Mississippi
Black Mississippi capital city residents distrust plans by white officials
By Emily Wagster Pettus, Related Press
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Random gunfire, repeated break-ins and a decaying metropolis water system are fixed challenges at Mother’s Dream Kitchen, the soul meals restaurant Timothy Norris’ mom opened 35 years in the past in Mississippi’s capital.
“I’ve some cousins that reside in Ohio,” mentioned Norris, 54, who now owns the restaurant. “They got here final yr. They hadn’t been right here in 22 years. They had been fully shocked at Jackson.”
Citing rising crime, Mississippi’s Republican-controlled Home just lately handed a invoice increasing areas of Jackson patrolled by a state-run Capitol Police drive and creating a brand new courtroom system with appointed slightly than elected judges. Each would give white state authorities officers extra energy over Jackson, which has the best share of Black residents of any main U.S. metropolis.
The state Senate additionally handed a invoice to ascertain a regional governing board for Jackson’s long-troubled water system, with most members appointed by state officers. The system practically collapsed final yr and is now beneath management of a federally-appointed supervisor.
The proposals for state management have angered Jackson residents who don’t need their voices diminished, and are the most recent instance of the long-running tensions between the Republican-run state authorities and Democratic-run capital metropolis.
“It’s actually a stripping of energy and it’s occurring in a predominantly Black metropolis that has predominantly Black management,” mentioned Sonya Williams-Barnes, a Democratic former state lawmaker who’s now Mississippi coverage director for the Southern Poverty Regulation Heart Motion Fund. “You don’t see this happening in different areas of the state the place they’re run by majority white folks.”
Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba mentioned the proposal reeks of apartheid and “plantation politics.”
“If we enable any such laws to face in Jackson, Mississippi, it’s a matter of time earlier than it’s going to hit New Orleans, it’s a matter of time earlier than it hits Detroit, or wherever we discover our folks,” Lumumba mentioned.
The sponsor of the expanded police and courtroom invoice, Republican Rep. Trey Lamar, from a rural city 170 miles (275 kilometers) north of Jackson, says it’s aimed toward making Mississippi’s capital safer and decreasing a judicial backlog.
“There isn’t a intent for the impact to be racial by any means,” mentioned Lamar, who’s white, in response to arguments that courts with appointed judges would disenfranchise Jackson voters.
Nonetheless, Black lawmakers say creating courts with appointed judges would strip away voting rights in a state the place older generations of Black folks nonetheless bear in mind the battle for equal entry to the poll.
The appointed judges wouldn’t be required to reside in Jackson and even the county the place it’s positioned. They might be appointed by the chief justice of the Mississippi Supreme Court docket — a place at the moment held by a white conservative from exterior Jackson.
About 83% of Jackson’s practically 154,000 residents are Black, and about 25% reside in poverty. The tempo of white flight accelerated within the Nineteen Eighties, a few decade after public colleges built-in. Many middle-class and rich Black households have additionally left.
Republican Gov. Tate Reeves has campaigned on withholding state monetary assist the town requested. Throughout final yr’s water disaster, Reeves, talking elsewhere, mentioned, it was “as all the time, an important day to not be in Jackson.”
Jackson residents have a longstanding mistrust of the water system; throughout crises in August, September and December, folks waited in lengthy strains for bottled water. Nonetheless, opponents of a regional water board be aware state officers sought a task solely after the federal authorities authorised tons of of thousands and thousands of {dollars} for the troubled system.
The state-run Capitol Police division has been concerned in a number of violent incidents, together with the taking pictures loss of life of a Black man throughout a site visitors cease and a crash that killed one other Black man throughout a police chase.
At Mt. Helm Baptist Church, the Rev. CJ Rhodes mentioned many individuals in his predominantly Black congregation strongly object to increasing Capitol Police territory and creating courts with appointed judges.
“They really feel — viscerally really feel — like that is taking us again to the Fifties and Sixties,” mentioned Rhodes, the son of a civil rights legal professional. “It appears like this form of white paternalism: ‘We’re going to come back in and do what we have to do, residents of Jackson be damned.’”
Maati Jone Primm, who owns Marshall’s Music & Bookstore in a struggling Black downtown enterprise district, mentioned she’s not shocked by the majority-white Legislature’s makes an attempt to regulate Jackson.
“It’s a solution to disempower Jackson and its residents,” mentioned Primm, whose storefront window shows a handwritten signal: “Jim Crow Should Go” — a phrase on T-shirts that Mississippi NAACP chief Medgar Evers had in his automobile the evening a white supremacist assassinated him in Jackson in 1963.
Capitol Police at the moment patrol state authorities buildings in and close to downtown. The Home invoice would develop the territory to cowl the town’s extra prosperous buying and residential areas, and a number of other neighborhoods which can be predominantly white.
The Home and Senate have exchanged payments for extra debate. On Thursday, a Senate committee recommended having Capitol Police patrol your entire metropolis.
Some white residents object to a wider territory for the Capitol Police and new courts.
“It’s ridiculous. I believe judges must be elected officers,” mentioned Dan Piersol, a retired artwork museum curator who lives in a neighborhood that might be patrolled by Capitol Police and within the new courtroom district.
Mother’s Kitchen, positioned within the once-safe neighborhood the place Norris grew up, is an off-the-cuff place serving baked hen, turnip greens and candied candy potatoes. The eating room has a damaged window with cardboard taped over it, a vestige of earlier vandalism.
Norris mentioned he usually feels unsafe working there. A number of months in the past, he mentioned, he was wanting exterior when “a man simply rolled by … taking pictures within the air.”
“It scared me,” mentioned Norris, who’s additionally a licensed therapist specializing in serving to younger Black males, together with some who’ve had violent encounters with legislation enforcement officers.
Norris mentioned he wish to see a simpler police presence in Jackson, however he believes the Capitol Police aren’t the reply.
“Policemen must be constructing a relationship with the group,” Norris mentioned.
____
Related Press author Gary Fields in Washington contributed.
____
Observe Emily Wagster Pettus on Twitter at http://twitter.com/EWagsterPettus.
STARKVILLE – Mississippi State debuted 41 new players against Eastern Kentucky, including 23 transfers. But one of the biggest transfer portal additions wasn’t on the field and may not be again this week.
Senior receiver Kelly Akharaiyi was left off Mississippi State’s depth chart that was released and coach Jeff Lebby didn’t provide much clarity on the situation either.
“He’s getting closer and closer,” Lebby said at Tuesday morning press conference. “We need to be patient with him. We hope he has a good week and can create some confidence for himself more than anything. But I’m not ready to say he’s going to be available.”
Akharaiyi was one of the transfers most were looking forward to seeing in Lebby’s fast-paced, passing offense. But he was held out of season-opener for what was thought to be a minor injury. However, his uncertain status might be a sign of a more serious injury?
Or is Lebby playing a game of cat-and-mouse with Arizona State coach Kenny Dillingham? We’ll found out soon enough.
QB1 – 2 Blake Shapen, 6-1, 210 lbs., Sr.
QB2 – 16 Chris Parson, 6-1, 215 lbs., Rs Fr.
or – 0 Michael Van Buren Jr., 6-1, 200 lbs., Fr.
RB1 – 24 Keyvone Lee, 6-0, 225 lbs., Sr.
-or- 21 Davon Booth, 5-10, 205 lbs., Sr.
RB2 – 20 Johnnie Daniels, 5-10, 200 lbs., Jr.
SLWR1 – 3 Kevin Coleman, 5-11, 180 lbs., Jr.
SLWR2 – 8 Creed Whittemore, 5-11, 185 lbs., So.
SLWR 3 – 80 Kade Kolka, 5-11, 190 lbs., Sr.
WR1 – 6 Jordan Mosley, 6-0, 195 lbs., Jr.
WR2 – 5 Stonka Burnside, 6-0, 200 lbs., Fr.
WR3 – 13 Sanfrisco Magee, 6-2, 200 lbs., Fr.
WR1 – 14 Trent Hudson 6-3 180 Jr.
WR2 – 7 Mario Craver 5-10 170 Fr.
WR3 – 11 Jaden Walley 6-0 190 Sr.
TE1 – 18 Seydou Traore, 6-4, 235 lbs., R-Jr.
– or – 84 Justin Ball, 6-6, 250 lbs., Sr.
TE2 – 86 Nick Lauderdale, 6-3, 225 lbs., Sr.
or – 10 Cameron Ball, 6-6, 250 lbs., So.
LT1 – 66 Makylan Pounders, 6-5, 310 lbs., Jr.
LT2 – 51 Luke Work, 6-6, 305 lbs., Fr.
– or – 74 Jimothy Lewis Jr., 6-6, 310 lbs., Fr.
LG1 – 75 Jacoby Jackson, 6-6, 320 lbs., Jr.
LG2 – 53 Malik Ellis, 6-5, 285 lbs., So.
C1 – 67 Ethan Miner, 6-2, 305 lbs., Sr.
C2 – 72 Canon Boone, 6-4, 315 lbs., Jr.
RG1 – 77 Marlon Martinez, 6-5, 320 lbs., Sr.
RG2 – 52 Grant Jackson, 6-6, 325 lbs., Sr.
RT1 – 76 Albert Reese IV, 6-7, 330 lbs., Jr.
RT2 – 55 Leon Bell, 6-8, 325 lbs., R-Jr.
RT3 – 78 Amari Smith, 6-7, 325 lbs., R-Fr.
DT1 – 22 Kedrick Bingley-Jones, 6-4, 310 lbs., Jr.
– or – 23 Trevion Williams, 6-4, 295 lbs., R-Fr.
DT2 – 98 Ashun Shepphard, 6-3, 280 lbs., Jr.
DT1 – 35 Kalvin Dinkins, 6-2, 315 lbs., So.
– or – 8 Sulaiman Kpaka, 6-3, 300 lbs., Sr.
DT2 – 92 Eric Taylor, 6-4, 310 lbs., Jr.
– or – 90 Kai McClendon, 6-2, 305 lbs., Fr.
DE1 – 9 De’Monte Russell, 6-4, 285 lbs., Sr.
DE2 – 91 Deonte Anderson, 6-3, 270 lbs., Jr.
– or – 46 Joseph Head Jr., 6-4, 240 lbs., R-Fr.
JLB1 – 11 Ty Cooper, 6-4, 245 lbs., Jr.
– or – 44 Branden Jennings, 6-3, 240 lbs., Jr.
JLB2 – 36 Donterry Russell, 6-4, 225 lbs., So.
MLB1 – 7 Stone Blanton, 6-2, 230 lbs., Jr.
MLB2 – 26 JP Purvis, 6-1, 245 lbs., Sr.
DLB1 – 40 Nic Mitchell, 6-2, 230 lbs., Jr.
– or – 5 John Lewis, 6-3, 240 lbs., Jr.
DLB2 – 16 Zakari Tillman, 6-2, 225 lbs., So.
FS1 – 2 Isaac Smith, 6-0, 205 lbs., So.
FS2 – 12 Tyler Woodard, 6-2, 200 lbs., Jr.
SS1 – 21 Hunter Washington, 5-11, 190 lbs., Jr.
SS2 – 27 Chris Keys Jr., 6-0, 190 lbs., Jr.
– or – 17 Jordan Morant, 6-0, 210 lbs., Sr.
CB1 – 1 Kelley Jones, 6-4, 195 lbs., R-Fr.
– or – 6 Traveon Wright, 6-0, 180 lbs., R-Fr.
CB2 – 13 Raydarious Jones, 6-2, 180 lbs., Sr.
– or – 18 Khamauri Rogers, 6-0, 180 lbs., So.
CB1 – 14 Brice Pollock, 6-1, 190 lbs., So.
CB2 – 4 DeAgo Brumfield, 6-0, 190 lbs., Sr.
K1 – 80 Kyle Ferrie, 6-1, 205 lbs., So.
K2 – 82 Nick Barr-Mira, 6-0, 185 lbs., Sr.
K3 – 49 Marlon Hauck, 6-3, 195 lbs., So.
P1 – 82 Nick Barr-Mira, 6-0, 185 lbs., Sr.
P2 – 83 Zach Haynes, 6-1, 195 lbs., Sr.
P3 – 88 Ethan Pulliam, 6-1, 190 lbs., R-Fr.
KO1 – 49 Marlon Hauck, 6-3, 195 lbs., So.
KO2 – 82 Nick Barr-Mira, 6-0, 185 lbs., Sr.
PR1 – 3 Kevin Coleman, 5-11, 180 lbs., Jr.
PR2 – 8 Creed Whittemore, 5-11, 185 lbs., So.
KR1 – 21 Davon Booth, 5-10, 205 lbs., Sr.
– or – 20 Johnnie Daniels, 5-10, 200 lbs., Jr.
– or – 3 Kevin Coleman, 5-11, 180 lbs., Jr.
Mississippi State at Arizona State: How to Watch Bulldogs Football vs the Sun Devils
Mississippi State vs Ole Miss: 2025 Recruiting Battle Heats Up
Mississippi State vs. Arizona State: Top 5 Sun Devils to Watch
Mississippi State at Arizona State, Saturday, 10:30 p.m. ET (ESPN)
BetMGM College Football Odds: Arizona State by 6 1/2.
Series record: First meeting.
WHAT’S AT STAKE?
Arizona State and Mississippi State both had dominant wins in the season-opening weekend and now have a tougher challenge when they face each other on Saturday night. The Sun Devils are trying to build off an impressive 48-7 win over Wyoming and prove they might be a factor in the Big 12 race. Arizona State has never beaten an SEC opponent. Mississippi State plays its second game under new coach Jeff Lebby. The Bulldogs beat Eastern Kentucky 56-7 in their season opener..
KEY MATCHUP
Mississippi State QB Blake Shapen vs. the Arizona State defense. The Sun Devils scored a touchdown on the second play of their opener when Zyrus Fiaseu picked off a pass and returned it to the end zone. It was one of two interceptions on the day for Arizona State. Shapen had a great debut against Eastern Kentucky but will face a much tougher defense on Saturday.
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Mississippi State: Shapen had a terrific first game with the Bulldogs, throwing for 247 yards and three touchdowns while also running for 44 yards and a TD against Eastern Kentucky. The 6-foot-1 senior played the previous three college seasons at Baylor with mixed success. Shapen has thrown a TD pass in 12 consecutive games dating to this time at Baylor in 2022.
Arizona State: RB Cam Skattebo led a balanced rushing attack against Wyoming, gaining 49 yards and scoring a touchdown. Skattebo was a do-it-all player for Arizona State last year, spending time at quarterback, running back and receiver. The Sun Devils might not need him to be as versatile this season, but he’s still a threat from just about anywhere on the field.
FACTS & FIGURES
Mississippi State had six different players score touchdowns against Eastern Kentucky. … The Bulldogs’ 93.7 passing grade in the opener was the second-best mark in all of the FBS, trailing only Purdue, according to Pro Football Focus. … Mississippi State’s Kevin Coleman Jr. returned five punts for 117 yards last week. … Arizona State was credited with just two missed tackles on defense in the opener, tied for the third-lowest tally among FBS schools. … Skattebo is 270 rushing yards away from reaching 3,000 in his career. He is 342 all-purpose yards away from reaching 4,000 and 202 receiving yards away from reaching 1,000.
___
Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here. AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-football
STARKVILLE — Mississippi State football is preparing to play a team that, at least through one game, looks vastly improved from last season.
Coach Jeff Lebby admitted on Monday, and Bulldog players have noticed it too after Arizona State (1-0) thumped Wyoming 48-7 in its opener.
MSU (1-0) must also factor in the late kickoff that is scheduled Saturday (9:30 p.m. CT, ESPN) at Mountain America Stadium in Tempe, Arizona. Mississippi is hot, but so is Arizona — a different kind of hot, too.
Modifications and remedies are being made, such as the team leaving Starkville on Thursday instead of how it normally would on a Friday for a Saturday game.
“For our guys, just knowing exactly what we are getting into,” Lebby said. “We continue to talk about that through yesterday and this morning and (are) having those conversations to understand what it’s going to look like late in the week. We got to do a great job from a preparation standpoint of how we are hydrating, how we are eating and how we are resting to give us the ability to go on the road on this flight and be able to be at our best Saturday night.”
Just this week, Phoenix broke a record with its 100th straight day of 100-degree temperatures. According to AccuWeather, the high on Saturday in Tempe will be 107 degrees with a low of 86. The temperature should dip to around 91 near kickoff with a humidity of 24%.
“Coach Lebby has already been harping on that,” tight end Justin Ball said. “We’ve already been hydrating and making sure we are getting rest every single day. We leave on Thursday, so we already talked about the plan to make sure we are hydrating the entire plane ride there, making sure when we get there we get acclimated as quickly as you can and just staying together. Making sure we’re focused, make sure we keep the goal first and then execute the game plan.”
MORE: Jeff Lebby says Mississippi State football didn’t put on a good enough show. Here’s how he’s wrong
Mississippi State played well the last time it played in Arizona
The Bulldogs played Arizona in Tucson two seasons ago. They squandered a pedestrian Wildcats team 39-17. Kickoff for that game was at 8 p.m. PST though the temperature was 84 degrees at game time.
Not many players remain on Mississippi State’s roster from that 2022 season. But the ones who are, like linebacker Nic Mitchell, can benefit from the experience and also share it with teammates.
“We know it’s going to be a long flight, so we know we got to be hydrated,” Mitchell said. “It gives people experience that have done it before and they can tell the young guys how it’s going to be in the flight, how you got to hydrate and stuff like that.”
Sam Sklar is the Mississippi State beat reporter for the Clarion Ledger. Email him at ssklar@gannett.com and follow him on X @sklarsam_.
Louisiana legislators grill New Orleans DA for releasing people convicted of violent crimes
Tounde Yessoufou includes Kentucky in new list; Tennessee cut
Meet the new Maine high school football head coaches
Maryland issues a new suicide prevention action plan for schools, families – WTOP News
Opponent Q&A: Eastern Michigan Eagles
Colorado Rockies game no. 116 thread: Zac Gallen vs José Ureña
See it: Tesla crashes into Columbus convention center at 70 mph
Fox News Politics: Georgia the whole day through
Death of missing Oregon girl found in stream ruled homicide
At least 2 dead as tornadoes hit Alabama, damage homes across Southeast
House Republicans cry 'vindication' after Hunter Biden guilty plea
EU-donated mpox vaccines arrive in Kinshasa
🌏 Donald Trump x Elon Musk?
Former senator launches 6-figure ad blitz against Fani Willis ahead of Georgia election
France’s Macron names former Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier as new PM
-
World1 week agoSwiss court convicts two executives of embezzling $1.8bn from 1MDB
-
Movie Reviews1 week agoSlingshot (2024) – Movie Review
-
World1 week agoCommission mandarin flags convergence of digital with industry
-
World1 week agoRussia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 915
-
News1 week agoTrump Vs Harris: The Battle Over Hot Mics Heats Up Ahead Of Key Debate
-
News1 week agoAfter months on the run, a murder suspect falls through the ceiling and into custody
-
News1 week agoThe rise of the Pumpkin Spice Latte : It's Been a Minute
-
World1 week agoEconomic portfolios are key in talks to chose new EU commissioners