Joseph B. Atkins
Joseph (Joe) B. Atkins is a veteran journalist, writer, and professor of journalism at the University of Mississippi. He heads the journalism graduate program at the university. Atkins is the author of several books, a former congressional correspondent with Gannett News Service in Washington, D.C. and also worked at newspapers in Mississippi and North Carolina. A native of North Carolina, he studied at East Carolina University, the University of Munich, and American University.
Karla Vázquez
Karla Vázquez is originally from Guadalajara, Mexico where she grew up before moving with her family to Monterrey, Mexico. After completing secondary school, she attended the University of Nuevo Leon where she was one of the youngest people to ever graduate in law and became a Licenciada en Derecho (an attorney in Mexico) at the same time she was able to graduate with Honors at UANL. During her studies in Mexico, she worked in the criminal courts, the government patent office, and as a legal adviser to the Mexican corporation – Dinámica de Monterrey. Recently Karla was the Keynote Speaker for NASA Stennis Space Center for the National Hispanic Heritage Month Celebration and was a speaker for the Emancipation Celebration for the Refugee Minor Program at the Jackson State University.
Kevin John Fong
Kevin Kahakula’akea John Fong is a nationally recognized and respected cultural translator, facilitator, trainer, and speaker in transformative justice, leadership development and organizational design. Kevin has extensive experience in working with clients in the public and private sector, especially with diverse, multicultural/multi-lingual groups. His mission is to clarify purpose, align principles, and integrate systems to cultivate healthy and equitable organizations and communities.Kevin has served on the Leadership Council of Within our Lifetime, a national movement to end racism, and on the Board of Directors for YES! Magazine, a national solutions-journalism publication. A graduate of the University of California, Kevin resides in San Francisco with his husband and their two sons.
Maisie Brown
Maisie Brown is an 18 year old senior at Murrah High School here in Jackson, Mississippi. Throughout the years, she’s published several pieces about the need the state flag, state universities, and the need for a call for change to Mississippi.She’s volunteered on numerous political campaigns. More recently, she’s been named the Youth Program Director at the Institute for Democratic Education in America where she works hands on with students around Jackson on the concept of democratic education and learning to advocate for themselves. She plans to attend North Carolina A&T State University.
Pete Smith
Pete Smith is an associate professor of communication studies in the Department of Communication at Mississippi State University. A native Mississippian (whose roots go back to the mid-nineteenth century) and proud graduate of the state’s public school and university systems, Pete’s research focus and class time is spent exploring the intersection between gender, media, and southern politics.Pete holds an undergraduate degree in communication from Mississippi State University, a master’s degree in communication from Auburn University, and a Ph.D. in mass communication (with an emphasis on mass communication history) from the School of Communication at the University of Southern Mississippi.
Natalie Irby
Natalie Irby is an award-winning filmmaker and Jackson, Miss., native. The Founder and CEO of Corner to Corner Productions, her work has garnered critical acclaim and has been featured in USA Today, The Los Angeles Times, and The New York Times. She’s thrilled to join the Mississippi Free Press advisory board and looks forward to being of service to her home state.
Reena Evers-Everette
Reena Evers-Everette is the daughter of Civil Rights activists, Medgar Evers and Myrlie Evers-Williams. Evers-Everette graduated from New York’s Fashion Institute of Technology with a degree in Business Merchandising Medgar Evers Institute, a national organization founded by Myrlie Evers-Williams to fulfill the vision of Civil Rights leader Medgar Evers through education and civic engagement programs. Ms. Evers-Everette’s civic and volunteer involvements include former chairman of the board of directors of the Claremont Chapter of the American Red Cross, and the City of Claremont’s Committees on Dialogue and Human Relations.She never wanted to return to Mississippi, yet after moving to Jackson, she found herself saying in a speech, “I’m home. This is where I need to be.” The words stunned her. “I always said I would never come back here to live because of the pain,” she said. She now believes she belongs here. “My father had a calling,” she said. “So do I.”
Robert Luckett, Jr.
Robby Luckett received his BA in political science from Yale University and his PhD from the University of Georgia. A native Mississippian, he returned home, where he is a tenured Associate Professor of History and Director of the Margaret Walker Center for the Study of the African American Experience at Jackson State University. In 2017, Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba appointed him to the Board of Trustees of Jackson Public Schools, and, in 2018, he received a W.K. Kellogg Foundation Community Leadership Network Fellowship for his work in racial equity. Robby has three children: Silas, Hazel, and Flip.
Stuart Stevens
Stuart Stevens is a seventh-generation Mississippian who grew up in Jackson. He is the author of seven previous books, and his work has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, Esquire, and Outside, among other publications. He is a former fellow of the American Film Institute. His new book, “It Was All A Lie: How the Republican Party Became Donald Trump” will be published next month.
