New York Times best-seller list. 

The last time Aydin was in Mississippi it was alongside Lewis. The two were part of a distribution program for “March” that gave the books to students in the Delta. 

“When the congressman and I would tour places like Mississippi or Georgia, or North Carolina, he would often comment about how close we were – or drive by – many of these places that he was either beaten or arrested or where he staged protests,” Aydin said. “And it really drove the importance of what we were doing and being there.” 

“Now doing it without the congressman,” he added, “it’s really hard.” 

It might be a challenge emotionally, but Aydin said it’s not only the best way to protect Lewis’ legacy but also ensure he’s remembered as a full person not an untouchable historical figure. 

“What is so powerful about his story and his life is that it is a model for any of us,” Aydin said. 

READ MORE:

• In ‘The Movement Made Us,’ father and son reflect on the past, both remembered and forgotten
• Beginning to question first impressions: Q&A with author Matt de la Peña

The post John Lewis’ ‘March’ and ‘Run’ collaborators look to Mississippi visit to continue civil right leader’s legacy appeared first on Mississippi Today.

In the Deep South, folks tend to fry everything. The list of fried items is like a rendition of legendary gospel singer Shirley Caesar belting out a litany of Sunday soul food dishes — “beans, greens, potatoes, tomatoes, lamb,” and everything else from A to Z, including okra, fish, chicken, pickles, and, yes, even watermelon.

Visit outdoor events like the Mississippi State Fair or any backyard cookout, and load up on fried oreos, turkey legs, funnel cakes, alligator, Snickers candy bars and even Kool-Aid.

All that fried food is quick to make, tasty and inexpensive. But, the far-reaching results — Mississippi ranks at the top of the nation in obesity, heart disease, high blood pressure and diabetes.

“In this area, you don’t have to go far to find fast-food. And, more often than not, it’s something fried,” said Christopher Deans III, operator and co-owner of Loaded Lettuce, located in the Westland Plaza restaurant in west Jackson. “It’s not just the fast-food restaurants, even the convenience stores and gas stations offer something deep fried.”

Deans III is a former teacher at Provine High School in Jackson. Raising his growing family on a teacher’s salary convinced him to go full-time with the business. His former students work at the restaurant, and he hires from the community with plans to open a second restaurant near Jackson State University.

Loaded Lettuce opened in September 2021, and is the brainchild of Deans’ father, Christopher Deans, Sr., a local physical therapist. The business was first called Simply Salad, but trademark issues resulted in the change to Loaded Lettuce.

“My dad has been in health care for over 20 years. He’s seen the long-term effects of an unhealthy diet, a bad diet,” said Deans. “He gets you after you’ve had that stroke, so he knows. And he cares. Loaded Lettuce is the result of his caring.”

“Here at Loaded Lettuce, we offer a nutritious alternative. Our goal is to bring a hearty, healthy, and convenient choice to the community,” Deans explains. “Our customers tell us that we are a breath of fresh air,” he says with a huge smile.

The post Loaded Lettuce — a hearty, healthy alternative appeared first on Mississippi Today.

As police continue to investigate the disappearance of Jimmie “Jay” Lee – the 20-year-old University of Mississippi student who has been missing for a week – his friends and family are organizing search parties and passing out fliers in Oxford. 

Some of Lee’s classmates have also started a GoFundMe to support his family. 

Lee, a Black student who is well-known in the college town’s LGBT community, was last seen on Friday, July 8, at 5:58 a.m. leaving his home at Campus Walk Apartments, according to the Oxford Police Department. 

He was wearing a silver robe or housecoat, a gold cap or bonnet, and gray slippers. 

Police think Lee may have driven to Molly Barr Trails, a student apartment complex seven minutes away from Campus Walk where his car was towed in the afternoon of July 8. Police found his car at a towing company three days later, and it’s now at the Mississippi State Crime Laboratory for processing. 

The University of Mississippi Police Department, which is working with OPD to find Lee, received the first report that he was missing on Friday, July 8, at 8:28 p.m., according to an incident report. 

The report, one sentence long, shows that officer John Boyd conducted a welfare check at Lee’s apartment that night but there was “negative contact.”  

As the family looks for Lee, they’ve increased the reward to $5,000. Crimestoppers, a nonprofit that supports law enforcement, has pledged a $1,000 reward for finding Lee.

Lee was spending the summer in Oxford finishing his bachelor’s degree in social work. He is already accepted into UM’s masters program in social work and is scheduled to start this fall. 

The day he went missing, Lee was supposed to go to a donation drive for baby formula that he organized as part of a summer internship with the Mississippi Department of Child Protection Services in Lafayette County. 

Over the last week, Lee’s family and friends have organized search parties and passed out fliers looking for him. His friends have started a GoFundMe to help support his family. 

“This is a loving, caring person that would give you the shirt off his back if you need it,” Tayla Carey, Lee’s sister, told Mississippi Today. “His family is in desperate need of finding him and just making sure he returns safely.” 

When Carey talked with Mississippi Today this Friday morning, she was getting ready to drive to Oxford from Ridgeland for another search party that would meet at the Walmart on West Jackson Ave. She said the family needs more volunteers to help pass out fliers and that anyone who wants to help can contact her on Facebook. 

Carey said she found out that Lee was missing in the evening on July 8 when her mom called to ask if she’d spoken to him that day. The last thing the family heard from Lee, Carey said, was at 2 a.m. on July 8, when he’d texted his mom to wish her happy birthday. 

The family’s theory is that Lee had gone to get coffee or visit a friend early in the morning on Friday, because he was last seen wearing sleepwear. It wasn’t unusual for him to be up that early, but he left behind his dog, Lexus Lola. 

“My little brother, he is the type of person, he’s not gonna leave the house unless he is ten-ten,” Carey said. “I’m talking his dress, his make up. He’s not gonna leave his house until he makes sure he looks good. For him to walk out the door in a house bonnet, a housecoat and his slippers – that lets us know he was going to get coffee or he was going to meet someone that he trusted.” 

Lee was an active member of UM’s student government association and served as the director of LGBTQ Outreach. His family and friends describe him as a confident person who often wears acrylic nails and long, blonde hair.

Friends and family say that many people in Oxford, a small-town that revolves around the university, are terrified for Lee. 

On Thursday night, Kristy Durkin, a professor of social work at UM who taught Lee, went to put up fliers with Alexis Parker, one of Lee’s classmates. They printed more than 50 fliers and taped them up at the central bus transit station, at restaurants and inside men’s bathrooms at Lee’s favorite bars on the Square. 

“There was one point I just kind of broke down and cried,” Durkin said. “Everywhere we went, (people asked) have you heard anything, (and said) well put ’em (the fliers) up.” 

At one point in the evening, they put up fliers in a restaurant where three police officers were eating dinner. One of the officers walked over and said they were praying for Lee. 

Parker said she found out Lee was missing on Sunday, July 10, when the university sent out a campus-wide email about his disappearance. She’s driven past Molly Barr Trail every day this week. On Wednesday, she saw Desoto County sheriff officers walking dogs through the complex. She said an officer told her they didn’t find anything. 

Today in class, Parker said her classmates talked about Lee and how they can help his family in the search. They decided to make a GoFundMe to help his family pay for gas and food. 

OPD has put out several press releases over the last week about its efforts to find Lee. On July 12, the department said it was “utilizing all available resources to track tips, potential witnesses, speaking with friends, running search warrants, canvassing areas, and collecting evidence.” 

OPD’s most recent update, on Thursday, July 14, says the department has conducted “numerous” interviews and is waiting for information to be returned from executed “around a dozen” search warrants it has “executed on both physical and digital entities.” 

Carey said Lee’s family is receiving the same updates from the police that the public is. 

“They are doing their part, they are helping us as much as they can,” she said. “It’s a waiting game, we’re playing the waiting game.” 

Meanwhile, Lee’s family and friends are still searching for him. On Wednesday, OPD released a video of Lee’s dad pleading for help finding Lee. He reads from a statement on the back of an aquamarine flier that Lee created to advertise the baby formula donation drive. 

“I can remember my son coming to this college, you know, being willing to face the unknown without a problem. I’m so proud of him for that. I want everyone to know … he was there to help if he saw the need,” he said.

“I’m asking that, if anyone knows anything or sees anything, say something. Call, contact the law enforcement. Just tell them what you know. This is my plea that you help find my child.” 

The post Community, family searching for missing Ole Miss student Jay Lee appeared first on Mississippi Today.