Story
Health Care
‘This is Important for Your Health’: FLOTUS Visits Jackson to Push Vaccinations
Dr. Jill Biden held 13-year-old Christian Lyles, as he received vaccinations at Jackson State University, during her visit to the school on Tuesday, June 22, as part of White House's …
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Business
How Will the ‘Unbanked’ Buy Insurance on the Exchanges?
One in five households in the United States, or about 51 million adults have only a tenuous relationship with a traditional bank, relying instead on check-cashing stores and money lenders, …
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Politics
Lee Vance's Priority as Hinds Sheriff: Overhauling Pretrial Detention System
Former Jackson Police Chief Lee Vance said Friday that reforming the pretrial detention system in Hinds County would be a top priority for his administration if he is elected Hinds …
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National
Texts Reveal Volker's Role in Ukraine Talks, His BGR Role Still Unclear
The labyrinth of allegations swirling around Donald Trump administration's Ukraine dealings has only deepened since this newspaper's initial coverage of the Mississippi connections, direct and indirect, to the controversy last …
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State
Mississippi COVID-19 Cases Rise to 21 with 6 in Hinds, National Guard Activated
The day after Gov. Tate Reeves activated the National Guard to help, the number of officially confirmed cases of the coronavirus in Mississippi rose to 21 on the Mississippi State …
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City & County
Beyond Blame: JPS Works to Avoid State Takeover of Local Schools
At the last Jackson Public Schools board meeting of the year, parents and community members crowded the board room in downtown Jackson, accidentally brushing knees together as they filled the …
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Health Care
Inside the Closed Mental Health Meetings
While Attorney General Jim Hood has not yet opened mental-health task force meetings to public and media scrutiny, members of the group are talking about how they are trying to …
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Politics
What Legislation Is Still Alive; What's Dead at the Capitol
Lawmakers have about a week to pass hundreds of bills out of each chamber, after committee chairmen and women made their first round of cuts to proposed legislation this year.
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Events
Fireworks and Festivities
Celebrate the Fourth of July this year with local businesses such as Campbell's Bakery, Nandy’s Candy and more.
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National
Espy: Trump Tariffs Hurt Mississippi Farmers; Opponents Dodge Issue
President Donald Trump's tariffs on China are hurting Mississippi farmers, Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Mike Espy said in a press conference at the Mississippi Agriculture and Forestry Museum on Friday.
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Business
Lumumba 'Eager' for New Zoo Management Company to Take Over
Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba hinted that the Jackson Zoological Society's time as the managing entity of the Jackson Zoo could be coming to a close.
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LGBT
Gov. Bryant: Transgender People Do Not Deserve Hiring Protections
Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant joined 15 other Republican leaders across the country in signing a brief that asks the U.S. Supreme Court to rule that the 1964 Civil Rights Act …
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City & County
Body Cams, Community Policing, Mental Health Funds on JPD's DOJ Wish List
The Jackson Police Department hopes to equip its officers with body cameras and increase its "community policing" capacity with funds from U.S. Department of Justice.
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City & County
Gov. Phil Bryant Confirms Third Option for Jackson Public Schools
Gov. Phil Bryant confirmed this morning that he is working with several organizations as well as the Mississippi Department of Education to find a third option to revitalize the state's …
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Civil Rights
An Editor and a Gentleman
An odd fluke of fate brought me to the patch of dirt where three civil rights workers were murdered in my home county, holding the hand of James Chaney's daughter …
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Economy
The State of Mississippi’s Debt, Finances
The State of Mississippi is in an $8.4-billion financial hole, a new report based on the State's Comprehensive Annual Financial Report, or CAFR, shows.
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City & County
City Roundup: Local Control for ’Hoods, Crime’s Root Causes, Taxi Wars
In its third annual attempt, the Jackson City Council worked to approve a resolution to support a private, local fund resource for neighborhood associations to address their local issues, like …
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Biz Roundup
Area Restaurants Win Awards, Open, Close, Renovate
Ciara Brown calls her restaurant, Ciara's Bakery and Cafe, "a one-stop shop where you can taste the difference."
Story
City & County
Frances Fortner’s Family Seeks to Teach Lesson to City, Businesses of Jackson
Almost six months to the day, Frances Fortner's mother and father have filed a wrongful-death suit against the City of Jackson, Superior Asphalt, Sigma Corporation, IMS Engineers Inc., and Integrated …
Entry
In the Fight for Jackson's Future, Who Can Immigrant Communities Trust?
By ingridcruzThe late Mayor Chokwe Lumumba didn't just inspire his voters, he also took risks for others without expecting to be repaid in return. As others remembered him, the immigrant community never got to say goodbye to the late Lumumba, who won a Freedom from Fear award in 2011 for an anti-racial profiling ordinance he wrote as a city councilman. But that doesn't mean we're not concerned about ways in which we can keep his legacy alive in our own way. The anti-racial profiling ordinance championed by Mayor Chokwe Lumumba during his time as a city councilman intended to keep the police from inquiring a person's immigration status whenever they were in contact with Jackson police.
Though this ordinance was a step in the right direction, the ordinance wasn't always implemented leading to instances of racial profiling against a local Jackson family recently, which sets a terrible precedent for how Latinos and the various immigrant communities are treated across the state of Mississippi. The time is now to take larger risks for immigrant communities, even if they aren't always able to vote due to their lack of immigration status. Undocumented and documented immigrants alike contribute to Jackson and Mississippi's economy, culture and life on a daily basis, and deserve better recognition and services from the city they call home, build businesses in, and pay taxes to.
Several mayoral candidates are currently sitting in the Jackson City Council, and others are in powerful positions in which they can have a positive impact in immigrant communities. To all Jackson mayoral candidates: you do not have to win this election in order to include us in your future vision or plans for Jackson, and the time to start including us is now. It is especially important to find ways to include those who are undocumented, and youth who are not eligible for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program (DACA) because they are basically paying taxes without any representation from anyone in the state or federal level, and the City of Jackson has the power to represent those who are not given a voice through regular electoral processes.. Here are some suggestions for what Jackson's mayoral candidates can and must do for immigrant communities whether they win these elections or not:
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Open city and local job opportunities to undocumented people. Jackson is having a conference on co-operatives and these are endeavors immigrant communities can be a part of. Beneficiaries of the DACA program can now legally work for the city of Jackson, and it's important to encourage them to apply for open positions in the city. Those who are undocumented are legally able to open businesses and participate in work co-operatives using a Tax ID assigned by the IRS or registering an LLC, and it is imperative that the city of Jackson keeps track of this knowledge in order to open more economic doors of opportunity to undocumented people and the city of Jackson itself.
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Develop and …
