AltWeeklies Wire
The Unbearable Heaviness of Adulthoodnew
According to The Sentencing Project, black youth are twice as likely to be arrested than white youth, something that affected me even as a minor, and though 58 percent of black youth are sent to adult prisons, it's scary to think that being sentenced to a juvenile detention center is no longer an option for me.
Jackson Free Press |
Adria Walker |
08-07-2015 |
Civil Liberties
Tags: the sentencing project
Trail of Tears: The Burial of Rexdale Henrynew
Rexdale Wayne Henry was buried in the Bogue Chitto community near Philadelphia, Miss., on July 28, leaving a cloud of uncertainty over how he died. Police aren’t helping clear up that confusion by not releasing a cause of death.
Jackson Free Press |
Zachary Oren Smith and Imani Khayyam |
08-07-2015 |
Civil Liberties
Tags: trail of tears
Why ‘Black Lives Matter’ Mattersnew
It's a very serious assertion that the country needs to value the lives of non-white people as highly as it values those of whites. Likewise, it needs to value the lives of those who live in poverty and work to improve the situation for all Americans.
Jackson Free Press |
Todd Stauffer |
05-21-2015 |
Civil Liberties
Mississippi: The Next Stage for Progressivism?new
The Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s began with black students' protest at the Woolworth lunch counter in Greensboro, N.C. Mississippi later became its most heated battleground. Is Mississippi the next stage for today's movement of progressive activism?
Jackson Free Press |
Joe Atkins |
09-18-2014 |
Civil Liberties
Tags: mississippi
Time to Reset, White Folksnew
What's happening in Ferguson isn't pretty, but it had to happen: Police and everyday people cannot keep killing black people for minor, or no, crimes and expect our citizens of color to just keep taking it. That practice came to a violent head 50 years ago this summer, and it is again now.
Jackson Free Press |
Donna Ladd |
08-22-2014 |
Civil Liberties
One Night in Fergusonnew
Ferguson has drawn people from all over the country. A handful of people also reportedly flew in from overseas. I traveled to Ferguson with three activists from Jackson.
Jackson Free Press |
R.L. Nave |
08-22-2014 |
Civil Liberties
Wednesday’s Womennew
At the height of the civil rights era, a group of women of varying races and faiths dared to defy the norms of the time. In the summer of 1964, also known as Freedom Summer, women defied their husbands and banded together to tackle one of the most racially segregated cities in the South—Jackson.
Jackson Free Press |
Maya Miller |
07-17-2014 |
Civil Liberties
White Privilege Is Realnew
The very idea that we can't even agree that simply being white in America comes with privilege indicates that we have limited ability to relate as human beings.
Jackson Free Press |
Funmi F. Franklin |
06-25-2014 |
Civil Liberties
Women: A Catalyst for Changenew
In an exhibit titled "Women: Agents of Change in the American Civil Rights Movement," Jackson State University offers a glimpse into the documentary photography of Dr. Doris A. Derby.
Jackson Free Press |
LaTonya Miller |
06-13-2014 |
Civil Liberties
Tags: Women
The Police State That Was Mississippinew
One out of every four adult Americans now has a police record. Louisiana and Mississippi lead the nation in putting people behind bars.
Jackson Free Press |
Joe Atkins |
04-14-2014 |
Civil Liberties
Mandela and the Southnew
When Nelson Mandela spoke to the U.S. Congress on June 26, 1990, the godfather of modern-day Republican obstructionism, the late U.S. Sen. Jesse Helms of North Carolina, wasn't in the chamber.
Jackson Free Press |
Joe Atkins |
12-27-2013 |
Civil Liberties
In Medgar's Drivewaynew
At his Jackson home, now a museum to his life and death, you can stand in the spot where Medgar Evers died. If you travel to 2332 Margaret Alexander Walker Drive (close to what is now Medgar Evers Boulevard), you can visit a somber place that is still intact--house, driveway, everything.
Jackson Free Press |
Trip Burns |
06-06-2013 |
Civil Liberties
Mr. Dylan, Mr. Eversnew
It was raining the morning of May 17, 2003. I was in my office, worrying about what the Jubilee! JAM organizers must be going through. It's hard to make this festival pay off in good weather, not to mention in times of thunderstorms and crime hysteria. I knew the rain, coming on the JAM's big day—Cassandra Wilson, Bob Dylan and Gerald Levert were scheduled that evening—would be playing hell with the moods of the organizers.
Jackson Free Press |
Donna Ladd |
06-06-2013 |
Civil Liberties
In Her Words: Myrlie Evers-Williamsnew
Benjamin Jealous, the current NAACP national president, and Myrlie Evers-Williams visited Jackson recently to mark the 50th anniversary of the assassination of Evers-Williams’ husband, Medgar.
Jackson Free Press |
Myrlie Evers-Williams |
06-06-2013 |
Civil Liberties
Memories of Medgarnew
Medgar Evers seemed to know his life was drawing to a close.
Jackson Free Press |
R.L. Nave |
06-06-2013 |
Civil Liberties
