From Emmett to Trayvon
Crazies will always be there, and we will always have to deal with them. But when trigger-happy men shoot kids of color under cover of Stand Your Ground or Castle Doctrine laws, and mainstream whites rush forward to defend them, we have a more severe problem.
Nudging Nissan
Young people are a key reason things are happening on the UAW-Nissan front. The call from workers and community supporters for a fair union election in Canton is getting louder.
DA Must Examine Lakeover Shooting
Without the baby face, sugary snacks and legal minor status, Quardious Thomas makes for a less sympathetic poster child for gun reform than Florida's Trayvon Martin.
Stinker Quote of the Week: 'Divine Responsibility'
Bryant doesn't have a direct link to God, and, while he wastes the state's time and resources fighting a battle that conservatives lost four decades ago, many Mississippians will suffer from fixable problems.
Leading and Loving
As an activist (and a real-life poor person), I am offended when I have to deal with classism within the liberal political and social-justice organizations I work with.
Showing Up Matters
At last Tuesday's meeting of the Jackson City Council, a measure was brought before the council to pump an additional $151,066 into the Fortification Street renovation project.
Stinker Quote of the Week: 'Taxes'
The state's road program, put in place in 1987, made no provisions for maintenance, and the commission says that it has had to shift funds from building new roads to maintaining deteriorating roads.
Ten Years On
This week, I have decided to write a guide to the Stiggers column instead of a satirical opinion regarding the George Zimmerman verdict. For now, I am not inclined to see any humor or express an opinion on this case.
Ask the Questions
The Centers for Disease Control estimates that the number of Americans—men, women and children—dead due to gun violence in the past seven months is closer to 20,000.
Race Still Matters
In Mississippi, the negative social evaluation of black people has resulted in “separate but equal” in practice.
What's Wrong with the GOP?
There is something wrong with the Republican Party.
Stinker Quote of the Week: 'Benefit'
Few issues bring out the hyperbolic "best" in politicians than guns, regardless of party affiliation.
The Swimsuit Body
I challenge myself to question the judgments I make about people, including what makes people attractive, and why I think someone should or shouldn't wear something.
It’s Cool to Be a Nerd
If you want to talk about education in Mississippi, you need to prepare for a pretty depressing conversation. We're either in the top five or bottom five of every national education-related list—whichever end you don't want to be, there we are.
Letting It Go
When my therapist said the words to me, I nearly fell out of my chair. "You were abused!"
Martin, Zimmerman Should Give Pause
In the rush to approve whatever new gun law the NRA happens to be pushing at the time, legislators forget that the laws they create will lead to real-world confrontations, leaving teenaged boys and grown men with guns to figure out the limits of the law among themselves under the darkness of night skies.
Stinker Quote of the Week: 'Threatened'
No one's constitutional rights are being threatened here. House Bill 2 has caused confusion and raised numerous questions over its meaning.
Getaway Weekend Bus Tour
Rev. Cletus: "Welcome to another wonderful and blessed Rev. Cletus Car Sales Church broadcast from WGSR FM, known affectionately as Ghetto Science Radio. This is your car sales pastor and transportation specialist here to share some good news in these troubled times.
A New Reality
Pornography—the vehicle by which many boys learn how to be men—has turned women into objects of loathing, abuse and violence.
Redemption Song
Audre Lorde once said: "It is not our differences that divide us. It is our inability to recognize, accept and celebrate those differences."
Yarber Made Fine Council President
The Jackson City Council raised eyebrows last week by voting to replace Councilman Tony Yarber, Ward 6, with Councilman Charles Tillman, Ward 5, as council president.
Stinker Quote of the Week: 'Emblazoned'
"Mississippi" is already emblazoned at or near the top of lists of states rife with diabetes, obesity and teen pregnancy, mostly because of our woefully inadequate health-care system.
Free Market China
Chinese junks no longer dot Victoria Harbour. A foot-powered rickshaw is even harder to find. Skyscrapers now dwarf the stately colonial-era buildings at the heart of the old city.
Open-Carry Laws Will Test Lumumba
One of the most interesting things in Mayor Chokwe Lumumba's administration of Jackson will be how he manages the Jackson Police Department.
Stinker Quote of the Week: '2.4 Billion'
The estimated costs of Southern Company's largely experimental coal gasification plant in Mississippi seems to have no ceiling.
Knowledge and Phone Tapping
Mr. Announcement: "On this episode of the award-winning daytime-television soap opera 'All God's Churn Got Shoes,' Aunt Tee Tee Hustle, computer and electronics nerd, accidentally taps into an interesting phone conversation between Shirley Sherrod and Paula Deen.
Join the Conversation
It's about talking, sure, but it's about listening, too. After all, Wendy Davis stood and talked for 11 hours, but I believe it was tied to a hope that someone in that room or someone tuning in would take their fingers out of their ears and actually listen.