Jackson Free Press

During the last couple weeks of talking about the Confederacy (and the state flag that celebrates it), we've encountered any number of historic inaccuracies in the arguments of those who don't want to change our state flag.

One of them is that (a) not many white Mississippians even owned slaves and (b) that only 6 to 10 percent of Confederate soldiers owned slaves.

Here are the problems with that argument as the chart and link before bring into full relief. As you can see in this excellent MPB documentary, many Confederates soldiers were just 17 or 18 years old. But many of the soldiers' families owned at least one or two slaves.

Based on 1860 Census results, 49 percent of Mississippi households owned slaves at the start of the Civil War, and more than half the population of our state—55 percent—were slaves. Slavery was massive here and directed affected nearly half the white families in Mississippi, including some who weren't as wealthy as the planters who owned many slaves (and who were at first exempt from fighting in the Civil War when the Confederacy instituted a draft, but that's another subject).

The chart below shows the number of slaves in all of the states that existed at the start of the Civil War.

Also, read my column this week, "Driving Old Dixie Down," for many links to historic sources about Mississippi and other Confederate states at the start of the war, including extensive evidence of why the Confederacy formed: in order to have a strong central federal government to force slaves on any new states, and to ensure that it got its runaway slaves back.

http://www.civil-war.net/pages/1860_census.html

http://jacksonfreepress.com/users/photos/2015/jul/02/21958/

Here's an interesting factoid for those of you discussing the Civil War and slavery about Hinds County, which contains Jackson, the capital, of course. It's from this link, where you can also link to a number of other Mississippi counties and see the numbers of slaves that some of the larger slave holders of the time owned. This was the scenario when "firewater" Gov. John Pettus led the secession of Mississippi from here in Jackson over slavery:

According to U.S. Census data, the 1860 Hinds County population included 8,940 whites, 36 "free colored" and 22,363 slaves. By the 1870 census, the white population had increased 10% to 9,829, and the "colored" population had dropped about 8% to 20,659. (As a side note, by 1960, 100 years later, the County was listed as having 112,205 whites, more than a twelve fold increase, but the 1960 total of 94,750 "Negroes"was only about four times what the colored population had been 100 years before.)

It's tough history, but important.

Here's a list of resources to help research who owned slaves, how many, etc.

A new polling analysis published by examiner.com indicates something about Mississippi that has been in the works for a while: Based on recent elections, our state is trending blue.

Based on polling data on a Hillary Clinton vs. Donald Trump showdown in 2016, Mississippi is one of the few Deep South states that would go for Clinton in that matchup.

This analysis might surprise many who think that Mississippi is the reddest state of the red (especially based on our statewide cavemen, er, elected officials). But several facts make it much more complicated than at first glance:

1. State Democrats have provided very few even-marginally-progressive options historically, giving younger and less-conservative choices to vote for, creating voter lethargy among those who might turn out and vote "blue" otherwise. That fact is actually changing this year, with several openly progressive (and female) Democrats getting at least some party support, instead of the pseudo-Republicans the party has tended to put up in the last 20 years.

2. More young people of all races are staying in Mississippi, and many of them are voting Democratic, and have since 2004.

3. Demographics, demographics, demographics. The irony of Mississippi being the state with the highest percentage of enslaved people in 1860 is that our state still has the highest percentage of African Americans and is more likely than much of Dixie to go blue first. Put simply, African Americans tend to vote Democratic, ever since the Republican Party embrace of Dixiecrats back in the late 1960s after national Dems supported civil-rights laws, and we have the highest percentage of black residents in the country.

4. And, let's be honest, even many Republicans don't want bat-shit-crazy Trump running this country.

5. Finally, to be honest again, a lot of white people like Clinton better than Obama (even if I'm not one of them).

So, there are no surprises here: Mississippi has been steadily trending blue for a while now. The question, as always, is: Will the people who can flip the state into the blue column turn out both this November (to save public-education funding and turn out a governor who makes us look like the most stuck-in-the-past state) and next November?

Time, and voter registration, will tell. Progressive (which is easy to be here by rejecting the radical right) Mississippians must find the will to stop giving up our power to sellouts to bigotry and backward ideas (and ideologues) to lift our state up. I've watched this will grow since we started this paper in 2002—and saw serious evidence of it when we turned back Personhood, shocking the nation—and I believe in upcoming elections we may well surprise the world once again. I've believed this was coming for nearly 15 years now.

Stay tuned and register to vote.

UPDAT Aug. 24, 2016: The examiner.com link above is broken, but here is an article and another about …

Of course it was. Watch:

This release came from the City this morning, verbatim:

Effective immediately, The City of Jackson has issued an emergency water conservation request for all customers served by the City’s Water System. The city’s Department of Public Works has determined that system-wide water conservation measures are needed at this time to allow the system to recharge and to improve areas of low water pressure. The city's water system is experiencing issues with high service pumps so there may be widespread water pressure loss.

While the emergency conservation notice is in effect, all water system customers are strongly urged to eliminate nonessential uses of water, which include the following:

· The use of hoses, sprinklers or other means for sprinkling or watering of shrubbery, trees, lawns, grass, plants, vines, gardens, vegetables, flowers or other vegetation.

· The use of water for washing automobiles, trucks, trailers, trailer houses or other type of mobile equipment.

· The washing of streets, driveways, parking lots, service station aprons, office buildings, exterior of homes, sidewalks, apartments or other outdoor surfaces.

· The operation of an ornamental fountain or other structures making a similar use of water.

· The use of water for filling swimming or wading pools.

The city greatly appreciates your assistance in ensuring that all customers will continue to receive safe, adequate and reliable water service.

If you have any questions or concerns, please call 601.960.2723 or 601.960.1777.

Good news out of Oxford, Miss., just now. Legislative hopeful Cristen Hemmins and The Oxford Eagle are reporting on their Facebook pages that the Board of Aldermen voted unanimously to stop flying the Mississippi state flag until the Confederate canton is gone.

Per The Oxford Eage's Facebook Post:

"The Oxford Board of Aldermen have voted to remove the current Mississippi state flag from all city buildings and approved sending the state Legislature a resolution requesting the state flag be changed."

More than one person posting under the Eagle's post used the word "pansies" to refer to the aldermen. Robin Gittemeier Ware, who works with FNC Inc. Professional Services, commented underneath: "What we have here is a bunch of pansies afraid of "offending" someone. Everyone is offended by something but a flag never killed anyone."

Another commenter, Matt Sessums, took an irreverent approach in response to such posts: "Imagine how crazy some of these people will be when they name Obama as Chancellor."

David Banner, a Mississippi hip-hop artist, music producer and film actor, who got his start in here in Jackson, is bringing his "GodBox" lecture series to Jackson in March. Brad "Kamikaze" Franklin, who books events for the City of Jackson, announced the performance today on his Facebook page. Banner and Franklin started out as a hip-hop duo in the late 1990s.

Here is Franklin's post, verbatim:

Jackson! Gonna give you a heads up. The City of Jackson is about to bring you more ‪#‎dopeness‬ Tomorrow we will be announcing that on March 8th David Banner will be bringing his GodBox Lecture Series to Thalia Mara Hall. Tickets go on sale Thursday. And....The City of Jackson and XperienceJXN will join forces to bring you FLOETRY! Live May 14. Tickets go on sale tomorrow! More info tomorrow Welcome to the Entertainment Capital of MS!

Read a 2003 interview I did with David Banner, much earlier in both our careers.

With only four council members present tonight, the bill passed 3-to-1, with Councilman De'Keither Stamps voted against it. Follow @jxnfreepress on Twitter for updates and read reporter Arielle Dreher's earlier story on the controversy for background on the controversy.

Story developing ...

So, what's going on with Columbus police? The Guardian has a report that police there have filed two different police reports for killing of Ball, who was African American. The Guardian reports:

*Since 26-year-old Ricky Ball was shot and killed by police in October, the black community in Columbus, Mississippi, has grappled with questions that don’t have clear answers.

Why did police shoot Ball that night? Why did a string of police officials resign in the months that followed? And why did police claim Ball stole a gun from a police officer’s home only after his death? Attempts to obtain police documents about the case have raised a new question: why did police release two different versions of events from the shooting?

Documents obtained by the Guardian show police altered a document labeled “uniform incident report” in Ball’s death. An initial version published by the Commercial Dispatch said an officer “tased” Ball before he fled. A new version of the incident report released to the Guardian does not include any mention of Taser use.

“One of these two reports is not true,” said Philip Broadhead, director of the criminal appeals clinic at the University of Mississippi law school. Broadhead said he’s never seen an incident report altered the way the document was in this case. “For police officers to offer up this type of information in the form of an incident report as sworn law officers … It’s a violation of their oath.”*

Also, an officer fired for the shooting filed a federal lawsuit over his firing yesterday. Read more here.

Breaking news: This morning, the Senate Accountability, Efficiency and Transparency Committee passed the SB 2162 to the full Senate floor over the objections of Sen. David Blount, D-Jackson, who accused the bill's proponents of trying to "control" the airport.

Here is the full report. Also, read this story from yesterday detailing why the bill could cause the FAA to close the airport and why it may present conflict-of-interest concerns for the state.

Mayor Tony Yarber posted an announcement on Instagram (@tonyyarber) tonight of a "Straight Outta Patience: Take Down the Flag" rally for Tuesday, March 8, at noon at the state capitol in downtown Jackson. Dr. Jamal-Harrison Bryant, a well-known pastor from Baltimore, will help lead the rally, which he is also promoting on social media (@jamalhbryant on Instagram and Twitter). He wrote on Instagram tonight: "Mississippi!!! ... is last state to wave the Confederate flag! Tuesday we suing the governor to bring it down! Meet me."

Bryant founded the Empowerment Temple in Baltimore in 2000, which his website calls "the fastest-growing church in the A.M.E. denomination."

Mayor Yarber just wrote simply, "Straight Outta Patience!! See y'all Tuesday!"

http://jacksonfreepress.com/users/photos/2016/mar/05/24838/

This weekend, I've seen a lot of excuses for Donald Trump's bigotry and xenophobia from his supporters, who don't seem to have many reasons for supporting him other than they are sick and tired of the way things are now. One gentleman showed up on my Facebook page to defend supporting Trump, saying it's not about bigotry and calling me "intolerant toward those holding different opinions" because I was willing to call out Trump's blatant bigotry.

I looked at his Facebook page, and he had reposted a letter to the RNC supposedly explaining why Trump supporters are fed up. The gist of it was about getting rid of "rabid, messy, mean raccoons":

You’ve been on vacation for two weeks, you come home, and your basement is infested with raccoons. Hundreds of rabid, messy, mean raccoons have overtaken your basement. You want them gone immediately…You call the city and four different exterminators, but nobody could handle the job. There is this one guy however, who guarantees you he will get rid of them, so you hire him. You don’t care if the guy smells, you don’t care if the guy swears, you don’t care how many times he’s been married, you don’t care if he was friends with liberals, you don’t care if he has plumber’s crack…you simply want those raccoons gone! You want your problem fixed! He’s the guy. He’s the best. Period. Here’s why we want Trump: Yes he’s a bit of an ass, yes he’s an egomaniac, but we don’t care. The country is a mess because politicians have become too self-serving. The Republican Party is two-faced & gutless. Illegal aliens have been allowed to invade our nation. We want it all fixed! We don’t care that Trump is crude, we don’t care that he insults people, we don’t care that he had been friendly with Hillary, we don’t care that he has changed positions, we don’t care that he’s been married three times, we don’t care that he fights with Megan Kelly and Rosie O’Donnell, we don’t care that he doesn’t know the name of some Muslim terrorist.

When I asked the gentleman on my Facebook page (whom I don't know) who he thought the "raccoons" are, he said he "assumed" that the piece he was reposting meant "illegal immigrants"—perhaps not knowing that he is speaking of human beings that Trump has said the most horrible things about, especially the darkish ones south of the U.S. border. He also added: "Not agreeing on issues or politicians or political parties is one thing but when either side turns to vile hate towards others that don't agree with them then that is bigotry."

I'm seeing this argument all the time now from Trump supporters: It is just as "racist" — ??? — to point out someone's bigotry as it is to be the bigot, at least according to their twisted rationalization. In addition to being incredibly absurd logic, this is a straight-up defense of …

Fresh off a controversy in Hattiesburg, in which the owner of the Dollar Box Showroom said he was pressured to cancel her show, Big Freedia is returning to Mississippi with a vengeance. In what the New Orleans bounce artist is calling "Twerkloose" performances, her manager Reid Martin told the JFP today that they have added a March 24 show at Martin's in Jackson, the day before the rescheduled Hattiesburg performance.

Get ready, Jackson.

Jackson City Councilman De'Keither Stamps, of Ward 4, says he voted against the Trilogy Engineering Inc. contract to do a corrosion study for the city last week because it is an "unfunded mandate" by the State of Mississippi—and one the taxpayers cannot afford. In two videos on his YouTube channel, Stamps said his main priority wasn't who was getting the contract, but that the State was demanding that the City suddenly pay $400,000 for a corrosion study, instead of helping the capital city.

"I know several of the subcontractors personally," he says in the most recent video (see below). The issue is I don’t want to spend $400,000 when we don’t have it. This is an unfunded mandate from the State of Mississippi. If they can help us, I’m all for it. … It’s not something we’ve budgeted for."

Stamps, who has unsuccessfully asked for an emergency declaration over the lead issue several times, says the City needs stand and/or federal assistance in order to make sure Jackson residents are safe, especially in areas where 90 percent of the water tested positive for at least trace elements of lead.

"I want to test every child in the whole city that’s in these affected areas," he said in the second video below.

We just received this announcement about a "clarion call" against suburban law enforcement agencies leading dangerous police chases into Jackson. Verbatim:

WHAT: The Capitol Street Coalition, made up of neighborhood association members along Capitol Street in West Jackson, will hold a news conference to address the Clinton Police Department pursuit of a shoplifter into West Jackson that resulted in the killing of Lonnie Blue, Jr. As a collective, we are sending out a clarion call to surrounding law enforcement agencies that police chases through our neighborhoods is a public safety issue and we will not stand for it. The Capitol Street Coalition is demanding that these police pursuits be handled in a much more strategic manner that keeps all of our neighbors safe. The Coalition will be standing in solidarity with Mr. Blue’s family during the press conference.

WHEN: Friday, March 25, 2016 at 10 a.m.

WHERE: Near Tennessee Avenue and Capitol Street

Read more about dangerous police pursuits in the Jackson metro and nationally at jfp.ms/policechases.

The Clarion-Ledger posted a sensationalistic headline and story yesterday about a west Jackson rally against dangerous suburban police chases into the city, followed by intriguing edits of what a Jackson city councilman actually said. The Ledger's video was edited down for the most dramatic effect, and the following text in the story was even worse.

After the Capitol Street Coalition gathered to protest the death of Lonnie Blue Jr. Friday morning, The Clarion-Ledger posted the story on its website headlined "Stamps calls Clinton 'Ferguson waiting to happen". The story's lead image was edited video of Councilman De'Keither Stamps speaking out against the Clinton police chase of shoplifters that resulted in the death of an innocent bystander.

The video contained only a snippet of Stamps' remarks, essentially calling for a boycott of surrounding cities that do not rein in their dangerous police habits and referencing Ferguson, Mo. The video skipped over Stamps' initial remarks offering condolences to the family and "encouraging folks to speak a universal language" and went right to the juicier part:

Ledger video: "Every surrounding city who refuses to use common-sense policies must be economically challenged because it's not safe for you to shop there. Clinton is a Ferguson waiting to happen. Clinton is a city with a high minority population and oppressive police tactics. It's steps away, steps away from a Mike Brown. It's only a matter of time."

The story beneath the video was much worse, with only snippets of that quote included, and the vital part about Clinton having "a high minority population and oppressive police tactics"—which explains Stamps' Ferguson analogy—simply cut out:

Ledger story: Referencing the violent unrest in Ferguson, Missouri, Jackson Councilman De'Keither Stamps said Clinton is a "Ferguson waiting to happen" and is "steps away from a Mike Brown. It's only a matter of time if this culture does not change."

The Clarion-Ledger story followed that with edited additional comments that were not included in its video of Stamps:

Ledger story: "It seems to me that there are some elected officials and some police officials who want to maintain the culture," Stamps said. "What we must make them understand is that culture is not acceptable. Misdemeanor property crimes are not worth human life. ... We've got some great police officers in the metro area, but common sense must prevail in their actions." (bold emphasis added)

Stamps is now passing around the full video, which is below this post, to "#Tellthewholestory," which indicates information that the Ledger simply cut out of the middle of his quote. That part is a key response to those who say the police have no choice but to chase petty criminals.

The Ledger omitted these bolded parts of Stamps' complete quote: "Misdemeanor property crimes are not worth human life. You should not be going 120 miles per hour in Clinton or Jackson. Because we've got news copters, we've got radios. I've never seen anyone outrun a radio. No matter …