Mississippi

How Private Schools Are Exacerbating Segregation

December 19, 2024 Jennifer Berry Hawes, ProPublica. Educate! Education, Mississippi, Private schools, Segregation

The scoreboard glowed with the promise of another Friday night football game in Liberty, Mississippi, a small town near the Louisiana border. The Trojans, in black and gold, sprinted onto the field to hollers from friends and families who filled barely half the bleachers. The fans were almost all Black, as is the student body at the county’s lone public high school. Scanning the field and the stands would give you little indication that more than half the county’s residents are white. In some swaths of the South, a big event like high school football unites people. But not in Amite County.

How A New Supreme Court Decision Threatens Movements In Mississippi

May 24, 2024 Justin A. Davis, Waging Nonviolence. Strategize! Mississippi, Right to Protest, State Repression, Supreme Court

As local and state governments across the country continue to propose sweeping new policies that criminalize protests, a recent Supreme Court decision in the Deep South has sparked fears that it “effectively eliminated the right to organize a mass protest” in multiple states — setting a dangerous precedent for Southern organizers and activists. Back in 2016, prominent Black Lives Matter organizer DeRay McKesson led a protest in Baton Rouge, Louisiana where an unidentified protester seriously injured a police officer. The officer sued him, arguing that McKesson displayed negligence as an organizer.

Resisting A Two-Tiered Legal System In Majority-Black Jackson, MS

April 16, 2023 Frances Madeson, Truthout. Resist! Democracy, Jackson, Mississippi, Racism, White Supremacy

July 1, 2023 will fall on a Saturday. In Jackson, Mississippi, it’s likely to be a very hot day, or a rainy day, or both. It’s also the day when House Bill 1020 will take effect, and that the whole of the City of Jackson will be no more — at least with respect to the administration of its criminal legal system. Instead, the city will be partitioned into unequal halves: a Capitol Complex Improvement District (CCID) and an unnamed nowhere land. The bill was introduced and shepherded by Rep. Trey Lamar, a Republican and chair of the House Ways and Means Committee, assisted by the house speaker who, exercising his prerogative, sent the bill there instead of to the Judiciary Committee.

‘Plantation Politics’ To Blame For Jackson, Mississippi Water Crisis

April 12, 2023 Natalia Marques, People's Dispatch. Educate! Jackson, Mississippi, Racism, Water

Jackson, Mississippi - Jackson, Mississippi made international headlines last summer when from August 30 to September 5, water stopped flowing entirely for over 150,000 residents. In the past seven months since then, the Mississippi capital’s water system has been plagued with crisis after crisis. And yet, the crumbling water infrastructure remains largely unchanged. Why is this? The answer lies in the antagonistic and racist attitude that majority white state leadership has towards the Black officials of Jackson, which has one of the largest Black populations per capita of any city in the US.

Underpaid And Insulted, Maximus Call Center Workers Organize

March 16, 2023 Luis Feliz Leon, Labor Notes. Resist! Kentucky, Labor Unions, Louisiana, Mississippi, Strikes, Virginia, Worker Rights and Jobs

Their effort to unionize really got underway in 2018 when thousands of workers came forward to allege wage theft totaling $100 million. Eventually the Department of Labor found wage and hour violations affecting 2,224 workers. The federal contractor at the time, General Dynamics Information Technology, agreed to pay $553,131 in back wages, according to a CWA spokesperson. Maximus bought the company out in November 2018. But despite the hefty settlement, the organizing began to fizzle because of high turnover. Then last year, workers walked off the job in Louisiana, Mississippi, Kentucky, and Virginia in March, May, and November, demanding voluntary recognition of their union and higher pay.

Flooding Increasingly Pummels The Southeast; Organizers Fight Back

March 6, 2023 Cameron Oglesby, Next City. Organize! climate crisis, Flooding, Florida, Kentucky, Mississippi, Texas

Beverly May, retired nurse practitioner and current epidemiologist at the University of Kentucky, lives maybe 100 feet from the house she grew up in Floyd County, Kentucky. She characterizes her community as “hillbilly country,” an area in central Appalachia that once served as a critical cog in the coal industry’s wheel. When historic floods ravaged the area in late July 2022, May decided to trade in her medical work for flood research and activism with the nonprofit community well-being organization Kentuckians for the Commonwealth. “I’ve lived here all my life, and I could not believe it when I saw helicopters going out to rescue people,” she says. “Never has there been this many deaths.”

White Representatives Vote To Create White-Appointed Court System

February 12, 2023 BobHarrison and Adam Ganucheau, Portside. Educate! Jackson, Legal System, Mississippi, Police, White Supremacy

Jackson, Mississippi - A white supermajority of the Mississippi House voted after an intense, four-plus hour debate to create a separate court system and an expanded police force within the city of Jackson — the Blackest city in America — that would be appointed completely by white state officials. If House Bill 1020 becomes law later this session, the white chief justice of the Mississippi Supreme Court would appoint two judges to oversee a new district within the city — one that includes all of the city’s majority-white neighborhoods, among other areas. The white state attorney general would appoint four prosecutors, a court clerk, and four public defenders for the new district. The white state public safety commissioner would oversee an expanded Capitol Police force, run currently by a white chief.

Mississippi Lawmakers Trying To Take Over Jackson Water Funds

February 6, 2023 Nick Judin, Pro Publica. Educate! Federal funds, Jackson, Mississippi, Water

Jackson, Mississippi — The freeze of early 2021 wasn’t the origin of Jackson, Mississippi’s water system collapse. But the winter storm introduced the country to Jackson’s aging and improperly maintained pipes and water plants, which failed and left residents without clean water for over a month. The crisis surged back in the summer of 2022, leaving residents without clean water for two months and drawing comparisons to Flint, Michigan’s lead-poisoning scandal, another banner example of America’s ruinous infrastructure systems. Here, as in Flint, the federal government stepped in: In November, The Department Of Justice Appointed A Federal Manager to take control of the beleaguered utility, and less than a month later, Congress approved $600 million exclusively for the city’s water system. But the rescue effort is already running up against the realities of local politics, reflecting historic tensions between Jackson and the rest of the state.

Maximus Call Center Workers Contracted To Support ACA Open Enrollment Strike In Four States

November 14, 2022 Maximillian Alvarez, The Real News Network. Resist! ACA, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Strikes, Virginia, Worker Rights and Jobs

Call center workers employed by Maximus went on strike at four locations—in Louisiana, Mississippi, Kentucky, and Virginia—on Tuesday, Nov. 1. Maximus is a federal contractor, and during the open enrollment period, workers there handle a nonstop stream of high-stakes calls from people trying to navigate the Affordable Care Act, Medicare, and Medicaid systems, but they have been pushed to their limit. As stated in a Twitter thread posted by Call Center Workers United, “We’ve been saying for years: during ACA open enrollment, we’re dealing with constant back-to-back calls. Some frustrated callers become abusive and subject us to racist and sexist slurs. We’re paid wages so low it’s nearly impossible to support a family. We’ve had enough.

Wall Street Is Behind The Jackson, Mississippi, Water Crisis

October 5, 2022 Matthew Cunningham-Cook and Ricardo Gomez, The Lever. Educate! Debt, Jackson, Mississippi, Wall Street, Water

Jackson, Mississippi - In August, clean water stopped flowing from residents’ taps in Jackson, Mississippi. The crisis lasted more than six weeks, leaving 150,000 people without a consistent source of safe water. The catastrophe can be traced back to a decision by a credit ratings agency four years ago that massively inflated the city’s borrowing costs for infrastructure improvements, most notably for its water and sewer system. In 2018, ratings analysts at Moody’s Investor Service — a credit rating agency with a legacy of misconduct — downgraded Jackson’s bond rating to a junk status, citing in part the “low wealth and income indicators of residents.” The decision happened even though Jackson has never defaulted on its debt.

This Multi-Billion Dollar Corporation Exacerbated Water Crisis In Jackson

September 7, 2022 Judd Legum, Popular Information. Educate! Jackson, Mississippi, Water Pollution

The City of Jackson, the capital of Mississippi, is in crisis. Its 150,000 residents lack access to safe drinking water. Many have not had enough water to bathe or flush their toilets. Those with enough water pressure are being instructed to shower with their mouths closed. Public schools have been closed. The immediate crisis was brought about by severe flooding, which caused a water treatment plant to fail. But the problems with Jackson's water supply date back decades. The integration of public schools in the 1960s prompted an exodus of affluent whites from Jackson, eroding the city's economic resources. Jackson's declining economic fortunes also prompted the departure of middle-class Blacks, causing an overall population decline. The city went from over 200,000 people in 1980 to less than 150,000 people today. More than a quarter of the population lives below the poverty line. Mississippi is the poorest state in the nation, but Jackson is even poorer than the state as a whole. Per capita income is just $21,906.

Justice 4 Jackson: Help Us Fix Jackson’s Water System

September 6, 2022 Cooperation Jackson. Resist! Jackson, Mississippi, popular power, Water

Jackson, Mississippi - Jackson, Mississippi Is Currently Suffering Through An Unprecedented Water Crisis. After Decades Of Systematic And Intentional Neglect Due To Environmental Racism, Capital Flight And Deindustrialization, The City's Water System Has Collapsed. This Collapse Didn’t Have To Happen. As A Result Of The City’s Declining Tax Base Over The Decade, It Cannot Pay For The Repairs By Itself. Nor Should It Have To. Jackson Is The Capitol Of The State Of Mississippi, Which Means It Is The Base Of State Government And Resources. In Addition, It Is Also Where The Federal Government’s Administrative Resources In The State Are Concentrated.

Environmental Racism Leads To Water Crisis in Jackson, Mississippi

September 5, 2022 Molly Rosenzweig , Left Voice. Educate! Environment, Environmental racism, Mississippi, Water, Water Pollution

Jackson, Mississippi - Residents of Jackson, Mississippi, a city of 150,000 that is 82.5 percent Black, have not had reliable access to clean water for five days. On Monday, the Pearl River flooded from extreme rainfall, and caused the main water treatment plant to fail, resulting in low to no water pressure. A second treatment plant has simultaneously been having issues with its water pumps. If residents are getting any tap water at all, it’s brown. All this is happening while Jackson is facing extreme heat. Residents have faced long lines in order to get cases of bottled water, of which the city is running out. All schools have switched to remote learning since Tuesday.

As Mississippi Loses Black Farmers Fast, This Couple Sows Solidarity

August 4, 2022 Erica Hensley and Teresa Ervin-springs, Scalawag Magazine. Create! Black Farmers, Food and Agriculture, Mississippi, Racial Discrimination

Louisville, Mississippi - Until five years ago, Teresa Springs was always in heels and perfectly manicured. As a child growing up in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, she'd never even walked barefoot in the grass. Today, Teresa goes shoeless in rows of crops on her farm, grounding with the Mississippi earth as a part of her daily healing, connecting to the land at sundown before heading back with soil-covered hands and feet to her husband, Kevin, and their old farm house. Now five years into stewarding their farm—dubbed TKO Farming, an acronym for Teresa and Kevin's Oasis—they're still just as awe-struck by what they've built by hand. As self-described city folks who met in July 2013 while working on criminal-justice reform in Miami, the couple never envisioned living on, much less operating, a farm.

Democratizing Mississippi’s Electric Cooperatives

April 18, 2022 Makaelah Walters, Facing South. Create! Cooperatives, Democracy, Energy, Mississippi

In 1932, only about 10% of rural America was electrified, as big energy companies had long avoided investing in rural areas for fear it wasn't profitable. New Deal legislation offering federal assistance to Americans living without electricity led to the formation of electric cooperatives. Thanks to their efforts, 90% of homes, businesses and farms in rural America were electrified by 1936. Co-ops are not-for-profit and made up of member-owners — community members who share collective ownership of the company from which they also receive electricity, and nowadays sometimes internet service as well. Co-ops are governed by a board of directors who are elected by member-owners to make policy decisions. Today there are more than 900 electric co-ops across the U.S. powering more than 20 million businesses, homes, schools, and farms.

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