City & County
OPINION: Making Government Surveillance Great Again in America’s ‘Radical City’
"Virtual policing means that 365 days a year, 24 hours a day, an all-seeing eye will be fixed on Jackson's majority poor and working-class residents."
City & County
OPINION: Mayor Lumumba’s Support of Police State, Incarceration Not In Dispute
"Despite many promises and assertions that alternatives to policing are needed, the mayor continues to tout his record of providing JPD with more surveillance gadgets, weaponry, more officers and fleets …
City & County
OPINION: No ‘Free Kills’ Unless We Are Black in Jackson
"The mayor claims to be against police murder. The “no free kills” banner Lumumba surrogates recently rallied under obfuscates that no real costs are meted out when the Jackson police …
City & County
OPINION: From Curfew to SWAT Team, Mayor Lumumba’s Police State Expanding
Suggesting he is against the governor’s hasty reopening of the economy and in response to the COVID-19 virus, while jabbering about “science and data,” the mayor says “we” don’t have …
City & County
OPINION: Mayor Lumumba Remains Silent on Predatory Culture of Jackson Police
Recently, at a press conference Mayor Chokwe Lumumba said that none of the “outside agitators” who opposed the disarming of Jackson’s overwhelming black population cared enough about the issue of …
City & County
OPINION: Mayor Lumumba Attempts to Disarm ‘Our People’ in Jackson, Literally and Figuratively
"During his tenure as mayor, Lumumba has presided over police killing and maiming of black toilers and has strengthened police’s capacity to brutalize and subjugate."
City & County
OPINION: Stop Talking About Corruption: The Nature of Ethnic Patronage Politics
"Corruption implies dishonesty, sleaze and fraud. Historically, such corruption has taken the form of kickbacks and favoritism to supporters of electoral campaigns. ... Is Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba's regime thus …
Crime
OPINION: Prison Reform and the State: The Impending Confrontation
The prison-reform rallies held at the Mississippi Capitol on Jan. 24 and Feb. 1, 2020, at the Governor's Mansion are evidence that dubious government-approved rallies don't just happen in "communist" …
City & County
OPINION: Pelicia Hall and the Political Emptiness of 'Black Girl Magic'
Many believe "Black Girl Magic" improves on the silences in "black power" and is validly wielded against patriarchy. Columnist Adofo Minka argues that a closer look reveals it is an …
Crime
OPINION: Jackson Policing Betrays Poor and Working-class Black People
Before rushing to volunteer to be Jackson's political classes' attack dog against racist insult, we should be mindful of Zora Neale Hurston's oft reminder: "all my skin folks ain't my …
Civil Rights
OPINION: America’s Jails and Prisons: A Powder Keg Waiting to Explode
The American prison system is evidence that slavery here never ended; it merely transformed.
City & County
OPINION: Jacksonians Should Reject EJECT
it is clear that Hurst’s strategy to combat violence and criminality in the capital city is misguided, flawed and is a failed strategy on arrival. Jacksonians need to reject EJECT.
City & County
OPINION: The Mayor’s Task Farce
In the "most radical city on the planet," the "emperor" has no clothes. Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba has repeatedly provided cover for the Jackson Police Department, which has consistently exacted …
City & County
OPINION: Police-State Violence, the Elephant in the Room
We live in a police state. That is when a government uses organized force to act arbitrarily and violently against the interests of the masses of people, rendering them subjects …
City & County
OPINION: Justice for Reggie Harper
For Reginald Harper, Jan. 4, 2018, is a day that will forever live in infamy. On this day Jackson Police Department officers shot at him.
Civil Rights
OPINION: Police Violence is Not Déjà Vu
In Jackson, police violence is not deja vu; it is real and systemic.
City & County
OPINION: More Transparency from JPD Needed
It has been more than two weeks since two Jackson Police Department officers extra-judicially killed beloved daughter, mother and Jackson State University student Crystaline Barnes. The community waits in suspense …
Business
OPINION: The Battle for Clear Water and Control in Jackson
Recently, the Jackson City Council dropped its appeal to block the West Rankin Utility Authority from building its own wastewater facility in lieu of using Jackson's Savanna Street treatment plant. …
Economy
OPINION: Why The Silence on Project EJECT?
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. understood that at a certain point, silence becomes betrayal. Nearly 50 years later, too many individuals are still unwilling to break away from the shackles …
Civil Rights
U.N. Finds Evidence of Human-Rights Abuse in Jackson
While in Jackson, the United Nations Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent heard a full day of testimony that provided in-depth insights into the types of de …
Spirit of Stokes’ Comments: Black Life Matters, Too
The firestorm surrounding what many have deemed controversial comments by Ward 3 Councilman Kenneth Stokes have a lot of people up in arms.
Civil Rights
We Must Finish King’s Work
Unfortunately, many have reduced Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to a mere dreamer and tried to remove the work he was doing at the end of his life from all …
City & County
Mayor: Answer Questions About Tax Law Change
During Mayor Tony Yarber's campaign, he said he would be dedicated to working for the "everyday people of Jackson" if elected.
