Ellington

In the waning hours before the polls closed Tuesday, the Jackson Free Press learned that former Melton political operative Bob Hickingbottom was behind Citizens for a Better Jackson, a PAC formed the day after the primary. We know that the PAC paid for radio ads in the last few days that questioned Councilman Chokwe Lumumba's faith by taking a "sound bite" out of context of a longer video in which he talked to activities about religion. The Lumumba campaign and others also believe he handed out flyers that called Lumumba a "race traitor" using a several out-of-context sentences from a Mississippi Sovereignty Commission files letter from 40 years ago when Lumumba was trying to get a permit for a Republic of New Afrika gathering from the city.

In other words, that flyer was a completely fabricated allegation that goes beyond the political exaggerations we usually see in campaigns (that the Lumumba camp also engaged in).

But the last two weeks has seen nothing if not nasty political tricks. The JFP has spent weeks fact checking rumors being thrown around so that they did not gain legs and handicap the democratic process of Jacksonians deciding who they wanted to be mayor. We had no dog in the runoff hunt—we did not endorse either man—but we are patently against the kind of dirty politics we tend to see locally. It's personal, it's ugly, and it assumes that the voters are stupid. Candidates seem to especially assume that African American voters are uninformed and unable to, say, look at the original of a Mississippi Sovereignty Commission file on the Internet to see what the blurred parts actually said.

This level of divisive, nasty politics hurts our city, and we all need to band together to stop it. It's certainly easier today than it was eight years ago even for a newspaper to use social media to quickly dispel rumors, and we had many citizens on all sides helping us along the way and cheering us on. (Thanks!) We urge each of you to join us going forward as we try to raise the level of politics in Jackson. We must demand it, and we must use every took at our disposal to call out lies and distortions when we see them. And we will be here for you: We have plans for a fun platform for answering your questions, building on the Factcheck Jackson effort we started during this campaign. (For now, go like Factcheck Jackson on Facebook.)

The bottom line is that it is not OK to make up lies about people. Sure, the world of anonymous blogging has made this trickery easier to do, but the same technology makes it easier to expose. And every Jacksonian who wants true unity will call out anonymous liars and trolls—and choose not to frequent their forums. They are toxic for our city. We must do better. Please pledge to help make it happen.