v13n43 the independence issue

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vol. 13

no. 43

FREE

Finally,

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Love Wins

Dreher, p 6

Design a New State Flag! p16#MSFlagDIY

Summer

Food &

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Finally,

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Love Wins

Summer

Food &

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The Indepe

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JACKSONIAN JIMMY GODBY AND FRANK THE CAMEL

U pon first hearing of Jimmy Godbys latest endeavor, many people cock their heads in confusion, shock or even awe. An electrician of 33 years, Godby, 51, has decided to become a dairy farmera camel dairy farmer, that is. Godby married his wife, Tonia Godby, in 2006 many years after they met at Brandon High School. We bumped into each other at a restaurant and got back together after 25 years, he says, adding that the two instantly picked up where they left off. His wife, former-ly Tonia Blough, grew up on Hilltop Painted Acres, her familys farm in Brandon. The farm was renowned for haunted hayrides, foreign animals and livestock. Tonia grew up helping raise them. As for Godby, he had only raised dogs before his plunge into camel rearing. The idea of raising camels took root in early 2011 when Tonias mother, who was cu-rating the nativity scene for Brandon Baptist Churchs Christmas play at the time, thought a real, live camel might just bring the act new life. After discussing the prospects of renting a camel, Godby and his wife thought it might be more fun to just buy one. So, in June 2011, they drove west to Mount Pleasant, Texas, to pick up their first baby camel, a 5-week-old they named Frank. The two loaded him into their Toyota mini-van, into which he barely fit. Now, at 4 years old, Frank towers over people and horses alike and makes appearances at events such as Fon-

drens First Thursday and Christmas shows all over the state. In 2013, Frank led the Mals St. Paddys Parade, trading kisses for donations to Blair E. Batson Childrens Hospital. He doesnt know strangers because he was out in public as soon as we got him, God-by says. At 5 weeks, he was separated from other camels completely. He didnt see another camel until last September when we got four more camels. The Godbys acquired the additional camels with the intent of beginning their dairy farm, Frank and Friends. Three of those camels have now given birth to calves, one of which is tentatively called Buddy Ray, who was just born to Sally on June 8. Thats also Godbys birthday. Frank and Friends is situated in the rolling countryside off Highway 80 between Morton and Pelahatchie. As the first camel dairy farm in this part of the United States, Godby says: There is not protocol in place for a camel dairy. We are hav-ing to help (the FDA and the health depart-ment) write all of these rules and regulations. Camels milk is a rich source of protein and is thought to have antimicrobial and nu-tritional benefits along with an abundance of vitamins and minerals. If all goes as planned, expect to find the Frank and Friends camel milk at local farmers markets, Whole Foods Market and Rainbow Natural Grocery Co-op come July. Jordan K. Morrow

JULY 1 - 7, 2015 | VOL. 13 NO. 43

4 ............................. EDITORS NOTE6 ............................................ TALKS10 ................................ EDITORIAL11 .................................... OPINION12 ............................ COVER STORY16 ......... DESIGN YOUR OWN FLAG19 ......................................... FOOD30 ................................. WELLNESS33 ......................................... MUSIC35 ....................... MUSIC LISTINGS36 ....................................... BOOKS38 ....................................... 8 DAYS39 ...................................... EVENTS40 ..................................... SPORTS43 .................................... PUZZLES45 ....................................... ASTRO

cover illustrationby Zilpha YoungC O N T E N T S

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9 A Helping Hand.A pilot youth-court program in the Jackson metro is helping poor families keep their families together.

30 Bright Sun RaysLearn about skin cancer and how to protect yourself from harmful UVA and UVB rays.

33 Say Hello to The Hood HippieIf youre a painter, or maybe if you do a comic strip, have a clothing line or make short films, I just want to promote the artistry going on in Mississippi. I feel like a lot of times people overlook the stuff thats going on in the city, especially the smaller things. Malcolm Morrow, Holding Out for The Hood Hippie

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Look, I get it on a visceral level and somewhere deep in my Confederate-descendant bones: Mississippi was eviscerated and nearly leveled in the Civil War. Eighty percent of casualties in our state were from diseases that spread through soldiers from the North and the South, and many Mississippians died from untreated diseases and even starvation once the North cut off the supply routes, blew up the rail-roads, and torched crops and homes. By the time Union troops took Missis-sippi, the conditions here were deplorable: We were hungry and just barely alive, as The Band sang in The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down. And we know Union generals burned Jackson multiple times. My great-great grandfather Jefferson Adkins enlisted in the Co.D Yankee Hunt-ers, 36th Mississippi infantry, to fight for the Confederate cause, Im told. His first wife, Cynthia, and their six children were struck in an influenza epidemic. After the Battle of Shiloh, he deserted because he learned they were ill, as so many people in Mississippi were in the abysmal conditions here. He ar-rived home and found they had all died. Granddaddy Jeff, the story goes, then moved to Louisiana and re-enlisted into the 6th Louisiana Calvary, fought to the end of the war and married my great-great grand-mother Fannie there. They then had 12 chil-dren including my great-grandma, Becky Ladd, whom I knew. (She was old by then.) He survived the war, but the South suf-fered a resounding defeat. Most southerners lost everything they had, including many loved ones, and they lost the product that had made Mississippi what was probably the richest state in the country before the war. Slaves. I cant know how my great-great grand-father felt about black people, although there was plenty of racism passed down, at least through my generation. I still dont know if

he or his ancestors had owned slavesIm still working on thatbut I do know that other direct ancestors did. I dont, nor can I, know what was in his heart when he enlisted to hunt down and kill Yankees. What I do know is that the South fought the Civil for very bad reasons. Mis-sissippi was the second state to secede, egged on by then-Gov. John J. Pettus, and our lead-ers made it crystal-clear why our state left the union and joined the new Confederacy that

stole federal property at Fort Sumter, near Charleston, S.C., to kick off the war. Our position is thoroughly identified with the institution of slaverythe greatest material interest of the world. Its labor sup-plies the product, which constitutes by far the largest and most important portions of commerce of the earth, Mississippi wrote. The product was black slaves, who out-numbered whites in Mississippi in the 1860s. When I hear people defend the Confederacy as a fight for our heritage, I want to remind them that our state had only existed 44 years when Rebels attacked Fort Sumter. Our heritage was cotton and the wealth it created for planters: both the people who had great amounts of it and those who wanted to lift themselves up to slave-owning planter status. Our pre-Civil War economy was built on the cotton crop, and its profits depended on free labor. Of course southern-ers were freaked out about losing slaves; the

economy was built on those peoples backs. An MPB documentary I watched this week, Mississippi War: Slavery and Seces-sion, brings home the point that most Mis-sissippians then didnt even grow their own food; they were largely focused on growing and then exporting cotton, much as my Vir-ginia ancestors 200 years before had been tobacco exporters. This fact was part of the reason so many people fell hungry here in the Civil War once the union took Corinth and New Orleans and blocked imports. In many ways, our state was the ulti-mate gold-rush destination of early 1800s Many of our people flocked from states like Virginia and the Carolinas to a lush place with tropical growing climates and a big river to draw from. Many of them brought slaves with them (some of my ancestors did); others couldnt yet afford slaves but hoped to. Many families owned one or two slaves. In Mississippi at the start of the war, 49 percent of families owned enslaved people. But regardless of whether any of your ancestors owned slaves, the way of life Confederates fought for depended on it. Everybody benefitted, one of the histo-rians in the MPB documentary conceded, meaning all the white people. The irony of our secession was that President Lincoln, who hadnt exactly started out as an abolitionist, had offered to reim-burse slave owners if they would give up slaves. But here it wasnt just about the labor, as our Declaration of Secession and countless writings and speeches by Confederate leaders prove, it was about the habit of feeling su-perior to people of a different race: the way of life. Southerners only knew an existence that included slavery and white supremacy; they would fight to keep it in place and to have a federal government that would force new states to be pro-slavery and to send run-away slaves back to the states they had fledpart of the Confederate platform.

It was ugly stuff, and its hard to get more tragic. It breaks my heart now in multiple ways to think that my own peo-ple were part of that system and fought to the death to keep it in place. But they were. And I cant change that. At the same time, I can feel the pain and hunger and anguish of losing everything based on a lie youd been raised to believe. I think of my great-great grandfather burying his wife and six kids, and I can hear the sad bells The Band recalls in that song. I dont need to romanticize that war, or its symbols, and it doesnt change my pride in Mississippi now because weve bounced from the extremes so far in our history. We were the richest, then we were the poorest because the immigrants here we descend from didnt want to give up the curse that made many of them incredibly wealthy for a little while. Heres the thing: None of it was ours in the first place. We took the land, and we made money off of it with enslaved people. There is not pride in that heritage. We cheat-ed, and we lost. It was inevitable, if ugly. Where there is pride, though, is in overcoming it. Just in my lifetime, Ive seen remarkable progress in this state, especially considering where it started. My own life, and my business here, my staff and my fam-ily all prove it in their own ways. Weve come such a distance, but were still chained to the romantic, inherited vision of the Dixie ideal too many still hold onto. Such a grasp of the past doesnt serve any of us. It is long past time to declare in-dependence from a lost cause that wasnt worth fighting for and from those who insist on keeping us stuck there. Mississippi now is better than our past, and our people and the world around us deserve to know that. It is high time that we ring those bells loudly and finish driving old Dixie down. Comment at jfp.ms and email Donna Ladd at [email protected].

CONTRIBUTORS

Driving Old Dixie Down

News Reporter Arielle Dreher is working on finding some new hobbies. She enjoys short walks that arent on beaches and tea. Email her story ideas at [email protected]. She wrote a news story.

R.L. Nave, native Missourian and news editor, roots for St. Louis (and the Mizzou Tigers)and for Jackson. Send him news tips at [email protected] or call him at 601-362-6121 ext. 12. He wrote a news story.

Assistant Editor Amber Helsel hates crepes, but she really likes saying the word. Her hobbies are bass fishing, fish bassing and projecting a bad-girl persona. She organized the beer tasting.

Editorial Assistant Adria Walker likes existentialism and astro-physics. She enjoys debating about Star Wars, reading Camus, Kafka and Kundera, and learning about peoples belief systems. She contributed to the food package.

Music Editor Micah Smith cre-ates miniature rice paintings, and by that he means that he paints regular-sized portraits of miniature rice. He performs with the band Empty Atlas. He wrote a music story.

Editorial Intern Brian Gordon was raised in upstate New York and moved to the South to carpetbag but forgot the bag. He teaches social stud-ies in JPS and wishes printer paper cost as much as the JFP. He wrote a sports story.

Ad Designer Zilpha Young brings the noise and the funk, but she prefers to keep them in separate containers. She writes non-romantic fiction under the pseudonym Near-sighted Phil. She designed many ads and the cover.

Advertising Director Kimberly Griffin is a fitness buff and foodie who loves chocolate and her mama. Shes also Michelle Obamas super secret BFF, which explains the Secret Service detail.

by Donna Ladd, Editor-in-ChiefEDITORS note

None of it was ours in the first place.

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The party room in Julep restaurant in northeast Jackson was fi lled with relief Monday night as a group of about 30 people, new and old friends, gathered to celebrate four same-sex couples who were fi nally issued mar-riage licenses that morning. We all have the same anniversary now, Knol Aust said, toasting the other couples in the room. Aust had married his partner of 17 years, Duane Smith, that af-ternoon, June 29, 2015. After a false start on Friday, the day the U.S. Supreme Court issued its land-mark ruling, same-sex couples in Hinds County and 49 counties across the state were fi nally able to tie the knot on Mon-day, after Attorney General Jim Hood wrote to the county clerks promising no adverse action in response to issuing licenses. Hoods email to the clerks also said that regardless of the status of the Mississippi marriage lawsuit, Campaign for Southern Equality v. Bryant, in the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, the U.S. Supreme Court ruling Friday is now the law of the land. The case is currently stayed in the 5th Circuit but will be moving soon. On Monday, that court ordered both parties to fi le advisory letters by Wednesday, July 1, to assist the court in rendering a full and appropriate fi nal disposition. Lindsey Simerly, the campaign man-

ager for Campaign for Southern Equality, came to Mississippi on Monday to help county clerks begin issuing licenses.

The court ruling could go a lot of different ways from here. Simerly said the Campaign for Southern Equality has is-sued a brief asking the court to issue its fi nal ruling and remove the stay. The de-fendants had not fi led their documents by the time this issue went to print. Our legal team is going to push as

hard and as fast as they can to make sure that its legal in every single county in the state, Simerly said. Because once the

stay is lifted, there are no blocks left. If the 5th Circuit chooses not to is-sue a ruling, they could technically kick the case back down to the district court, which Simerly said is possible but less likely. The ruling in the case could take

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Wednesday, June 24 Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley be-comes the fi rst southern governor to use his executive power to remove Con-federate banners by ordering four fl ags with secessionist symbols to be taken down from a large monument to rebel soldiers outside that states capitol.

Thursday, June 25 The U.S. Supreme Court upholds the nationwide tax subsidies under President Obamas health-care overhaul and rules that federal housing laws pro-hibit seemingly neutral practices that harm minorities, even without proof of intentional discrimination.

Friday, June 26 The Supreme Court rules 5-4 that same-sex couples have a right to marry anywhere in the United States. Pres-ident Obama delivers the eulogy at the funeral of the Rev. Clemente Pinckney, South Carolina state senator and pastor of Emanuel African Methodist Episco-pal Church.

Saturday, June 27 South Carolina police arrest two people who climbed over a wrought iron fence and up a 30-foot fl agpole to remove the Confederate fl ag from the front of the South Carolina Statehouse.

Sunday, June 28 Germany shuts down the Grafen-rheinfeld nuclear reactor, the oldest re-maining nuclear reactor in the country, as part of a move initiated four years ago to switch off all its nuclear plants by the end of 2022. Millions of people attend gay-pride events in major cities across the country in celebration of the U.S. Supreme Courts marriage equal-ity decision.

Monday, June 29 The U.S. Supreme Court upholds the use of a controversial drug in lethal injection executions as two dissenting justices say for the fi rst time that they think its highly likely that the death penalty itself is unconstitutional.

Tuesday, June 30 Iran complies with a key condi-tion of ongoing nuclear talks by sig-nifi cantly reducing its stockpile of en-riched uranium that could be used for atomic weapons. Breaking news at jfpdaily.com.

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Elation, Vows for States Same-Sex Couplesby Arielle Dreher

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up to 25 days, but Hood has asked for an expedited ruling. With legal stuff, its hard to say anything with certainty in terms of time-lines, she said. Ultimately, the ruling does not affect Mississippi same-sex couples trying to get married now, because more than half the counties in the state are issuing licenses. Simerly said no couple in the state should have to drive more than an hour to get a license, and she expects more counties to come on board this week. A legal marriage means all couples have immigration, adoption (depend-ing on the agency), property inheritance, medical consent, state tax filing and Vet-erans Affairs benefit rights, recognized at the state and federal levels. Its this real validation, and having it be nationwide is even more of a validation because its not just a patchwork of laws that says your marriage is valid in Mississippi but not (somewhere else), Simerly said. Hood gave his reasoning for his initial hesitancy on Friday in his Mon-day email. [I]t might be wise to advise same-sex applicants that the validity of marriage licenses issued prior to the stay being legally lifted might be contested in any potential divorce action or in future estate proceedings, he wrote. The appellees counsel issued a mo-tion to lift the stay on Friday afternoon after the U.S. Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage. Robert McDuff is an attorney at McDuff & Byrd, one of the firms rep-resenting the plaintiffs in the Campaign for Southern Equality v. Bryant case. We filed it because of the confusion that had been generated, McDuff said. The

5th Circuit would have done that any-way, but we wanted to go ahead and do it quickly in light of the fact that this was being used to delay the process. The 5th Circuit had issued the stay originally, pending the outcome of the appeal, which is why they have the re-sponsibility to lift the stay now. McDuff said the attorney generals statement issued Friday explaining the de-lay puts form over substance. McDuff said Hood had raised technicalities, and the circuit clerks typically follow his lead, in this case waiting for clarity after Fri-days statement. The 5th Circuit has asked both par-ties to state what the proper order should be following the Obergefell v. Hodges de-cision. The court asked both Hood and Gov. Phil Bryant to address their posi-tions on the motion filed by the plaintiffs on Friday, specifically appellant Bryant should state the reasons, if any, for op-position. The court asked advisories to state any reason the case should be returned to the district court or if the 5th Circuit could hand down a final ruling. Texas, Louisiana and Alabama are also experiencing pushback, with some counties still not issuing marriage licens-es. This time, however, Mississippi might not be last. Six months ago, plaintiffs Joce Pritchett and her wife, Carla Webb, were encouraged after Judge Reeves struck down the states ban on same-sex mar-riage. That was the first time in my life that I had ever really, really thought there would be a chance that we could be mar-ried in Mississippi, Pritchett said. And look, six months later, every-body is getting married. Email Arielle Dreher at arielle@jackson freepress.com. For more stories about LGBT issues visit jfp.ms/lgbt.

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Duane Smith (left) and Knol Aust (right) were married on June 29 after the Hinds County Courthouse began issuing licenses to same-sex couples in the state. Smith and Aust have been together for 17 years and have waited to be SJGMEPP]QEVVMIHYRXMPMX[EWPIKEPMR1MWWMWWMTTM

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J essica Smith had only been living in Rankin County for a couple months after moving there with her son, Jus-tin, to get away from an abusive hus-band. The change of scenery didnt curb her drug use, however, and her husband called the Mississippi Department of Human Services to reclaim custody of their son, Justin. Smith, whose namealong with that of her sonhas been changed for this story, was addicted to crystal meth at the time of her sons birth and continued to use drugs as a way of coping with her abusive spouse, she says. Before his birth, Smith had a normal life as a public-school teacher, but by June 2010, she had stopped working. Everything came crash-ing down May 13, 2013. Af-ter her husbands complaint to MDHS, Smith was required to take a drug test, which she failed, and child-protection of-ficials took Justin away. Smith was arrested and was told she would have to begin reha-bilitation immediately if she wanted Justin back. During her MDHS intake, Smith testi-fied that her husband had repeatedly abused her, hoping the state would not give Justin, then 2, to her husband. She didnt have the money to hire an attorney to defend herself. If she hadnt been in Rankin County, the odds of reunification with her son would be low. But Rankin County is one of four counties that run a pilot program for parent representation. Mississippi is the only state in the U.S. that does not statutorily provide at-torneys for indigent parents in youth-court proceedings. When the state takes children from their parents, families must seek out le-gal counsel on their own dimea cost that is often unthinkable for low-income and working-class families. Carlyn Hicks, the parental-represen-tation attorney assigned to Rankin County, called Smith before the first hearing. Smith accepted Hicks offer of representation, wanting to get her son backand keep him away from her husband. I felt so blessed to have somebody who had my back legally and would protect the rights of my son, Smith said. With Hicks help, Justin went to live with his grandparents in Picayune and later moved to Smiths sisters home in Pearl River County. These arrangements were contin-gent on Smith going into a drug-rehab pro-

gram, and she entered Jacobs Well Recovery Center in Poplarville almost immediately. Ten months and two programs later, Smith was cleared with MDHS to set up a permanent residence for Justin and her to live. She went back to work as a teacher at

a private Christian school and a restaurant. She received two years of probation. Smith, 30, has had her son back for a little over a year, since May 2014, and plans to divorce her husband this year. She attri-butes her turnaround and reunification with her son to Hicks work. Carlyn was my advocate when I couldnt be, she said. A Social and Economic Win-Win The Mississippi Parent Representation Program launched in 2012 due to the work of Rankin County Court Judge Thomas Broome, retired Adams County Court Judge John Hudson, Forrest County Court Judge Michael W. McPhail and Harrison County Court Judge Margaret Alfonso. The pilot program designates an attorney in the coun-ty to take Parent Representation cases, if the family wants it, free of charge. Hicks said the majority of her cases involve families that cannot afford their own lawyers. Chemical dependency fuels most cases. The majority of my cases are meth ad-dicts, Hicks said. Addictions are illnesses, and I ask, How can I help this client get into a rehab facility or treatment facility? Reunification is the goal and the stron-gest argument in favor of mandated parental representation. What Ive seen is that weve

reduced the number of days children remain in care and experienced quicker reunifica-tions, Hicks said. Hicks has 74 cases open (including counsel and full representation), and 80 is the cap the committee suggests. Hicks has

worked on over 200 cases in the past three years. About 80 percent of the cases are rooted in so-cial economic disparity, and MDHS is called for things like deplorable conditions of the home or chemical dependen-cythe majority arent going to be the worst of the worst cases, Hicks said. Currently, pilot pro-grams are active in Adams, Forrest, Harrison and Rankin counties. Rankin County Court Judge Thomas Broome said that, so far, the program is working. The presence of an attorney, solely dedicated to parents needing representation, can help families navigate the complicated MDHS hearing processes and legal procedures. We have found that if a parent was empowered with

knowledge and had somebody advocating on their behalf, and also providing them guid-ance it would lead to a quicker reunification of the child with the family, Broome said. Many, in fact, never result in the child being removed from the family. The National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges conducted a study on Rankin Countys program and found that 50 percent of Hicks cases resulted in dismissed petitions. This number likely represents the importance of having an attorney available to explain procedures to parents. Broome said that some cases can be resolved quickly with the petition dismissed, often if a fam-ily leaves an unfit home or a family member leaves the environment. MDHS information shows 8,378 substantiated cases involving child victims in Mississippi last year. Harrison, DeSoto, Rankin and Hinds are among the coun-ties with the highest number of cases. As of April, 2,697 children were in foster care in Mississippi, MDHS reports. Broome said the pilot programs are working from a social and an economic standpoint, and hes hoping the Legislature will see the benefits and help fund it. Any time that we can keep a child out of foster care or prevent a child from lingering in foster care, that is definitely a financial savings to the taxpayer, Broome

said. But its also a win-win because the child has less trauma, and (its) a great way to have somebody on the front end invest time and effort with families, getting them back on the right path. Broome said the cost of having parent representation is small compared to the cost of children staying in foster care. Its a small cost for a big financial win for the state, Broome said. Its also morally the right thing to do: to try and rectify the parents problems and reunite the children with their families. Progress in Small Steps Expansion is the next step, and Han-cock County is rolling out its pilot program now. DeSoto and Lafayette counties have plans to follow, Broome said. Of course, funding is a core developmental problem. We believe that we will be able to dem-onstrate to the Legislature that this is a very advantageous program from an economic standpoint for the state, Broome said, add-ing that he hopes the state will eventually fund the program. Currently, the Administrative Office of the Courts and Casey Family Programs funds Mississippis pilot programs. It is a Seattle-based foundation that works in every state on issues of foster care with an endow-ment to work free of charge. Isabel Blanco, a consultant for Casey Family Programs in Mississippi, said her or-ganization is pleased with how strongly the judges support the program in Mississippi. Research shows that parent represen-tation helps among other things to expedite permanency, meaning children returning home, Blanco said. We are interested in the children being able to return home safely when the courts are in favor of that. The advantage to having a designated attorney in youth court for parent represen-tation is that reunification with families hap-pens faster, ideally meaning a child spends less time away from home. In the same study done on Rankin Countys program, with a relatively small sample, it took about 42 days to get from the petition filing to the adjudication with Hicks counsel while it took families with no attorney about 71 days. In other words, legal representation cut a month off of in-limbo time for cases in the initial phases. From the petition filing to the case closure, however, the numbers seemed to level off, and it took a family only 20 more days or so to get a case closed without Hicks represent-ing them. So far, the attorneys and data agree: the program is working. Read and comment at jfp.ms.

Empowering Low-Income Parentsby Arielle Dreher

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Carlyn Hicks is Rankin Countys parent-representation attorney, helping mothers and fathers get back on track.

Good Ole Boy Talking PointsBy You, the Readers

Cities, Legislature Should Follow Jacksons Lead on Hate Crimes

L ast year, after the Mississippi Legislature passed an odious so-called Religious Freedom Restoration Act that had the potential to open the door to discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people, several mu-nicipalities, including Jackson, passed resolutions affi rming the human dignity of all city dwellers. Those resolutions, a half dozen in all, were nice symbolic gestures and badly needed fi rst steps toward doing what federal and state lawmakers have shown no will to do, which is to send a mes-sage to minority groups that they do not have to live in fear. Each of us who is familiar with Mis-sissippis history of violent intolerance knows that there is plenty left to fear. It took four years for the federal government to conclude its case against the 10 white defendants charged in connection with the murder of James Craig Andersonwho would have turned 54 this weekand months of racially motivated night rides prior to Andersons chilling death. And while the federal government historically has been, even if marginally, a bit more forward thinking than deep southern states, LGBT people still lack status as a protected class similar to that of racial and ethnic minorities. Legal scholars will ar-gue whether last weeks ruling at the U.S. Supreme Court inches us closer to strengthening the con-stitutional rights of LGBT, but in the meantime, minorities remain vulnerable. This is especially true in Mississippi, where our hate-crime law considers only a victims perceived race, color, religion, ethnicity, ancestry, national

origin or gender as motivation for an alleged crime; gender identity and sexual orientation are not included. Furthermore, hate-crime statistics reporting to the Federal Bureau of Investigation is voluntary, and many local governments lack fi rm guidelines on how to record and report hate crimes. To that end, we applaud Jackson City Council President DeKeither Stamps for building on last years diver-sity resolution with an ordinance that requires the mayor and police chief to train offi cers to identify and report hate crimes in the city. That measure passed June 30 and will take effect by Aug. 1. The action could not have been more timely, coming amidst the nation grieving the deaths of nine church members in South Carolina in a suspected hate crime and subsequent reports of church burnings in fi ve southern states. With the Supreme Court removing the last obstacles to same-sex marriage, authorities must remain vigilant against any hateful backlash to the ruling. Jacksons ordinance will not only help protect citizens, but will also hold authorities accountable for investigating and reporting alleged hate crimes in the capital city. Now that Jackson has taken this step, we hope to inspire other cities to do the same. When the Legislature reconvenes in January, lawmakers should strengthen the states hate-crime law by extending protections to LGBT people and developing uniform reporting standards for all law enforcement agencies. Given the climate in our nation and our state, doing so is a matter of moral necessity.

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D uring the Confederate fl ag dust-up of the last two weeks, weve learned that many Americans and Mississippians are no longer buying into ro-mantic myths about why these Confederate states fought the Civil War. (Slavery, as the Declarations of Secession make abundantly clear.) There are hold-outs, though, and their reasoning can raise the hair on the back of your neck. We asked readers on Facebook to share some of the good-ole-boy/girl reasons they were seeing to keep the Confederate emblem in the Mississippi state fl ag. Here are some of our, er, favorites, all of them using twisted rationalization and many of them based on outright falsehoods.

Uy>}>}do with the hatred of some *sshole towards a certain race. Why change to some liberal crap because a group of people decide everything is racist and we cant offend anyone?U>Viiiithe only slaves.Uiviviì>isoldiers were slaveholders.U>Vv}ìthe Confederacy.UV>>>VV`have been about slavery.U-iiV`>vv`slaves. The war was over the greedy North trying to take our fi elds.ULiV>ii}vvi`someone doesnt mean we have to erase our history. Our history unites us. Blacks died for that fl ag, too.U L`L>iivV>]they are the ones that sold slaves to the Europeans in the fi rst place.U/iy>}>`}do with race until the KKK used it in the 1940sU7LiV>i>igroups have misused our fi ne symbol of southern heritage?

Uivi-]]vcannot accept her heritage! We dont need your kind that gives in to someone being offended over every little thing we do.U9>iiLViU,>VìL>ViiBlack people kill black people.U/iiiv]outsiders, should continue to be able to choose for themselves the fl ag that fl ies over the State of Mississippi.Uiì>}>U/iviì>iy>}>Lheritage. Blacks, Mexicans, Chinese

everybody gets to honor their heritage except white people.U->iiì`>}i>}We dont owe blacks nothing. So if they dont like it, I suggest they move to Chicago or some other place and leave our people alone.U->iL>`LiìVi`>of slavery who remained in this country have benefi tted from it.U>i--iV}in MS and its because a bunch of chicken crap idiot liberals want to change the state fl ag.

U}>V]>ia mixed child in your photo, and in your other pics you have black friends. Shouldnt you be glad for slavery and the fact that the black people are here? Because without them selling their own people, you wouldnt have your beautiful child nor your black friends.U/iy>}>`}i}of the white man. Look at their missionary work for the negro.U9vìgovernor, our state or our fl ag, let me know where you are and I will come help you pack and you can move the hell out of our great state.U/i}`}L>Vis your own ignorance and laziness dont blame it on a fl ag!U`LiV>iv>ii,like your ancesters (sic) did. Hide. Behind something you believe in. The South believes in liberty, life and love. What do the yankees believe in ? Obumer. Hillary. ??? Muslim bs?? Im sure yall can go back and stop moving to the south to retire and trying to change us. Add yours at jfp.ms/goodoleboys. Read more on this issue at jfp.ms/slavery.

Dont listen to outside agitators.

Its not unconstitutional to be offended.

T YRONZA, Ark.The black and white sharecroppers of the Arkansas Delta in the 1930s were the lowest of the low, the poorest of the poor. They worked from sun-up to sun-down, buried in debt, a southern peasantry every bit as bound to landowners as their medieval counterparts in Europe centuries before. Franklin Delano Roosevelt had them in mind when he declared the South the na-tions number-one economic problem, yet the federal government botched its attempt to help them with the Agricultural Adjust-ment Act of 1933, allowing landowners not only to grab federal dollars intended for the peasants, but even to evict them from their shacks and shotgun houses. Thats when the lowest of the low finally stood in protest. It was in 1934 when 11 white and seven black sharecroppers and tenant farm-

ers gathered in Red Square, a combination of dry cleaners that H.L. Mitchell ran and a gas station that local marshal Clay East oper-ated, in Tyronza, a tiny town located at the heart of the Arkansas Delta. In that humble building, they established the headquarters of the Southern Tenant Farmers Union. Taking inspiration from the writings of Upton Sinclair and the speeches of Nor-man Thomas, Mitchell and East were both self-proclaimed socialists. They were disgust-ed with an unhinged capitalism that had plunged the nation into economic chaos and left their neighbors near starvation while plantation owners and their political cronies jealously guarded the status quo. This rare moment in southern his-tory where black and white came together to stand for social justice against overwhelm-ing odds is preserved in what must be the most humble of historic placesthe nine-year-old, state and federally funded South-ern Tenant Farmers Museum in Tyronza, located in the same building where Mitchell and East led the union. Some have called Southern Tenant a predecessor to the Civil Rights Movement, Cesar Chavezs United Farm Workers and todays Farm Labor Organizing Committee in Ohio and North Carolina. It took a lot of courage, Linda Hin-ton, the museums director, says. One of the original members had been a Klansman, but whenever he started looking around and see-

ing how he was being treated, and saw the blacks were being treated the same way, he joined the union. Courage, indeed. Earlier efforts of share-croppers and tenant farmers to assert their rights were met with brutal suppression. An Arkansas Delta picker strike in 1891 ended with nine of the strikers captured by masked vigilantes and summarily hung. What is probably the worst race mas-sacre in U.S. history took place in nearby Elaine, Ark., in 1919 when black sharecrop-pers met in a church to organize for better wages. A band of armed white men launched a terror campaign against them, which led to more than 100 deaths. Members of the Southern Tenant Farmers Union faced beatings, kidnappings, jail time and constant threats from gun-tot-ing night riders. However, a strike in 1935 led to several landowners agreeing to better wages. By 1937, the union claimed tens of thousands of members in Arkansas, Missis-sippi, Tennessee, Missouri and Oklahoma. Meetings followed the pattern of reli-gious revivals, with fiery sermons, passionate exhortations, and emotional hymns, writes University of Mississippi historian Elizabeth Payne in her essay on Southern Tenant orga-nizer Myrtle Lawrence. Great labor songs like We Shall Not Be Moved and Southern Tenant sharecrop-per-poet John L. Handcoxs Roll the Union On, came out of the movement. Takeover attempts by Communist-led unions, inter-nal divisions and other pressures eventually drained the farmers union of its fire, and by the 1940s, it was a mere shell of itself. Decades later, the history remains con-troversial, Hinton says. When I started working here, I spoke to a couple of elderly ladies at the church and asked them about it, they whispered, Yes, we do know about it, she says. They felt they had to whisper. The museum, which gets about 4,000 visitors a year, is part of a four-site South-ern Heritage tour that Arkansas State Uni-versity sponsors and also includes the barn studio in Piggott where Ernest Hemingway worked on the novel A Farewell to Arms, Lakeport Plantation in Lake Village, and Dyess Colony, the farm cooperative whose most famous resident was Johnny Cash. The Southern Tenant Farmers Union failed to realize its dream of equality and fairness in the Delta. The region remains poor and divided, its biggest change seen in the corn and soybean crops quickly replac-ing King Cotton. Yet a closing sentence in a 1937 Southern Tenant declaration of rights speaks to the hope that union still inspires: To the disinherited belongs the future. Joe Atkins is a veteran journalist, colum-nist and professor of journalism at the Univer-sity of Mississippi. His blog is laborsouth.blog-spot.com. Email him at [email protected].

Roll the Farmers Union On

JOE ATKINS

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Editor-in-Chief Donna LaddPublisher Todd Stauffer

EDITORIAL

News Editor R.L. NaveAssistant Editor Amber HelselJFP Daily Editor Dustin Cardon

Music Editor Micah Smith Events Listings Editor Latasha WillisMusic Listings Editor Tommy Burton

Editorial Assistant Adria WalkerReporter Arielle Dreher

Editorial Interns Joshua Clayton, John Creel, Brian Gordon, Deja Harris, Guy King,

Jordan Morrow, Maya Miller, Miles Thomas, Alexis Ware, Nia Wilson

Writers Bryan Flynn, Shameka Hamilton, Genevieve Legacy, LaTonya Miller,

Maya Miller, Ronni Mott, Greg Pigott, Julie Skipper, Zachary Oren Smith, Jon WienerConsulting Editor JoAnne Prichard Morris

ART AND PHOTOGRAPHYArt Director Kristin Brenemen

Advertising Designer Zilpha YoungStaff Photographer

Imani KhayyamContributing Photographer

Tate K. NationsDesign Interns Joshua Sheriff, TabithaYarber

ADVERTISING SALES

Advertising Director Kimberly GriffinAccount Manager Brandi Stodard

BUSINESS AND OPERATIONS

Distribution Manager Richard Laswell Distribution Raymond Carmeans, Avery Cahee,

Clint Dear, Michael McDonald, Ruby ParksBookkeeper Melanie Collins

Marketing Assistant Natalie WestAssistant to the CEO Inga-Lill SjostromOperations Consultant David Joseph

ONLINE

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CONTACT US:

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Jackson Free Press125 South Congress Street, Suite 1324

Jackson, Mississippi 39201Editorial (601) 362-6121Sales (601) 362-6121Fax (601) 510-9019

Daily updates at jacksonfreepress.com

The Jackson Free Press is the citys award-win-ning, locally owned newsweekly, with 17,000 copies distributed in and around the Jackson metropolitan area every Wednesday. The Jackson Free Press is free for pick-up by readers; one copy per person, please. First-class subscriptions are available for $100 per year for postage and handling. The Jackson Free Press welcomes thoughtful opinions. The views expressed in this newspaper are not necessarily those of the publisher or management of Jackson Free Press Inc.

Copyright 2015 Jackson Free Press Inc. All Rights Reserved

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You can visit the Southern Tenant Farmers Museum in Tyronza, Ark.

707 N Congress St., Jackson | 601-353-11800RQWKUX)ULDPSP6XQDPSP

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Nothing Personal, Walmart, But Local Is Betterby Donna Ladd

W e dont mean to brag, but the Jackson Free Press has long been a proponent of the con-cept of shopping local first starting nearly 13 years ago when we published the words Think Global, Shop Local on the cover of our second is-sue. Until that point, it seemed that other media were push-ing our shoppers into the suburbs to big-box outlets rather

than working to keep our local dollars here at home. The Clarion-Ledger, for instance, is owned by the mammoth corporation that actuallywe kid you nottrademarked the site ShopLocal.com to push its advertising circulars for corporate big-box outlets. You seriously cant make up such Orwellian tactics of calling yourself the op-posite of what you are and expecting folks to buy it. The good news is that Jackson has become a real cen-ter for locavores. Go out for any Fondren First Thursday (the next one is the first Thursday in August), and then witness the energy of a diverse mass of people out shop-ping, eating, drinking and socializing locally. These days, I walk around remembering the early days of the Fondren Art Mix, as it was called way back, when youre lucky if half the businesses were open. Now Ron Chanewho owns the 2015 Best Local Business, by the waywill break your legs if you dont open your doors and participate. And its that local-first-damn-it attitude that we love and have long wanted to see in Jackson. And its not just about local businesses being much cooler than corporate versions (although we are), its also about lifting up Missis-sippi. Its long been true that far more of the revenue for a

local company stays in the community than that of a corpo-rate substitutestudies show that 70 percent stays at home as opposed to about 40 percent of corporate revenue. Its just common sense why. Local businesses tend to spend their money with other local vendors; we dont typi-cally outsource out of state (The Clarion-Ledger is designed in Tennessee, for instance); we work harder not to lay off

workers to keep profit margins higher; and we dont have shareholders everywhere but here gulping up our profits. When that money is kept at home, it makes a huge difference. Our graphic designers spend their paychecks right here in the metro, meaning they help other workers get paid. We create our products using supplies mostly from Workspace by Barefield rather than a corporate outlet. Our owners live in the city, and we know our employees and try to take care of them however we can.

As Stacy Mitchell of the Institute for Local Self-Re-liance puts it, Compared to chain stores, locally owned businesses recycle a much larger share of their revenue into the local economy, enriching the whole community. Put another way, we local businesses love the commu-nity, and it loves us back.

Putting Lipstick on a Walmart Over the last decade, the local movement has explod-ed in the United States, with Americans increasingly crav-ing the personal attention of locally owned businesses, not to mention the need to keep more revenue and tax dollars at home during tough economic times. A study by the ILSR and the Advocates for Independent Business studied 3,000 locally owned businesses, finding that they reported increased sales in 2014, with an average revenue increase of 8.1 percent over 5.3 percent in 2013. The retailers alone showed a 5.1 percent increase in 2014 over 2.3 percent the year before. And holiday sales, Olivia LaVecchia reported at ILSR.org, were up an average of 4.8 percent. By contrast, the U.S. Department of Commerce reported a 0.9 percent decline in that Decembers retail sales overall. That is, local businesses are starting to win. LaVecchia reports that local first movements raise awareness among consumers about the advantages of es-chewing corporate spending in favor of local businesses. The success of the local movement is drawing push-back from corporate businesses, even local-washing frauds like Gannett with its ShopLocal nonsense. In some places, the Starbucks Corp. doesnt include its name prominently on its stores any longer, opting to make them look more like a local coffee house and less cookie-cutter. And by now, most Jackson residents have seen the efforts of Madi-son to require the new Sams Club up there to look classy as they do all of their chain businesses. But, as they say, you can put lipstick on a pig, and its still a big-box outlet. And it still sucks revenue out of state. Now big, bad Walmart has decided to expand beyond all those exhausting Supercenters that already suck the life out of local grocers. Walmart already captures one-quarter of grocery salesand up to a half in 40 metropolitan ar-

Ron Chane was a local-business revolutionary in Jackson long before many people thought twice about it. Viva la Chane! (A new T-shirt, perhaps?)

Best Locally Owned Business: Studio Chane2906 N. State St., Suite 103, 601.366.9955, chane.com

Finalists: Maurices Barber and Style (398 Highway 51, Suite 60, Ridgeland, 601.856.2856) / The Nail Bar (4800 Interstate 55 N., Suite 20, 769.216.2152) / Offbeat (151 Wesley Ave.) / VIP Fitness (119 Colony Crossing Way, Suite 660, Madison, 601.717.2429; 1139 Old Fannin Road, Brandon, 601.624.5757)

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easbut it wants even more than that unfair share. The company is planning to build about 450 neigh-borhood markets in the next two years, the ILSR reports. These are large supermarketssorry, no panties and guns here, we dont thinkthat Stacey Mitchell of the ILSR says will be about the size of an NFL football field, surrounded by multiple acres of parking lots. Mitchell writes that Walmart is growing its square footage per person in many states, including Mississippi, where we can ill afford to have one more dollar leave the state than necessary. Walmart, she reports, has doubled its national footprint since 2000 to a whopping 2.75 square feet for every American citizen. Arkansas, of course, is the highest at 5.54 square feet per person, but Mississippi is one of the top six states for its square-footage dominance. One answer is more attention to antitrust regulations. The big question is, should we sit back and let it (hap-pen)? Mitchell writes. Or is it time that Americans get serious about resurrecting anti-monopoly policies?

Of course, Mississippi is unlikely to strengthen its very weak antitrust lawswhich were very unhelpful to the JFP and other local publishers in 2006 when The Clarion-Led-ger tried to bully us into paying their TDN to distribute to our locations. The way to win for the local movement now is probably the same as it was for us then: Win the war of public opinion. That is, talk about why spending local first mattersa lot. Educate locals so they will self-regulate the corporate monsters with their pocketbooks. It works, as the increased local revenue for so many businesses proves.

Corporate Carpetbaggers Still, the threats by big-box outlets to local economies are real, and go beyond the individual shopper. Local busi-nesses tend to compete on what the ILSR calls a very un-even playing field, often created by local lawmakers giving favors to corporate carpetbaggers. For instance, the fact that many online stores are free from collecting sales taxes needed locally is devastating to local businesses. Think about that next time youre deciding whether to go to a bookstore or just log onto Amazon and send your money to Washington state. In addition, ILSR reports, local business owners of-ten have a hard time getting credit they need to grow their businesses, especially if theyre women or people of color. Over 44 percent of minori-ty-owned businesses seeking financing and 35 percent of those owned by wom-en failed to secure a lender, LaVecchia writes. Meantime, research shows that banks are lending to large businesses. Then there is the problem of dark stores. Earlier this year, ILSR reports, the library in Marchette, Mich., had to cut back its hours, and schools and the fire department faced a loss of funding. Why? Because the township owed a $755,828 tax refund to the Lowes chaineven though it had spent mil-lions on infrastructure to create a corridor for big-box devel-opment.

That refund resulted from the chain going to tax court to get a lower property-tax assessment than the $5.2 million expectedusing the dark store logic that could spread across the country and hurt other local tax bases. The argument goes that because a cheaply build big-box space is essentially useless once the chain moves to a different location as it grows, Lowes argued that the prop-erty is worth much less when it comes to paying taxes on it. They basically insist that their property taxes be based on comparable empty big-box spaces that the communities must struggle to find a new use for when it moves on. In Marquette Township, that meant a much lower as-sessment, even though that Lowes had brought in $30 mil-lion annually. Other Michigan and Indiana retail outlets fol-lowed Lowes lead and appealed their tax assessments. The retail giants, ILSR claims, have an army of lawyers working on assessments, which can mean that cuts in services could be on the horizon as the trend moves to other states. State legislators in Michigan are trying to fight back. Using empty stores might fit the letter of the law, but to a reasonable person, thats not whats intended by a compa-rable sales, state Sen. Pete Miller told ILSR. The moral of the story seems to be to force lawmakers to remain vigilant about such strategiesand to spend as many dollars as possible in locally owned stores. As weve long said, spend local first. Its an investment in the communitys future. Read more about the challenges and solutions for local businesses at ilsr.og. Read about the best of the best locally owned businesses our readers have honored at bestofjackson.com.

Restaurateur and urban warrior Jeff Good is hard to beatbecause he loves so much on the community and other locally owned businesses.

Best Local Business

OwnerJeff Good

(Mangia Bene, 4465 Interstate

55 N., Suite 101, 601.362.2900)

Finalists: Chris Paige (Custom Cuts & Styles, 2445 Terry Road, 601.321.9292) / Mario Tolliver (Pro Accurate Tax Service, 407 Briarwood Drive, Suite B4, 601.209.7124) / Phillip Rollins (Offbeat, 151 Wesley Ave., offbeatjxn.com) / Stephanie Barnes (LaCru Salon, 5352 Lakeland Drive, Suite 600, Flowood, 601.992.7980)

Steven ONeill long dreamed of owning his own restaurantand he has opened a popular locally owned favorite that gives back to the community.

Best Rising Entrepreneur: Steven ONeill

The Manship Wood Fired Kitchen, 1200 N. State St., Suite 100, 601.398.4562

Finalists: Anthony Reppond (VIP Fitness, 119 Colony Crossing Way, Suite 660, Madison, 601.717.2429; 1139 Old Fannin Road, Brandon, 601.624.5757); Mario Tolliver (Pro Accurate Tax Service, 407 Briarwood Drive, Suite B4, 601.209.7124); Phillip Rollins (Offbeat, 151 Wesley Ave.); Tyler Raborn (Raborn Media,

1000 Highland Colony Parkway, Suite 5203, Ridgeland, 601.624.3494)

People Matter: Locally owned businesses create more jobs locally and, in some sectors, provide better wages and benefits than chains do.

Stacy Mitchell, ILSR.org

So, hows the local movement going? Wheres its headed? Apply a SWOT analysis, and here is what you get.STRENGTHS Communities are starting to get it: Local shopping is cool-er, and helps create amazing third-place neighborhoods like Fondren. We want authentic wares, locally made whenever possible. Theyre the best gifts, and local businesses often offer the best service (or they should). Sales are growing, even as big-box outlets are seeing drops.

WEAKNESSES We cant always get what we need at locally owned businesses, and sometimes the service can be snooty (although not usually). Or the business owner hasnt put systems into place that guarantee uniformity in the customer experience, which is needed even with a more local touch. Not to mention, too many customers in the Jackson metro still will choose a big-box outlet first, rather than the other way around. The local-first message hasnt gotten out to all local con-sumers, yet, which is up to each of us.

OPPORTUNITIES Its vital to work with other local businesses and cross-promote whenever we can. The city is small enough that its easy to make a dif-ference by getting your event catered by a local business or ensuring that your next business or nonprofit meeting is in a local restaurant. In addition, we can make our local and state lawmakers aware than we demand a local-first attitude (and policy_ that does not create or sustain an unlevel playing field between mom-and-pops and large corporations. We matter, too.

THREATS Jackson suffers from not having a strong business alliance separate from the Greater Jackson Chamber that looks out for small-business interests. We must be diligent about the threat of dark store tactics eviscerating our tax base. And new big-box outlets strategically placed can hurt local grocers like McDades, as well as hardware, liquor and other local outlets. Our residents can get a bit too upset about a Sams Clubs leavingwhen maybe we should be telling it not to let the screen door hit its ... well, you know.

A Local S.W.O.T. Analysis]xUv

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T he Civil War had nothing to do with slavery. Thats probably the most absurdand falseclaim weve seen in social media over the two weeks since a Confederate flag-loving domestic terrorist al-legedly killed nine black people in a Charleston, S.C., church. Due to the fact that a Confederate flag continued to fly high on Capitol grounds there even as the preacher of the church lay in state inside, and all the photos proving the killers obsession with the flag, the nation has suddenly started paying attention to what the flag represents. That means that even here in Mississippi, some Republicans are saying it may instead belong in a museum. Whats transpired in the last week is a public conversation about the intentions of the war the flag representsspecifically the Confederate lost cause. After Reconstruction ended and the South returned to self-rule (and Jim Crow), the United Daughters of the Confederacy were founded in 1894 and got busy erecting memorials to Confederate soldiers throughout the South, along with a romantic lost cause narrative. In addition, the fans of Nathan Bedford Forresta Confederate general who helped lead the early the Ku Klux Klanhave busily worked to rewrite his history, erecting statues to him as well as naming parks and counties (including Forrest County, site of Hattiesburg) after him. This Confederate revisionism helped make the war not about slavery to many, but about federal encroach-ment of states rights. In Mississippi, the lack of accurate history texts and lessons in schools, both public and private, only helped the cement the myth of why the South fought the Civil War. But the Confederates own words (jfp.ms/slavery), captured in their Declarations of the Causes of Secession and various speeches and official documents, prove that the Civil War was fought over the right to continue slavery, expand it into new states (by federal law) and

ensure that free states returned southerners propertyrunaway slavesto them. This, in-deed, was the antithesis of states rights: The South, which held great sway in Washington for decades, was asserting its desire to see the anti-slavery states bend to the task of enforcing pro-slave provisions they found immoral. Instead, the states rights argument was grafted onto the war much later, as it would support the southern states assertions for Jim Crow laws and onerous Black Codes and, later, against integration and Civil Rights reforms. Likewise, Confederates own words also show that the southern cause was about white supremacy over supposedly inferior black people. Confederacy Vice President Alexander Ste-phens made this motivation clear in his 1861 Cornerstone Speech in Savannah, Ga.: With us, all of the white race, however high or low, rich or poor, are equal in the eye of the law. Not so with the negro. Subordination is his place. Here in Mississippi, the official Declaration of Secession explained the states reason

for seceding from the union in blunt terms: Our position is thoroughly identified with the institution of slaverythe greatest material interest of the world. Its labor

supplies the product, which constitutes by far the largest and most important portions of commerce of the earth. These products are

peculiar to the climate verging on the tropical regions, and by an imperious law of nature, none but the black race can

bear exposure to the tropical sun. These products have become necessities of the world, and a blow at slavery

is a blow at commerce and civilization. It is long overdue, but the nation is talking about slavery now and what the Confederate flag really stands for, what should be renamed and what should come down. Its not an easy conversation, but the first step is knowledge of just what is being celebrated when we venerate the Confederacy.

A National (and State) Housecleaning?by Donna Ladd and Guy King

A statue of a Confederate solder stands in the square in downtown Brandon in front of a Mississippi EKGSRXEMRMRKXLIGSRXVSZIVWMEP

Confederate battle symbol.

T his is a probably incom-plete list of metro-area memorials to the war for white supremacy, com-piled at the Mississippi Depart-ment of Archives and History. Add others from around the state at jfp.ms/confeds.

Hinds County:Jackson (1891) on Old Capi-tol grounds in front of Archives Building. An elaborate architec-tonic piece consisting of a soldier standing in a variant at rest pos-ture, leaning on his rifle, atop a very tall obelisk, which rises above a mausoleum-like vault in an ex-aggerated Gothic styles.Jackson, Women of the Confed-eracy Monument, on New Capi-tol grounds. An elegant bronze sculptural group consisting of two

female figures in classical grab at-tending a wounded soldier, on a high carved stone base. The bronze is identical to the Tennes-see monument to the Women of Confederacy in Nashville.Jackson (1931), in the Confeder-ate area at Greenwood Cemetery. An austere stone tablet on a base, encircled by a hedge.Raymond (1908), located on Hinds County Courthouse grounds. A bronze soldier stand-ing at rest atop a tall sculptured stone pedestal, on a stepped base. Clinton (1928), in Clinton Cem-etery. A rough-edged free-standing stone tablet.Clinton (1926), Mississippi Col-lege Rifles Monument, on the campus of Mississippi CollegeEdwards, vicinity, Gen. Lloyed Tilghman monument on Cham-

pion Hill battlefield. A rough granite boulder to which a bronze tablet has been affixed, enclosed within a fence.

Madison CountyCanton, Howcott Monument to Loyal Servants of the Harvey Scouts. An obelisk atop a pedestal on a stepped base.Canton (1881), Monument to Confederate Dead, in City Cem-etery. A broken column atop a pedestal, on a stepped base.Canton (1894), Harvey Scouts Monument, in City Cemetery. Rankin CountyDowntown Brandon, (1907), at the intersection of Government and North streets, in front of the courthouse. A soldier standing at rest atop a tall sculptured obelisk-

like shaft on a pedes-tal, on a stepped base.

Related MemorialsForrest County (Hattiesburg) was split off from Perry County in 1908 and named in honor of Na-than B. Forrest, a Confederate general in the American Civil War and a leader of the original Ku Klux Klan. Ross Barnett Reservoir is named for the segregationist governor who worked to block black-freedom activities, including the enrollment of James Meredith at Ole Miss, which turned into a deadly riot. He is known nation-ally for presiding over a state bent on armed insurrection against fed-eral civil-rights laws.Jefferson Davis County is named for Jefferson Davis, president of the Confederate States of Amer-ica, who lambasted the Souths opposition for describing the in-stitution of slavery as degrading to labor, as intolerant and inhuman

in a 1858 speech to the Missis-sippi Legislature.

Lee County is named for Con-federate General Robert E. Lee. What is often not known is that Lee called for Confederate flags to be packed up after losing the war, and no Confederate flags or uniforms were displayed at his fu-neral.Union County is named for the reunion of the Confederacy

Mississippi U.S. Sen. James Eastland, a staunch Dixiecrat segregationist, has been a favorite honoree in the statefrom East-land Drive in Pearl to the James O. Eastland Federal Courthouse at 245 E. Capitol St. in Jackson to the James O. Eastland Law Library at Ole Miss. Since the old federal courthouse in Jackson closed, his name was removed.

Add others from around the state at jfp.ms/slavery.

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A People Problemby R.L. Nave

I n the shadow of the Womens Confederate Me-morial and spitting distance from a statute of former Mississippi Gov. and U.S. Sen. Theo-dore Bilbo, Mississippians issued a clarion call to change the state flag. Long a lightning rod, the Mississippi state flag has come under fresh scrutiny in recent weeks following a mass killing of nine African Ameri-cans at a church in South Carolina. Although the leadership there is almost unanimously in favor of taking down the Rebel battle flag from the state Capitol, the symbol is literally part of the fabric of Mississippis flag; changing it has met political resistance in the Magnolia State. Nonetheless, the latest push against the flag seeks to apply economic and political pressure. For example, Aunjanue Ellis, an actress and Mis-sissippi native, wanted to work on a film project in her home state, but now says she will film her movie in Louisiana instead. Mississippis leaders who oppose changing the flag point to a statewide ballot initiative in

2001 to keep the flag. However, proponents for a new flag say its time to revisit the issueand not by waiting on a referendum. Our state has been traumatized with that flag, especially for black people and that we have been ridiculed nationwide and internationally be-cause of the flag, Ineva Pittman, a Civil Rights Movement veteran, told the Jackson Free Press. State Rep. Chuck Espy, D-Clarksdale, said in his Delta hometown, issues of poverty and crime overshadow concerns about the flag, but he acknowledges that businesses may be reluctant to set up shop in Mississippi because so many people consider the flag offensive. Take the flag down and show that we are open for Mississippi, Espy said. Chokwe A. Lumumba, an attorney and son of Jacksons late mayor, said the state flag does not represent all the challenges facing the state. How-ever, in addressing a crowed on the Capitol steps, he added: The flag represents the problem when it should represent the people.

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