Mississippi

Mississippi ruling reflects Virginia’s history of felon voter disenfranchisement

Published

2 years ago

August 5, 2024

Mississippi ruling reflects Virginia’s history of felon voter disenfranchisement

A poll worker in Richmond holds an “I Voted” sticker. (Ned Oliver/Virginia Mercury)

Republican officials in Virginia and nationwide – recognizing the ongoing shift in racial demographics across America – surely would overhaul their messaging, I reasoned, to become more welcoming toward African Americans, Latinos, Asian Americans and others.

The GOP would favor increasing voter registration totals, I thought. It would work diligently to persuade more folks to its side with an inclusive, less-accusatory agenda. Gone would be the days of demonizing people of color on conservative mouthpieces like Fox “News.”

After all, gaining just a tiny segment of non-white voters should ensure repeated electoral victories, especially in presidential contests. Such a strategy would allow the party to actually win the popular vote more often this century. There would be no need to manufacture barriers to the ballot box for groups that usually support Democrats.

What a fool I was.

Republicans want to keep power and pretend they’ve earned a mandate, even though in 2022 they garnered a small majority of votes nationwide in the U.S. House of Representatives. Even though at least 29 states have passed 94 restrictive voting laws since the U.S. Supreme Court gutted the Voting Rights Act in 2013.

The latest evidence of Republicans erecting hurdles for would-be voters comes from the federal judiciary. In July the “most conservative appellate court” in the country – as Mother Jones put it – reinstated a Jim Crow-era felon disenfranchisement law in Mississippi.

Virginia’s own 1901-02 Constitution mimics the racist precepts in Mississippi’s; they’re a perpetual stain on the commonwealth. We’re the only state that permanently strips voting rights from convicted felons unless the governor restores them. Virginia utilized now-defunct poll taxes and literacy tests, too, that targeted Black voters.

The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals just upheld a Mississippi law dating to 1890 that permanently prevents residents there from voting if they’ve been convicted of any of about 100 crimes. They include such nonviolent offenses as timber larceny, writing a bad check and bigamy.

The 13-member majority overturned a three-judge panel of its own court that said the law violated the 8th Amendment’s prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment. Revealing the ongoing politicization of the federal judiciary, all but one of the majority judges were appointed by Republican presidents. Six judges appointed by Democrats dissented.

The law was upheld despite the fact it was adopted as part of a state Constitution designed to maintain white supremacy. “We came here to exclude the Negro,” said Solomon S. Calhoon, the constitutional convention president, more than a century ago. “Nothing short of this will answer.”

Felons in Mississippi are disproportionately Black. However – as I’ve noted previously – Black people and other minorities are treated more harshly than white people are for the same crimes. The Mother Jones article reported that from 1994 to 2017, the law disenfranchised nearly 50,000 people. African Americans comprise 38% of the state’s population – the highest percentage among U.S. states.

Still, it’s curious Mississippi is so vengeful, given Republicans rarely face serious challenges in the state.

The last time the Magnolia State picked a Democrat for president was fellow Southerner Jimmy Carter in 1976. For the U.S. Senate, it last picked a Democrat in 1982. Rep. Bennie Thompson, serving a district including Jackson, the state capital, is the lone Democrat among four members in the U.S. House of Representatives.

“It’s probably the … most racialized state in the nation,” David Lublin, professor and chair of the department of government at American University, told me during an interview. Lublin wrote “The Republican South: Democratization and Partisan Change.”

The post-Reconstruction constitutions in the South aren’t badges of honor, he noted: “These were not adopted for nice reasons.”

That’s putting it mildly.

Lublin said because we live in such a highly polarized nation, both Democrats and Republicans fight “tooth and nail” over any advantage – though Democrats might be on the moral side of the voting rights argument.

“No one likes to give up advantages,” he added.

Here in Virginia, Gov. Glenn Youngkin has restored voting and other civil rights to 7,575 people, his spokesman Christian Martinez said. The state Constitution requires him to make “restoration decisions on an individualized, case-by-case basis,” Martinez told me by email.

Lawsuits have been filed against the administration because of the opaqueness of the process.

Martinez wouldn’t answer whether Youngkin supports a constitutional amendment that would allow automatic restoration. House Republicans killed such a legislative attempt after he took office in 2022.

The total number of restorations by Youngkin is dwarfed by those approved by his predecessors, who made the system more streamlined. Republican Bob McDonnell signed off on more than 10,000. Democrat Terry McAuliffe approved more than 173,000, and Democrat Ralph Northam restored rights to more than 126,000 people.

Is it political, since so many Black and Latino voters support Democrats? Yes.

It’s also the right thing to do to re-engage Virginia residents regarding their citizenship duties. Voting gives people a stake in their communities. Given the racist history of felon disenfranchisement in Virginia, legislators should support the amendment process and allow people released from prison to regain their rights automatically.

I know this is a tough sell for Republican lawmakers, in Virginia and elsewhere, who value power over equity. I’m probably delusional.

Doesn’t mean I’m wrong.

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Mississippi

Stamps Super Burgers named best burger in Mississippi

Published

9 minutes ago

April 6, 2026

Press Room

Stamps Super Burgers named best burger in Mississippi

A Jackson, Mississippi, icon has been named the best burger in Mississippi.

Foodie offers tips for “living a delicious life” from where you go out to eat to what you cook at home. It’s ranked the best hamburger restaurant in every state.

“Of course, the bigger burger chain names have become famous worldwide, but U.S. soil is also home to a dazzling variety of burger businesses, from those selling everything from high-end gastroburgers and gluten- or meat-free versions, to hole-in-the-wall places that have been slinging sliders for generations,” Scheenagh Harrington wrote for Foodie.

The site’s pick for the best in the Magnolia State is not surprising.

“Many businesses claim their product is the best in town, but Jackson-based Stamps Super Burgers really does deliver,” Harrington wrote.

They warned to plan your trip. Afternoons can get very busy.

Why do people love Stamps burgers?

Stamps Super Burgers, 1801 Dalton St., Jackson, was founded in 1986. Since then, three generations of the Stamps family have served juicy burgers and fresh-cut fries to the community.

Today, it’s co-owned by Phil Stamps Jr. In a previous interview with the Clarion Ledger, he said it “originally started with my grandmother and grandfather in 1970 when they purchased it from Canterbury Grocery, and the entire family operated that business as a grocery and meat market for a while before transitioning over to burgers in 1986.”

The kitchen is open, in the center of the restaurant. You can watch employees cut potatoes for fries or man the grill.

A signature Stamps hamburger comes with an 11-ounce beef patty and mayonnaise, ketchup, mustard, lettuce, tomato, pickle and onions. The menu also has wings and different burger options, like turkey or portobello.

The Washington Addition restaurant regularly tops “best of” rankings for the state. In 2024, it was on the USA TODAY Restaurants of the Year list.

Where are the best burgers in Jackson, MS?

Yelp lists the Top 10 burger joints in Jackson, based on user reviews.

Stamps Super Burgers
Foundation Burger
Fat Albert’s
Cs’s
Rooster’s Restaurant
Rowan’s
Bulldog Burger
The Pig & Pint
Brent’s Drugs
Not Just a Burger

Contributing: Kiara Fleming

Bonnie Bolden is the Deep South Connect reporter for Mississippi with USA TODAY NETWORK. Email her at bbolden@gannett.com.

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Mississippi

An 1850s Parsonage in Natchez, Mississippi, Is Selling for the First Time in Over a Century

Published

12 hours ago

April 5, 2026

Press Room

An 1850s Parsonage in Natchez, Mississippi, Is Selling for the First Time in Over a Century

A 174-year-old brick parsonage house on a bluff above the Mississippi River is now for sale in Natchez, Mississippi, asking $1.985 million.

The home, completed in 1852, was built by architect James Hardie as a residence for Methodist ministers, according to historical records. The land was donated by Peter Little, a wealthy cotton broker and slave owner who built the city’s historic Rosalie mansion.

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The house was initially built as a one-story residence with an “English” basement and a carriage house; a two-story annex was added later, according to the listing with Douglas Adams of Crescent Sotheby’s International Realty, informed by the Historic Natchez Foundation.

“The location is what is superb because it is one of the highest points in Natchez overlooking the Mississippi River,” said Adams, who posted the listing Thursday.

In 1893, the Parsonage changed hands for the last time when it was purchased by James and Agnes Metcalfe, and has been in the Metcalfe family ever since.

Known as the Parsonage, the residence is considered a classic example of Greek Revival architecture from the pre-Civil War South, with a wide portico, raised porch and sash windows. It is located on South Broadway Street, in a commanding position that overlooks Bluff Park, the Mississippi and downtown Natchez. It spans 6,500 square feet with five bedrooms, two formal parlors flanking a central hall and richly detailed interiors that include original exposed-brick walls, fireplaces and stained-glass windows.

In addition to a front porch, the property includes several outdoor terraces and balconies, including a second-floor wraparound deck and a balustraded rooftop—which has the best vantage point from which to see the wide views.

The home was occupied for many years by the late Albert and Gay Metcalfe, who married at the Parsonage in 1959, and would host events for friends. “It became something of a social hub,” Adams said. “They’d host families to celebrate someone’s life; there may have been some weddings that occurred there.”

Gay Metcalfe died in 2023 and the heirs are her three children, Adams said. The family couldn’t immediately be reached for comment.

Hardie, the architect, was a Scottish immigrant who built several other notable buildings in Natchez, including most prominently St. Mary Basilica, a Gothic Revival structure on the National Register of Historic Places, and the Homewood plantation, a Greek Revival mansion.

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According to local lore, the Parsonage was commissioned by Little because his wife, Eliza’s religious devotion led her to welcome every passing minister into their home, according to “Natchez,” a 1940s history of the city. Displeased with the “long siege of such guests,” Little decided to build a separate home for his wife’s visitors.

Little’s own mansion at Rosalie still stands today near the site of the 1729 massacre of the Natchez Native Americans, from whom the city takes its name.

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