Update: WJTV talked to Yarber after this post went up and he said he is "heavily considering" running for mayor, based on people encouraging him.

Antar Lumumba looks so much like his dad. I see it here more than ever.

Wow, powerful photo.

Page views at any cost. It's desperate and disgusting. It's bad enough how WLBT salivates over "if it bleeds, it leads." Ledger isn't as bad as it used to be on that point, but it took us all years to get their attention on the fact that crime sensationalism was helping destroy their readership.

kdavis, intentionally or not, the voter ID remark pushes stereotypes. Also, there are plenty of people of color (and even whites like myself) who don't understand how men like Phil Bryant get elected, either, not to mention some of them elected for lower office. That doesn't mean that it must be due to voter fraud.

Those media outlets are using Stokes to get page views with no regard to its possible effect on our city. They should be ashamed. It's disheartening to me as a person, a Jackson citizen and a trained journalist.

Back at you, kdavis. Do you think people should hold leaders accountable who've said that Lumumba—or even the RNA leader Obadele—"killed" a police officer? Neither man was in the building for the police raid on the house.

I agree that Stokes is being irresponsible here—and I suspect political. Of course, it would be different if he had evidence or sources. And I sure hope he's not right.

But none of that takes away the media's responsibility to actually do some reporting about rumors of murder before putting it out there.

As for your voter ID quip, you're just playing the black-people-cheat-at-the-polls card. I'll be honest: I know of more instances of white Republican voter fraud than attempts by black voters, and I've researched it.

I understand why many people like Stokes. Often, he is the only one helping or talking to a lot of voters in his ward. He helps kids, and he helps adults. And he knows, frankly, that his voters don't give a damn what you (or I) think of him.

He lost my respect when he rubber-stamped everything Melton did, and defended his attacks on poor black people that Stokes was supposed to be supporting. There for a while, ironically, he was aligned with the very people who hate him the most: Melton apologists.

Jackson is never dull.

(It is interesting that in their rush to spread the murder rumor, though, that outlets like the Ledger have [missed the real story: the mounting campaign to get Chokwe Antar elected mayor][1]. That's the news today.)

[1]: http://www.jacksonfreepress.com/news/20…

And Laurie is right, kdavis, on your voterID quip. That sounds like you're trying to spread a few rumors of your own.

Actually, kdavid, we did ask Chokwe about his health, and if you Google around, you will see that I personally made comments that they should not mislead on it.

But here's the bottom line: Had we reported that he had a condition he had not admitted to, or that we couldn't find medical records to prove, that would have irresponsible rumormongering -- which brings up back to the point of this post.

Speaking of sensationalism, The Clarion-Ledger picked up Antar's statement after we posted it, but it focusing on the part that they think will provide them cover for doing such an irresponsible story. Note the headline, then read the statement again:

*Lumumba's family exploring 'all possible causes' of his death*

Bottom line: The family has given us NO reason to think, or report, that they believe the mayor was murdered. In fact, the opposite so far. So watch those cherry-picked headlines. Textbook bad journalism. It's hard to believe even Gannett would allow what they've pulled on this one. I'm quite confident even USA Today wouldn't do this.