The Art and Craft of Dak Prescott
I love that the 23-year-old tells anyone who will listen that his success so far is about how hard he works on his craft. It's almost like he is intentionally walking reporters back to the main thing in all the hype of the last two weeks. It's not like it's magic.
DA’s Attorney Looking for Tapes, Informant; Says AG Hiding Him
Defense counsel James Waide III may have revealed the name of the confidential informant who taped Hinds County District Attorney Robert Shuler Smith and then provided tapes to the Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood’s office—tapes that could get Waide disqualified as Smith’s attorney.
Twists, Turns, Rats and Secret Tapes
Who's ratting out the district attorney? That's just one of many questions swirling around Attorney General Jim Hood's arrest and investigation of Hinds County District Attorney Robert Shuler Smith.
Christopher Butler Arraigned for Having Pre-paid Tracfone in Hinds Jail
Christopher Butler, the Jackson man in the middle of Attorney General Jim Hood's investigation of HInds County District Attorney Robert Shuler Smith, was arraigned today for having an illegal, pre-paid cell phone in the Hinds jail.
AG Hood Using Secret Tapes, Confidential Informants Against DA Smith
Attorney General Jim Hood revealed in court filings Friday that his office is using both confidential informants and secret recordings of the Hinds County district attorney in its quest to investigate Robert Shuler Smith and ultimately remove him from office for inappropriate interference with the prosecution of two local men.
DA Files: ‘Too Sweet’ Reverend, Old Faces Back in News
Names of men who were involved in the late and controversial Mayor Frank Melton's universe keep popping up in the convoluted accusations encircling Hinds County District Attorney Robert Shuler Smith.
The Road Less Traveled in Jackson
Young Jacksonians are literally the city's future. We must listen to them, take their advice, invite them into spaces where they've never been and introduce them to museums, restaurants and other cultures, as these teenagers were doing all summer.
In ‘Trying Times,’ Demand Safer Policing
The understanding that black (and brown) lives do matter even when it's someone doing something unpredictable in a poor neighborhood must break through all the noise.
Of Love and Orlando
The day before a gunman massacred 49 mostly Latino men and women at the gay club, Pulse, in Orlando, I was wandering through the Brooklyn Pride festival in New York City. It was right around the corner from my rented apartment in Park Slope where I stayed to do more crime-solutions reporting.
JPD Targets ‘Bandos’: A Different Kind of ‘Broken Windows’ Policing
JPD Chief Lee Vance is frustrated at the State for owning so much crumbling housing in Jackson but is glad that his department is helping to bring it down.
Living the Dream in Post-1523 Mississippi
Progressive thinkers here are working to leave hate-drenched politics behind, to get enough people motivated to vote to use our purple demographics to send a strong message at the polls that we're not playing that old-time religion of hate any longer.
‘Police vs. Black’: Bridging the ‘Racialized Gulf’
Oressa Napper-Williams' son Andrell was a victim of gun violence twice. The first time was when he was 16 and a student at Martin Luther King Jr. High School in Harlem.
Ceasefire in the City? How Police Can (and Cannot) Deter Gunfire
In 2015, Precinct 2 Commander Jarratt Taylor helped execute a massive enforcement effort called Metro Area Crime Elimination, or MACE for short, promised to be a local version of the national Operation Ceasefire model.
City Lobbyist Synarus Green Running for Rep. Kimberly Campbell's Seat
Synarus Green is the first candidate to publicly announce he will run for Rep. Kimberly Campbell's seat in the Mississippi Legislature.
A Hunger to Live: The Struggle to Interrupt the Cycle of Violence
Several members of the “Undivided” crew told their story recently in Sheppards Brother Park in the Washington Addition.
Coming Home to the Washington Addition
Linda Knight was only 18 when she snuck into the Afro Lounge on Lynch Street one night in 1973 and met the man who would take her out of the Washington Addition.
After HB 1523, We Must Seek Higher Ground
It was at Good Hope Baptist Church in the early 1970s that I first heard God used to justify hatred of black people, of "homosexuals," of feminism, of anything that fell outside their strict, supposedly Christian norms.
#ConfederateHeritageMonth: Your Essential Primer to How It Blew Up in Mississippi
This month, as I'd hoped would happen when I broke the story, many people around the country—especially historians—are using the hashtag #ConfederateHistoryMonth to share facts about the Confederacy.
The Pain and Danger of Hot Pursuits
When Ward 4 Jackson City Councilman De'Keither Stamps stepped up to the microphone on March 25 at the corner of West Capitol Street and Galvez in west Jackson, he wanted to express the magnitude of the police-pursuit problem in the Jackson metro.
Trump’s Politically Correct Call for Bigotry, Hate
It's really hard to find a stronger sign that Donald Trump hopes to become a fascist dictator of people and thought in America, and he's playing to very ugly instincts of his followers to get there.
SUNSHINE WEEK: Public Needs Year-Round Access to Documents, Meetings, Donation Information
The JFP has long focused on the serious problem of campaign donation transparency in the state, especially that shielded by political action committees, and more recently the problem with city contractor transparency
Big Freedia Back on in Hattiesburg: Names Mississippi a 'Right to Twerk' State
Big Freedia has rescheduled a "Twerkloose" show at the Dollar Box Showroom in Hattiesburg on March 25 after the state pressured the owner last month to cancel the show due to supposedly illegal twerking.
Long-time Republican Charles Evers Joins Madison Mayor, Others on Trump's Mississippi Team
Madison Mayor Mary Hawkins Butler and civil-rights legend Charles Evers are members of Donald Trump's Mississippi Campaign Committee.
Dear Gov. Bryant: Stop Pandering to Racism
Leaders like Gov. Phil Bryant must stop holding white Mississippians down to the bigotry of low expectations for fellow white people.
Mississippi Governor Declares April 'Confederate Heritage Month,' No Slavery Mention
Two weeks before the Mississippi Legislature allowed 19 state flag bills to die in committee, Gov. Phil Bryant took out a pen and signed an official governor's proclamation, declaring the month of April "Confederate History Month."
Hattiesburg Club Owner: State Pressure to Cancel Big Freedia Like 'Footloose'
“I thought to myself that if Miley Cyrus can imitate Freedia at the Emmys, and Freedia can play Jazzfest with hundreds of thousands of people, and have a nationally syndicated cable-reality show, why is it OK in the rest of country, but not in Hattiesburg?”
Big Freedia Banned from Hattiesburg Club for 'Illegal' Gyrating, Plans to Sue
A Hattiesburg, Miss., club cancelled Big Freedia's Feb. 12 show because a state official said her gyrating was likely illegal under Mississippi law.
Ward 7 Councilwoman Barrett-Simon to Constituents: 'I Remain Engaged'
Margaret Barrett-Simon has been seriously ill, but her prognosis is good, she says. "I remain engaged and informed on all of the issues," she said.
Stop Tone-Deaf Attacks on ‘Black Lives Matter’
Martin Luther King Jr. would not approve of #BlackLivesMatter. Dr. King was about bringing people together. He would say, 'All lives matter,'" the tweet declared confidently.
A Nation ‘Intoxicated with Bad Policing’
Nowadays, everyone is an amateur videographer, and police actions are under more scrutiny than ever. It doesn't mean, though, that there are more incidents of police brutality or over-policing; it means that more people can see the evidence of it now.
Jedis, Space Mountain and Love
Yes, I'm a serious person, and I care deeply about injustice and hatred. But the reason that I do is because I love so many things and people and cultures and experiences so deeply.
Donald Trump’s Most Vicious Lie, Yet?
It's a tough contest, but Donald Trump just spread his most poisonous lie yet in his race to become the fuehrer of the 21st century.
A Girl Strikes Back
I was astounded to read in a recent Associated Press story that Mississippi House of Representatives Speaker Philip Gunn, R-Clinton, refers to fellow legislators exclusively as "men."
The 42 Vote: Mississippi’s Time of Reckoning
When Mississippi Rep. Lester "Bubba" Carpenter stepped to the microphone at a Republican rally in Tishomingo County and started warning about a "black judge" taking away funds from white schools and giving it to blacker ones, it was deja vu all over again.
Anita Hill: Keep the Faith and Keep Moving
Anita Hill has dedicated her work to raising awareness of sexual harassment, domestic abuse, equity and workplace discrimination.
The Curse of the Mississippi Flag
The 1894 Mississippi flag, with the Confederate battle emblem as its canton, represents much more than an antiquated piece of cloth.
‘Blood Sells’ No Excuse to Sell Out Young People
It's as if struggling media outlets want a quick fix of attention from trotting out young faces accused of bad things more often than they feature kids doing amazing things.
Swift Kicks in the Game of Life
Sometimes we need a swift (verbal) kick to tell us we need to step up our game. Whether it's football or media, we have to work hard, really hard to be good.
My Advice for Mississippi Politicians
Being inspired is pretty much the same whether you're trying to decide who to elect or to stay excited about your career.
Of Bill Cosby, Frank Melton and Public Moralizing
You'd think that Bill Cosby's targets would have had more power than Frank Melton's troubled "boys," as he called them, but women of any race have never had credibility when it comes to being raped.
Driving Old Dixie Down
It is long past time to declare independence from a "lost cause" that wasn't worth fighting for and from those who insist on keeping us stuck there. Mississippi now is better than our past, and our people and the world around us deserve to know that.
Nothing Personal, Walmart, But Local Is Better
We don't mean to brag, but the Jackson Free Press has long been a proponent of the concept of shopping local first starting nearly 13 years ago when we published the words "Think Global, Shop Local" on the cover of our second issue.
O, Speak and We Shall Live
On the night of June 16, 1964, Bud and Beatrice Cole, along with four other adults and two children, were attending a stewards' meeting to discuss finances at the Mt. Zion Methodist Church east of Philadelphia, Miss.
From Terrorists to Politicians, the Council of Conservative Citizens Has a Wide Reach
When I clicked on Dylann Roof's alleged racist "manifesto" yesterday, I wasn't surprised at all to see the name of the Council of Conservative Citizens name-checked. In some ways, I was happy to see it.
From Affleck to Baltimore: Sh*t Our Ancestors Did
Forget a "sagging feeling"—it's a gut-punch to discover you descend from a slave owner or plantation overseer, especially when your relatives have laughed off such a notion your whole life, always adding, "Our family was too poor to own slaves." Right.
Creating Better People
It's hard to watch a grown man cry. It's even harder to see a distinguished judge break down in front of an audience decades after a white teacher lied about his actions and got him more than 20 hard licks from his principal.
David Rae Morris
In the time I've known him, David Rae Morris has turned himself into an accomplished filmmaker who makes places and people in our state come alive in a way I know his father would have cherished.
Advice to a Young Woman
To thine own self be true. Be honest even when it feels hard. Represent yourself with confidence and dignity and never lose sight of what impact those two things, honesty and dignity, will have on your life.
Find Your Voice, Girl!
Many men don't like it when we speak up and talk back. Some will go to great lengths to silence our voices, and too often that gets sexual or physical quickly online.
Adria Walker
I am writing to enthusiastically support Adria Walker for the honor of MSPA Journalist of the Year. I have never worked with a high-school journalist who deserves such an honor more than Adria.