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(AP) — The U.S. Justice Department launched an investigation Wednesday into alleged civil rights violations by police in a majority Black Mississippi city, stepping in following accusations that officers used excessive force and arrested people without justification. Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke, who leads the Justice Department's civil rights division, announced the investigation at a news conference. The area also has a storied place in civil rights history. It also follows the June arrest of Jill Collen Jefferson, the president of JULIAN, the civil rights organization that filed the federal lawsuit on behalf of residents. If the Justice Department concludes that police officers committed the alleged civil rights violations, it could bring a lawsuit seeking court-ordered changes to the department.

Persons: JACKSON, Kristen Clarke, Clarke, ” Clarke, Robert Clark, Todd Gee, Jill Collen Jefferson, JULIAN, Sam Dobbins, Dobbins, Jefferson, ___ Michael Goldberg Organizations: U.S . Justice Department, “, Mississippi Legislature, Southern, Southern District of, Lexington Police Department, Lexington Police, Lexington, Department, Associated Press, America Statehouse News Initiative, America Locations: Miss, Black Mississippi, Lexington, Jackson, Holmes County, Mississippi, U.S, Southern District, Southern District of Mississippi, Rankin County , Mississippi, @mikergoldberg

☆ How Democrat Brandon Presley could win the Mississippi governor's race and pull off one of the biggest political upsets of 2023
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-07 | by ( John L. Dorman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

Democratic nominee Brandon Presley has made the Mississippi gubernatorial contest a real race. While most voters in Mississippi may not care for national Democrats (including some Democrats), Presley has effectively presented himself as a different kind of Democrat. Black voters made up 29% of the statewide electorate that year and Biden won their vote 94%-5% over Trump. Presley has heavily courted Black voters, which has included visits to churches and the state's Historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs). AdvertisementAdvertisementStructural geographic disadvantages remain a lingering issue for Mississippi Democrats, but Presley has a real chance at overcoming that dynamic on Tuesday.

Persons: Brandon Presley, Presley, Tate Reeves, —, Ronnie Musgrove's, Jimmy Carter, he's, Elvis Presley, Reeves, Mason, Dixon, Brandon Bell, Donald Trump, Joe Biden, Biden, Trump, Jim Hood underperformed, Mike, Hood, Georgia Presley, Jackson, Musgrove, Democrats —, Michael Parker, Parker Organizations: Democratic, GOP, Republican Gov, Service, Magnolia Tribune, Democrats, Mississippi electorate, AP, Trump, Black, Getty, Democratic Senate, Mississippi Democrat, Mississippi State University, Gwinnett, Mississippi Gov, Mississippi, Democrat, Mississippi House, Mississippi Democrats Locations: Mississippi, Brandon , Mississippi, Nettleton, Jackson , Mississippi, . Mississippi, Georgia, Atlanta, Cobb , DeKalb, Fulton County

The state hasn't wavered as a conservative stronghold in the modern era, and its last Democratic governor was denied a second term 20 years ago. A former mayor of tiny Nettleton, Presley is wrapping up his fourth term as a state utility regulator for northern Mississippi. One of the most famous Black Mississippi residents, Oscar-winning actor Morgan Freeman, recently joined him at a campaign event. Presley has raised more campaign cash than Reeves this year, and he's attracting larger and more diverse crowds than any Democrat running for Mississippi governor in a generation. Presley says the new method of electing a governor gives him a better chance than the old one.

Persons: Brandon Presley, Tate Reeves, “ They’re, ” Presley, murmurs, “, Elvis Presley, Reeves, Presley, Bennie Thompson, Morgan Freeman, Theresa Hall, ”, we’ll, ” Reeves, Sen, Chuck Younger, “ It’s, ” Younger, it’d, Bruce Springsteen, don’t, William Barber, Barber, —, Nick Bain, Medgar Evers, Vernon Dahmer, Fannie Lou Hamer, it's, Democrat Jim Hood, Joe Biden, Mike, Republican Sen, Cindy Hyde, Smith, Thad Cochran, Jim Crow, Eric Holder, Gwendolyn Gray Organizations: Democratic, Republican, U.S . Rep, Mississippi, Tate, Liberal, Black, Democratic Party, Poor, Waffle, Trump, Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party, Democratic National Convention, Democrats, Democrat, U.S . Senate, Mississippi voters, U.S, “, Tougaloo College Locations: NATCHEZ, Miss, Mississippi, Natchez, Jackson, Issaquena County, Los Angeles, Columbus, Alabama, U.S, Gulfport, Biloxi, “, Black, Atlantic City

(AP) — Mississippi's gubernatorial election could hinge on turnout among Black voters, who haven't wielded political influence commensurate to their share of the state population, the Democratic nominee said Friday. At a campaign event in the 80% Black state capital of Jackson just over one month before Election Day, Brandon Presley said Black voters could help carry him to victory. Tate Reeves, who is seeking reelection, of hoping they stay home. “Black Mississippi and white Mississippi have been purposefully, strategically and with intent divided over racial lines. Black voters and lawmakers in Mississippi are overwhelmingly Democratic, while Republicans command majority support among white voters and hold supermajorities in the state Legislature.

Persons: JACKSON, — Mississippi's, haven't, Brandon Presley, Tate Reeves, “, Presley, —, Reeves, Jackson, ”, stomped, Keshun Brown, ” Brown, Rodney Hall, Trent Kelly, Gwendolyn Gray, ___ Michael Goldberg Organizations: Black, Democratic, Republican Gov, Historic District, Mississippi Delta, Jackson, Mississippi Supreme, Republicans, GOP U.S . Rep, Army, Black Republican, Reconstruction, Center for Healthcare, Associated Press, America Statehouse News Initiative, America Locations: Miss, Jackson, “ Black Mississippi, Mississippi, Jackson’s, Mississippi Delta, @mikergoldberg

(AP) — The last Republican who lost a general election for Mississippi governor is endorsing the Democratic nominee in this year's race. “It’s a big deal for me as a former Republican member of Congress and as a former Republican nominee for governor to vote for a Democrat,” Parker said. Parker was the Republican nominee for governor in 1999, and lost a close race to Democrat Ronnie Musgrove, who was lieutenant governor. The 1999 governor's race had to be decided in the Mississippi House because neither Musgrove nor Parker fulfilled the two requirements to win the race, which also had two little-known candidates. Republicans have controlled the Mississippi House since 2012.

Persons: JACKSON, Brandon Presley's, Mike Parker, Presley, Tate Reeves, “, ” Parker, Brandon Presley, he’s, Brandon, ” Presley, Black, Parker, Ronnie Musgrove, Reeves, Clifton Carroll, Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden, ”, Donald Trump, Trump, Musgrove, Gwendolyn Gray, Republican Haley Barbour, Barbour, Republican Phil Bryant Organizations: Republican, Mississippi, Democratic, U.S . Rep, Gov, Democrat, Republicans, Democrats, GOP, U.S . House, Trump, Mississippi House Locations: Miss, Mississippi, Summit

☆ William H. Dilday Jr., First Black TV Station Manager in U.S., Dies at 85
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-04 | by ( Clay Risen | More About Clay Risen | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

William H. Dilday Jr., a Boston TV executive who moved to Jackson, Miss., in 1972 to manage the city’s NBC affiliate, becoming the country’s first Black person to run a commercial television station, died on July 27 in Newton, Mass. His daughter Kenya Dilday said that he died at a hospital from complications after a fall. The inquiry came after eight years of litigation by the United Church of Christ and a group of Black citizens against the station, which was owned by a local insurance company. Like many TV stations in the Jim Crow-era South, WLBT had given scant coverage to the civil rights movement, or to the lives and concerns of Black Mississippians in general. It refused to use courtesy titles when interviewing Black people, and once cut off a segment with Thurgood Marshall, replacing it with a sign reading, “Sorry — Cable Trouble.”

Persons: William H, Dilday Jr, Kenya Dilday, Dilday, Jim Crow, WLBT, Thurgood Marshall, ” Organizations: Boston, NBC, United Church of Christ Locations: Jackson, Miss, Newton ,, WLBT, Mississippi’s

☆ US Supreme Court won't scrutinize Mississippi curb on voting by felons
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-30 | by ( John Kruzel | Industry Insight | Corporate Attorneys Don T Want To Pay Law Firms For Chatgpt When They Could Use It Themselves | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

The state's felon disenfranchisement policy has been shown to have a disproportionate impact on Black Mississippians, nearly 29,000 of whom were disenfranchised between 1994 and 2017, according to court filings. Black Mississippians account for 36% of the state's voting age population but 59% of those who have been disfranchised for life due to a felony conviction. The 1890 version had removed crimes thought to be "white crimes" and added those thought to be "Black crimes," with the aim of discriminating against Black voters, according to court records. Eight crimes listed in the 1890 version of the provision - bribery, theft, arson, obtaining money or goods under false pretense, perjury, forgery, embezzlement and bigamy - remain as disqualifying offenses today. A key question in the case was whether the process of amending Mississippi's felon disenfranchisement provision purged the discriminatory intent behind the 1890 version and brought the law into compliance constitutional race-based voter protections.

Persons: Roy Harness, Kamal Karriem, Constitution's, Harness, Karriem, John Kruzel, Will Dunham Organizations: U.S, Supreme, Black, Constitution, Harness, The, Circuit, Thomson Locations: Civil, Mississippi, U.S, The New Orleans

Throughout the town’s setbacks, generations of locals have taken their first and last breaths at Greenwood Leflore Hospital. On Nov. 4, talks with a larger hospital in Jackson that local officials had hoped would take over Greenwood Leflore fell through. Leflore County Supervisor Board President Robert Collins said finances are already strained, but the county can most likely put up about $3.5 million for Greenwood Leflore. Dr. Roderick Givens, who treats cancer patients at the Greenwood Leflore Hospital, is working with other local leaders to keep the facility open. When Greenwood Leflore opened in 1906, it initially operated out of a mansion repurposed as a medical facility.

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