Jackson Free Press

So the JFP celebrated its fifth birthday a couple of weeks ago. I have long exercised the privilege of celebrating my birthweek and birthmonth, rather than just a flimsy day, so I'm not technically late with my thoughts on this milestone.

I remember when Todd, Stephen, Jimmy, Bingo and I put out the preview issue, intentionally dated on my mother's birthday Sept. 22 (technically making the paper a Virgo).

My mother was a Neshoba County woman who never went to school a day in her life (until her 60s) who scraped and fought and labored so that I would conquer the one thing she most desired to know her entire life: the written word. She also taught me that I wasn't better than anyone else. Or vice versa.

She, thus, created my desire to use the written word to pursue social justice—and to just plain old tell stories that look for the humanity, not the sound bite.

After naming the paper in honor of the Mississippi Free Press—the "alternative" to The Clarion-Ledger, the Jackson Daily News and the Jackson Advocate in the 1960s, all then friendly to white supremacists—we launched on my mama's birthday with lofty goals. Todd and I had written a thick business plan that one of our business advisers kindly told us "looked like it was written by writers"—presumably meaning not by business people. The four-page, single-space "cause statement" was my favorite part, and I pulled it out recently when one of my interns asked to read it.

It began: "Jackson, Mississippi, has a way of getting under your skin. It has so much to offer: rich cultural diversity, fertile founts of creativity, the friendliness of its natives, its citizens' delight in laughing at ourselves, the incredibly quirky and lovable characters, an addictive sense of place, an impressive track record of institutional change since Jim Crow ended. Quality of life can be incredible here: low cost of living; troves of artistic, caring people; music you can't find outside the state; a literary Mecca in the middle of one of the most illiterate states."

But we didn't pull any punches: "The transformation from a state where hate and rich creativity co-existed uncomfortably to a state where the state proudly demonstrates its tolerance of all races is not yet complete. Too much work was left unfinished after the exhausting battle of the 1960s. More than anything, the dialogue stopped and Mississippi's progressive strides stalled. Young, bright people continued to leave the state, while the status quo continued to guard its power base. Indeed, other races have gained power, but it's on the other side of a seldom-discussed race divide. As Jackson resident Willie Morris put it at the end of his life, this state has an incredible sense of place, but not a sense of community."

We were cocky, no doubt. We believed that what the community needed was a real local newspaper for real Jacksonians. We wanted to publish a paper that people of all ages and races and political backgrounds would read. We wanted to offer viewpoints that defied the status quo. We wanted to tell the truth and let the damn chips land wherever they landed.

Or, as Todd puts it, we wanted to be the "invitation" for Jacksonians to speak up, to challenge, to innovate, to create, to debate, to bridge barriers, racial and otherwise. Every week, and every day online, we wanted to invite our readers to do new things, to go on a different side of Gallatin, to step over the bridge. We hoped to invite our young people to stay in the state and be a part of something very special—progress—rather than running away the first chance they got, as I did, because a handful of loud people told them they had to conform to live in their Mississippi.

To hell with that. This state, and this city, is what we make it. It's ours to love and shape.

When I re-read our ambitions, I realized how wide-eyed we must have seemed, I remember one businessman telling me in no uncertain terms that our goals could not be met. We couldn't get black and white people to read and advertise in the same newspaper. We certainly couldn't get conservatives to read a progressive paper about Jackson.

Ahem.

Reading the cause statement made me moist around the eyeballs because we've pulled it off. In five years, we have done just about everything we prayed and hoped for in those four pages (and even predicted what The Clarion-Ledger would do in response). We're not done, of course, but the city of Jackson has risen to meet the challenge, and readers have responded so overwhelmingly that I have to pinch myself sometimes.

My favorite comments come from the people who might be expected to despise a "progressive" paper: "Well, I don't agree with everything in your paper, but you tell the truth." I must hear that 10 times a week.

These folks might have voted for Bush, may disagree on gay rights or tort reform, but they like to see their state and their city celebrated. They like to read the facts, even when they sting. They like courageous reporting. They like good art. And they love good storytelling. Many of them even subscribe to the paper for their kids living elsewhere, presumably to help lure them on back home.

There have been exceptions, of course—the folks I call wingnuts, not because they're conservative (some of my best friends are conservative), but because they are blinded by their own ideology, and hate and despise that a different voice exists in the state they thought they owned lock, stock and rebel flag. They go around talking about "Mississippi's values" to try to run off people with different beliefs, and put out ignorant ad campaigns with slogans like "Too Liberal for Mississippi," making it sound like our state is some private club where you have to shoot a trial lawyer with your Smith & Wesson and froth at the mouth over femi-nazis and thugs to get in.

This is the kind of division that was perfected in Jim Crow times when a "liberal" and a "communist" was somebody who believed in integrating our society. There is no place for that kind of prehistoric talk in a new Mississippi still in recovery from being held hostage by people who hawk hate to get cheap votes.

But the cavemen coalition in our state is shrinking. What's taking its place is an alliance of people with different viewpoints who reject lies and easy rhetoric, who want us all to live in a caring community such as the friend I never met, Willie Morris, willed us to do.

Thank you for a nutty, exhausting, exhilarating five years, Jackson. To your health.

Previous Comments

ID

75413

Comment

Simply Excellent.

Author

Ray Carter

Date

2007-10-04T08:33:54-06:00

ID

75414

Comment

One of the things upon which 90% of Jacksonians (and probably Mississippians as well...after all, this is just my opinion) agree is that we need a better "flagship" newspaper in town and in this state. If you don't know that the CL has its own agenda, you have not been paying attention. It is a crying shame that the big boys do not have a really powerful competitor. No offense to JFP intended. JFP is growing and hopefully will be more than just a pain in the flesh of the CL in the future.

Author

xxgreg

Date

2007-10-04T08:52:19-06:00

ID

75415

Comment

When I moved to Houston there were 2 major newspapers, the Houston Chronicle, connservative if not racist, in my view, and the Houston Post. I loved the Houston Post and immediately hated the Houston Chronicle because it reminded me of the Clarion Ledger and Jackson Daily News. In the big game of competition the Houston Post went out of business which hurt my feelings and I refused to read the Chronicle for about a year or more. I don't know exactly what happened, but somehow the Chronicle got better or was improved - hired more racially diverse staff and started to giving more diverse opinions. After a while it wasn't as obviously racist as it used to be. It appears the Post forced the Chronicle into changing although it didn't survive.

Author

Ray Carter

Date

2007-10-04T09:09:29-06:00

ID

75416

Comment

Congratulations to you Donna and to all of your folks, past and present who have made the JFP as addictive as Blue.Belle Home-Made Vanilla Ice Cream. I won't "BUSH" you with "MISSION ACCOMPLISHED;" I will simply say, "Mission - On Going" and in a positive direction.

Author

justjess

Date

2007-10-04T09:40:46-06:00

ID

75417

Comment

Great article. I think guys covered a lot of ground in five short years. Just keep doing what you do.

Author

LatashaWillis

Date

2007-10-04T15:26:35-06:00

ID

75418

Comment

Yay. Good stuff.

Author

Izzy

Date

2007-10-04T15:43:09-06:00

ID

75419

Comment

Donna, thank you for mentioning your mother, her influence in your life and the link between her birthday and the preview issue. As the Mother of adult children, that touch warmed my heart.

Author

J.T.

Date

2007-10-10T08:01:15-06:00

ID

75420

Comment

No problem, J.T. Without my mother's handicap driving her and me, I'm not sure I would be a writer today, or that the JFP would be here. In fact, I'm pretty sure it wouldn't. All of that said, it wasn't just her illiteracy that inspires me. It was her love and belief in young people. She treated them/us as equals, pure and simple.

Author

DonnaLadd

Date

2007-10-10T09:11:27-06:00