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Cover
Chronically Absent: Is Quality Education in Juvenile Detention Possible in Mississippi?
Rankin County Youth Court Judge Thomas Broome told the Jackson Free Press with some pain that before 2006, juvenile-detention centers in the state didn't have to have school. With few …
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German Officials Vow More Checking of Migrants After Attacks
Top security officials in Germany called Tuesday for tougher security screening of asylum-seekers and also announced that more police officers will be hired following four attacks in the country in …
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Person of the Day
Justice Ann H. Lamar
Mississippi Supreme Court Justice Ann H. Lamar of Senatobia received the Chief Justice Award on July 16 during the Mississippi Bar Convention in Destin, Fla.
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2nd Former Ole Miss Student Sentenced in Statue Vandalism
A former University of Mississippi student has been sentenced to a year's probation plus 50 hours community service for placing a noose on the statue of the school's first black …
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Civil Rights
In ‘Trying Times,’ Demand Safer Policing
The understanding that black (and brown) lives do matter even when it's someone doing something unpredictable in a poor neighborhood must break through all the noise.
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City & County
Synarus Green: I’m ‘Ready to Serve’ District 72
Synarus Green is no stranger to politics. He has worked government jobs in Jackson, Hattiesburg and Washington, D.C., and has decided to run for the now-vacant District 72 seat in …
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Cover
Chicks We Love
This year's Chicks We Love help our communities in many ways, from giving a smile to every patient at a local women's clinic, to making people laugh with comedy, to …
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State
Court May Decide if Judge Can Bar District Attorney from Duties
It is up to the highest court in Mississippi to decide whether Hinds County District Attorney Robert Shuler Smith will be able to continue the duties of his position while …
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Gunman 'Was Seeking Out,' Ambushed 6 Baton Rouge Officers
A former Marine dressed in black and carrying extra ammunition ambushed police in Baton Rouge, shooting and killing three law enforcement officers less than two weeks after a black man …
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Local Gulen-Inspired 'Dialogue Institute' Addresses 'Ongoing Situation in Turkey,' Denounces Coup
The Dialogue Institute SW is a part of a larger network of organizations inspired by the teachings of Fethullah Gülen, who is accused of being connected to the attempted coup …
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Brady to Drop Appeal, Serve 4-Game 'Deflategate' Suspension
Tom Brady said Friday he will not ask the U.S. Supreme Court to block his four-game "Deflategate" suspension, ending his fight in a scandal that tested the power of the …
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Congress Leaves Washington, Its Dysfunction on Display
Congress exited a sweltering Washington on Thursday, its dysfunction on full display as it left behind must-do legislation to combat the mosquito-borne Zika virus and a stalemate over lawmakers' basic …
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ACLU, Other Groups Sue Police Over Baton Rouge Protests
Civil rights groups and activists sued Baton Rouge law enforcement agencies over their treatment of protesters rallying against the police shooting death of a black man, saying officers used excessive …
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Verbatim Statement by Attorney General Jim Hood on HB 1523
By Todd StaufferAfter careful review of the law, and the social and fiscal impacts of HB 1523, I have decided not to appeal the Federal Court's injunction in this case against me. I am convinced that continuing this divisive and expensive litigation is not in the best interests of the state of Mississippi or its taxpayers.
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Civil Rights
Kids, Cops and Community Policing
In a nation that is noticing the high incidents of police killing, particularly of black men, public outcry from groups like #BlackLivesMatter and others insist upon police transparency and accountability …
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Jacksonian
Gregory McCarty
Gregory McCarty, 32, has had a lifelong fascination with numbers—something that has been both a blessing and a curse. Born in Jackson, he spent his childhood years moving.
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Police Driver Acquitted of All Charges in Freddie Gray Death
A judge acquitted a police driver of all charges on Thursday in the death of 25-year-old arrestee Freddie Gray, whose broken neck on the way to the station set off …
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Health Care
The State of Mental Health in Mississippi
Mississippi's mental-health system is mainly run through the Mississippi Department of Health, which certifies private and public mental health-care providers, rapid-response teams of mental health-care professionals and public community mental-health …
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ESPN Doc on O.J. Worth Watching
By bryanflynnAnytime there is a new ESPN “30 for 30” documentary, it is normally worth taking time to watch. But the latest entry, a five-part, almost-eight-hour-long series called “O.J.: Made In America” from director Ezra Edelman, might be the best documentary the network has done. If you haven’t watched “O.J.: Made In America,” don’t read any further, as this post contains spoilers.
Even 22 years after the murders of Nicole Brown-Simpson and Ron Goldman, this case still lives in infamy. The O.J. Simpson murder trial also brought up issues that we continue to struggle with as a society today, such as race and domestic violence.
Race and racism are where Edelman begins in parts one and two. He does a great job of showing the treatment of black people in Los Angeles as Simpson began his journey to fame on the gridiron and the Rodney King beating and trial spurred riots on the streets.
This look back at the rise and fall of Simpson provides some interesting tidbits in all five parts.
Simpson’s friend Joe Bell says the now infamous football player’s father was gay and tells how Simpson stole best friend Al Cowlings’ girlfriend, Marguerite Whitley. Simpson later married Whitley at age 19, and as the two stayed friends, Cowlings later drove the white bronco in the famous slow-speed chase.
Most of us at a certain age remember Simpson as the bumbling Nordberg from “The Naked Gun” film series, but in parts one and two of the documentary, you see the moves on the football field that made Simpson a Heisman Trophy winner and NFL Hall of Fame player.
One of the most interesting things in part one is that Simpson wanted nothing to do with the Civil Rights Movement. At one point, he told activist Harry Edwards, when approached about boycotting the 1968 Olympics, “I’m not black; I’m O.J.”
The documentary’s first episode touches on Simpson’s early struggles in Buffalo, as well as his first meeting with an 18-year-old Nicole, who was working at private L.A. nightclub The Daisy, and telling a friend that he would marry her.
The former NFL running back began dating Nicole while still married to Whitley.
Part two devotes some time to Simpson’s cheating on the golf course and his daughter drowning, but mainly, the focus is on his treatment of women. The documentary shows him as a womanizer and delves into how he mentally abused a pregnant Nicole by telling her his affairs were a result of her getting “fat.”
Domestic violence plays a major part in the second episode, as Simpson gets away with abuse because of his charm and celebrity. Even ESPN had a hand in the way the public viewed him.
In an ESPN show called “Sports Look,”host Roy Firestone makes excuses for Simpson’s 1988 attack on Nicole, who needed medical treatment as a result. Firestone was just one of the many people who made excuses for Simpson’s domestic violence. After one …
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City & County
10 Local Stories of the Week
There's never a slow news week in Jackson, Miss., and last week was no exception. Here are the local stories JFP reporters brought you in case you missed them.
