By Christopher Young,
Contributing Writer,
Do you suppose it’s a coincidence that Republican state legislators and Republican elected officials in Mississippi are trying to exert control over the City of Jackson and Hinds County?
Do you suppose it is because they, good Christians that they are, care so much about our people? First the schools, then the airport, then our water and sewer, then the usurping of our autonomy by supplanting a state police force with jurisdiction over nearly our entire city – and adding their own court system staffed with appointees unlike anywhere else in the state, and the latest scheme – force Jackson to return Smith-Wills stadium to the state 80 years after the lease inception. The agenda is so obvious, and in trying to push back, we just can’t catch a break.
Do you suppose that it has anything to do with the fact that Hinds County is not only the most populus county in the state, but also has a 77% non-white population?
The City of Jackson, the Capital City, is the largest city in Mississippi, and also has an 85% non-white population, all per census data. And we notice what the oppressors look like – that never changes – as pale as pale can be.
Do you know of one non-white legislator engineering this oppression? I’m not certain, but I doubt these Confederate-minded folks are gathered in an anteroom at the Capitol singing God Save The South, but they sure do believe themselves superior – superior enough to think they can tell others what to do, and superior enough to try to take what is not theirs.
These are the same folks that keep our state anchored to the bottom in every respect. Our state is deeply in debt, and they are in the majority – the Governor’s Mansion and both chambers of the Legislature. The Governor quips “it’s Mississippi’s time, we have momentum” and the Lieutenant Governor says, “we need to run Mississippi like a business.”
It’s tough to do that when you have a white supremacy mindset. When less than 6% of well over a hundred state agencies are headed up by non-whites, when less than 1% of contract expenditures for the state’s goods and services go to non-whites, and when you are generationally the poorest state in the nation.
Mississippi’s largest funding source is not the Mississippi taxpayers, or state-support special funds or other special funds – it’s the federal government, at a rate of 41.17% in 2024, per https://www.lbo.ms.gov/pdfs/fy24_bulletin.pdf; toss in a $97 million pilfering of TANF funds and the just announced lawsuit by the feds against the Mississippi Senate.
Would you be shocked to know the lawsuit is about racial discrimination? See the details at https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-sues-mississippi-state-senate-race-discrimination.
The onslaught is never-ending, and we are long past catching a break. It just doesn’t seem to be in the cards and it gets worse. We have folks inside our Capital City and Hinds County gumming it up even more. You would think that keeping your own house in order, especially when you are relentlessly oppressed would be the priority – to always conduct yourselves in a manner beyond reproach. Recently we all discovered that is not the case.
Federal indictments were handed down involving two Jackson City Council members (former Ward 2 Councilwoman Angelique Lee and Ward 6 Councilman Aaron Banks), the mayor of the City of Jackson (Chokwe Antar Lumumba), and Hinds County District Attorney (Jody Owens). Accusations include bribery, money laundering and making false statements. Lee pleaded guilty and is awaiting sentencing, all the others have pleaded not guilty, according to numerous sources.
Elected officials have constitutional rights, too. They are presumed innocent until proven guilty. Let’s hope they are all truly not guilty. What we do know is that the feds don’t play when issuing indictments. It’s rare when they are not successful. The Pew Research Center reported that in 2022, “fewer than 1% of federal criminal defendants were acquitted; 0.4%.”
Down at Jackson City Hall, built by slaves, it’s confusing as to who is carrying who’s water. They all claim devotion to serving the people, all receive a paycheck from the taxpayers, but are they all truly serving the best interests of the city?
Ward 7 Councilwoman Virgi Lindsay has been in office since 2017. She’s ushered in tremendous growth and development in certain parts of Ward 7, but what about the western parts, you know, over there by Bailey Avenue?
Ward 3 Councilman Kenneth Stokes, loved by so many in his Ward, has been in office since 2015, yet there are others that just love Stokes, too. When he slides over to SuperTalk radio – a white-centric organization – and spills the tea on Jackson, you know they just love it. In contrast, Ward 4 Councilman Dr. Brian Grizzell, in the office since 2021, confirms he has never been to SuperTalk.
A couple weeks ago, Ward 1 Councilman Ashby Foote, in office since 2014, sat down with SuperTalk’s Mary Wieden and managed to be uncommitted as to whether Jackson Water/Sewer should return to Jackson control once JXN Water completes its federal mandate. Also, unsolicited, he found a way to infer that the trash contract with Richard’s Disposal could be being looked at by federal investigators.
By telephone, The Mississippi Link asked him to defend his comments, he shared a lot, including, “I don’t think that economic side of the water plant is why the state wants it, it doesn’t create a lot of employment or revenue. It was a loser before due to mismanagement, not following the rules, and not pursuing payors.”
He told Wieden he thinks “It needs to be with people who have a professional staff, and professional oversight, and do what’s best for the citizens.” He told this writer that whether it is state, which he does not agree with, or regional control, the motivation is always to ensure the residents of Jackson have the most fundamental of rights – safe healthy drinking water.
Foote was asked, “Why would you toss in the possibility that the trash contract is suspect and might be investigated by the feds – do you have proof of illegal activity?” He responded, “I have no proof, no.”
That didn’t stop him from throwing it out there. Long past catching a break.
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