Jackson Free Press

Nicholas Kristof is a journalist-adventurer in the Ed Murrow style. He has fought the traffic in sex slaves, actually buying some young girls out of such slavery. He has led in making the world aware of the genocide in Darfur. How appropriate that Casey Parks, another reporter with a drive for truth and justice, will be traveling to the tropics to learn with him. I think of legendary "crusading" women reporter-adventurers like Nellie Bly or Martha Gellhorn when I think of Casey Parks' coming career.

Never Say Die:

Kudos to the JFP for standing up to Gannett.

I watched from the editor's desk at MetroBeat as the business side of the paper failed to respond to the attack on us. "There's nothing we can do legally," we were told. So it turns out, that's what we did. Nothing.

I made the decision to stay and fight the bastards. MetroBeat shut down on April 11, 2005. On July 19 of that same year, we launched The Beat with 90 percent of the same writers, photographers and artists. We've put out 23 issues since then as a biweekly and plan to go weekly by the end of summer. While the presence of Gannett's boot heel on our neck has been bothersome, we are determined to prevail.
— James Shannon, Editor & Publisher, The Beat, Greenville, S.C.

Whites Fled From Blacks, Not Crime:
When Mayor Melton ran for mayor, he said he would be a crime fighter, but he did not say he was going on the street himself to fight crime and leave the city's business to someone else. I have no problem with a crime fighter, but there are many ways to fight crime.

To be a leader, you have to have insight on what the problem is and use all your resources to solve the problem. I don't hear any plans to help prevent crime. All I hear is Mr. Melton fighting crime alone with his bodyguards. Come on, now. Vigilante-style never worked in the past, and it is not working now. Can't people see that, or do they only see what they want to see? It takes a village to raise a child, and it will take the whole village to save the city of Jackson, not one man.

White flight started with integration back in the '60s. It was not because of crime that whites left the city; it was because of prejudice. When the whites left the city, business left, along with jobs and the tax base. Joblessness promotes hopelessness, and hopelessness promotes crime. What people need is jobs—and not fast food restaurants paying minimum wage, but good jobs. This should be the plan for the mayor and Jackson. This is the way to fight crime.
— Ruth Davis, Jackson