My take is that the white-people wig-out is exactly Chokwe wants. And I'm astounded that Lee let this ad out of the gate, especially the religion part, which is despicable. The other parts I see as fair game considering that Lee has his own political-party problem. It'll be interesting to see if this one backfires.

SMH. What a mess.

Which, Savante. You're drowning in pronouns.

Yeah, both sides think we support the other one, and we've taken no position. I personally find high negatives on both sides, sadly.

It says Beckwith Jr. above.

I see your point, Bill. But I think it about both of the candidates going into the runoff. I don't think there's a grasp on reality about how much their ideas will cost and how hard it'll be to get people to agree to pay for it. So we're in for THAT battle no matter what.

And [this is the piece][1] I wrote in 2002 (the month the paper started) after I was asked to leave a rally on Lumumba's behalf at Freelon's.

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

[Here is a column][1] attorney June Hardwick (who just lost her Ward 7 council challange) submitted to the JFP about Lumumba's bar troubles:

> I have read the Supreme Court's
> decision. I am unconvinced that their
> decision is fair and just. I sense
> that other reasons underlie the
> Court's decision. Those might include
> Lumumba's political beliefs, his work
> in the community throughout the nation
> on behalf of blacks, his outspokenness
> and his courage. [...]
>
> It's scary, people. Why, you might
> ask? I am compelled to compare the
> amount of power American systems
> possess with the amount of power
> possessed by the individual. The
> individual may be educated,
> under-educated, uneducated, employed,
> under-employed, unemployed,
> impoverished, wealthy, passive,
> active, law-abiding, hell-raising, of
> African descent, or European descent.
> Indeed, the individual is diverse and
> multi-faceted.
>
> Yet, individuals possess the common
> thread of possibly being overpowered,
> abused, misused and violated by or by
> way of American institutions. Enter
> attorneys who advocate on behalf of
> individuals that comprise
> disadvantaged groups. Attorneys are
> charged to actively represent within
> reason their clients. This is true of
> activist attorneys as well as
> non-activist attorneys.
>
> With that said, I ask what made
> Lumumba's actions, namely his words,
> so very criminal to warrant a
> suspension? To be sure, the suspension
> on its face seems harmless. Six months
> come and go so quickly these days.
> Yet, it is not the length of the
> suspension that troubles those who
> devoutly support Lumumba. It is the
> fact that the Bar presented suspension
> as an option to punish him and that
> the Supreme Court obliged the Bar. It
> is the fact that he passed all
> portions of the Bar years ago. It is
> the fact that Lumumba has been
> adequately punished already. A
> three-panel tribunal formed at the
> request of the Bar by the Supreme
> Court chief justice decided that to
> publicly reprimand was a sufficient
> punishment. The Bar decided otherwise.
>
> Lumumba served three days in jail. He
> paid fines. Why suspension? Why
> Lumumba? Again, given his political
> convictions, given his audacity to
> speak truth loudly, given his
> self-sacrificial work for the
> community over the past 30 years, one
> might reasonably conclude that Judge
> Gordon, the Bar and the Supreme Court
> collectively have more of an issue
> with Chokwe Lumumba the activist
> rather than Chokwe Lumumba the
> attorney.

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

Here is more information from past JFP articles:

Adam Lynch [reported in 2009][1]:

> Lumumba's history as a lawyer has been
> equally colorful. In 1976 he joined
> the staff of the Detroit Public
> Defenders Office. He set up his own
> law firm in 1978, dedicated to
> defending the oppressed. He even sued
> his old university for allegedly
> abandoning an affirmative action
> program for African Americans.
>
> He has locked antlers with bar associations in Michigan and
> Mississippi. In Michigan he refused to
> give authorities information about a
> client, and in 2000, the Mississippi
> Bar Association reprimanded him for
> describing Hinds County Circuit Judge
> Swan Yerger as a racist.
>
> In 1996, Leake County Circuit Court convicted Lumumba's client, Henry
> Payton, of bank robbery and arson. The
> Mississippi Supreme Court overturned
> the decision and sent the trial back
> to Judge Marcus Gordon for a second
> round.
>
> The court found Payton guilty again, though Lumumba said Gordon was openly
> hostile to Payton. In 2001, Lumumba
> filed a motion for a new trial, based
> on some jurors' opinion that they had
> compromised due to Gordon's
> instructions to continue deliberating
> until they had a decision. At the
> hearing Gordon cut off Lumumba's
> selection of potential jurors. The
> judge also allowed Payton to be led to
> the court in chains, possibly coloring
> jury opinion against Payton, and he
> interrupted Lumumba during his opening
> statements.
>
> Lumumba told Clarion-Ledger reporter Jimmie Gates that Gordon "had the
> judicial demeanor of a barbarian."
> Gordon held him in contempt for
> Lumumba's claim of Gordon's unfair
> handling of the case, which began a
> chain of events culminating with
> Lumumba being removed from the
> courtroom amid challenges from Lumumba
> that he was proud to be rid of
> Gordon's presence. He was jailed for
> three days and fined a combined $800.
>
> In 2003 a bar complaint tribunal decided to reprimand Lumumba, though
> the bar appealed the tribunal's
> decision to the Mississippi Supreme
> Court, requesting a one-year
> suspension of the attorney. The
> Supreme Court agreed to a six-month
> suspension. The Mississippi Supreme
> Court reinstated Lumumba in 2007 with
> an 8 to 1 decision.

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

We suspect either could win, depending on who turns out. And we're not taking a position in this race, so we can't help you decide. But we will keep putting out as much factual information on both candidates as we can. You also posted something else in the backend that we need to confirm before opening. Feel free to send a link to it to: [email protected].

Thanks!

OK, folks, over-react much? R.L. isn't criticizing Republicans in northeast Jackson above; he is stating as fact what we all know: Most Jackson Republicans are white and live in northeast Jackson. Y'all are being mighty paranoid if you don't think it's OK to say out loud that Lee has overwhelming support among Republicans in northeast Jackson. That's just true. Are you saying it's something to be ashamed of? We didn't.

As for your additional snark, robbier: The JFP as an organization is not a big fan of any party, or the two-party system. We criticize candidates of all parties (remember Melton and us withdrawing endorsements of Ronnie Musgrove and a certain Democratic state senator in the past?). And many of the folks who get the maddest at us for our reporting are Democrats who think we shouldn't criticize them.

We have indeed criticized Mr. McGowan in the past, and deservedly so, for holding flood control hostage to a Two Lakes plan that was never going to happen, as well as for being a big part (along with several of his partners) of [the Better Jackson PAC][1], which was trying to get Marshand Crisler elected four years ago (clearly to get Two Lakes through) by sending scary crime mailers to, yes, voters in northeast Jackson. (Crisler, too, by the way, was the choice of most northeast Jackson Republicans. Fact.)

Let me make this clear: It is news when Republicans turn out en masse in a Democratic primary and donate big money to a Democratic candidate just as it would be in the opposite scenario. We are not saying that disqualifies the Democrat as a candidate, but the public has the right to know about it. And we continue to tell them no matter how much some of you whine about us doing our jobs.

Moral of the story: Just because you'd rather people not know something doesn't mean they shouldn't.

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