Justice

Calm Before the Storm

Today, I heard that the Killen trial media was gathering in the afternoon and headed over to Neshoba County to see what was up. The town seemed very calm, other than the mass of cars around the media center, which is in the old Magnolia restaurant on Walnut Street a block from the courthouse. It's a loft-like building with low-hanging loft lights and a really rustic, yet hip interior with exposed brick. It's too bad this place closed; it was probably hard to compete with the casino restaurants.

JFP Archive of Chaney, Goodman & Schwerner Coverage

Click here to read the Jackson Free Press' coverage of the Chaney, Goodman & Schwerner case and the arrest and trial of Edgar Ray Killen to date.

JFP Interview: Myrlie Evers-Williams

Myrlie Evers-Williams, 72, and I talked long distance last Saturday at noon, separated by distance but connected by more than the telephone—both Mississippians, both widows, albeit by excruciatingly different circumstances, both left to raise small children without our beloved husbands, both survivors by the grace of God and with the love and support of family and friends.

Rape: The Forgotten Crime?

When The Clarion-Ledger recently published Jackson crime figures for 2004, numbers showed drops in most categories, including burglary, assault, robbery and larceny. The years 2002, 2003 and 2004 also saw reports of rape slide from 182, to 179, to 165, respectively. A more recent report, however, showed that both arson and rape saw a rise during the first few months of 2005, compared to last year.

For The Children

Myrlie Evers-Williams says she and her husband, Medgar, held each other and cried days before he died. They knew he was about to be killed for his tireless work to bring equality and dignity to blacks in Mississippi. "Promise me you will take care of my children," he told her as he held her.

[Chick] Screw Miss America

Screw Miss America. I apologize for my bluntness, but I think I have an abusive relationship with the Miss America Pageant. When my college roommate was a pageant girl, I supported her and clapped for her and sent her flowers, but deep down I wished she would just shut up and eat something. I thought Samantha was pretty fabulous all on her own—with or without swimsuit glue—but she just lived for pageants.

In Memory: Phillip Gibbs and James Earl Green

Thirty-five years ago today, Jackson police opened fire on a crowd of students at Jackson State University, killing Phillip Lafayette Gibbs, 21, a junior pre-law major and father of an 18-month-old son. Two Double-0 buckshot pellets entered his head and a third just beneath his left eye and a fourth just under his left armpit. Also killed was James Earl Green, 17, a senior at Jim Hill High School in Jackson, who was walking home from work at local grocery store. A single buckshot pierced the right side of his chest. Twleve other students were injured by gunfire, and more than 460 rounds of gunfire punctured a women's dormitory. Ambulances were not called until after police officers picked up their shell casings. The police later claimed that they had taken fire from the direction of B. F. Roberts Hall, but that was never proved.

[Chick] Teaching Monkey the Birds and the Bees

Eight years into it, and I'm still allowed to be a mother. I can't believe it. What kind of decision-maker approves me as a fit mother? Oh, that's right. God. God gave me this child. I'm sure this is when someone should throw the "God has a sense of humor" cliche' into the situation. "Dear God, can I please, please, please complete a thought today without interruption? Yes, I'm thankful for Monkey and all, but I really think I was supposed to get a quieter one. I mean all my life, I had said that I would have a better behaved child than everyone else. Remember?

Emmett Till's Body to Be Exhumed

The Chicago Sun-Times reports today:

More Than A Woman

Four years ago, I came to Jackson to go to Millsaps excited mostly about one thing: getting away from my mother. My mom had always been pretty lenient—pushing my curfew back much later than any of my friends, letting me go visit friends in New Orleans for a whole month—but I couldn't wait to get away.

[Jones] What's A Cool Mom?

I'm not sure what "cool mom" means, but I'm flattered. If it means being an irresponsible parent, I withdraw the nomination. So many times people think being "cool" to kids requires that you let them drink and smoke and enforce no discipline or expectations on them. Johnny and I are quite the opposite. I really think of myself as a teacher.

Community Policing Is Working Here

During the weeks leading up to the 2005 city elections, we've heard a lot about "community policing"—the mayor's preferred approach to fighting crime—and whether or not it is working. As someone who has participated in community policing since November 2003, I have a pretty good perspective on its effectiveness in Jackson. I am a Fondren resident and currently volunteer my time as the moderator for Precinct 4 Community Oriented Policing (COPS). I can tell you that it is indeed having a positive effect on crime in Jackson—and on the "perception" that crime is out of our control.

A Blanket of Love: The JFP Interview With Tougaloo President Beverly Hogan

Tougaloo College's name is a Choctaw word that means where two streams cross, Dr. Beverly Hogan, 53, told me as we sat in her office, talking about her alma mater, which she now leads as its first female president.

Don't Call Me Ma'am

"Yes, ma'am." "No, ma'am." "Ma'am this, ma'am that." If there is anything I absolutely despise, it is the tendency of people in my home state to call me "ma'am." I spend much of my early interactions with my new interns—and even sometimes with writers who are older than I am, or at least look and act older—trying to get them to stop using the M-word around me.

Hush! Somebody's Calling Our Name

Never say things can't change. Sometimes remarkable change comes, and it seems so obvious that people barely notice. That was apparent recently when both the Mississippi House and the Senate voted to rename two stretches of highway after civil-rights martyrs: Highway 19-South out of Philadelphia after Chaney, Goodman and Schwerner and US-49 East would be renamed Emmett Till Memorial Highway, in honor of the black teenager beaten to death by white men in 1955 in Money, Miss.

Ellington