[Kamikaze] Something's Rotten in the City of Jackson
Something stinks in Jackson. After some careful sniffing, the foul stench seems to be emanating from the downtown area—specifically Farish Street.
[Fleming] Told You Lott Would Quit
I hate to say I told you so … but I did.
Jackson's "No. 1" Issue
In an editorial last week, The Clarion-Ledger climbed dramatically onto its bird's eye perch of deniability and proclaimed: "Mayor Frank Melton was elected to do something about the No. 1 issue in Jackson—crime. But it is apparent that Jackson's No. 1 problem has become Frank Melton."
We Don't Need Another Hero
Ever since the mayor announced that the sheriff is going to moonlight as the police chief, it's as if fairy dust has been sprinkled on Jackson. It would seem that crimeדthe No. 1 issue!ԗwill be gone in a matter of weeks.
[Sue Doh Nem] Thankful for Exploitation
Taa-Qweema Jenkins: "You're listening to 'Good Mornin' Ghetto,' the Ghetto Science Team's morning drive-time radio show for the financially challenged. My guests are Chief Crazy Brotha—Ghetto Native American, civil rights activist and senior stock clerk at JoJo's Discount Dollar Store—and Ernest 'Monday Night Football Head' Walker, of the Pork-n-Piggly Supermarket. Today's topic: What are the poor and oppressed thankful for?"
[Hightower] Money In, Money Out
Surely you don't think that campaign donations from wealthy interests are intended to buy favors from our lawmakers, do you?
[Hutchinson] The Dilemma of Two Black Americas
Bill Cosby, comedian turned black-morals pied piper, has got to be beaming. His relentless pitch for blacks to get their act together and stop blaming the white man for their failings almost certainly has done much to spur the radical reversal in black attitudes on race. A new Pew Research Center survey found that more blacks are willing to finger point themselves for bad grades, bad behavior, high unemployment and poverty than they were a decade ago.
Talking Back in Flyover Country
Not too long before the election, I found an e-mail I'd missed from a young Mississippi artist: "Donna, I think this article deserves a talented rebuttal. See what you can do." I clicked his link to a Slate article, and I braced myself for a pseudo-intellectual snippet of snobbishness.
State Gets a Second Chance
Second chances are rare. Mississippi gets an occasional glimpse at another chance when it convicts murders and conspirators of the horrendous crimes committed here during the Civil Rights Era. But those chances don't come nearly often enough, and at this late date, they may fail to resonate nationally as the milestones they represent in the state. Now, though, Mississippi has the opportunity to make a second chance count for the entire U.S.
[Sue Doh Nem] Breaking Many Hearts
Boneqweesha Jones: "I don't know what it is, but it sure is a funky atmosphere in the world of media and entertainment. Is it the funky global-warming, drought-stricken air we're breathing? Brother Kunta 'Rahsheed X' Toby is with me on 'Boneqweesha Live' to figure out what's really inside the hearts of radio and television celebrities—like that bounty hunter who said the 'N' word almost as many times as that police officer from the O.J. Simpson trial.
[Kamikaze] Old-Fashioned Butt Whoopin'
Well folks, you've had a week to let it sink in. The results are back and statewide the Dems took what I'd call an old-fashioned butt whoopin'! Only Jim Hood made it out of the fray unscathed. From the top down we've bought ourselves four more years of the same old thing. Folks are comfortable with the same old thing especially when the "new" thing doesn't present any concrete plans.
[Gregory] Thank God I'm White
The other day I was reading the letters to the editor of The Clarion-Ledger. This isn't a new activity. I will admit, I usually boot up the computer in the morning and pull up the C-L opinion page just to read a few lines and remember where it is that I actually live.
'Tolerance' Key To Our Economy
Yes, it's a cliche, but it feels deserved this cycle. No matter who won the recent elections, I feel that Jacksonians in particular (and Mississippians in general) are the losers.
Feds: Mete Out Equal Justice
As the dust from a very ugly election settles, one thing is clear: There is a new, disturbing kind of well-funded machine politics that has rolled through the state in recent years, which has little use for Democrats. Granted, Dems haven't responded to the pressures of the U.S. Chamber-funded blitz on Mississippi wellbut (slightly) to their defense, they have been broad-sided by huge money and a Bush-appointed Justice Department bent on playing state politics, with a compliant state media to back them up.
[Sue Doh Nem] Livin' in the Last Days
Dr. Peanut: "Welcome to the premiere bootleg broadcast of 'Meet the Ghetto Science Team Press.' Tonight I want to talk 'brother to brother' with Big Roscoe, owner of the Clubb Chicken Wing Multi-Purpose Complex. He is also the newly published author of 'Global Warming, Nuclear Holocaust and Ghetto Underground.'
[Kamikaze] The Lesser of Two Evils
By the time you read this column, we will have elected a new governor (or re-elected the same governor). Now if you're reading this and asking yourself, "There was an election Tuesday?", don't be embarrassed. You're part of a large group of uninformed, or unmotivated, Mississippians.
[Gregory] Queen of the Fleas
The past three weeks of my life have been one long personal jihad against the fleas currently residing in my house. I call it a "jihad" because the fleas have progressed to the point where they are affecting my mental health: It's me or them.
Endorsements, of a Fashion
The Jackson Free Press has a tradition of endorsing candidates in our election issues. And considering that we never, ever endorse based on who we think is going to win, our success rate is pretty good—well over 50 percent. Not bad for a progressive newspaper in the heart of Mississippi.
Melton's Budgetary Confusion
When writing an editorial, it's important to hit on a few high points. Generally, you want to relate some recent occurrence in the news to a trend that the newspaper's Editorial Board feels should be a concern to citizens. Next, based on the evidence of that trend, the Board expresses encouragement or outrage. Finally, the editorial ends with a "call to action" so that your readers have an opportunity to participate in the solution.
[Stiggers] Dear Jackson Free Press Readership
As of today I am relocating to Atlanta to help take care of my mother, Mrs. Ruby Stiggers. This is something I must do because for many years "Miss Ruby" cared for me. She supported me in everything I ever did—high school, college, career choices and even living in Mississippi. She never judged or criticized me harshly; she just loved, prayed and encouraged me consistently.
I CARA, do you?
I've never been much of a volunteer. My high school required a certain amount of volunteer hours to graduate, which I completed, however grudgingly. My college sorority's charity of choice was arthritis research, for which I sullenly participated in pie sales and walk-a-thons. Call me selfish, call me cold, but I've just never found a cause to which I truly want to donate my time and/or money.
[Saldaña] La Nueva Estrategia del Sur
In Mississippi's first elections since the explosive national immigration bill debate, candidates across the political spectrum are lining up to take their best shot at undocumented immigrants. It's a no-holds-barred match. Public sentiment against "illegal aliens" is strong, and the targets are politically weak. Illegal immigrants—many of whom arrived to help rebuild the Gulf Coast in the wake of Hurricane Katrina—cannot vote, and few dare to speak up for fear of deportation. Unscrupulous employers have long exploited this weakness. Now politicians are taking their crack at the state's new straw men: undocumented Latinos.
[Agnew] Voters with Disabilities
"My mom won't take me to vote, but I want to go," a young woman says to me as I take questions from her group. I ask her if she lives with her mother, and she answers that she and her husband do. Her mother does vote, but the woman tells me, "My mom doesn't think me or my husband are smart enough to vote."
Real-Life Horror Stories
John Grisham says Haley Barbour should sign a moratorium on executions in Mississippi. "Absolutely. If I had my way, we'd stop all of them," Grisham said.
Mystery Ballots
Leading up to Election day, we've heard a lot of semi-hysteria regarding voter fraud in Mississippi. Certain politicians have latched onto this chimera as the wedge issue for 2007, while loudly bemoaning the lack of voter turnout in the state. One might even get the impression that fraudulent voters outnumber legitimate voters, given those stump speeches.
[Stiggers] Thin Line Between Love and Hate
Mo'tel Williams: "It's the showdown round of Negro-Rigged Jeopardy! Contestants are anxious to answer questions in the category 'African Americans: Love or Hate.' First question:
[Kamikaze] When Will They Learn?
It's another "biting-off-our-nose-to-spite-our-face" episode in the city of Jackson. I just read that rapper-turned-author C-Miller (formerly C-Murder)—brother of the "great opportunist" Master P—was in town to promote a new work of fiction. However, a teacher pulled up some of Miller's lyrics and decided to halt his appearance, thus thwarting yet another opportunity for kids to hear from someone well qualified to school them on the ills of going down the wrong path.
[Tucker] The Mean Season
Well, I guess it's official: The Mean Season is upon us.
The Good Book and Politics Don't Mix
Mississippians are viewed as a "different breed" for a number of good reasons: our take on the second person plural, the affinity toward things like sweet tea and caramel cake, and the instinctive way we wave at neighbors (even if we have no clue who they are) as we ride through neighborhoods. These characteristics, although strange to outsiders, are what make our state home, a place we passionately defend in the face of questions like "do you wear shoes?"
Don't Blame (It All on) Melton
Leland Speed, whose family enthusiastically supported Frank Melton in his mayoral run, is going around saying something amusing about the beleaguered mayor in recent days as rumors fly about possible federal grand-jury indictments against the city's loose-cannon folk hero.