“They started this, we didn’t. They came over here and committed a crime. In my opinion, Kenneth Stokes represents everything that’s wrong with Jackson and why it’s going downhill. His mentality—he said this is racism? Yeah, it is racism, against every officer, every deputy, anybody else that bleeds blue.”
— Rankin County Sheriff Bryan Bailey
Why it stinks: Let’s try to unpack Sheriff Bailey’s idiocracy one sentence at a time. First, he seems to be implying that the only crooks in Rankin County are from someplace else as if we’re just imagining the abundance of meth-selling, hate-crime committing, drug-dealing high school coaches and students among Rankin County’s citizenry. Secondly, we have no idea how Bailey would know what’s wrong with Jackson when he’s supposed to be fighting crime in Rankin. Lastly, while concern about violence against law enforcement is warranted, it is not “racist” to criticize police. The sooner Sheriff Bailey realizes that, the better off Rankin County and its residents will be.
