Donna Ladd

EDITOR'S NOTE: Celebrating Teen Excellence at Crossroads Film Fest

Little pleases me more than seeing teenagers from all parts of Jackson achieve great things and be recognized for them such as their inclusion this week in the Crossroads Film Festival.

Only Black People Prosecuted Under Mississippi Gang Law Since 2010

In the lead-up to this year's legislative session in Mississippi, supporters of a tougher gang law in the state talked a lot about the need to arrest white people. But in an ironic twist, the Jackson Free Press has learned that everyone arrested under the existing gang law from 2010 through 2017 were African American.

UPDATED: City May ID Cops Who Discharge Weapons Within 72 Hours, Establishing Task Force

The City may require that the Jackson Police Department start releasing names of officers who fire on civilians within 72 hours of the incident.

Oh, the Places You'll Go: Project EJECT Expels Gun Offenders to Faraway Prisons

U.S. Attorney Michael Hurst has charged 35 people since he first announced the anti-crime initiative Project EJECT in late 2017.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Right, Left Must Work Together for Criminal Reforms

It is time that criminal-justice reform be on every candidate's agenda in Mississippi, regardless of party. The goal should be to lower mass incarceration, especially for drug and victimless crimes—which both parties here voted to begin back in 2014.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Parkland Teens Lead by Talking Back, Listening

The Parkland, Fla., teenagers who became activists against gun violence while locked in closets on Valentine's Day are giving many of us life during a dark period in our country.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Move On from ‘Antiquated and Useless’ Gang Bill

A very bad "gang bill" has died in the Legislature for the second year in a row. This death occurred after the Senate passed the bill to criminalize gang association and give expanded sentences to associates of gangs or crews or cliques for up to 15 years.

Never Back Down: Mississippi Escalates War on Gangs

Mississippi law enforcement may soon be able to decide young people are a gang even if they're not part of a larger criminal enterprise with a hierarchy and criminal connections beyond whomever they got the pot from.

'Anti-Gang' Bills: One Alive As Experts Warn About Downside

Rep. Andy Gipson, R-Braxton, did not want to debate the "anti-gang" bill for long this morning, and after about half an hour, he tabled House Bill 541, noting that the Senate had already passed its version of the legislation.

'Anti-Gang' Bill Heads to Full House to Expand Policing Powers

Rep. Andy Gipson, R-Braxton, called the "Mississippi Anti-Gang Act" one of the most significant pieces of legislation the Legislature could pass in 2018. The bill would make "criminal gang activity" a separate offense from any underlying misdemeanor or felony a person is accused of if prosecutors can prove they are gang members.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Reps. John Lewis, Bennie Thompson to Attend Grand Celebration of Mississippi Civil Rights Museum

U.S. Reps. John Lewis and Bennie Thompson are attending the Grand Celebration and Gala at the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum on Feb. 23 and 24. Both will receive awards.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Fighting Like a Woman in 2018

Like many women, I grew up in a world where our careers were already subject to the approval of the men who tend to run and fund stuff, and if I was too loud, too outspoken, too sassy, the powers-that-decide would move along to a woman, or probably a man, who wasn't.

Lumumba Praises Retiring Chief Lee Vance As Maybe 'Best', Day After 'Project Eject' Tweets

Jackson Police Chief Lee Vance suddenly announced his retirement effective in a about a week after 30 years on the force.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Tis the Season to Stop Judging the Poor

Bare feet don't have bootstraps. You catapult from day-to-day, trying to stay ahead enough not to go hungry or have the lights turned off, even if you eat milk and cornbread for supper a lot.

Truth and Pandering as Mississippi History, Civil Rights Museums Open

When the 90-year-old man slipped into the open seat next to me, the opening ceremony for Mississippi's duo of history museums was about to start.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Trump Crashes Mississippi’s Coming-out Party

Inviting Trump is a lurid distraction from what the civil-rights museum finally admits about Mississippi, even using state dollars to tell these truths. Maybe that's why Bryant invited him.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Media, Cops: Choose Crime Solutions Over Perp Shows

It has never occurred to me to call up the police and ask them to stage a special "perp walk" so I can send someone to photograph someone accused of a crime. And I would certainly never request the depraved privilege of capturing images of a juvenile accused of killing another child.

EDITOR'S NOTE: 2017 is a Year to Be Thankful ... Really

Look, it's been a tough year. Donald Trump's election last November was the precursor to so much hell breaking loose on the national and international stages.

EDITOR'S NOTE: The Lies Scientific Racists Told About Jackson’s Children

I did not know a federal judge in the 1960s had codified lies about how black children in Jackson were genetically inferior.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Our Journalism Seeks Solutions Over Blame and Partisanship

I'm a journalist to find solutions for issues such as youth crime. And that means seeking the various causes first to get there. That is why the journalism in the Jackson Free Press is different.

Hinds DA Facing Different Kind of Trial for Alleged Abuse, Stalking in Rankin County

In the last year, Hinds County District Attorney Robert Shuler Smith has avoided a conviction in two trials for hindering prosecution in Hinds County that would have forced him from office as the area's top prosecutor, and probably gotten him disbarred.

Amid Hotel Flap, Fondren Labeled a Top ‘Endangered Historic Place’ in State

Fondren is now on the list of the “10 Most Endangered Historic Places in Mississippi," just as developers of a new hotel anger neighbors for demolishing the house the neighborhood is named after.

Newly Released Documents Show the Asbestos Trail in Fondren

The day after developers of a new Hilton hotel suddenly started demolishing structures on a two-acre site in the heart of Fondren, asbestos inspector Ryan Galfetti showed up unannounced after the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality received a complaint that asbestos may be present in the structures and the new piles of debris.

From Trump to Weinstein: ‘This Way of Treating Women Ends Now’

Hell week for women started with Donald Trump telling employers they can cherry-pick access to birth control out of women employees' health insurance. It ended with a long line of Hollywood women collectively revealing mega-producer Harvey Weinstein's apparent habit of, um, "indiscretions."

Yep, JPS Takeover Is a Conspiracy. Prove Me Wrong.

The predictability of all this takeover hoohaa isn't lost on anyone who comprehends Mississippi's history of racial dynamics, white flight and victim-blaming.

Kneeling for America: My Dad Fought, Lost Much for Athletes’ Right to Protest Racism

I believe that today my Daddy would stand, or kneel in spirit, with the NFL players who are pushing back on Trump’s treatment of them as chattel entertainment, calling for them to be kicked out to pasture if they dare exercise their rights that Willie Hoyt Smith left so much behind in Korea to maintain.

UPDATED: Darnell Turner Gets 45 Years, Judge Brings Up DA Smith

The young woman who accused Darnell Turner of beating her, dragging her, strangling her, shooting at her car, and dangling her off a bridge in the Washington Addition when she was 22 was in the courtroom this morning when Hinds County Circuit Judge Jeff Weill sentenced the 39-year-old to 45 consecutive years in prison on three felony counts.

The JFP at 15: Raising Hell, Having Fun

The Jackson Free Press' official birthday is Sept. 22, my late badass mother's birthday. She was illiterate, but loved to tell stories and encouraged me to say whatever I needed to say—so it was only appropriate to start the JFP on the day she would have turned 78.

Flashing a Kid’s Mugshot Is No Way to Prevent Crime

Disseminating mugshots of minors should be rare due to the harm that it can cause to that kid and society to treat children as adult criminals, especially before they even get a trial.

UPDATED: Darnell Turner May Serve 45 Years for 'Heinous Crimes'; Feds Earlier Tied Him to DA

A Hinds County jury yesterday convicted Darnell Turner, who also goes by Donald Dixon, in three separate counts related to a 2014 domestic incident—aggravated assault with a firearm, aggravated domestic violence and shooting into an occupied vehicle.

UPDATED: Hinds DA Wants Rankin Charges Quashed, Again Cites AG 'Overreach'

District Attorney Robert Shuler Smith wants a Rankin County judge to quash another set of criminal charges against him—for domestic violence, stalking and robbery charges.

Lumumba, Council Raise Property Taxes Tonight, Pledge to Be 'Good Steward' of Funds

In a rare Friday-night meeting, the Jackson City Council increased property taxes on the city's homeowners at a special meeting announced by fax 25 hours earlier at 4:45 p.m. on Thursday.

Banks: Preventing Crime Needs 'A Man from Every Block,' Teen Outreach

On a rainy Thursday night at Forest Hill High School in south Jackson, Ward 6 Councilman Aaron Banks hosted what he says is the first of many more of his "Not on My Block" crime-prevention forums, in light of high-profile crime and violence recently throughout the Jackson area.

DJP ‘Whistleblower’ Indicted for Five Felonies for Allegedly Forging Checks

The former Downtown Jackson Partners secretary who blew the proverbial whistle on her boss, Ben Allen, may end up guilty of more felonies than her former employer for "intentionally" methodically forging checks on DJP's account, the indictment says.

America, We Sink or Swim Together

As Houston and surrounding cities drowned, Trump was pushing the bigotry that fueled his rise to power. Meantime, America was proving our inherent greatness, despite the incessant efforts by certain leaders to trump it and force us to distrust and despise each other.

White America’s Overdue Leap of Faith

Many white people want to just "move on." They'll shudder dismissively if you challenge the myths, preferring to leave the statues and flag and true history alone because it's just "dredging up the past."

Let’s Talk About Violence, Then Take Action

It's a problem when all cops are stereotyped, but it's also wrong that more law enforcement won't speak out publicly like that about bad cops and, too often, will defend violent actions.

Jury Finds Hinds DA 'Not Guilty,' Hood Looks to Smith's Next Trial

A jury found Hinds County District Attorney Robert Shuler Smith "not guilty" on three counts for hindering the prosecution of Christopher Butler.

Hindering Justice? DA Smith Back on Trial

The second trial of Hinds County District Attorney Robert Shuler Smith kicked off at 9:03 a.m. Tuesday, Aug. 1, with a jury of seven women and five men who did not seem all that happy to be there.

The Future of the JFP Chick Ball

First, I'll share the sad news in case you haven't heard. We have reluctantly decided to postpone the JFP Chick Ball again this year, as we did in 2016, and it's for essentially the same reason: If we can't do it well, we're not going to do it.

Trump, DeVos Allowing Bigotry in Public Schools

In a presidential administration filled with shocking moments, it was a New York Times headline that crystallized the Trump crowd's disdain for children of color for me. "Education Dept. Says It Will Scale Back Civil Rights Investigations," The New York Times warned.

UPDATE: Lumumba Wins Mayor's Race, Republican Candidate Wells Wants Recount

"We have a lot of work to do," Chokwe Lumumba said. "If you have the best ideas, we will work with it."

Facing the Mirror, From Kingston Frazier to Karl Oliver

Little Kingston Frazier is our mirror. The brutal murder of this 6-year-old in Jackson last week reflected the absolute best and the abhorrent worst of our community.

Rep. Karl Oliver's Lynching Call Turns Spotlight to Mississippi Statues

When Rep. Karl Oliver decided to take to Facebook Saturday night to vent his anger over the Confederate statues coming off public property in Louisiana, he ignited a firestorm over his call for the kind of terrorism the Old South is still known for: lynching.

Stories by Donna