EDITOR'S NOTE: Change the Rape Culture for Women and Men Alike
Young men too often grow up in a toxic masculine environment where their friends and even fathers or uncles celebrate some level of abuse. Many are challenged to be macho and to at least brag about rough sexual exploits or contexts.
OPINION: Time to Give Mississippians Access to Medical Marijuana
Given the current crisis associated with widespread opioid abuse, dependence and deaths, Mississippi’s leaders must find an effective and safer alternative to prescribing narcotic medications.
OPINION: Serena Williams, Achieving Unboxed Wonders
For #BlackGirlMagic in the form of Serena and Naomi to dominate a sport meant for the white upper class is to rage against the mayo-flavored patriarchal machine.
OPINION: Changing the Narrative of South Jackson One Project at a Time
More business partnerships are needed around this city to get things moving in the right direction. We plan to continue to make this happen.
OPINION: America’s Jails and Prisons: A Powder Keg Waiting to Explode
The American prison system is evidence that slavery here never ended; it merely transformed.
EDITOR'S NOTE: Making the Most of Jackson
If you look at a photo of downtown Jackson from 50 years ago, the neighborhood today is very different. Many of the businesses that used to be there are now gone, and a lot of the spaces are run down and falling apart.
PUBLISHER'S NOTE: ‘One Lake’ Backers Have a Transparency Problem
Proponents of the "One Lake" project on the Pearl River have a high bar to clear, and I don't think they're doing it yet. Their problem is simple: lack of transparency.
EDITORIAL: City Needs to Name Officers Who Shot Citizens Without Delay
We can understand the need to protect officers and their families, but it is not acceptable to allow it based on a reason shrouded in secrecy.
OPINION: Jacksonians Should Reject EJECT
it is clear that Hurst’s strategy to combat violence and criminality in the capital city is misguided, flawed and is a failed strategy on arrival. Jacksonians need to reject EJECT.
EDITORIAL: Free Press Is Not Here to Comfort the Powerful; We're Here for Truth
The Jackson Free Press, and its editors and journalists, have come under fire many times since we launched 16 years ago in Mississippi's capital city.
OPINION: I Grew Up in the Segregated South. For Me, Supreme Court Rulings Are Personal.
"I fear a return to a time when our rights were considered secondary, if at all."
OPINION: Do You Give a Damn?
This is a life that never allows you to truly rest, because there is so much injustice in the world that we need to address.
OPINION: A Heroine of the Civil Rights Movement
Real change only comes to those who are open to new people and new ideas. A 6-year-old is a delightful open book, which is why segregated schools, churches and neighborhoods are such "dangers" to society.
EDITOR'S NOTE: Finding Community in a Calendar
It is next to impossible to spread the word about every single interesting activity going on in Jackson in any given week, but we are sure trying to put a dent in them with the JFP events calendar.
OPINION: Emmett Till's Legacy Vandalized, Brutalized Again: It's Time for a Change
Mississippi is not what it used to be. And yet here we are again, facing the news that the Emmett Till sign that marks the place of his death has been riddled with bullets
OPINION: ICE Policies Hurt Our Communities Beyond the Border
The cavalier attitude with which ICE conducts operations should be a cause of concern for us all.
OPINION: JPS: More Than A School Building
We all aspire to make a difference in our schools and communities by having more opportunities to participate in activities that support our growth and development.
OPINION: Breastfeeding Key to Improving Child and Maternal Health in Mississippi
If we want to improve the health outcome of babies and increase the number of those that reach their first birthday and beyond, we must center our efforts on removing systemic barriers to breastfeeding.
OPINION: Reconnecting to Food
Because food has such a presence in our lives, it helps shape our experience in different settings
EDITOR'S NOTE: Of Love, Ego and Believing in All of Our Children
The Mississippi Youth Media Project, Donna Ladd's passion project with its own newsroom next door to the Jackson Free Press, invites young people of various backgrounds, and doesn't shy away from accepting young people who have struggled in school or the community.
OPINION: The Big Flood of the Pearl, Not If, but When
So the big question is, “Will the ‘One Lake’ project be the salvation for Jackson in the event of a massive flood like the Easter Flood of 1979?” Not likely.
OPINION: A Pearl of Great Price: The Value of a Flowing Pearl River in Jackson
For fish and turtle species in flowing river habitats, if something happens to their environment—like a dam turning a flowing river into a stagnant lake—they will likely be lost over time.
OPINION: Trump Administration Implicit or Explicit in the Trafficking and Slavery of Immigrant Children?
Ask yourself, “Why are these children being moved, and why are they being moved to specific locations so far away from the border and their parents?”
OPINION: Mississippi Poor People’s Campaign, About More Than Poverty
Some Jacksonians may not have been familiar with the Poor People's Campaign before a group of protestors burned the state flag in front of the Governor's Mansion on Monday, June 25, while roaring, "No more hate in our state."
EDITOR'S NOTE: Pride, from Detroit to Jackson
Jackson needs people who are willing to do the hard work—to attend city council meetings to see what's happening, to push back when the city's government isn't sticking to their word, to get to know the people in the city, to make Jackson that much more beautiful.
OPINION: The End of the Eastland Machine
Like his mentor, Eastland, whose long stretch of power included a statewide network of lieutenants, cronies, operatives and ward-heelers who could make or break an upcoming politician’s career, Brad Dye came out of a different era—one with some striking contrasts to today’s politics.
OPINION: Independence Week and the Delusion of Freedom
“The delusion of freedom is far more dangerous, Than any jail cell or cramped cages” —G.Be
OPINION: Mississippi, Do You Remember?
"Unfortunately, in Mississippi, many people, like my extended family, forget that democratic policies have directly benefited them in the past and continue to today."
PUBLISHER'S NOTE: Times They Are a Changin’ at the JFP
Let's jump right to it—we're announcing exciting changes with this issue. We've been planning for months how we will best serve the reader, how we serve local businesses and help make Jackson the best place we can moving forward.
OPINION: Fighting a System That Was Not Made for Them
The national and even statewide conversation around gun violence and youth circulates around white students in suburban settings. Only when well-to-do white children die at the hands of gun violence do we feel the need to make a change or do something.