Mississippi
Jim Crow Is Resurrected in Mississippi
Earlier this month, white representatives within the Mississippi Home accepted a invoice to create a brand new district—that features all the majority-white neighborhoods in Jackson, a capital metropolis that’s 83 p.c Black. This consists of making a felony justice system for the district, overseen by an all-white energy base.
Underneath Home Invoice 1020, the white conservative Chief Justice of the Mississippi Supreme Courtroom would handpick the brand new district’s two supervising judges; its prosecutors and public defenders could be chosen by the state’s white Republican legal professional basic.
The zone could be policed by an expanded Capitol Police pressure, led by the present white police chief, and supervised by the state’s white Public Security commissioner. As a result of all of the district’s officers could be appointed as a substitute of elected, Jackson’s majority-Black citizenry would don’t have any voting rights on the matter—making it Mississippi’s solely jurisdiction the place, in response to the ACLU, “unelected judges and prosecutors have jurisdiction over felony and civil legislation issues”—though 12 p.c of their gross sales taxes could be redirected to assist pay for all of it.
“It’s oppressive as a result of it strips the precise of Black of us to vote,” Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba mentioned, after the invoice cleared the Home. “It’s oppressive as a result of it places a army pressure over those who has no accountability to them. It’s oppressive as a result of there can be judges who will decide sentences over individuals’s lives. It’s oppressive as a result of it redirects their tax {dollars} to one thing they don’t endorse nor imagine in.”
State Rep. Trey Lamar, the white Republican who sponsored the invoice, lives in and represents a majority-white district greater than two hours away from Jackson. (He holds a seat once held by his grandfather, Leon Hannaford, whose legacy consists of introducing a 1962 invoice to tighten residency necessities for faculty college students, which a neighborhood paper on the time reported, “would have saved Negro James Meredith from submitting swimsuit to enter the College of Mississippi.”) In varied statements on the Home ground and in an op-ed from final weekend, the legislator has insisted that HB 1020, by including unelected judges to Hinds County’s courts, will assist clear up prolonged case backlogs, whereas an expanded Capitol Police pressure will handle a spike in crime in Jackson, permitting his constituents to “really feel protected once they come” to the capital.
“Black Home Democrats rightly in contrast the invoice to Mississippi’s 1890 Structure, which was drafted explicitly to ‘exclude the Negro’ from voting by means of sinster strategies of black disenfranchisement.”
Calling the invoice “racially impartial,” he steered Jackson’s Black elected representatives, who overwhelmingly rejected the laws, have “used race” as some form of political maneuver, and has even gone as far as to accuse those same black officers of “incompetence in management.”
If it’s not already apparent already, there’s actually just one option to describe an effort to create a white political stronghold in America’s second blackest metropolis, the place the Black majority is topic to taxation with out illustration—and that’s, “making an attempt to tug a Jim Crow.”
Nevertheless it’s not simply the top-down white supremacist energy construction the invoice proposes that begs the Jim Crow comparisons. It’s additionally the overtly racist subtext wanted to justify the concept white energy is the pure “answer”—an assumption so ceaselessly made, it’s recognizable between all these traces of “racially impartial” language. (On the suggestion of an modification to make sure his invoice’s unelected judges no less than be from Jackson, Lamar steered the search not be restricted to the majority-Black metropolis, asking, “Can we not need our greatest and brightest sitting in judgment?”)
Black Home Democrats rightly in contrast the invoice to Mississippi’s 1890 Structure, which was drafted explicitly to “exclude the Negro” from voting by means of sinster strategies of Black disenfranchisement. However the toppling of Reconstruction, in Mississippi as elsewhere, was additionally pushed by the white supremacist assumption of Black incompetence, mental unfitness, and innate inadequacy, concepts fabricated to forged Black of us as incapable of main. One Mississippi delegate would later write that the purpose of the state’s constitutional conference had been “to undertake some provision in our natural legislation which might serve to the State and secure authorities, free of…negro rule from which we had suffered” and to “take away from the sphere of politics within the state the ignorant and unpatriotic negro.”
For practically a century, the white racist recollection of Reconstruction would redact and overwrite historical past, smearing Black leaders as inherently unfit to carry workplace, and falsely portraying the reestablishment of absolute white authority as a needed intervention and saving grace.
Maybe this historical past is misplaced to Mississippi’s present white legislators, however that appears unlikely contemplating the hassle they’ve put into scrubbing it from textbooks. (Ditto the truth that “no Black official has held” any of the designated shot-calling positions—legal professional basic, Chief Justice of the Supreme Courtroom—nor “any statewide elected workplace because the temporary interval of Reconstruction after the Civil Struggle, which ended as a result of white terrorism to dam Black voting energy,” the Mississippi Free Press reported.)
Mississippi Immediately stories that in the course of the four-hour debate over the invoice, as “Black Home members had been doing all they might to plead with the humanity of their GOP colleagues, numerous Republicans left the Home ground altogether for a majority of the talk, reappearing from the again halls of the Capitol to forged a last ‘yea’ vote.” Lamar, apparently detached, “sat behind the effectively and scrolled his telephone.”
And but, Lamar retains saying that HB 1020 is a “good religion effort at serving to the individuals” of Jackson and Hinds County, but it surely certain looks like the identical drained narrative of the “civilizing” energy of whiteness getting used to save lots of “uncivilized” Blackness from itself.
What’s extra, this sudden compulsion to assist by takeover—framed nearly as charitable giving, in debate over the invoice—comes after years of apparently feeling unmoved. Each Lamar and Gov. Tate Reeves used the language of “incompetence” when indicting Jackson’s Black leaders concerning the latest water disaster, however Jackson’s leaders had already pleaded for funds from Mississippi’s legislative supermajority, solely to be repeatedly shortchanged. Jackson metropolis faculties have lengthy been underfunded, a difficulty that was exacerbated by 2013’s Constitution Public Faculties Act, however as a substitute of correcting the issue, a takeover was once more proposed as a logical answer. And through this legislative session, as a substitute of organizing a hostile takeover, the legislature may vote to increase Medicaid, which might do way more to help Black Jacksonians than stripping their voting rights may even fake to. However up to now, Mississippi’s legislative majority appears tired of offering that type of assist.
Makes you surprise the place the ineptitude really lies.
“If it’s not already apparent already, there’s actually just one option to describe an effort to create a white political stronghold in America’s second blackest metropolis, the place the black majority is topic to taxation with out illustration—and that’s, ‘making an attempt to tug a Jim Crow.’
”
If HB 1020 isn’t an try at a “land seize,” as Democratic Rep. Ed Blackmon referred to as it, then why does the invoice not merely search to fund extra everlasting elected judges to Hinds County and Jackson’s courts, as a substitute of diverting tax cash to a complete new district? If felony instances have surged in tandem with Jackson’s crime surge, thus creating the backlog that Lamar needs to handle, then why are the unelected judges of HB 1020 additionally going to be dealing with civil instances, to re-pose one other query from Blackmon? (Particularly since, in his op-ed self-defense, Lamar notes that Hinds County District Lawyer Jody Owen said that “our present judges are working actually onerous, however they’ve half civil and half felony dockets.”)
Mississippi’s crime lab has been underfunded, understaffed, and under-equipped for years—contributing to backlogs in Jackson’s courts and throughout the state—and but Lamar’s invoice does nothing to handle long-standing appeals from lab staffers to handle any of these points. Overlooking these issues doesn’t look like a great way to handle Jackson’s felony courtroom case backlogs, except what you had been actually making an attempt to do was to create yet one more entrenched white energy system within the state.
Mississippi’s Capitol Cops reportedly shot extra individuals in 2022 than another Mississippi legislation enforcement division, with the newest taking pictures occurring in December. The division’s deadly police taking pictures of 25-year-old Jaylen Lewis in September remains to be beneath investigation by the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation. At a gathering between the police chief and public security officers, Black residents expressed considerations that Capitol officers don’t know “easy methods to cope with Black individuals in Black neighborhoods,” and fears that a lot of the pressure’s officers are from counties “recognized for his or her racial prejudice.”
Whereas the brand new Capitol District will nonetheless be majority Black, it’s going to additionally embody 80 p.c of Jackson’s white residents, and guess whose property rights can be prioritized over all else, together with sure of us’ lives? Nevermind Capitol Police lack an “oversight board or normal necessities round transparency of reporting relating to officer-involved shootings,” as Jackson-based organizer Makani Themba wrote for The Nation.
Simply as Lamar needs his constituents to “really feel protected once they come” to the capital, Black Jacksonians need to really feel protected, too, each from crime and from over-policing. It’s a priority the legislator blithely dismissed by stating, “should you’re not committing crimes in Jackson, you actually haven’t got something to fret about.”
That’s fairly an announcement from somebody with deep roots in a state infamous for creating the primary Black Codes, having probably the most racial terror lynchings, having a Senate that voted to ship its Black residents to Africa on the late date of 1922, which created the primary White Residents’ Council, which eliminated the Accomplice flag from its banner in 2020, and which tried to ban the educating about all of these issues with a invoice that erroneously calls it “vital race concept.”
In 2023, the Mississippi Home handed a invoice that will primarily resurrect Jim Crow; now that proposed legislation will head to the Senate, the place Republicans additionally retain majority energy. Maybe Mississippi will turn out to be the primary state to so overtly reinstate Jim Crow, extracting Black energy in each type it may possibly, but once more. And others will undoubtedly comply with.
Mississippi
MDOC searching for escaped inmate out of South Mississippi Correctional Institution in Leakesville
LEAKESVILLE, Miss. (WLOX) – The Mississippi Department of Corrections, with the help of other authorities, is searching for an inmate who escaped the South Mississippi Correctional Institution in Leakesville Tuesday afternoon.
According to an alert sent out by the Greene County Emergency Management office, 33-year-old Drew Johnson escaped from the facility around 3:30 p.m. He’s currently serving a life sentence for murder.
He was sentenced on February 14, 2022.
Johnson is described as a 6′0″ male with blue eyes, blond hair, and 200 pounds. He was last seen near Old Highway 24 in Leakesville.
Crews are still out searching for him as of 8:03 p.m. If you have any details regarding the incident or see Johnson, officials say to call 911.
We will update this story as new details become available.
See a spelling or grammar error in this story? Report it to our team HERE.
Copyright 2024 WLOX. All rights reserved.
Mississippi
What MS Coast casino restaurants are open Christmas Day? Here’s our list
Christmas on the Coast is a tradition for many families throughout the Southeast. Mississippi Coast casinos are ready to welcome them with open arms and open restaurants.
Below are the casinos open for dining on Christmas Day, some with limited holiday fare. Reservations may be required for some restaurants.
875 Beach Blvd., Biloxi, 228-386-7111.
BR Prime
Reservations required.
- Holiday Bouillabaisse, Icy Blue Mussels, Little Neck Clams, Gulf Shrimp, Seabass $15
- Prime Rib with Demi Glace, Thyme Horseradish Cream, Hasselback Potatoes, Heirloom Carrots, Roasted Brussels Sprouts $72
- Peppermint Hot Chocolate Cheesecake $15
Salt and Ivy
Reservations encouraged.
- Christmas Feature $38: Crab, Shrimp and Spinach-stuffed Flounder with Dill Bearnaise, Wild Mushroom Farro and White Wine-Garlic Broccolini
The Buffet
Holiday Brunch: 8 a.m. to 10 a.m., Adults, $32.99; Children, $19.99; Under 4, free.
Holiday Lunch/Dinner: 10 a.m. to 10 p.m., Adults, $49.99; Children $25.99; Under 4, free.Free Under 4
- Features include herb-crusted prime rib, spicy shrimp boil, NOLA BBQ shrimp and grilled sirloin
151 Beach Blvd., Biloxi, 228-435-5400.
Morton’s The Steakhouse
Reservations recommended. Restaurant hours: noon to 9 p.m.
- The Chateaubriand three-course menu for two includes Chateaubriand with Roasted Shallots, Red Wine Demi Reduction, Sauce Bearnaise and Au Jus; Winter Salad to share; choice of two sides; and choice of desserts for $179. Lobster tails or mini crab cakes are available at an extra cost.
Lillie’s Asian Cuisine
Restaurant hours: 4 p.m. to 10 p.m.
Saltgrass Steak House
Restaurant hours: 10:30 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Bubba Gump Shrimp Co.
Restaurant hours: noon to 8 p.m.
Michael Patrick’s
Restaurant hours: 8 a.m. to 9 p.m.
777 Beach Blvd., Biloxi, 228-374-7625.
Christmas Day Buffet, $39.99 from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m.
- Menu includes starters, a carving station, Satisfaction favorites such as Southern Fried Chicken and Stuffed Crabs, Asian Cuisine, sides and desserts.
711 Hollywood Blvd., Bay St. Louis, 228-469-2100.
Epic Buffet
Restaurant hours: 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.
- The Epic Buffet features more than 80 dishes including Crab Legs, Peel and Eat Shrimp, Southern barbecue, Asian cuisine, Creole, Italian and fresh seafood.
3300 West Beach Blvd., Gulfport, 228-314-2100.
The Buffet
Christmas Day hours: 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.
- Low Country Crawfish Bisque; Creole Seafood Gumbo; Carrot Soufflé Casserole; Praline-Crusted Sweet Potatoes; Orange Chicken with Vegetables; Crispy Fried Shrimp; Carved Roast Turkey; Carved Strip Loin of Beef; Cornbread Dressing; Sliced Roast Turkey in Giblet Gravy; Carved Round of Beef, Smoked Ham and Cajun Fried Turkey; Cranberry Compote; Roasted Salmon Loin; Boiled Gulf Shrimp with Remoulade Sauce; Happy Family Shrimp and Vegetables; Smoked Pork with all the Trimmings; and more, $29.99.
C and G Grille
Christmas Day hours: 10:30 a.m. to 11 p.m., $26.
- Choice of Starter: Seafood Gumbo or House Salad
- Choice of Entrée: Roast Turkey and Dressing or Glazed Bone-In Ham Steak. Each served with Green Bean Casserole, Candied Sweet Potatoes and Cranberry Compote
- Dessert: Cookie Butter Banana Pie
The Diner
Christmas Day hours: 10 a.m. to 10 p.m., $20.
- Choice of Starter: House Salad or Seafood Gumbo
- Entrée: Roast Turkey with Dressing, Gravy, Cranberry Sauce and Green Beans
- Dessert: Sweet Potato Pie with Whipped Cream
Dockside Deli
Christmas Day hours: 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., $21.
- Starter: Crab and Corn Bisque or Seafood Gumbo
- Choice of Entrée: Debris-Style Turkey Dressing, Green Beans, Cranberry Compote and Carrot Soufflé Casserole or Sausage Sampler with pineapple jalapeno, knockwurst and green onion sausages. Served with red kraut and warm potato salad.
- Dessert: Spiced Applesauce Cake
Prime Cut Restaurant
Christmas Day hours: 5 p.m. to 10 p.m., $45.
- Starter: Crab and Artichoke-Stuffed Mushrooms Drizzled with Hollandaise
- Choice of Entrée: Beef Tenderloin au Poivre or Pan-Seared Sea Bass with lemon beurre blanc. Each served with a side of choice
- Dessert: Pumpkin Swiss Cake Roll
158 Howard Ave., Biloxi, 228-432-8888
Restaurant hours: 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., $40.
- Traditional Christmas menu plus Prime Rib, Smoked Baked Ham, Sliced Turkey Breast, Boiled Shrimp and dishes from the Grill, Comfort, Wok and Coastal stations.
9380 Central Ave., D’Iberville, 888-752-9772.
Under the Oak Cafe
Christmas Day hours: 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.
- Herb Dijon Crusted Pork Tenderloin with Sweet Potatoes Puree, Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Bacon and Cranberries and an Herb Dijon Reduction, $25.
- Creamy Eggnog Bread Pudding, $14.
Scarlet’s Steaks and Seafood
Reservations recommended. Christmas Day hours: 4 p.m. to 9 p.m.
- Lobster Thermidor, Broiled Coldwater Stuffed Lobster topped with Mushroom Cognac Cream Sauce, Parmigiana Reggiano, Garlic Butter Breadcrumbs and Wilted Arugula Salad, $80.
- Beef Wellington, 8-ounce filet mignon, with Mushroom Duxelles, Prosciutto and baked in Puff Pastry, served with Bordelaise Sauce, $78.
- Creme de Mint Cheesecake, $13
5000 South Beach Blvd., Bay St. Louis, 228-469-2777.
Jubilee Buffet
Christmas Day hours: 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.
- Traditional holiday menu plus, all-you-can-eat Dungeness Crab and Jumbo Shrimp, $49.95.
Blue Bayou Bar and Grill
$58 per person.
- Salad: Baby Spinach with Candied Pecans, Dried Cranberries, Mandarin Orange, Goat Cheese, Roasted Cacao Nibs and a Citrus Vinaigrette.
- Entrée: Choice of Crispy Roasted Half Duck, Braised Red Cabbage, Port Wine Demi Glaze and Whipped Roasted Garlic Mash or Blackened Pork Loin, Pomegranate Glaze, Bacon Braised Crispy Brussels Sprouts and Sweet Potato Gratin
1980 Beach Blvd., Biloxi, 228-385-6000.
Infinity Buffet
Christmas Day hours: 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.
- Carved ham, roasted turkey, roast brisket and more, $47.99 with crab, $25.49 without crab.
The Den
Christmas Day hours: 11 a.m. to midnight.
- Bacon-wrapped stuffed pork loin, $38; or prime rib, $45.
The following casinos will be open Christmas Day but restaurant options were not available:
280 Beach Blvd., Biloxi, 228-436-2946.
850 Bayview Ave, Biloxi, 228-436-3000.
Lici Beveridge is a reporter for the Hattiesburg American and Clarion Ledger. Contact her at lbeveridge@gannett.com. Follow her on X @licibev or Facebook at facebook.com/licibeveridge.
Mississippi
Santa Claus, reindeer team cleared for Christmas Eve travel across Mississippi – SuperTalk Mississippi
State travel agency officials are expecting the holiday travel season to be particularly hectic this year, and one of the world’s busiest travelers has now gotten the green light from the Mississippi Department of Transportation (MDOT).
At Santa Claus’ request, MDOT staff thoroughly inspected his extra wide sleigh load, ensuring it met all safety requirements. Permits were also issued for the abnormally large sack of toys, which surpassed posted weight limits, and Rudolph’s bright red nose apparently met, but did not exceed, the illumination threshold.
All takeoffs and landings to and from the homes of good Mississippi children have been approved, and exceptions were also granted for any last minute “Nice List” additions, according to the agency. On the heels of the festive certification, MDOT leaders reminded those around the state to follow Saint Nick’s example.
“Santa knows the importance of being prepared no matter how you choose to travel, and he’s a staunch, yet jolly, safety advocate to boot,” MDOT Executive Director Brad White said. “Before Santa Claus comes to your town, make sure your elf-size family members always travel in car seats, wear your seatbelt and check it twice, and remember, he sees you when you’re speeding, and he knows when you’ve been texting.
“Take it from Kris Kringle: Put safety first so everyone can have a Merry Christmas.”
Santa also received driver conduct reports from MDOT elves Darryl and Cheryl, suggesting that some of the state’s motorists could very well get a lump of coal this year. But Santa insisted that a few behavioral adjustments and a dash of Christmas spirit can change the fate of even the most egregious drivers.
Current forecasts suggest favorable conditions for sleigh flights on Christmas Eve. Magnolia State motorists are advised to drive slowly and be alert for sleighs, reindeer, and their white-tailed cousins after dark. “Blitzened driving is strictly prohibited,” concluded agency officials in a press release.
-
Business1 week ago
Freddie Freeman's World Series walk-off grand slam baseball sells at auction for $1.56 million
-
Technology1 week ago
Meta’s Instagram boss: who posted something matters more in the AI age
-
Technology4 days ago
Google’s counteroffer to the government trying to break it up is unbundling Android apps
-
News1 week ago
East’s wintry mix could make travel dicey. And yes, that was a tornado in Calif.
-
News5 days ago
Novo Nordisk shares tumble as weight-loss drug trial data disappoints
-
Politics5 days ago
Illegal immigrant sexually abused child in the U.S. after being removed from the country five times
-
Entertainment5 days ago
'It's a little holiday gift': Inside the Weeknd's free Santa Monica show for his biggest fans
-
Politics1 week ago
Trump taps Richard Grenell as presidential envoy for special missions, Edward S. Walsh as Ireland ambassador