Jackson Free Press

I came to Jackson in 2007, and thus my introduction to the politics of the city was the spectacular flameout and slow death spiral that was the last half and ignominious end of the Melton administration. As I was absent during the years of his very public ascent and eventual election, it was difficult if not impossible for me to comprehend how this community could see in such a flawed man the capacity to lead. Jackson seemed like some sort of Bizarro world, a city called Noskcaj, where everything was inverted or backwards.

In any professional political campaign, ones that raise money, hire campaign staff and build a grass roots operation, there is a meeting that usually happens at the beginning of the campaign, before the candidate has even announced his or her candidacy, which is critical to the success of the campaign. The candidate, the campaign manager and sometimes one or two advisers will sit down in a room, close the door, and then someone in the room, usually the campaign manager, will ask the candidate a difficult but necessary question. “Is there anything we don’t know about you that could have an impact on the campaign?” Or if they are really direct they might just say “tell me about every skeleton you have in your closet. And don’t leave anything out. I want to know if you cheated on your second grade penmanship exam!”

This primary election has been fascinating on many levels. In my last post I argued that the election hinged on two universal political rules: 1) Challengers must convince the electorate to fire the incumbent in order to have a chance at success, and 2) Incumbents wear out their welcome over time and are rarely given the chance at 3, 4 or more terms (except for those who achieve one-name status, like Mayor Mary). As I analyzed the campaign it was my sense that the challengers had not made a strong enough argument against the mayor, but neither had the mayor settled on a simple message that explained to voters why he was needed for another 4 years, and that led me to conclude that the mayor would just barely make the runoff.

But I also began to think that this election had the feel of a generational change, with the younger (30-40) African American professional class and civic leadership declaring their right to take the reins of government from an older generation, now in its sixties, that has governed for the last 20 years, and that this feeling was most notable in Mr. Lee’s campaign. His original campaign slogan “It’s our time for greatness!” functioned on a number of levels, and one was that it communicated a sense of “out with the old and in with the new” (leaders).

Still, it’s taken me a week to digest last week’s results, and what they mean. My pre-primary analysis was that while Mayor Johnson was weakened, and was fending off challenges from both the left (Lumumba) and the right (Lee), and perhaps even from the middle (Quinn), he would still be able to garner 25-28% of the vote, which I thought would get him into the runoff. I was right about that figure being enough to get into the runoff, but instead of Mayor Johnson it was Councilman Lumumba who achieved that threshold. Mayor Johnson had been down this road before; in 2009 he ran a close primary race with then councilman Marshand Crisler, and then beat him easily in the runoff. It’s as if he saw the primary as a time trial; run just fast enough to get into the finals. But that strategy depends in large part on knowing exactly how good the competition is; there’s always the risk that a newcomer will come out of nowhere and smoke you in your heat. And then you’re out.

In the last week leading up to the primary I heard chatter that the mayor was losing ground, and that Mr. Lee was leading in the polling. It was all anecdotal, and I never saw any poll data to verify that, though in hindsight that polling proved accurate. Given the massive advantage Lee had in fundraising and spending (approximately 4:1 over Johnson and perhaps near double that over Lumumba), and factoring in the television blitz that the Lee campaign aired the last few weeks of the campaign, I thought he had a good …

Up this time in the beer fridge it's Schlafly APA from St. Louis Brewery; this is a smooth drinking, hoppy pale ale that's worth a taste:

Last week, Forbes Magazine ran an interesting Q&A with HOPE Enterprise Corp.'s chief-executive officer Bill Bynum.

Bynum told interviewer Willy Foote that the population HOPE serves through its credit union is similar to a developing nation and talked about why HOPE is successful, saying:

"It’s certainly not easy but it doesn’t require rocket science. The tools are by and large the same ones that the banks use. Our difference is that we add a commitment to serving these markets. It’s a matter of will. We are very committed to making sure people have access to capital regardless of who their parents were, or where they live or what they look like. "

Read the rest of the interview here.

Hello readers. You might remember me from my time at the JFP as the writer of the bi-monthly column “The Key of G,” where I covered local and national music, as well as just musing about different topics related to music in general.

One of the things I liked to do was to make top 10 release lists at the end of the given year. While I did enjoy that, I always felt a little disingenuous, because I don’t listen to that much new music; I spend most of my time digging for and listening to old records. Hence, my top 10 lists would barely be made, as I squeezed in a few listens right at the end of the year to go with the few albums from artists that I always check for. Further, I never kept a running list, so my top 10 would have omissions, on top of my already poor sample size. (For instance, I somehow left Robert Glasper’s “Black Radio” off of last year’s list).

But this year has been different. I made it my mission to listen to as many new releases as possible, and to document them. What I have now is a list of 60 new albums that I have listened to and ranked in order. Mind you, this list is not meant to be definitive; there is a lot that I didn’t listen to for several reasons, mainly just because there isn’t enough time in the day to hear everything. I did listen to almost everything from artists that I am a fan of, which is something I have done a poor job of over the years. I also branched out to some artists I never was a fan of before, even though I knew who they were and ignored them on purpose. The results are fairly predictable. I also discovered some new artists I had never heard of at all, which was quite nice in most instances.

So, over the next several weeks, I am going to present you all with a ranked list of the 60 albums I listened to this year. Again, this list is not intended to be definitive at all; it is just a list of what I listened to, ranked solely by my opinions. I am sure there will be some disagreement and head scratching, but some of you might also see some new things that interest you that you go check out. And that’s what it’s all about anyway. Thanks for reading and indulging my opinions.

Click HERE for 60-51 Click HERE for 50-41 Click HERE for 40-31 Click HERE for 30-21 Click HERE for 20-11

10) Dosh “Milk Money” Dosh, who is from Minneapolis, is a multi-instrumentalist who makes experimental beat driven electronic music, with an organic flair, mostly from the marimba and Rhodes piano he normally plays as part of his live set up. He creates lush songs with the help of an array of samplers and …

While working on a story on Tony Yarber's Jackson Crime Alignment, I got the pleasure of speaking with pastor Matt McGue of one of Jackson's newest churches, One Church.

I am admittedly not very religious, but there's something about McGue's message of inclusion that struck me as incredibly genuine.

There aren't too many pastors you can interview who will quote Billy Graham and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., but McGue isn't like many pastors. His One Church is intent on becoming a multicultural, multiracial and multi ethnical house of worship, which is rare in this part of the country.

Our churches, much like the rest of our everyday lives, are still segregated – not by law, but by cultural barriers that have needed to be knocked down for years.

That'll change if McGue has his way. He moved here from North Carolina, after helping to start a similar church in Charlotte called Lifepoint. He brought his wife ("I'm glad she decided to come"), his son and his son's wife, who is a recent addition to the family.

They are meeting in the Ridgeland Recreational Center near Northpark Mall, and he says he's found a location he hopes will be the future home of a permanent church. It's too early to say where it is, but he's hoping to be able to make an announcement soon.

He said two things in the course of a 15-minute conversation that have stuck with me the last two days, but probably won't make a story about fighting crime: "The churches have been preaching a message of inclusion and racial harmony from segregated pulpits," and "I want to build a church in Jackson that looks like Heaven, with people from every tribe and nation."

What a message – and a breath of fresh air – for a city as ethnically and racially divided as Jackson.

An interesting piece in Salon this week seems to have discovered (bless their little San Francisco hearts) that 'open carry' is a "new craze" (ahem) out here in flyover country.

But, now that they've caught on, the piece does take a fascinating look at some of the psychology of open carry and presents a case for the idea that open carry actually contributes to violence instead of curbing it.

How can that be? Here's a couple of the key points they make:

• People with guns tend to see guns, even when they're not there. Result: higher chance of shooting an unarmed "threat."

A recent study published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology suggests that when people are holding a gun, they’re less capable of evaluating a threat than they would be if they didn’t have a weapon in their own hands.

• The presence of a weapon can make a hostile environment more hostile.

Since 1967, researchers have been observing the “weapons effect,” a phenomenon in which the mere presence of a weapon can stimulate aggressive behavior. Of course, a person doesn’t respond to a gun the way a cartoon bull reacts to the matador’s cape; we aren’t spontaneously enraged every time we notice a firearm. But empirical research has repeatedly shown that when people are already aggravated, seeing a gun will motivate them to behave more aggressively.

• Your body responds involuntarily to threats, and the presence of weapons is frequently interpreted as a superior threat in a given environment.

“The ‘threat superiority effect’ is the tendency for people to be able to pick out very quickly in their environment things that might pose a threat to their security — anything that might be dangerous,” explains Isabelle Blanchette, a professor of psychology at the University of Quebec. “People have a tendency to be able to see these things before they see other things.”

Read the whole piece; it'll fly in the face of some people's worldview, but if you've got an open mind about this topic it really is food for thought on the psychology of open carry.

Cool stuff at Morningbell, new releases and regional picks...

Jackson State University will replace head football Coach Rick Comegy, the university announced today.

A search for Comegy’s successor will begin immediately, JSU Director of Athletics Vivian L. Fuller said.

“We are grateful to Coach Comegy and his staff for their service to Jackson State,” Fuller said. “We appreciate the work he has done with JSU athletics and we wish him well.” Comegy was 55-35 in eight seasons at JSU.

A press conference to discuss Comegy's dismissal is scheduled for 2 p.m.

The American Family Association's president, Tim Wildmon, sent out an "AFA ActionAlert" this morning to let us know that our worst fears are, indeed, coming true. Thanks to an "activist" Federal judge in Utah, "...polygamy is now essentially legal in the United States."

Whoa! I tell you, those activist judges are out. of. control.

Of course, Wildmon had tried to tell us...

We warned from the beginning that once the biblical standard of man-woman marriage was breached, there would be no logical place to stop.

The AFA ActionAlert somewhat surprisingly links to this USA Today story about the ruling—I say surprisingly because, presumably, we're not actually supposed to read the USA Today story, since it only barely says anything like what Wildmon's ActionAlert says.

There is a judge, and a lawsuit—one brought by the reality TV stars of "Sister Wives," a show which focuses on a polygamist family formerly of Utah—now in Vegas.

From USA Today:

U.S. District Court Judge Clark Waddoups said in the ruling that the phrase in Utah law that forbids cohabitation with another person was a violation of the First Amendment.

Utah, it seems, has the most limiting polygamy law on the books—while 49 other states have laws against polygamy (being legally married to more than one person at a time), Utah's law "makes it illegal to even purport to be married to multiple partners or live together."

In other words, it's illegal in Utah to pretend to be married to more than one person at a time; in every other state it's only illegal to actually be married to more than one person at a time.

Back to Wildmon:

Though we have been accused of exaggerating and scare-mongering, this ruling shows that we were right all along to sound the alarm. Bans against incest are now at risk of being overturned.

Ahhh. Well, I guess we could see that one coming. Feels like a bit of a stretch… unless those rumors I've been hearing about a new show being cast in Appalachia called "Cousin Wives," prove to be true…

Mississippi routinely lags the rest of the nation when it comes to educating or kids.

Apparently, Gov. Phil Bryant is under the impression that the federal government -- with everything it's dealing with related to the rollout of the health law -- now wants to try to fix Mississippi's public-education system.

He can probably relax. Mississippi officials haven't even seemed interested in educating Mississippi's kids, considering the chronic underfunding of the state's public-education formula in recent years. So it seems unlikely the feds are interested in taking on that task.

But this afternoon, Bryant issued an executive order "affirming Mississippi’s right and responsibility to define and implement its own public school standards and curricula" and making it clear that "under state law, this core function of state government cannot be ceded to the federal government."

According to a news release from Bryant's office, the order comes as on the heels of the state's implementation of Common Core State Standards, and affirms that:

-the state and its local public school districts, not the federal government, shall determine public school standards and curricula.

-the state and not the federal government shall select statewide assessments, and local school districts may implement additional assessments to monitor academic progress.

-no federal law or grant currently purports to mandate the adoption of any uniform, nationwide academic standards, curricula, or assessments.

-the state is under no obligation to comply with any future federal mandates for uniform academic standards, curricula or assessments.

-the collection of test data and other student information pertaining to academic performance shall comply with all laws that protect student and family privacy.

-the constitutional rights of Mississippi school children and their families will not be violated as result of federal education decisions.

-that, in accordance with applicable law, homeschool students are not bound by K-12 academic standards set by the Mississippi Department of Education.

Mayor Chokwe Lumumba and the City of Jackson will host three additional town hall meetings to discuss the merits of the proposed 1-percent sales tax option currently before Jackson voters, the city announced Monday morning.

Wards 1 and 2 will meet at 6 p.m. on Dec. 19 at Word and Worship Church at 6286 Hanging Moss, Wards 5, 6 and 7 will meet at 6 p.m. on Dec. 22 at the Battlefield Community Center at 953 W. Porter St. and Wards 3 and 4 will meet at 6 p.m. at St. John M.B. Church at 4895 Medgar Evers Blvd.

Jacksonians will vote on the referendum on Jan. 14, 2014. If approved, the city would gain a penny on every dollar spent for all retail sales except for groceries, prescription drugs, hotel rooms, food and drinks at restaurants and television cable packages.

Hello readers. You might remember me from my time at the JFP as the writer of the bi-monthly column “The Key of G,” where I covered local and national music, as well as just musing about different topics related to music in general.

One of the things I liked to do was to make top 10 release lists at the end of the given year. While I did enjoy that, I always felt a little disingenuous, because I don’t listen to that much new music; I spend most of my time digging for and listening to old records. Hence, my top 10 lists would barely be made, as I squeezed in a few listens right at the end of the year to go with the few albums from artists that I always check for. Further, I never kept a running list, so my top 10 would have omissions, on top of my already poor sample size. (For instance, I somehow left Robert Glasper’s “Black Radio” off of last year’s list).

But this year has been different. I made it my mission to listen to as many new releases as possible, and to document them. What I have now is a list of 60 new albums that I have listened to and ranked in order. Mind you, this list is not meant to be definitive; there is a lot that I didn’t listen to for several reasons, mainly just because there isn’t enough time in the day to hear everything. I did listen to almost everything from artists that I am a fan of, which is something I have done a poor job of over the years. I also branched out to some artists I never was a fan of before, even though I knew who they were and ignored them on purpose. The results are fairly predictable. I also discovered some new artists I had never heard of at all, which was quite nice in most instances.

So, over the next several weeks, I am going to present you all with a ranked list of the 60 albums I listened to this year. Again, this list is not intended to be definitive at all; it is just a list of what I listened to, ranked solely by my opinions. I am sure there will be some disagreement and head scratching, but some of you might also see some new things that interest you that you go check out. And that’s what it’s all about anyway. Thanks for reading and indulging my opinions.

Click HERE for 60-51 Click HERE for 50-41 Click HERE for 40-31 Click HERE for 30-21

20) Chance the Rapper “Acid Rap” You want to know something that makes me feel old? Having a rapper in the top 20 who was born during the golden age of hip hop. I mean, I already had my favorite artists established by ’93. It is so weird. And we are going to remember these days. …

From the you can't make this ish up file, the Mississippi American Civil Liberties Union filed a complaint this afternoon alleging the Mississippi Highway Patrol engaged in racial profiling and violated the First, Fourth and Fourteenth Amendment rights of Raymond Montgomery and Cathryn Stout, who are African American.

The stop happened Aug. 8 just north of Jackson on I-55 South, the ACLU said. A doctoral student at Saint Louis University, Stout "was traveling to Jackson to conduct interviews for a paper on Mississippians’ efforts to combat negative stereotypes of their state," the ACLU said.

According to the ACLU's press release, troopers pulled the couple over for Stout's Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. — a historically African American sorority — license plate holder. The release goes on to say:

"When (the couple) exercised their constitutional right to refuse to consent to a search, the trooper called his supervisor, Staff Sergeant Brad Vincent. The plaintiffs watched helplessly as troopers riffled through their suitcase and invaded their privacy. The troopers even dismantled the panels of their interior doors and looked under the hood of their car. In an effort to document the troopers’ actions, Stout tried to record the events on her phone camera. She was told to stop, and fearing arrest, she did. Their hour-long humiliation finally ended when the troopers could not find any contraband. They were sent on their way without any ticket, or an apology."

Stout noted the irony that the whole purpose of her trip was to show how far Mississippi has come in combating the image that the state is racially hostile.

"Unfortunately, my experience with the Highway Patrol revealed a much different picture,” Stout said.

Interestingly, at an Aug. 2012 legislative hearing on immigration reform, Vincent testified that Mexico-based cartels frequently transport narcotics through Mississippi and that the telltale signs of foreign drug mules, include old vehicles with new registrations filled with personal belongings. So it's possible that MHP thought Stout and Raymond (pictured below) were drug runners from south of the border.

The lawsuit, in which Department of Public Safety Commissioner Albert Santa Cruz is named as the main defendant, was filed in federal court in Jackson.

http://jacksonfreepress.com/users/photos/2013/dec/13/14981/

This just in from Ardenland:

Due to unforeseen circumstances, the Saliva show recently scheduled for 12/29/2013 at Duling Hall has been cancelled.

http://www.ardenland.net/shows.html

Spotify for free and new releases...

Civic group OurFondren plans to feed the officers of Jackson Police Precinct 4 this Thursday at 1 p.m. to show their appreciation.

The group is in its second year sponsoring the program, but it needs help. According to a Tuesday press release, McDade's Grovery, Fondren Renaissance and the Fondren Association of Businesses have all donated some of the main dishes, but neighborhood residents are still signing up to bring side dishes and desserts. To see what others are bringing, visit PerfectPotLuck.com and search for the event. They also need help setting up and serving on Thursday at the precinct located at 4436 North State Street.

For more information, contact OurFondren at [email protected].

Hello readers. You might remember me from my time at the JFP as the writer of the bi-monthly column “The Key of G,” where I covered local and national music, as well as just musing about different topics related to music in general.

One of the things I liked to do was to make top 10 release lists at the end of the given year. While I did enjoy that, I always felt a little disingenuous, because I don’t listen to that much new music; I spend most of my time digging for and listening to old records. Hence, my top 10 lists would barely be made, as I squeezed in a few listens right at the end of the year to go with the few albums from artists that I always check for. Further, I never kept a running list, so my top 10 would have omissions, on top of my already poor sample size. (For instance, I somehow left Robert Glasper’s “Black Radio” off of last year’s list).

But this year has been different. I made it my mission to listen to as many new releases as possible, and to document them. What I have now is a list of 60 new albums that I have listened to and ranked in order. Mind you, this list is not meant to be definitive; there is a lot that I didn’t listen to for several reasons, mainly just because there isn’t enough time in the day to hear everything. I did listen to almost everything from artists that I am a fan of, which is something I have done a poor job of over the years. I also branched out to some artists I never was a fan of before, even though I knew who they were and ignored them on purpose. The results are fairly predictable. I also discovered some new artists I had never heard of at all, which was quite nice in most instances.

So, over the next several weeks, I am going to present you all with a ranked list of the 60 albums I listened to this year. Again, this list is not intended to be definitive at all; it is just a list of what I listened to, ranked solely by my opinions. I am sure there will be some disagreement and head scratching, but some of you might also see some new things that interest you that you go check out. And that’s what it’s all about anyway. Thanks for reading and indulging my opinions.

Click HERE for 60-51 Click HERE for 50-41 Click HERE for 40-31

30) Toro y Moi “Anything in Return” I came across Toro y Moi, the stage name of 27 year-old South Carolinian Chazwick Bradley Bundick, at the end of last year while reading through some best of 2012 lists (which is one of my favorite Christmas break pastimes). This guy began his recording career kind of lumped in the chillwave classification, a …

With the announcement that he will seek a seventh term representing Mississippi in the U.S. Senate, Thad Cochran set off an flurry of statements from state and national figures, alike. Here are a few, including one of his opponents.

Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant, in an official release:

“Deborah and I are pleased to hear of Thad’s intention to seek reelection. Sen. Cochran is a pioneer of the Mississippi Republican Party and has been instrumental in helping with my efforts to grow the economy and provide jobs for thousands of Mississippians. After Hurricane Katrina, Thad dedicated his time and influence to our state’s recovery efforts as we rebuilt from the nation’s largest natural disaster. Our state has benefited from Sen. Cochran’s leadership for over three decades. In today’s political environment, we need this experience for Mississippi’s future.”

State Auditor Stacey Pickering, on Y’all Politics.com:

“Congratulations to Senator Thad Cochran in his decision to seek re-election. I look forward to his continued service to the great state of Mississippi. Senator Cochran has been the epitome of an honorable statesman and we are better off because of his service.”

State Senator Chris McDaniel, on Politico.com:

“Sen. Cochran has had a long and distinguished career representing the people of Mississippi,” he said. “I look forward to a positive campaign based on the future of our state, our country and the Republican Party. As a strong conservative, I will fight to bring those values to Washington.”

Club For Growth President Chris Chocola, in the Washington Post:

“Throughout his over 40 years in Washington, Senator Thad Cochran has done some good things for Mississippi, but he’s also done some bad things. He voted to bail out Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, voted repeatedly to raise the debt limit by trillions of dollars, and even voted against a resolution that stated Congress has a 'moral obligation' to cut spending."