Calm Before the StormToday, I heard that the Killen trial media was gathering in the afternoon and headed over to Neshoba County to see what was up. The town seemed very calm, other than the mass of cars around the media center, which …
JFP Interview: Myrlie Evers-WilliamsMyrlie Evers-Williams, 72, and I talked long distance last Saturday at noon, separated by distance but connected by more than the telephone—both Mississippians, both widows, albeit by excruciatingly different circumstances, both left to raise small children without our beloved husbands, …
Rape: The Forgotten Crime?When The Clarion-Ledger recently published Jackson crime figures for 2004, numbers showed drops in most categories, including burglary, assault, robbery and larceny. The years 2002, 2003 and 2004 also saw reports of rape slide from 182, to 179, to 165, …
For The ChildrenMyrlie Evers-Williams says she and her husband, Medgar, held each other and cried days before he died. They knew he was about to be killed for his tireless work to bring equality and dignity to blacks in Mississippi. "Promise me …
[Chick] Screw Miss AmericaScrew Miss America. I apologize for my bluntness, but I think I have an abusive relationship with the Miss America Pageant. When my college roommate was a pageant girl, I supported her and clapped for her and sent her flowers, …
In Memory: Phillip Gibbs and James Earl GreenThirty-five years ago today, Jackson police opened fire on a crowd of students at Jackson State University, killing Phillip Lafayette Gibbs, 21, a junior pre-law major and father of an 18-month-old son. Two Double-0 buckshot pellets entered his head and …
[Chick] Teaching Monkey the Birds and the BeesEight years into it, and I'm still allowed to be a mother. I can't believe it. What kind of decision-maker approves me as a fit mother? Oh, that's right. God. God gave me this child. I'm sure this is when …
More Than A WomanFour years ago, I came to Jackson to go to Millsaps excited mostly about one thing: getting away from my mother. My mom had always been pretty lenient—pushing my curfew back much later than any of my friends, letting me …
[Jones] What's A Cool Mom?I'm not sure what "cool mom" means, but I'm flattered. If it means being an irresponsible parent, I withdraw the nomination. So many times people think being "cool" to kids requires that you let them drink and smoke and enforce …
Community Policing Is Working HereDuring the weeks leading up to the 2005 city elections, we've heard a lot about "community policing"—the mayor's preferred approach to fighting crime—and whether or not it is working. As someone who has participated in community policing since November 2003, …
Don't Call Me Ma'am"Yes, ma'am." "No, ma'am." "Ma'am this, ma'am that." If there is anything I absolutely despise, it is the tendency of people in my home state to call me "ma'am." I spend much of my early interactions with my new interns—and …
Hush! Somebody's Calling Our NameNever say things can't change. Sometimes remarkable change comes, and it seems so obvious that people barely notice. That was apparent recently when both the Mississippi House and the Senate voted to rename two stretches of highway after civil-rights martyrs: …