Opinion

EDITORIAL: State, City Must Not Hinder Access to Public Info

Mississippi legislators are arguing with a straight face that they should not have to turn over documents about a 2016 vote to shift control of Jackson's airports to an outside board because of "legislative privilege."

OPINION: At Home on the Bus

As morning dawns on the capital city, my fellow JATRAN passengers and I begin our day together. On the road, I have formed the kind habit of wishing my fellow passengers well upon their destination. "Take care," I say.

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.

OPINION: Mississippi Schools: Celebrate Your Successes and Keep Aiming High

"We teach our children to build upon their past accomplishments and to continually strive for higher goals."

OPINION: Reflections After the Union Loss

In These Times writer Joe Allen says the Nissan-Canton election loss "is nothing less than a knockout punch ending for the foreseeable future any efforts by the UAW to organize the large, predominantly foreign-owned auto assembly plants in the South."

EDITORIAL: 120 Days In, Let’s Focus on Good Communications

While the new administration's leadership on JPS has been noteworthy, communication on other changes in the city has been slow to take root.

OPINION: The War on Drugs Isn’t Working

The drug war is not working. Countless lives—including law enforcement officers—are being lost or ruined.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Lessons in Humility and Kindness

Cats and kids have to be dependent on other people. But as children get older, they can begin to take care of themselves, though there are still certain things they can't or won't do. I wouldn't go to the doctor alone until the year I turned 20.

OPINION: The Work of Overcoming Abuse

"Everything that happens to you is a reflection of what you believe about yourself. We cannot outperform our level of self-esteem. We cannot draw to ourselves more than we think we are worth."

EDITORIAL: State Lawmakers Must Support Abuse Victims

Domestic and interpersonal abuse, especially violence against women, are systemic and national in scope, but some clear policy and program solutions would make Mississippi safer and better for women.

COMMENTARY: Reinsert Value Back Into Journalism

In 2004, the now-deceased Mississippi journalist Bill Minor gave an assessment of his profession. Among its problems, he said, was that too many of his colleagues would rather play "go along, get along" than risk the consequences of the truth.

EDITOR'S NOTE: One Small, Honest Voice After #MeToo

Maybe you weren't bullied, but as a woman, you've probably been told to make yourself smaller and to fit the mold society created for you.

OPINION: 'One Lake’ A Triumph of Cronyism?

Flood-control alternatives, including the "One Lake" project for the Pearl River, have been out of the spotlight and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' technical review for nearly four years since scoping meetings in fall 2013.

Mississippi: Listen to the ‘Me, Too’ Chorus

Women should not have to post on social media to bring awareness to the harassment, assault and abuse that half of the world's population endures daily.

Men: Stop the Harassment

The journey from being shamed about a stranger commenting on my ass at 16 to being worried about its continual definition of who I am at 40 is one that is familiar to most women.

The Six-Word Musical Death Sentence

For me personally, I know, like nearly every white man who ever picked up a guitar hath known, that being a singer-songwriter does not make me one in a million. If anything, it puts me closer to "a million in a million."

OPINION: Remembering the Lessons of the 1917 Revolution

One hundred years ago, the Bolshevik Revolution, which began in February 1917, reached its apex in October 1917 when the party met and voted to overthrow the inept and floundering provisional government.

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."

HB 1523: Mississippi's Extreme Attack on LGBT Rights

The insidious power of a law like this is that it casts a long shadow over public life, forcing someone to assess whether they will be treated fairly and respectfully in situations from the crisis of an emergency room to an anniversary dinner at a restaurant to a child’s classroom

America’s Gun Culture: 'How Many More Must Die?'

Let's send our politicians a message; and if they are not willing to create the change that we demand, then we will create the change at the next ballot box.

Clockwork Gun Violence

It's like clockwork, at this point. There's a deadly shooting in this country, followed by an ocean of "thoughts and prayers," then a debate over whether more gun control is needed, then not a damn thing done.

Mississippi Lawmakers, Lead on Health Care

Congress let the Children's Health Insurance Program, which insures kids who come from low-income families but are not eligible for Medicaid, expire last week. Now lawmakers are scrambling to renew the program, established in 1997 with bi-partisan support.

Ellington