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BWC

‘He Was a Good Son’: COVID-19 Amplified Jackson Violence, Inequities for Black Families 

Found dead on the side of a road in South Jackson, Tramaine Green was one of 128 homicides in Jackson in 2020. In her overview introducing the Hinds County chapter of our “(In)Equity and Resilience: Black Women Women and Systemic Barriers” collaboration with the Jackson Advocate, reporter Aliyah Veal tells one family’s story of navigating COVID-19, gun violence and being ignored by police through the pandemic—and the pandemic-magnified causes of crime and inequities that have long affected their path to success.

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Headshot of Kayode Crown, wearing a grey sweater and black rectangle glasses
MFP Voices

A New ‘Sheriff’ Is Reporting Unconscionable, Bipartisan Jail Practices in Mississippi

Our new journalistic sheriff is on Mississippi criminal-justice beat to make sure that this problem, and related ones, stay front and center until solutions are engaged. No more closing of the eyes, kicking the problem down the road and media ignoring it. Reporter Kayode Crown is determined to not allow that to happen, and as of Jan. 15, he is a full-time reporter at the Mississippi Free Press.

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In-Depth

Lost in the ‘Dead Zone’: Thousands Languish in Mississippi Jails Without Lawyers

A jury rendered a not-guilty verdict for Duane Lake, 35, for a capital-murder allegation against him in November 2021. He had been in jail since 2015 and got his freedom after the verdict. The MacArthur Justice Center at the University of Mississippi School of Law says his story highlights Mississippi inmates’ plight in county jails without legal representation.

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Andrew Bucci self portrait with dogwood flower 1949
Culture

Mississippi Toasts Breadth and Depth of Andrew Bucci’s Art in His Centennial Year

These centennial tributes aim to showcase the range of Andrew Bucci’s art, who started creating in the mid-to-late 1930s and continued through the 2000s, learning something new every decade—always evolving, always creating. The History Is Lunch program on Jan. 12 is free and open to the public; it will be livestreamed as well on the Mississippi Department of Archives and History’s Facebook page, and posted on the department’s YouTube channel. The “Emerging Grace” exhibit runs through March 12 at the Winter Building and is open to the public on Monday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Tuesday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.; and Saturday from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m.

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Actor Sidney Poitier poses for a portrait in Beverly Hills, Calif. on June 2, 2008. Poitier, the groundbreaking actor and enduring inspiration who transformed how Black people were portrayed on screen, became the first Black actor to win an Academy Award for best lead performance and the first to be a top box-office draw, died Thursday, Jan. 6, 2022. He was 94. (AP Photo/Matt Sayles, File)
MFP Voices

Rest in Peace, Dignity: A Brief Tribute to Sidney Poitier

Sidney Poitier was dignity personified, which allowed him to portray every type of existing Black man on American terrain that was stolen from indigenous people and worked by the children of the sun. Poitier was not concerned about the paycheck he might lose from his act of artistic and political defiance; he was concerned about his art aiding in the uplift and liberation of African peoples. 

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Louwanda Evans, Benjamin Soulsberry, Jessie Daniels
Culture

Jessie Daniels’ ‘Nice White Ladies’ Sparks Discussion about Race, Privilege in Jackson

In her 2021 book, “Nice White Ladies: The Truth about White Supremacy, Our Role in It, and How We Can Help Dismantle It,” Jessie Daniels, a sociology professor at Hunter College, City University of New York demythologizes her family’s own fabrication of whiteness and what it means to be considered—at least in appearance—a “nice, white lady.”

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