By Christopher Young,
Contributing Writer,
With the endorsement of the Mississippi State Conference of the NAACP and the National Office, Rankin County NAACP President Angela English conducted a press conference on Friday, May 10, 2025, at Mt. Carmel Ministries in Pearl, MS, calling for the resignation of Steve Gaines – District 4 Supervisor in Rankin County – following his comments at a breakfast on May 3, 2025.
Just two days prior Rankin County Attorney Jason Dare had announced a $2.5 million dollar settlement, stemming from the $400 million lawsuit filed by Attorneys Malik Shabazz and Trent Walker, on behalf of two Black men – Eddie Parker and Michael Jenkins – who had been terrorized by six all-white members of The Goon Squad at a private home in Braxton, MS on January 24, 2023.
Part of Attorney Dare’s public comments include, “There’s been a lot of people impacted by what happened in Braxton, MS, on January 24, 2023. Most notably Mr. Jenkins and Mr. Parker and their families, and also the Rankin County community and the fine upstanding law enforcement officers who are with the Rankin County Sheriff’s Office and who have weathered the storm that has ensued since that day. To everybody, we hope that this resolution brings some sense of finality and conclusion and peace for them,” per WJTV.
There is so much that Attorney Dare could have said but elected not to. These racially motivated attacks by white law enforcement on black residents manifested the fear felt for decades in the 70.9% white county with a lengthy history of excessive force by law enforcement. It is well documented that members of The Good Squad responded that day because they got a call from a white neighbor complaining about the two black men in a white woman’s home – that’s all it took. Not only did the incident reveal what is believed to be the first instance in state history of white men pleading guilty to assaulting blacks, the settlement is also believed to be the largest in state history for excessive force, per NAACP President Angela English.
During the prayer breakfast, sponsored by Sheriff Bryan Bailey and his former father-in-law Irl Dean Rhodes two days after Dare’s tedious announcement, the Rankin County District 4 Supervisor had something to say. He is in his third term as supervisor and had a 30-year career as a federal investigator including prosecuting fraud cases. Referring to Attorney Jason Dare, Supervisor Gaines said, “he beat the pants off of those guys — the dopers, the people that raped and doped your daughters. He beat their pants off,” per Mississippi Today reporting.
Rankin NAACP President English said of Gaines, “he was putting his foot in his mouth and his pants were dropping below his ankles. Because what we saw was his true feelings and the Bible says that out of the mouth comes the issues of the heart. We know that he knew what he was doing. He was trying to justify the beatings and the torture of those two young men by calling them dopers and rapists, all of which were false accusations.” She suggested Gaines could well face a defamation lawsuit.
She shared, “I’m here to say we will not tolerate this kind of behavior from any official, and you are an elected official, and if you are an elected official – just like you were elected, you can be put out of office. We want you to think, Mr. Gaines, about what you would be saying if these were your children, your sons – would you have wanted someone to talk about them like that? We are a village of people, and this isn’t just about two individuals, it’s about the whole county and when it happened, it put a dark stain on the whole county.”
“African Americans in Rankin County and white people who are progressive in Rankin County don’t appreciate what you said. You did nothing to make the situation better. You only made Rankin County worse. That is exactly what you have done and so we are publicly announcing the statement that you make against Michael and Eddie. We are calling for you to step down because there is no way that you can effectively do your job with that level of racial hatred you have in your heart.”
The six white law enforcement officers – five Rankin County Sheriff’s Deputies and one Richland Police Officer – all entered guilty pleas to a host of civil rights, color of law, and excessive force charges, and all while Sheriff Bryan Bailey denied any knowledge of the rogue unit. In mid-March of 2024, all six were convicted and sentenced near the very top of sentencing guidelines, between 15 and 45 years. A month later they were convicted once again on state charges. The terms will run consecutively.
On September 19, 2024, the Department of Justice Civil Rights Division launched a pattern and practice investigation of the Rankin County Sheriff’s Office. Then came the Trump administration and by mid-February, 70% of the 340 employees in the civil rights division had resigned, per NBC News. Searches at https://www.justice.gov/archives reveal no open investigations in Mississippi. As of press time, none of the other supervisors that make up the all-white Rankin County Board of Supervisors have spoken out against Gaines’ racist comments.
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