| JFP Mobile | Jackson, Mississippi

Jim Giles

"/> Jimmy Darrell Giles was born in Baptist Hospital in Jackson, Mississippi in 1959, son of James Stanton Giles (tow boat diesel mechanic on the Mississippi River, born in Waynesboro, Mississippi in Wayne County, graduate of Byram High School, killed in automobile accident in 1970) and Margaret Rose Hutchins (successful small business owner, frame shop, born in Carthage, Mississippi in Leake County, graduate of Central High School, retired). Giles' father was an avid fisherman especially at Mississippi's Oxbow Lakes where many a bream and white perch were caught with cane poles. Giles is certain that when he gets all of Mississippi's third congressional district fishermen to the polls, he wins. Period. Giles' mother lived off what is now Old Highway 49 South between Highway 80 and Highway 49 in Rankin County where her family frequently had to seek shelter at the Salvation Army because of flood waters, where she attended Richland schools and where she had occasion to walk through water to get to the school bus. Giles' people are like the overwhelming majority of people in Mississippi, rooted in poverty. The power and money in Mississippi are held by greedy people who belong in country clubs, not politics! Giles advocates, government by the people, not by the rich. He also advocates money for working families, not taxes! Giles graduated from Clinton High School in 1977. Giles then went on to Mississippi State University on a football scholarship where he earned B.S. and M.B.A. degrees in 1981 and 1982. Giles did not have much talent as a football player and left the team after playing two years on the "Scout Team" (Third Team). After completing college Giles attended the Sorbonne University in Paris, France where he received two degrees in French, where he lived with a French family in the Latin Quarter and where he saw massive student protests against socialist president Francois Mitterand. While living in Paris, Giles attended church at the American Church in Paris on the Seine River where the children of America's elite congregated more as a social event than a spiritual exercise. Giles learned first hand the basic contempt held by rich Democrats and Republicans for his home state as if Mississippi held a monopoly on all evil and ignorance. A quiet and shy kid growing up, Giles began speaking up in defense of Mississippi and has been defending her ever since. Giles evolved politically from Republican to libertarian to independent. Giles believes the Republican and Democrat parties to be two wings of the same entity, and that ultimately, it's okay to put your own people first. Jews and Negroes do. In 1983 Giles was hired by International Business Machines Corporation in New York City where he worked on Madison Avenue as a systems engineer and marketing representative next door to trump Tower. Giles was hired more specifically by an Irishman, Robert J. Riordan, with whom he later had a falling out over criticism of Mississippi. Time and time again, the more profitable path, the political path would have been to stay quiet when others put down Mississippi but not Giles. In 1988 Giles departed IBM for a job in Europe, promoting an amusement game to military facilities for Converse Germany where he saw the Berlin Wall come down and Eastern Europe go free. Landing back in Atlanta, Georgia in 1992 Giles sold window cleaning services until 1994 when he became a political activist and founded Southern Initiative to promote pride in Southern heritage and advocate limited government in the eleven ex-Confederate states. Southern Initiative has since been dissolved and Giles is now engaged in a perpetual Independent political campaign. Only 35% of the eligible voters show up on Election Day. Giles' local campaign is aimed at those who don't vote and those who hold their nose when they do. Giles says, "No more phony elections!" His campaign is serious about pro-life and pro-family. Are you? He will fight to stop taxing and killing children. Immigration is the largest threat facing America today and Giles says, "Defend American borders now! Support immigration? Then you pay for them!" Giles, 45, single, who lives in rural Rankin County once an avid runner completing the New York City Marathon in 1987 with a time of 4:15:41, owns and operates a web hosting company, Rebel Army dot Net. Giles stands 6' 4" and weighs in at 230 pounds, a deeply flawed individual with a ferocious temper but his heart is in the right place! Biographies, especially political biographies are primarily aimed at exaggerating the candidate's virtues. Giles will be the first to admit that he is dumb as a fence post but that his determination to represent the PEOPLE is without peer. Unlike Chip Pickering, Jim Giles will never pretend to be somebody that he is not. Bio and picture taken from the official Jim Giles campaign website

After ICE Raids, Some Kids Reunited with Parents or Relatives in Mississippi

Scott County Youth Court Prosecutor Constance Slaughter-Harvey watched Thursday morning as a few children reunited with and embraced parents whom, just a day before, they had been separated from after U.S. federal ICE agents arrested them.

Immigrant Families Jobless in Mississippi After 'Inhumane' ICE Raids

Mississippi Immigrants Rights Alliance organizer Luis Espinoza told the Jackson Free Press on Thursday that he had spent the past two days working with families after ICE agents raided six worksites across the state on Wednesday.

Black Democrat Wins in Redrawn District After Racial Gerrymander Case

Even as Republicans swept statewide offices in Mississippi on Tuesday night, Joseph Thomas, an African American Democrat in a district that stretches across six counties, narrowly ousted a Republican incumbent. Earlier this year, a federal court forced the GOP-led Legislature to redraw the boundaries for that district, Senate District 22, after finding that they had drawn it in a way that was intended to dilute black voting power.

Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith Plans 2020 Kickoff With High-Dollar Donors

Just months after winning the most closely contested U.S. Senate race in Mississippi since the 1980s, U.S. Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith plans to kick off her 2020 re-election bid next month with a high-dollar fundraiser in Washington, D.C.

'I Am Pissed Off': Mississippians Rage Against Abortion Bans

Opponents of abortion bans nationwide held #StopTheBans rallies across the country on Tuesday.

Mississippi Mental Health Lawsuit Poses Concerns for Civil Rights

As a mental-health lawsuit claiming a violation of the civil rights of mentally ill Mississippians moves forward, Joy Hogge has in mind "a young person" who never received the support they needed.

‘The Lady’ Who Hit Mississippi’s Glass Ceiling

For all of her success, Evelyn Gandy could not break Mississippi's highest glass ceiling; twice, she lost bids for governor against less-qualified men.

Tackling Food Insecurity in the Capital City

While we are collectively concerned over what COVID-19 means for the immediate future, locally and globally, Jacksonians with surrounding businesses and organizations are standing together, working hard and endeavoring to make sure no child or family in need goes hungry.

Kishia Powell: ‘I Don’t Steer’ Contracts; City Loan Debate; Guns, Payday Ordinances

Documents, including emails, released to the Jackson Free Press indicate that despite protestation from Mayor Tony Yarber and his administration, the City has been dipping into the ordinance-protected reserve fund to fill in shortfalls from last year's budget.

‘One Lake’ Tax Sails Forward

Previous plans to dramatically remake the portion of the Pearl River that flows through the Jackson metropolitan area ran aground, but legislation is sailing toward the governor's desk that would pay for the project by taxing selected property in the new "One Lake" footprint.

The Revolving Third-grade Gate

Thousands of Mississippi's third graders will sit in front of computers later this month to take the statewide reading test, but the eyes of teachers and administrators at Finch Elementary School will be intensely focused on a dozen students at this Wilkinson County school.

What’s Behind the Airport ‘Takeover’?

Since the news broke in January that the Senate was about to wage a "hostile takeover" of Jackson's airport, many Jacksonians wonder if it's about more than who controls operations at the airport itself.

Have Legislators Thwarted Chance to Bring Funds to Cash-Strapped Mississippi Schools?

Students in this rural district ride to school on aging buses, then sit in 20-year-old portable classrooms or decrepit buildings reading outdated textbooks. The district of 1,009 students has only two teaching assistants to help in classrooms, and Superintendent Billy Joe Ferguson makes an annual salary of $18,000.

All results / Stories

Sort By

Date

Authors