By Edelia “Dr. Jay” Carthan,
Staff Writer,
While Mississippians witnessed a new flag going up this week, four Mississippi congressmen voted to keep us down by continuing to divide us further by supporting the coup d’etat of our democracy spearheaded by President Donald J. Trump. They know just like we do that the whole narrative about stealing the election is “fake news.”
Four of the six members of the Mississippi congressional delegation challenged the 2020 presidential election results in spite of state, local and judicial procedures that confirmed that there was evidence of election fraud.
U.S. Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith, Rep. Trent Kelly, Rep. Michael Guest and Rep. Steven Palazzo all voted to challenge the 2020 presidential election of President-Elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris as Congress met to count and certify the electoral college votes last Tuesday. Senator Republican Roger Wicker and Democrat Rep. Bennie Thompson are the only two Mississippians that supported the election results.
January 6, 2021 will forever be ingrained in our nation’s history. As Congress gathered to certify President -Elect Joe Biden’s victory and to count the electoral college votes, terrorists stormed, rioted and attacked our nation’s capitol building. Five people died in the attack including a Capitol police officer, Brian Sicknick.
Heavy armed terrorists disguised as Trump supporters, broke through police barcades and stormed the capitol building as Congress were counting the electoral college votes.
Their disregard for the U.S. court system is notable since Hyde-Smith and others were on the same ballot they are challenging. What’s the reason for their challenge, other than to further divide us, because Trump won Mississippi in the election.
In a tweet, Hyde-Smith said, “My heart is broken for United States Capitol Officer Brian D. Sicknick’s family and fellow officers. We owe a debt of gratitude to the force, and everyone who put themselves in harm’s way to protect the first branch of our government on Wednesday. Praying hard for healing.”
Cindy “Hang’em” Hyde-Smith has always been very clear on her position. During the 2018 special election against Mike Espy, she received backlash after a video was released of her saying, “If he invited me to a public hanging, I’d be on the front row.”
Students and Activists gathered in front of her office in protest demanding an apology.
She refused to apologize to Mississippians that were offended by her comments. In a state with one of the highest numbers of public lynchings, she called the remark an “exaggerated expression of regard.”
Hyde-Smith’s narrative and agenda is a threat and direct conflict with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s dream and to the citizens of Mississippi, both black and white.
“Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith’s tenure has been a detriment to the 40% of Mississippi’s population that are of African American heritage. She has consistently spoken primarily for her party’s constituents, and almost exclusively for white Mississippians. Dr. King was a champion for equality and inclusion. On the other hand, Hyde-Smith’s stance has consistently been polar-opposite of King’s Dream,” former Jackson city councilman Marshand Crisler said.
The president, Cindy Hyde-Smith, Minority leader Mitch McConnel and the vast majority of all those who supported the president and his divisive narrative just to hold their seats are just as responsible for what happened at the Capitol Jan. 6 as the people who physically stormed it.
What presidents say and do matter. We witnessed the resurgence of the Ku Klux Klan after the 28th President Woodrow Wilson hosted a special screening of the 1915 film, Birth of a Nation at the White House. The movie’s villains were black portrayed by white actors in blackface. He supported the Confederacy, even wrote books about it, and began erasing Reconstruction reforms by using laws, violence and intimidation to prevent black men from voting and pushing them out of local and state governments.
Even after the passage of the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments which granted black people citizenship, equal protection under the law and granted black men voting rights, it wasn’t until the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 that blacks started to see blacks elected to office.
It’s important to hold all elected officials accountable to what they say and do especially if they seek to divide us instead of bringing us together. All of the Mississippi delegation needs to be replaced with the exception of Rep. Bennie Thompson.
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