By Janice K. Neal-Vincent, Ph.D.,
Contributing Writer,
When you want to discover the truth, read The Mississippi Link Newspaper, the publication that promotes ethics and fairness for potential community readers. Newswriting standards fused with the search for truth are incorporated, thereby pushing the paper’s content locally, regionally, nationally and worldwide. Irrespective of space – home; work; school; bus; plane; car; park, etc., you’re bound to be attracted to the paper’s community-centered journalism.
The Mississippi Link has held a settled, unbothered calm that resonates in the community. This year’s pendulum swings steadily while allowing the newspaper to never surrender the right to listen well and be heard. Standing on its mantra of speaking truth, The Mississippi Link’s 33rd Anniversary speaks volumes.
Jackie Hampton, publisher, and her staff of journalists, columnists, graphic artists and others are “keepers of the knowledge for people who speak the truth since 1993.” Hampton never ceases to amaze me with her gracefulness, intelligence, hunger and thirst for phenomena that need to be shared with you, our readers. Her perseverance, ingenuity and dedication move beyond measure by reporting a community voice that often shares its thoughts and messages with ease. With a track record of expeditiously meeting deadlines for press and coverage, there is no such thing for Hampton as a 9-5 workday nor a five-day work week. Meeting the community’s reading needs has priorities produced by focus, commitment and hard work. Completing the week’s edition or forging ahead with next week’s edition is an ongoing determination that Hampton has maintained.
Hampton’s persistence in pursuing advertisers, sponsors and subscribers is an ongoing and challenging process. Nevertheless, the go-getter in Hampton has made The Mississippi Link a long-time survivor whereas a significant number of Black-owned newspapers no longer exist, primarily because of financial blows. Just as you’ve been staunch supporters throughout the years, we need you to help keep The Mississippi Link alive. What’s the current status of Black papers? “Only about 200 Black-owned community newspapers remain active today across roughly 150 cities nationwide, coordinated in part through trade associations like the National Newspaper Publishers Association,” also known as The Black Press, of which Hampton serves as Vice President.
On another note, let’s look at Hampton’s team of artistry. We can never thank graphic artist Marcus Johnson enough for his devoted work. The visual layouts, illustrations, infographics, and advertisements that make stories clear, readable, and engaging for print and digital editions come from the work of Johnson’s mind and hands. The genius in him puts our minds at ease as we read the paper.
Just as Hampton and Johnson adhere to newspaper decorum, so do the journalists. We work collaboratively with the editor in our story submissions. If we have interviewed people, we are responsible for sharing with readers the highlights of those interviews. Submitted stories must be clear, accurate and must adhere to journalistic ethics.
You – the readers – believe in your values and have no hesitancy in sharing and reading messages designed to reach other community members. Thus, keen eyes and open ears are the links from the paper’s staff to the community’s needs, thereby allowing the writers to correspond with the readers. Such camaraderie creates space for minds to ponder, to remember, to inject and to connect.
Sometimes when I go online or receive my copy of the Link in the mail, chills run down my spine. They run rapidly because I get caught up in emotional states such as curiosity, joy, happiness, sadness, or relief. When I read captions, I sometimes scan rather than read the stories. In my excitement, I seemingly cannot wait to learn their essence. Then there are times when I thoroughly read the story in front of my eyes to take in every detail. Perhaps a word, a phrase or a transition has prompted me to place my eyes there, like a fixed portrait gaze.
I have learned from all of this that The Mississippi Link Newspaper has a backbone that has touched generations with a wealth of knowledge too strong to become null and void. For this reason, my spine is tickled. I love the structural support, and I look forward to facing the very future with flexibility as I move in and out of storied situations.
This special 33rd Anniversary edition is a reminder that The Mississippi Link team holds you, our readers, our advertisers, our sponsors and our subscribers in high regard. It shines in the building of a chapter three decades in the making. That chapter produces a new birth of stories aimed to better humankind from the most fundamental to the most complex depictions of life. The Mississippi Link team holds a promise that will not only harness positive relationships that occurred long ago, but it will strengthen them with finesse and aplomb.
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