Jackson, Mississippi, resident and social justice organizer Danyelle Holmes saw up close the scrutiny and efforts by the state’s top leaders to remove her friend and former Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba from office during his tenure. Lumumba consistently fought back against lawmakers and the governor for refusing to fix the city’s crumbling infrastructure, she said, […]
Mississippi
Posted inCriminal Justice, Partner Content, Policing
1-Year-Old Shot by Mississippi Police Officer; Community Demands Action
This story was originally published in the Mississippi Free Press, a nonprofit journalism multimedia network reporting on the causes of and solutions to the social, political, and structural challenges facing all Mississippians and their communities. A Mississippi police officer shot 1-year-old Kohen Kartier Wiley while responding to a shoplifting call on Sunday, killing him and […]
Posted inEconomy, Elections, Politics & Policy
Black Women in Mississippi Are Connecting Voting to Peace and Prosperity
Over the years, Gabrielle Wyatt has heard directly from Black women nationally who described wealth as not only earnings, but about the conditions to live fully with financial freedom, abundance of choice, belonging, and thriving health. With the attack on Black economic and political power, Black women have been hit the hardest, disproportionately suffering from […]
Posted inBlack Farmers, Rural Issues
Black Farmers Aren’t Waiting on Washington to Save Them
SHANNON, Mississippi — What seemed like almost an empty building on a recent Saturday morning quickly filled with dozens of Black people — from retired federal employees to university officials and even education and land appraisal experts. They greeted one another while signing in at the Saving Rural America Small Farmers Conference. Some hugged before […]
Posted inEnvironmental Justice, Politics & Policy
Residents Say Musk’s AI Supercomputer Is a ‘Death Sentence’ for Memphis Communities
The fight over who gets poisoned so Silicon Valley can train smarter chatbots has landed in federal court. The NAACP is suing Elon Musk’s xAI for allegedly skirting permits and running gas turbines that are spewing formaldehyde and smog‑forming pollution into Black communities already scoring failing grades for air quality. To keep its “Colossus” data […]
Posted inEconomic Development, Housing, Rural Issues
In Rural Mississippi, a Black Town Bets on New Homes to Build Wealth
JONESTOWN, Mississippi — Felisha Stevenson has lived her whole life in this all-Black town of 852 people where everybody knows everybody. “My family, my mom, my cousin, my uncles, we’re just close,” the 40-year-old said. “In the neighborhood that I stay in right now, my sister is next door. My uncle is across the street.” […]
Posted inExtreme Weather
For Rural Black Communities, Winter Storm Fern Hits Where Recovery Never Finished
The storm came, and just as Monica Coleman predicted, it hit places least equipped to handle it. On Monday morning, she was one of roughly 1 million Americans without power because of Winter Storm Fern. Officials in Lafayette County, Mississippi, where she lives, are warning residents that they could be without power for multiple days. […]
Posted inClimate Change, Extreme Weather, Public Safety
A Storm Is Coming for the South’s Most Vulnerable Black Communities
For millions in the South, an impending storm could become unforgettable. “I can’t stop watching the forecasts,” said Shemekia Stringer, speaking by phone Thursday afternoon as she moved through near-empty aisles at a Walmart in Southaven, Mississippi, just outside of Memphis, Tennessee. “I’m trying to make sure we’re fully prepared. In my area, the map […]
Posted inEconomic Development, Eminent Domain
Mississippi Residents Say City Quietly Marked Their Homes for Takeover
Greg Gipson walked out of a federal appeals court in Louisiana last week feeling a bit more hopeful about a case that was dismissed in Mississippi over his historic neighborhood’s designation. Gipson and other residents drove 93 miles from Ocean Springs, Mississippi, to New Orleans to persuade a panel of federal judges to reconsider whether their […]
Posted inPolitics & Policy, Voting
Supreme Court Case Threatens Mail-in Ballots for Black Voters
For Mississippians, there’s been no escaping the attempts to dilute Black political power. Two Black Democrats won special elections on Nov. 4 to break the Republican supermajority in the Mississippi Senate. Then, six days later, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear a Republican-led challenge to mail-in voting. Johnny DuPree and Theresa Gillespie Isom both […]
