News

The 1st Annual Conference of the Veterans of the Mississippi Civil Rights Movement takes place March 2-5 at the JSU E Center on Raymond Road. Organized around the theme "The Pursuit of Quality Education in the Ongoing Movement for Human Rights," the conference offers workshops with veterans of the movement with the goal of inspiring a return to work, focused this time on ensuring that every American receives the quality education that is his or her unalienable right. Owen Brooks, 78, who along with Hollis Watkins serves as co-convener of the conference, spoke with me recently about his experiences as a veteran of the civil rights movement in Mississippi.

Santore Bracey

Imagine having the chance to hand out glossy posters, topped by the words: "Flawless Entertainment Presents" … and emblazoned with photos of yourself. That's just what Santore Bracey, 24, gets to do to promote his budding recording career.

Mississippians Standing Up for Justice

Welcome to the JFP's new Justice Blog. This blog is dedicated to the quest for justice in old Mississippi civil rights cases. It is also a place we can collect our own work toward that goal to date — the work of a group of native Mississippians who are investigating and publicizing both well-known and little-known civil rights cases of the past. This effort began in earnest when the JFP led an online petition drive, called "Real Mississippians Aren't Racist," calling for the prosecution of the murderers of James Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner, and then picked up steam when the JFP team reported and blogged about the Killen trial in a personal and immediate way that no other media outlet did. Our efforts really paid off when we joined with the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. and published an in-depth story that kicked off a national media frenzy about the long-forgotten Henry Dee-Charles Moore killings, and revealed that one of the primary suspects is still alive, contrary to reporting by The Clarion-Ledger and The Los Angeles Times.

The Battle of (House Bill) 1545

Ramsey Cartoon Shades of Schwindaman

We appreciate the compliment, Marshall, but a note of appreciation would have sufficed.

Well, I guess this is a compliment to the JFP's editorial cartoonist, Darren Schwindaman. Today's Marshall Ramsey cartoon copies Darren's cartoon of two weeks ago almost directly, except using Joe Camel instead of the Marlboro man/cowboy. I'll try to get a PDF of Darren's version up today, site problems allowing.

Bernice Rayford

"I made up plays, poems, anything I could recite on the front porch. It was my stage, and the audience were my parents, brothers and sisters," Bernice Rayford, 44, told me in her soft Southern accent. "I was the youngest of 10; I always got a standing ovation." Now she's the author of three short novels.

New Projects for Downtown, Bailey Magnet Areas

First to downtown: there's an article in today's Clarion-Ledger about a new project

called Old Capitol Green. This will be an eight-block project bounded by Pearl Street to the north, Commerce St. to the west, South St. to the south and Jefferson to the east. Once finished, it will consist of the following:

My assessment on the Cheney episode

Open thread for the week

Fleming glad Lott sees the light on FEMA

Update: W.C. Don's Still Open for Business

Note: See comments below this posting for update from management.

The City of Jackson announced Thursday afternoon that both northbound lanes of State Street between Tombigbee and Capital streets are temporarily closed to traffic for the remainder of the week. City Engineer Tim Bryan said the shutdown is due to a wall collapsing at the W.C. Don's Restaurant at 218 S. State Street around 10:00 a.m. on Thursday.

‘Coon Hounds' Poem Causing Controversy

Read the poem here.

WMC-TV is reporting that a folksy poem by Paul Ott, proposed to the Legislature as the state poem, is causing controversy, with a group of Ole Miss professors and students saying it doesn't exactly make Mississippi look very, well, smart.

Do The Right Thing

This story originally ran in the Daily Mississippian, Ole Miss' student newspaper.

Marek Dlouhy

Marek Dlouhy, 25, is a man who gets around the world. The native of the Czech Republic grew up in Jicin about an hour from Prague. He came to the U.S. in 2000 to dance with Ballet Magnificat.

Bills I authored this session that have survived

Elli Williams

In front of Rainbow Whole Foods Co-Op grocery store, Elli Williams, 25, sits cross-legged on a concrete block. A small herb garden breathes behind her. She wears a simple blue and white tie-dyed shirt and jeans. Her long blonde dreadlocks crawl and twist down her back. A small silver hooped earring hangs on her bottom lip. Her originality is refreshing.

Another reading assignment

Obama vs. McCain

Ladies and gentlemen, let the gloves come off! In the high tension of Washington politics, especially in the shadow of the Abramoff scandal, a war of words has erupted between two of the more statesman-like Senators in the Capitol. It is something I never thought I would see. I'll let you be the judge of how this is playing out. Go to this link:

New week, new thread

test, test, test

First section here. Shows up on blog. Should be kept short.

Rest of post goes here.

Today is my birthday (February 2)

MAEP changes

Scared of Xenophobes?

A great number of the bills pushing through the Legislature this session—more than in most years previously—deal with immigration and immigrants.

Martha Jenkins

There's no way you'd take your first look at Martha Jenkins and think, "This woman is 41 years old and has three children, ages 9, 8 and 6." No way. And while all of that is true, it's not the whole picture.

To Clone or not to clone, that is the question…

Eruption at Capitol

This week at the Dome

Lester Hailey

Lester Hailey stands ready to help anyone who walks into Beemon Drugs. Since graduating from pharmacy school 28 years ago, he's been behind the counter, on the raised area occupied by shelf after shelf of pharmaceutical containers, filing prescriptions and answering questions.

Ellington

And then there were four…

Abortion ban passes

Fight or Flight