April 14, 2015
Donna Ladd
Stories this photo appears in:
Editor's Note
EDITOR'S NOTE: 19 Years of Love, Hope, Miss S, Dr. S and Never, Ever Giving Up
"I dedicate this first 19 years to Charles Corder, Herman Snell, Stephen, Jimmy, Alisa, Bingo, staffers over the years, advertisers who got it, and all of you who have believed …
Editor's Note
EDITOR'S NOTE: Rest Well, Gov. Winter. We Will Keep Your Fire Burning.
"Through the life of this newspaper and my adult years back in Mississippi, Gov. Winter and Mr. Meredith have been living history who have connected the past and present for …
Editor's Note
EDITOR'S NOTE: Truth and Journalism on the Front Lines of COVID-19
Tate Reeves is nothing if not a partisan first and foremost, as his choices to please Donald Trump by withholding sufficient COVID-19 safety regs have shown us all in the …
Editor's Note
EDITOR'S NOTE: The Joy and Pain of Fighting for U.S. Democracy
Donald Trump is just one man. The real threat is the terrifying number of Americans who dote on him no matter what he does. His supporters are often described as …
Civil Rights
EDITOR'S NOTE: Learning to Roar in Mississippi from Anne, Hazel and Fannie Lou
Mississippi has long had women warriors who don't flinch at attempts to make them shut our little mouths, who stare back, who write scathing columns, who get the hell beaten …
Civil Rights
EDITOR'S NOTE: As You Vote, Recall the Blackjacks Hitting Mrs. Hamer’s Back
"(Fannie Lou Hamer) came up in a Mississippi where white leaders, including former Confederate generals immortalized as heroes, had worked diligently in the years before her birth to make sure …
coronavirus
EDITOR'S NOTE: Tate Reeves Needs to Stop Making Excuses, Start Leading
"Gov. Tate Reeves is spinning. He is grasping at any straw he thinks can divert attention away from his abysmal leadership during the COVID-19 crisis in Mississippi."
Editor's Note
EDITOR'S NOTE: Stop Glamorizing the Cruelty of Racist Ancestors
"The Legislature put up this flag as a stated symbol of white supremacy in 1894 as all those hideous soldier statues were popping up with their sappy remembrances, and it …
coronavirus
EDITOR'S NOTE: Dear Dr. Dobbs, Mississippi Needs Precise COVID-19 Data
It’s often been a slog to get good and relevant information about the spread of the coronavirus that isn’t either confusing or incomplete, or what we get may combine apples …
Editor's Note
EDITOR'S NOTE: ‘Essential’ Truths: Gov. Reeves Is Failing Many Mississippians
There is no such thing as a 'nonessential' Mississippian." When I saw Gov. Tate Reeves' tweet that on April 23, I stared at my screen. As a native Mississippian, I …
Editor's Note
EDITOR'S NOTE: Gov. Tate Reeves Has Failed the COVID-19 Leadership Test
Tate Reeves’ leadership logic says it’s OK to endanger people’s lives to keep churches and guns stores open using a constitutional excuse, but then ignore constitutional precedent on a procedure …
Editor's Note
EDITOR'S LETTER: Keep Calm, Stay Safe and Flatten the Curve
"Flattening the curve" matters. We can all help limit the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic in our own communities by social distancing, avoiding groups and staying home as much as …
City & County
EDITOR'S NOTE: In Love, Life and Work, Do the Right Thing and Wait
"The word 'power is often misused. It's not about money or controlling everything. To me, showing unconditional love for a partner, a city, a state or a nation through the …
City & County
EDITOR'S NOTE: Jackson’s Need for a Collaborative ‘Growth Mindset’
"On vexing community issues like violence, we can find and embrace solutions that are evidence-tested in other cities and that make a hell of a lot of sense for Jackson …
Editor's Note
EDITOR'S NOTE: Be Clear; Trump (and Clinton) Caused Own Impeachment
"Impeachment is hell for a the country—but the reasons impeachment proceedings begin are very serious. They are the kinds of violations of public trust than set dangerous precedents for the …
Politics
DOSSIER: Mississippi Secrets Revealed, from 'Ole Miss' to RFK to Charles Overby
"Most people in Mississippi who do not agree with the radical-conservative, racist status quo have always been afraid to speak publicly about it—certainly at least the white ones."
City & County
EDITOR'S NOTE: Meet the Mississippi Free Press, Focused on Causes and Solutions
The need for a new moral and cultural compass is why I and my co-founder Kimberly Griffin are announcing a new media project today called the Mississippi Free Press, which, …
Politics
EDITOR'S NOTE: Mississippi Women, It’s Your Time to Speak Up, Lead
Election season was tough for Mississippi women as usual. It was a time for broken promises and slights as we watched male candidates, and their women enablers, show little apparent …
Politics
Mississippi Democratic Party Needs to Overhaul Strategies, Outreach, Diversity
Prominent novelist Angie Thomas is planning to leave Mississippi due to the toxic politics here, on prominent display in last night’s election outcome. The wildly successful graduate of Belhaven College …
Editor's Note
EDITOR'S NOTE: Recovering Out Loud from Loss and Breast Cancer
"We must breathe through it all—the physical pain, anguish, stress, disappointment. We must just be present in our lives and accept and release whatever happens. Honestly, I can't imagine a …
Civil Rights
EDITOR'S NOTE: Dehumanization Spreads Racism, Destroys Lives
Dehumanizing other human beings, as Trump does with about any person of color who dares criticize him, is ripping our country apart, just like it did during the Civil Rights …
Immigration
Caller Demands JFP Not Sully Football Issue with Stories About 'Illegals,' ICE (Listen)
"Y'all get all this crap in there about this damn illegal raid on these illegal aliens that stole jobs from American citizens," he lectured. "I think that really sucks because …
Editor's Note
EDITOR'S NOTE: Media: Horse-Race Election Reporting Signifies Nothing
It is vital to stop treating elections like a fun, two-sided thrill ride, which (usually male) political reporters and campaign strategists love—and they're getting paid either way, even if your …
City & County
EDITOR'S NOTE: None of Us Is Safe from Hate
Each of us must use our gifts to heal our city, our state and our nation. We are kicking off our #MSCitizensAgenda to better understand challenges facing Mississippians through public …
Editor's Note
EDITOR'S NOTE: Journalism Can Beat the Hell Out of You, But It Must Go On
"When you get into this crazy business for the express purpose of having positive impact, you make it happen no matter what and find people who share the same drive …
City & County
EDITOR'S NOTE: Goodbye, Bozo—My Friend Cedric Willis Gone Too Soon
Cedric Willis had to claw his way to freedom while living in hell. Then he returned to a community that, until to the present, has never collectively decided to tackle …
Editor's Note
EDITOR'S NOTE: Mississippi Male Leaders Again Pretend to Value ‘Life’
Some things are universal, or should be. That includes never forcing a woman to have a child, lose her contraception or forbid a safe way to help her have a …
Editor's Note
EDITOR'S NOTE: The Joy and Pain of Being A Mississippian
"Anyone with half a brain should see that confronting and defeating the insane misogyny here is a huge step toward lifting Mississippi to higher and more successful ground for all …
City & County
EDITOR'S NOTE: A Woman’s Life in the Mississippi Minefield
It's tough being a woman in Mississippi. In fact, it's probably the most difficult state for women to speak our minds and publicly engage on political and policy fronts, and …
Editor's Note
EDITOR'S NOTE: GOP Leaders, Stop Disrespecting Black Mississippians
Dear Mississippi Republican leaders: Like much of the recent 40 years, your actions toward African Americans in our state in the last 10 days have been atrocious.
Editor's Note
EDITOR'S NOTE: Of Breast Cancer and the Warrior’s Life
I feel like a warrior ready to turn the strength I’ve honed over my lifetime to my own health and spirit and that of my loved ones, especially my hero …
Domestic Violence
EDITOR'S NOTE: Change the Rape Culture for Women and Men Alike
Young men too often grow up in a toxic masculine environment where their friends and even fathers or uncles celebrate some level of abuse. Many are challenged to be macho …
City & County
EDITOR'S NOTE: Of Love, Ego and Believing in All of Our Children
The Mississippi Youth Media Project, Donna Ladd's passion project with its own newsroom next door to the Jackson Free Press, invites young people of various backgrounds, and doesn't shy away …
Editor's Note
EDITOR'S NOTE: America, We Must Stop De-humanizing Our Children
As a child in the 1960s and 1970s, I was a bit of a freak of nature in my hometown of Philadelphia, Miss. You could call me sensitive or soft-hearted, …
City & County
EDITOR'S NOTE: Jackson, Lil Lonnie Must Not Die in Vain
When Lil Lonnie died in his car near the home where a white supremacist shot down Medgar Evers in 1963 in front of his children, in a neighborhood where kids …
City & County
EDITOR'S NOTE: Love, Good Deeds and the Jackson Zoo
One can't really have it both ways—everything can't be about race when you want it to be, but not when it makes you uncomfortable.
Editor's Note
EDITOR'S NOTE: Celebrating Teen Excellence at Crossroads Film Fest
Little pleases me more than seeing teenagers from all parts of Jackson achieve great things and be recognized for them such as their inclusion this week in the Crossroads Film …
City & County
EDITOR'S NOTE: Right, Left Must Work Together for Criminal Reforms
It is time that criminal-justice reform be on every candidate's agenda in Mississippi, regardless of party. The goal should be to lower mass incarceration, especially for drug and victimless crimes—which …
Editor's Note
EDITOR'S NOTE: Parkland Teens Lead by Talking Back, Listening
The Parkland, Fla., teenagers who became activists against gun violence while locked in closets on Valentine's Day are giving many of us life during a dark period in our country.
Editor's Note
EDITOR'S NOTE: Move On from ‘Antiquated and Useless’ Gang Bill
A very bad "gang bill" has died in the Legislature for the second year in a row. This death occurred after the Senate passed the bill to criminalize gang association …
Civil Rights
EDITOR'S NOTE: Reps. John Lewis, Bennie Thompson to Attend Grand Celebration of Mississippi Civil Rights Museum
U.S. Reps. John Lewis and Bennie Thompson are attending the Grand Celebration and Gala at the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum on Feb. 23 and 24. Both will receive awards.
Editor's Note
EDITOR'S NOTE: Fighting Like a Woman in 2018
Like many women, I grew up in a world where our careers were already subject to the approval of the men who tend to run and fund stuff, and if …
Editor's Note
EDITOR'S NOTE: Tis the Season to Stop Judging the Poor
Bare feet don't have bootstraps. You catapult from day-to-day, trying to stay ahead enough not to go hungry or have the lights turned off, even if you eat milk and …
City & County
Truth and Pandering as Mississippi History, Civil Rights Museums Open
When the 90-year-old man slipped into the open seat next to me, the opening ceremony for Mississippi's duo of history museums was about to start.
Civil Rights
EDITOR'S NOTE: Trump Crashes Mississippi’s Coming-out Party
Inviting Trump is a lurid distraction from what the civil-rights museum finally admits about Mississippi, even using state dollars to tell these truths. Maybe that's why Bryant invited him.
Crime
EDITOR'S NOTE: Media, Cops: Choose Crime Solutions Over Perp Shows
It has never occurred to me to call up the police and ask them to stage a special "perp walk" so I can send someone to photograph someone accused of …
Editor's Note
EDITOR'S NOTE: 2017 is a Year to Be Thankful ... Really
Look, it's been a tough year. Donald Trump's election last November was the precursor to so much hell breaking loose on the national and international stages.
Education
EDITOR'S NOTE: The Lies Scientific Racists Told About Jackson’s Children
I did not know a federal judge in the 1960s had codified lies about how black children in Jackson were genetically inferior.
City & County
EDITOR'S NOTE: Our Journalism Seeks Solutions Over Blame and Partisanship
I'm a journalist to find solutions for issues such as youth crime. And that means seeking the various causes first to get there. That is why the journalism in the …
Domestic Violence
From Trump to Weinstein: ‘This Way of Treating Women Ends Now’
Hell week for women started with Donald Trump telling employers they can cherry-pick access to birth control out of women employees' health insurance. It ended with a long line of …
City & County
Yep, JPS Takeover Is a Conspiracy. Prove Me Wrong.
The predictability of all this takeover hoohaa isn't lost on anyone who comprehends Mississippi's history of racial dynamics, white flight and victim-blaming.
JFP
The JFP at 15: Raising Hell, Having Fun
The Jackson Free Press' official birthday is Sept. 22, my late badass mother's birthday. She was illiterate, but loved to tell stories and encouraged me to say whatever I needed …
Crime
Flashing a Kid’s Mugshot Is No Way to Prevent Crime
Disseminating mugshots of minors should be rare due to the harm that it can cause to that kid and society to treat children as adult criminals, especially before they even …
Editor's Note
America, We Sink or Swim Together
As Houston and surrounding cities drowned, Trump was pushing the bigotry that fueled his rise to power. Meantime, America was proving our inherent greatness, despite the incessant efforts by certain …
Civil Rights
White America’s Overdue Leap of Faith
Many white people want to just "move on." They'll shudder dismissively if you challenge the myths, preferring to leave the statues and flag and true history alone because it's just …
Crime
Let’s Talk About Violence, Then Take Action
It's a problem when all cops are stereotyped, but it's also wrong that more law enforcement won't speak out publicly like that about bad cops and, too often, will defend …
chickball
The Future of the JFP Chick Ball
First, I'll share the sad news in case you haven't heard. We have reluctantly decided to postpone the JFP Chick Ball again this year, as we did in 2016, and …
Civil Rights
Trump, DeVos Allowing Bigotry in Public Schools
In a presidential administration filled with shocking moments, it was a New York Times headline that crystallized the Trump crowd's disdain for children of color for me. "Education Dept. Says …
Civil Rights
Facing the Mirror, From Kingston Frazier to Karl Oliver
Little Kingston Frazier is our mirror. The brutal murder of this 6-year-old in Jackson last week reflected the absolute best and the abhorrent worst of our community.
Next Mayor Must Lead on Preventing Youth Crime
As I type, the polls for the mayoral primaries are still open, and the outcome is uncertain. What I do know is that Jackson must adopt a new attitude when …
Civil Rights
An Editor and a Gentleman
An odd fluke of fate brought me to the patch of dirt where three civil rights workers were murdered in my home county, holding the hand of James Chaney's daughter …
Media
JFP Editor Donna Ladd's Speech at the Women's March, State Capitol, Jackson, Miss, 1/21/17
JFP Editor-in-chief and CEO Donna Ladd ended the Jackson Women's March at the Mississippi Capitol on Jan. 21, 2017, with this speech about the importance of independent media.
Civil Rights
Sen. McDaniel, Meet the Real ‘Liberal Women’
As I was consumed with Best of Jackson week last week, I kept getting emails and texts about a state legislator proving himself to be among the worst of Mississippi.
Best of Jackson
These Are the Best of Times
No doubt, we're living through unsettling times. It would be easy to get depressed and angry at everything that lies before us to get done and repair—from a national political …
Editor's Note
Gov. Winter: Self-Made Hero on Road Less Traveled
Since Gov. William Winter fell on ice last Saturday, scaring the dickens out of so many people, I've been thinking about that congressman. Was it worth it to go along …
City & County
The Dark Side of the Hinds Justice System
It will be a tough slog, but we need confidence and accountability in the Hinds criminal-justice system again.
City & County
All Must Take Responsibility for Preventing Crime
Much research shows that hopelessness prolongs problems, including crime, because people don't do what each of them could to alleviate the conditions that lead to misbehavior.
Editor's Note
I’m a Patriot, Not a ‘Libtard’
A Republican friend from Mississippi State, whom I haven't seen in decades, wrote on my Facebook page recently that he reads my work, and he actually finds me quite conservative …
Editor's Note
The Impolite Free Press in the Age of Trump
Let's get this straight off the bat: There is no one reason that Hillary Clinton lost and Donald Trump won enough electoral votes last week to become president.
Gentleman Caller: Always About a 'Black Person, a Black Person, a Black Person'
A caller to the Jackson Free Press today complained that we cover far too many black people and now to find some white people to write about.
Civil Rights
Win or Lose, We Must Fight the ‘Trump Effect’
The white woman's name and phone number showed up clearly on the caller ID when she called the Jackson Free Press several times, angry about a column a young black …
Politics
Mississippi Women: Time to ‘Personhood’ Donald Trump, Mike Pence
Mississippi women turned back Personhood in 2011. Now, we need to vote against two men likely to limit everything from the birth-control pill to in vitro fertilization, from affordable cancer …
Editor's Note
Donald and Melania, Stop Insulting Men
Wait, what? No, Melania, good men aren't "egged" into bragging that they can grab women's private parts any time they want. I get that you're trying to defend your husband, …
Editor's Note
2016 Election: A Tough Time for Women
Women, we must no longer consent to walk on eggshells and allow ourselves to be interrupted and belittled by men, whether "below" or "above" us in a pecking order. And …
Civil Rights
The Right to Be Politically Incorrect
As I saw all the anger that mostly white people were hurling at Colin Kaepernick for simply taking a knee to make a point, I could see how much his …
Civil Rights
Trump, Bryant Stooping for Nervous White Vote
You can't make it up. The governor who is fighting to enact an anti-LGBT law in Mississippi is working diligently to get the Ku Klux Klan's choice for president elected …
Editor's Note
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 …
Editor's Note
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 …
Civil Rights
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.
Editor's Note
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 …
Editor's Note
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 …
Civil Rights
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 …
State
#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.
Editor's Note
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 …
Civil Rights
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.
Civil Rights
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.
Editor's Note
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 …
Editor's Note
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 …
Civil Rights
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.
Editor's Note
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."
Civil Rights
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 …
Civil Rights
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.
Editor's Note
‘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.
Editor's Note
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 …
Editor's Note
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.
Editor's Note
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 …
Editor's Note
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 …
Editor's Note
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. …
Editor's Note
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, …
Editor's Note
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 …
This Is What Ugly Looks Like, Folks
When I got in this morning, one of my writers had emailed me about a new Facebook page bashing the Jackson Free Press—apparently because the folks on it are sore …
Uptown Hate
When the 2000 election devolved into chad-counting in South Florida, I headed down from New York City to cover the mess for the Village Voice. And with all the talk …
'Mississippi Burning' and Other Tall Tales
In one of those bizarre twists of fate that keep happening to me since I returned to Mississippi, I ended up recently spending a Saturday afternoon in Neshoba County with …
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