By Christopher Young,
Contributing Writer,
Close to one hundred gathered to participate in and observe the annual Mississippi Legislative Black Caucus Prayer Vigil, Thursday, January 8, 2026, on the steps of the Mississippi Capitol. These legislators are acutely aware of what’s at stake each day they toil for equity, justice, and basic decency during the legislative session. It’s been said that their colleagues on the other side of the aisle begin each day of the session with prayer and then turn around and do just the opposite of what was called for in the prayer. These legislators are beacons in their communities and cast their votes for the well-being of African Americans across the state who represent 40+ percent of Mississippi’s population. They know from whence their help comes, and for them each new session begins with group prayer.
The current Chairman of the Mississippi Legislative Black Caucus, Representative Kabir Karriem (D-41 – Lowndes County), served as emcee of the Prayer Vigil, and after welcoming the attendees, he spent time outlining the 2026 Legislative Agenda, before calling on three prominent pastors to lead prayer.
The agenda for this session includes the following for the 1.2 million Black Mississippians:
Advancing Educational Equity and Protecting Public Schools
Reforming the Criminal Legal System
Expanding Access to Quality, Affordable Healthcare
Increasing Workforce Participation and Opportunity
Rectifying Budget Inequities and Ensuring Equitable Resource Allocation
Proactively Redistricting to Protect and Strengthen Democracy
Protecting and Expanding Voting Rights
Strengthening Social Safety Nets and Nutrition Supports
Environment and Climate Justice, and
HBCU Advocacy
Reverend CJ Rhodes, Senior Pastor of Mt. Helm Baptist Church, in Jackson led the prayers, and Senator Gary Brumfield (D-38), Chaplain for the Black Caucus, concluded the prayers – wondrous bookends to thunderous remarks of Reverend Reginald Buckley, Senior Pastor at Cade Chapel Missionary Baptist Church in Jackson, and current President of the General Missionary Baptist State Convention of Mississippi. Summoning a call and response of the Black church – Have you got good religion? Certainly, Lord! “People of good faith work together for the welfare of other people…to make real the promise of liberty and justice for all who call this great state home. Good faith shows up when we protect the sacred right to vote….good faith shows up in how we educate our children…Jesus warned against placing stumbling blocks in the path of young people….good faith shows up in how we care for our mothers…good faith shows up in how we feed the hungry…a hungry neighbor is not a statistic.”
Buckley continued, “It is our prayer that policy makers, legislators, lobbyists, and staffers will enter this legislative season and in good faith. That’s right, work in good faith. Reach across the aisle in good faith…this good faith agenda is an invitation and in 2026 we need people of good faith and an agenda of good faith making its way through these halls of government. A good faith agenda that will seek to uplift and not tear down. A good faith agenda that seeks support and does not strip away. A good faith agenda that seeks to provide every child with equal opportunity and equal resources to support them, flourishing and fulfilling their every potential despite what zip code they live in. We need a good faith agenda that anticipates our best intentions and that represents our moral witness with good religion. With a good faith we will stand together, above self-interest, self-motives and self-centered policies that advantage one group over another. Yes, we have good religion – certainly lord. We will work to ensure that Mississippi is better than it has been by refusing to retreat into cynicism or fear but leaning into love and responsibility.”
“With good religion, we will protect the vote because dignity demands that voices are not silence forever, but that we show mercy by restoring people who have paid their debts to society. With good religion we will have mothers and fathers provide care for their children ensuring that affordable childcare is available so that parents can work and provide for their family. With good religion we will feed the hungry because no one should be food insecure in a land of abundance. Because when religion is good, when faith is real, it is not confined to our Sunday morning sanctuaries, but it is carried out into the streets, into the schools, into hospitals, and into the homes across Mississippi. Public service becomes a moral calling, not a political transaction. So, we stand. We stand in good faith, and we present an agenda of good faith. Let us then work in good faith with honesty, humility, and hope. That we will discover something sacred among us and something sacred within us. Because in Mississippi, we’ve got good religion.”
Contact information for all members of the Mississippi legislature can be found at https://www.legislature.ms.gov/legislators. Learn more about the MLBC at www.msblackcaucus.com.
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