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[Williams] The South Has Risen Again

"We didn't leave the Democratic Party," Southern Republicans like to say. "It left us." This statement is pure fantasy. The truth is that the Democratic Party instituted the bulk of the civil rights legislation in this country and, rather than get in step with it, white Southerners bailed out of the Democratic Party and threw their support to the Republicans whom they perceived as more in line with their Jim Crow "values." The Republicans didn't tell them otherwise.

[Stauffer] The Secret to Jackson's Future

The burning question of how to fix what ails Jackson is on the minds of, at the very least, newspaper editors and the people they've interviewed here in our fair city, thanks in part to The Clarion-Ledger's series called "The Changing Face of Jackson." So far, if you've missed the series, here's a recap: Week One: We need to get along. Week Two: We need to grow.

Mrs. Hodges and Mrs. Salter

Back in the '70s when I was at Neshoba Central, a gawky girl from a trailer park bursting with ideas that I didn't know where to put, two women saved my life. Mrs. Oneida Hodges and Mrs. Alline Salter gave me permission to find my voice, to reach deep inside myself and say, "I have something to say, and I'm going to say it." Those two English teachers, my mentors, not only told me it was OK to express myself, they also taught me that expressing alone is not enough. You have to observe, research, think, ponder, rewrite, think more, question, consider, adjust.

LADD: Let the Music Play

I've never understood folks who listen to only one type of music. That's kind of like eating McDonald's for every meal; how can one live that way? I could have gone down that road, though. I grew up hearing nothing but country music in Neshoba County. It was the '60s for heaven's sake, and not a single Motown tune. Or Dylan. Or the Beatles. Basically no music that was remotely diverse or revolutionary. I knew Dolly Parton and Porter Wagoner and Merle Haggard and Charlie Pride (OK, a bit of diversity) intimately, however. I'd sing their songs (horribly) at the top of my lungs in the back seat of my stepdad's Olds 98 on our car trips.

EVERS: ‘I Cannot Support This War'

I'm against the war. I think it's uncalled for, too expensive, and physically, mentally and economically not worth it. The president hasn't proved to me, yet, that we're justified going in and killing innocent people—not only Iraqi women and children, but Americans. Mothers, fathers, sons, daughters and brothers and sisters will have to fight a war that has not been proven necessary. I've been a Republican since the Nixon administration, but I don't agree with everything Republicans do, or everything Democrats do. Americans have the right to differ with their own party; they don't always have to sing the same tune or dance the same dance.

[Stiggers] Cadillac Is the Word

Financially challenged individuals! If you missed out on Oprah's car giveaway, don't fret! The Ghetto Science Team may have a car for you courtesy of H.B.N. Instead of giving away brand new Pontiacs, the Ghetto Science Team's Hoopty Bargain Network will sell you affordable pre-owned and/or refurbished late-model automobiles.

[Stiggers] Check Yo Sources, Even If It's Gossip

Here's an important message from Sis Boneqweesha Jones, president of the Hair Did University School of Cosmetology and On-the-Scene Journalism, for Advanced Toe Nail Applications/On-the-Scene 501 students.

[Stiggers] Colin Sings the Blues

The election campaign movie feature "Mississippi Mudd Slangin': Don't Start No Stuff, Won't Be No Stuff" will return after this commercial break. ... Blues fans, listen to America's homegrown music, courtesy of the secretary of state. DGI (Darned Good Intelligence) records present "Colin Powell and Friends Sing the Blues." This 2 CD set features some of your favorite blues, country and folk songs performed by White House staffers and their friends. Listen to Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas sing the Clarence Carter classics Strokin' (a duet with Anita Hill) and Patches. And how about Rush Limbaugh's former house maid. singing a soulful rendition of Aretha Franklin's "Dr. Feelgood":

For Whom the Zell Tolls

Admittedly, we have a rough history of treating each other badly sometimes, and we stubbornly act against our best interests too often and—perhaps worst—we are notorious for sending up the wrong people to speak on our behalf. And we might possibly have the lowest self-esteem, especially here in Mississippi, than on any patch of geography on the planet.

Proud to be an American

We only lost three distribution spots due to our last issue, which offered dissenting views to the Iraqi War. We knew when we switched last issue's cover story at the last minute from the state of the crime debate in Jackson (which is now this issue's cover story) to the war, which was in its opening moments as we went to press, that we were courting controversy. But we also knew that we would not be true to our mission and our promise to our readers to be thought-provoking if we failed to take a more critical look at the build-up to the war as it was developing into the most important issue that most of us would be facing over these weeks—both intellectually and emotionally. We simply do not know how not to analyze the news, question dogma and exercise our right to free expression at every turn.

[Silver] Beware the Forces of Good

If I hear one more time, "The United States is a Christian nation," I'm going to puke. We are not a Christian nation and, as a Christian, I pray we never become one. I do not fear an overt attempt at institutionalizing Christianity as the official state religion. Such an effort would get less support than the Ten Commandments at the Alabama Supreme Court.

EDITORIAL: Unite Against Crime

May 28, 2003--Crime is up just about everywhere. That's not an excuse. It's just a fact. In 2002, crime was up 7.2% in Ventura County, Calif., for instance, long considered the safest city in the west. Crime is creeping upward all over the South and all over the country. Property crime is invasive--violent crime is horrific. The JFP's editorial team lives in and around Belhaven and Fondren and Downtown and West Jackson. With every story of a crime committed--whether an armed burglary in a Fondren home, an armed robbery in Brent's Drug Store or an uncle shooting a nephew in West Jackson--we feel pained and determined to do something about it. We are not immune; some of our staffers have been crime victims. We know how it feels to want to blame.

LADD: Hoofbeaters Make It Real

Remember the reception to honor the Murrah Hoofbeat staff Tuesday, March 4, from 4:30 p.m. to 6 p.m. at the Smith Robertson Museum and Cultural Center (downtown at 528 Bloom Street). Come have cookies and punch, and congratulate these young journalists.

STIGGERS: Head Start Ho' Howse

Support for Ken Stiggers' "The Haley Barbour Head Start Ho' Howse" is brought to you courtesy of The Dan Quail Spellin' Bea (Sowwy, that's BEE) Literacy Tour; Rudyard Kipling White Man's Burden Post Moredom Therapy Center, International; The Trent Lott Reparations Council, and the Condoleeza Rice, Colin Powell Anti-Ebonic Urban Youth Literary Initiative.

[Stiggers] The Souls of Po' Folk

Grandma Pookie here to promote my new book "Fo' the Souls of Po' Folk: Ghetto Proverbs and Affirmations." I want to share with the peoples 10 of my favorites:

[Stiggers] No Po' Folk Left Behind

Pookie Peterz, ghetto economist and international hustler, wants to share his wealth with the financially challenged.

[Stiggers] Meet Ghetto-Economist Pookie Peters

Welcome to "Ghetto-nomics 101": The common people's show! I'm yo' ghetto-economist Pookie "Hustler International" Peters. My guest is grandma Peterz, affectionately known as Grandma Pookie. She will share on surviving in a struggling economy.

[Lott] An Equal Education

<b>Web Exclusive</b>

Recently I was pleased to welcome Monticello native and U.S. Secretary of Education Rod Paige back home to Mississippi. He spoke to 6th and 8th graders in Pascagoula, observing them and taking some thoughtful questions from the students. It was a real honor for me to have the U.S. Secretary of Education visit the school I had attended and which now bears my name, but, more importantly, it was thrilling to have this particular education secretary here.

EDITORIAL: It's the Little Things

The recent unveiling of a new plan for a massive downtown convention-center complex has us worried that Jackson and its leaders will never stop going down the "if you build it, they will come" road for tourism and business. Yes, Jackson needs a smart, useful civic structure to serve exhibition, meeting space and other needs. But no gleaming alabaster and glass structure—no matter how big it is—will ever solve the city's problems in one fell swoop.

[Stauffer] On Mr. Moore and Making Us Talk

I saw "Fahrenheit 9/11" twice in the past few weeks—on opening night in San Antonio, and a second time at the UA Parkway Place in Flowood, during a screening that the Jackson Free Press sponsored with Crossroads Film Festival and The Collective. In the time between the two screenings, I'd read some of the responses to the movie, including many from the independent press. In fact, independent and alternative news outlets seemed to be treating the movie more critically than the mainstream press, which was, perhaps, more eager to move on to more important news … such as the release of "Spider-Man 2."