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[Kamikaze] Hamster On A Treadmill
I've been intrigued reading some of the posts on the JFP Web site in response to the New York Times story "Plight Worsens for Black Men." Although I didn't need the Times to point out the obvious, folk should know the trials of one of America's true endangered species. Between death and jail, we're losing black men by the thousands daily. The vicious cycle of poverty-to-crime-to-incarceration has got some black kids feeling like the proverbial hamster on a treadmill. Society offers plenty of condemnation followed by conversation, but often does little in the way of solutions.
Plight Worsens for Black Men
The New York Times is reporting:
Chairman Bryant
Will Mississippi Elect a Radical-Right Governor?
Lt. Gov. Phil Bryant 56, took his place on the far right of his Republican opponents on stage and thanked his wife, mother-in-law and voters for making his campaign possible. He was dressed neatly, without overdoing it, for the lively Republican debate backed by the Mississippi Tea Party June 25.
Calling Out the Guard
Note: The print edition erroneously lists Donna Ladd as the author of this piece.
City Passes Anti-Profiling Ordinance
Jackson's Anti-Profiling Ordinance (PDF, 224 KB)
Fondren Shooting Spurs Community Meeting
A recent armed robbery and shooting in Fondren has some area residents up in arms. A community meeting, advertised on Facebook as "Take Back Our Neighborhoods," is scheduled for 6 p.m. today at Sneaky Beans coffee shop on North State Street.
Crossing the Line?
Madison and Rankin cops are angering both drivers of color and white business owners. Are they going too far?
Who Authorized Palin's $150,000 Makeover?
According to Marc Ambinder at Time, John McCain's campaign folks are squirming and defensive, now that Politico has broken the news (wonder how much that red leather jacket cost?) that the campaign spent more than $150,000 on Sarah Palin's clothes, makeup and hairin a time when the country could be facing a depression. Even Republicans are disgusted, Ambinder says. And we can be pretty sure that trying to blame the "liberal media" won't work this time. (Betcha lot of those Saks and Bloomingdale designer duds are made in China, to boot.)
Mississippi: Stop Honoring White Supremacists
There's an ongoing debate over whether to recommission the Jackson-Evers International Airport as the Medgar Evers International Airport, but I'm more worried about the names that we're already commemorating.
Clarion-Ledger to Independents: Drop Dead!
May 9, 2006 Want to know how far The Clarion-Ledger/Gannett Corp. is willing to go to control the competition? Keep reading. This past Monday, I sat down in Cups in Fondren with Lee Warmouth, the circulation director of The Clarion-Ledger, so that he could tell me about an "exciting new service" that his company has devised for free-distribution papers like the Jackson Free Press.
Deliver Us From Evil
I was lying in bed last week, thinking about the Edgar Ray Killen trial. My feelings on it are hard to sort out; I'm relieved, yet worried that too many people will treat it as an end rather than a beginning.
Bold 'New' City
As the JFP turns 6 (!), we take our traditional birthday look at Jackson's progress.
Other Cards in the Deck
Much has been made about whether Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama played "the race card" in a series of press-filtered exchanges that included an]http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/15/us/politics/15dems.html?_r=1&scp=2&sq=clinton+king&oref=slogin]an analogy to Martin Luther King, Jr. and former President Lyndon B. Johnson. During MSNBC's Las Vegas debate on Tuesday–which, interestingly enough, was supposed to focus on Black and Brown issues–hosts Tim Russert and Brian Williams spent substantial air time pressing Obama and Clinton on a supposed "race war." John Edwards–whose media attention managed to diminish even further as the press salivated over the no-holds-barred]http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/01/17/stewart-blasts-media-cove_n_82021.html]no-holds-barred race bout–was finally invited to weigh in:
Clarion-Ledger Moves In; Indy Media Boxes/Racks Trashed
What citizens can do. June 20, 2006—A little while ago, calls started coming in from the reservoir area, telling us that our racks and boxes, and those of other members of the Mississippi Independent Publishers Alliance, were lined up next to dumpsters at businesses near the reservoir. Todd just drove out there and, lo and behold, there all of us indies were—lined up next to the dumpsters at several locations, including the Conoco on Old Fannin Road (pictured, right) and the one on Lakeland Drive near Wal-Mart. Goliath is on the move. An Alliance member called Ronald Gooding at The Clarion-Ledger, the "Non-daily distribution manager," who said that his guys had been moving our boxes all day, but that he was unaware that any had been put by dumpsters. Interestingly, the eviction letter that TDN/Gannett/Clarion-Ledger sent us said that "the store owner/operator will remove them or have them removed" if we didn't agree to pay TDN to be in their boxes. I guess they changed their minds; not a single business has itself asked us to remove our boxes/racks. We're also hearing that Gannett is letting businesses out of contracts who ask to be—so there's the best reason yet to go visit businesses where the JFP and other free pubs are located. Ask them to keep supporting indy media, and not allow the Gannett Corp. to make us pay our competition for distribution in order for you to be able to pick us up in their businesses. Remember: You can help save independent media; see how here.
Chasing Amy
<b>Can Barbara Blackmon Make History?</b>
Read the full transcript of this interview on the JFP Politics Blog.
Election Post-Mortem
Well, all, there weren't a lot of surprises Tuesday night, and a lot of our prayers about the state rising above the race game went unanswered ... for now. But I truly believe that this election is meant to challenge progressive Mississippians to do everything it takes to attract better candidates and increase the voter base. And that work doesn't start three years and six and a half months from now. It starts tomorrow. So buck up; we have hard, but satisfying work to do, and powerful coalitions to build. And it will be done.
That Motley Crue Girl
About three months ago, my best friend called me with one of her fabulous ideas. These ideas come at least twice a year and previously involved both a foray into a foreign country and, just once, the purchase of a new cat. This cat would later attempt to kill me in a feline leukemia vaccination-induced fever as I skipped a college class rushing it to the vet. Let's just say that all of these fabulous ideas come with a price.
Divided We Fall: The Killing of James Craig Anderson
Jordan Richardson was fishing at Cornerstone Lake in Brandon in 2009 when a pickup truck pulled up. Three teenagers got out of their trucks and started walking toward him, and he knew he was in trouble.
Best of Jackson 2008
Best Bartender: Trevor Palmer, Club Fire - Club Fire's got to be a hectic place for a bartender. Hundreds of sweating, dance-crazed bodies are thirsty for a drink on Thursday's ladies night, and you know every fan at Fire's live-music weekends has to have a drink in hand to fully enjoy the show. Some people thrive in that environment, and Trevor Palmer is one of those people. Serving as both manager and bartender at Fire, Palmer puts us lethargic folk to shame. But ladies, you do know all those free drinks you're getting weren't Palmer's way of saying he likes you; women drink free on Thursdays.
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