Deputy News Editor Maya Miller is a Jackson State University graduate. She writes about crime, music, art and her ever growing obsession with Beyonce. Send her news tips at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter at @MayaLMiller.
Recent Stories
Dream Cult: Working on ‘Weekend’
What began as a group of Jackson friends jamming together as surf-rock band The Weekend Kids has turned into a music career for the members of '80s-inspired indie-pop act Dream Cult.
Frustration Continues over City Furloughs
Standing in the sweltering July heat, city workers, union organizers and their interns gathered this morning on the steps of Jackson City Hall to speak out once again about the city-mandated furlough Fridays that have been in effect since last October.
Town Hall: Reduce Youth Crime with Less Incarceration, More Engagement
The room was nearly packed on July 14 at Millsaps College as concerned members of the community gathered for a town-hall meeting on preventing violence, gang interruption, and alternatives to juvenile detention and juvenile justice presented by the Jackson Free Press and the Solutions Journalism Network.
Joseph "Piko" Ewoodzie
As a professor of sociology and Africana studies at Davidson College in North Carolina, Joseph "Piko" Ewoodzie wants to uncover what's under the hood of society and discover how the world works.
Guilty Pleas, and a Hunt for Prostitutes, Johns and Child Predators
It's been a relatively steady summer of lower crime across the city, with major crimes coming in 17.6 percent lower than 2015 with violent crimes 15.4 percent lower than 2015 and property crime 18.2 percent lower than 2015, year-to-date.
‘Tough Love’: Harlem Gang Expert Visiting Jackson
Dr. Kai Smith, a native of Harlem, runs GRAAFICS, Gang Diversion, Reentry And Absent Fathers Intervention Centers, a program he founded to give young men and women an outlet to avoid criminal behavior.
Defending Our Blackness, Unapologetically
I didn't watch the 2016 BET awards last Sunday, but I did partake in the Black Twitter awards watch party where I retweet, lurk from afar and pop some tweets off for the sake of humor. It's probably one of the rare things that brings us together on social media. Well, that and exposing racists.
Actress Aunjanue Ellis: Mississippi Flag Damages African American Community
Actress and Mississippi native Aunjanue Ellis recently spoke to the Jackson Free Press by phone on heritage, hate and bringing down the flag.
Film Star: Mississippi Flag an American, Not State, Problem
Local advocates, civil-rights activists and actress Aunjanue Ellis, a Mississippi native and critic of the state flag, held a community town-hall meeting at the Smith Robertson Museum and Cultural Center on June 9.
Stand With Victims of Sexual Violence
On the one day a week that I'm allowed to sleep past noon, I woke before dawn to a flurry of Facebook shares of one victim's soul-rattling letter to her attacker.