Of course, we're going to cover Lumumba closely. He's probably already sick of hearing from us! But, unlike Melton, he has not avoided us or demonized us, which Melton and his supporters did during his campaign, and it continued into his term. Despite the concerns we addressed about Lumumba when we endorsed Johnson, he and his team have so far been very forthcoming to us as media. And we hope that it continues.
"I never thought I’d move back to Mississippi - never. But I’m here and I’m happy to be here. Mississippi is moving forward and all of you are part of making the dream of this state - no longer at the bottom of the list, but at the top of the list, in leadership, in development, in being able to nurture our children, to build a real democracy and I see it.
"Sometimes things happen and we don’t understand but if we stay around and see we get a feel for things and say, ‘Aha! So that’s why it happened.’ When my husband was cut down in the prime of life, people would say to me ‘You are so wonderful. You are so nice. You are so kind. You are so forgiving.’ I simply smiled and said thank you. But they didn’t know that behind that facade was a woman plotting how to get back at the state which was responsible for her children not having a father.
"I remember they let the schools out and the children cheered not knowing fully what they were cheering about. There were editorials in the papers that cheered that this man had been taken off the face of the earth. In my heart was anger. There was fury and I suffered from that split personality.
"The Lord works in mysterious ways. My revenge was not to be. So you embrace something that pulls you together and lifts you up.
"One day my child said to me, ‘Mommy it sounds like you hate and Daddy said we should not hate.’ And I thought, ‘my child you are right.’
"We have so many people here and in other places around our state who are proud to say ‘I am a Mississippian.’ We are gathered here today in friendship. We are gathered here today under wonderful leadership. What more could we want? The opportunity to be whatever our manhood or womanhood will allow us to do or to be. This is the promise of America.
"I thank all of you for allowing me to come before you and say that Mississippi, you’re OK. Mississippi, you are only going to get better. Mississippi, you will be the place, not quite yet, where we can all lift up our heads and be proud to say, ‘I am a Mississippian.’ And I will challenge anyone, any place in this country who will say ‘the old Mississippi.’ And you will say, ‘Not with me there. It’s a new day.’ It’s a new time and we are proving it by our coming together and marching together toward the future. A place where all of us can look and point and say, ‘I am a Mississippian. Thank God I am a Mississippian.’ "
The keynote speech of Myrlie Evers-Williams was in perfect pitch. Wife of the slain Mississippi civil rights icon, Medgar Evers, she spoke of hatred, redemption and reconciliation from her personal experience.
"I stand here looking before all of you. My friends. I don’t think I’ve always been able to say that, because I haven’t always felt it. And I haven’t always felt it because it hasn’t always been true. But here we are today across all lines, breaking bread and praying together. And let me tell you it is a far cry from what I left in Jackson, Mississippi, many years ago.
"Medgar Evers always said, ‘Mississippi is my home. I love the place where I was born. And I will do whatever I have to do to make it the best place in the United States of America.’ He would say to me, ‘Mississippi is going to be the best place in the country.’
"I told him you have to be out of your mind. There’s no way Mississippi can become anything better than what it is and quite honestly I don’t want any part of it and I don’t know how you can do what you do. And he said, ‘Because it is the state of my birth and I believe in it.’ And he gave his life, not wanting to die, but he gave it gladly to help lift this state to where it is today.
And here is Wyatt's column about Mission Mississippi that he sent, verbatim:
Last week a thousand people gathered in the Jackson convention center to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Mission Mississippi, an organization founded by one of my dearest friends, Lee Paris.
The crowd - half white, half black - included hundreds of our state’s movers and shakers and just about every significant government official.
A dozen prayers were said during that hour and a half. Heads were bowed, hearts were open. We prayed for mercy. We prayed for grace. We prayed for racial reconciliation in Mississippi.
At one point Democratic gubernatorial candidate Johnny Dupree laid his hands on Republican Gov. Phil Bryant and prayed for his former political rival.
If one wants to see the power of faith in Mississippi, look at these two Christian gentlemen who ran an upbeat, honest, respectful campaign. That doesn’t come from man. That is the power of God.
The rest of the nation is not like this. Mississippi is special - the most religious and charitable state in the nation. We need to appreciate the grace we have been given.
I will have to confess and say I didn't write it. One of the other editors wrote it after the staff was blown away by that quote they pulled out. It was [actually nine years ago in 2004.][1]
I understand your explanation for that columnist, which we're happy to post under it online if you'd like and as a letter in the next paper. But I think you probably understand that if we as newspaper men and women do something like that, it follows us around, especially if you write a column about your racial reconciliation efforts (that opens with a quote like the one we pulled out).
I'm going to be honest with you: I have not seen a lot of your writings that call for racial togetherness over the years, but maybe I missed them; I don't read it every week even though, admittedly, it is also distributed for free in many places in Jackson. I do remember one clearly about a kid sleeping with his Confederate flag, though.
This looks like a nice column. Of course, a racist could write such a column, but I'm pretty confident no one called you a racist in our paper. The bit was about a specific column and the language you used in it.
Again, though, send me something and I'll post it. I'll post this whole email if you'd like.
Wyatt Emmerich just sent this email, which I'm posting verbtim with his permission:
I have no problem with you criticizing any recent column I write, but I really wish you would quit doing that "award" reference. That was about 15 years ago and I have explained what happen to you on several occasions. The Sun was trying to encourage local letters to editors and was paying a small cash award for anyone who submitted a local letter to the editor. It was in no way an endorsement of the contents of the letter.
Continuing to make reference to this, when I have written many columns exhorting racial reconciliation, seems a deliberate attempt to distort who I am and what I stand for. Even worse, you mention my grandfather's stance on civil rights--which I have supported my whole life as did my father--as though I have betrayed his legacy in some way.
I have attached, and pasted below, a column I wrote this spring about Mission Mississippi. I have written many similar columns exhorting racial progress. I ask you to be honest with yourself: Would a racist write a column such as this?
OK, I respect reporter Geoff Pender immensely if not his current newspaper, but did he just commit the Republican political trick of [misspelling Democratic][1] ... on purpose? That's a nonsensical [political epithet][2]. Remarkable.
Come on, media. It's one thing for Republicans to try to dumb down the language, but we really don't have to go along with it.
I must stop looking at The Clarion-Ledger again. Seriously.
donnaladd says...
Of course, we're going to cover Lumumba closely. He's probably already sick of hearing from us! But, unlike Melton, he has not avoided us or demonized us, which Melton and his supporters did during his campaign, and it continued into his term. Despite the concerns we addressed about Lumumba when we endorsed Johnson, he and his team have so far been very forthcoming to us as media. And we hope that it continues.
On Clarion-Ledger Greets Lumumba Win with Negative Front Page
Posted 6 June 2013, 12:24 p.m. Suggest removal
donnaladd says...
We've written several articles about her in the JFP, js1976, and I've linked to them.
You still have not explained why you think the RNA is a "racist" organization. That word means something; show us it applies here.
On Time to Get Real About Unity
Posted 5 June 2013, 8:44 p.m. Suggest removal
donnaladd says...
BTW, I'm still confused by the idea of a master's degree being a "liability." Where does that come from?
On Stinker Quote of the Week: 'Blacker'
Posted 5 June 2013, 5:02 p.m. Suggest removal
donnaladd says...
MORE
"I never thought I’d move back to Mississippi - never. But I’m here and I’m happy to be here. Mississippi is moving forward and all of you are part of making the dream of this state - no longer at the bottom of the list, but at the top of the list, in leadership, in development, in being able to nurture our children, to build a real democracy and I see it.
"Sometimes things happen and we don’t understand but if we stay around and see we get a feel for things and say, ‘Aha! So that’s why it happened.’ When my husband was cut down in the prime of life, people would say to me ‘You are so wonderful. You are so nice. You are so kind. You are so forgiving.’ I simply smiled and said thank you. But they didn’t know that behind that facade was a woman plotting how to get back at the state which was responsible for her children not having a father.
"I remember they let the schools out and the children cheered not knowing fully what they were cheering about. There were editorials in the papers that cheered that this man had been taken off the face of the earth. In my heart was anger. There was fury and I suffered from that split personality.
"The Lord works in mysterious ways. My revenge was not to be. So you embrace something that pulls you together and lifts you up.
"One day my child said to me, ‘Mommy it sounds like you hate and Daddy said we should not hate.’ And I thought, ‘my child you are right.’
"We have so many people here and in other places around our state who are proud to say ‘I am a Mississippian.’ We are gathered here today in friendship. We are gathered here today under wonderful leadership. What more could we want? The opportunity to be whatever our manhood or womanhood will allow us to do or to be. This is the promise of America.
"I thank all of you for allowing me to come before you and say that Mississippi, you’re OK. Mississippi, you are only going to get better. Mississippi, you will be the place, not quite yet, where we can all lift up our heads and be proud to say, ‘I am a Mississippian.’ And I will challenge anyone, any place in this country who will say ‘the old Mississippi.’ And you will say, ‘Not with me there. It’s a new day.’ It’s a new time and we are proving it by our coming together and marching together toward the future. A place where all of us can look and point and say, ‘I am a Mississippian. Thank God I am a Mississippian.’ "
On Stinker Quote of the Week: 'Blacker'
Posted 5 June 2013, 4:48 p.m. Suggest removal
donnaladd says...
MORE:
The keynote speech of Myrlie Evers-Williams was in perfect pitch. Wife of the slain Mississippi civil rights icon, Medgar Evers, she spoke of hatred, redemption and reconciliation from her personal experience.
"I stand here looking before all of you. My friends. I don’t think I’ve always been able to say that, because I haven’t always felt it. And I haven’t always felt it because it hasn’t always been true. But here we are today across all lines, breaking bread and praying together. And let me tell you it is a far cry from what I left in Jackson, Mississippi, many years ago.
"Medgar Evers always said, ‘Mississippi is my home. I love the place where I was born. And I will do whatever I have to do to make it the best place in the United States of America.’ He would say to me, ‘Mississippi is going to be the best place in the country.’
"I told him you have to be out of your mind. There’s no way Mississippi can become anything better than what it is and quite honestly I don’t want any part of it and I don’t know how you can do what you do. And he said, ‘Because it is the state of my birth and I believe in it.’ And he gave his life, not wanting to die, but he gave it gladly to help lift this state to where it is today.
On Stinker Quote of the Week: 'Blacker'
Posted 5 June 2013, 4:48 p.m. Suggest removal
donnaladd says...
And here is Wyatt's column about Mission Mississippi that he sent, verbatim:
Last week a thousand people gathered in the Jackson convention center to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Mission Mississippi, an organization founded by one of my dearest friends, Lee Paris.
The crowd - half white, half black - included hundreds of our state’s movers and shakers and just about every significant government official.
A dozen prayers were said during that hour and a half. Heads were bowed, hearts were open. We prayed for mercy. We prayed for grace. We prayed for racial reconciliation in Mississippi.
At one point Democratic gubernatorial candidate Johnny Dupree laid his hands on Republican Gov. Phil Bryant and prayed for his former political rival.
If one wants to see the power of faith in Mississippi, look at these two Christian gentlemen who ran an upbeat, honest, respectful campaign. That doesn’t come from man. That is the power of God.
The rest of the nation is not like this. Mississippi is special - the most religious and charitable state in the nation. We need to appreciate the grace we have been given.
On Stinker Quote of the Week: 'Blacker'
Posted 5 June 2013, 4:46 p.m. Suggest removal
donnaladd says...
Here is my response, verbatim:
Hey Wyatt,
I will have to confess and say I didn't write it. One of the other editors wrote it after the staff was blown away by that quote they pulled out. It was [actually nine years ago in 2004.][1]
I understand your explanation for that columnist, which we're happy to post under it online if you'd like and as a letter in the next paper. But I think you probably understand that if we as newspaper men and women do something like that, it follows us around, especially if you write a column about your racial reconciliation efforts (that opens with a quote like the one we pulled out).
I'm going to be honest with you: I have not seen a lot of your writings that call for racial togetherness over the years, but maybe I missed them; I don't read it every week even though, admittedly, it is also distributed for free in many places in Jackson. I do remember one clearly about a kid sleeping with his Confederate flag, though.
This looks like a nice column. Of course, a racist could write such a column, but I'm pretty confident no one called you a racist in our paper. The bit was about a specific column and the language you used in it.
Again, though, send me something and I'll post it. I'll post this whole email if you'd like.
Thanks,
Donna
[1]: http://www.jacksonfreepress.com/news/20…
On Stinker Quote of the Week: 'Blacker'
Posted 5 June 2013, 4:45 p.m. Suggest removal
donnaladd says...
Wyatt Emmerich just sent this email, which I'm posting verbtim with his permission:
I have no problem with you criticizing any recent column I write, but I really wish you would quit doing that "award" reference. That was about 15 years ago and I have explained what happen to you on several occasions. The Sun was trying to encourage local letters to editors and was paying a small cash award for anyone who submitted a local letter to the editor. It was in no way an endorsement of the contents of the letter.
Continuing to make reference to this, when I have written many columns exhorting racial reconciliation, seems a deliberate attempt to distort who I am and what I stand for. Even worse, you mention my grandfather's stance on civil rights--which I have supported my whole life as did my father--as though I have betrayed his legacy in some way.
I have attached, and pasted below, a column I wrote this spring about Mission Mississippi. I have written many similar columns exhorting racial progress. I ask you to be honest with yourself: Would a racist write a column such as this?
On Stinker Quote of the Week: 'Blacker'
Posted 5 June 2013, 4:44 p.m. Suggest removal
donnaladd says...
OK, I respect reporter Geoff Pender immensely if not his current newspaper, but did he just commit the Republican political trick of [misspelling Democratic][1] ... on purpose? That's a nonsensical [political epithet][2]. Remarkable.
Come on, media. It's one thing for Republicans to try to dumb down the language, but we really don't have to go along with it.
I must stop looking at The Clarion-Ledger again. Seriously.
[1]: http://jacksonfreepress.com/users/photo…
[2]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democrat_P…
On Clarion-Ledger Greets Lumumba Win with Negative Front Page
Posted 5 June 2013, 3:26 p.m. Suggest removal
donnaladd says...
You'll be fine, js1976. Just take a breath.
On Phil Bryant blames education problems on "moms ... in the workplace"
Posted 5 June 2013, 12:16 p.m. Suggest removal