In the parking lot of New Jerusalem Church in Jackson, Mississippi, volunteers handed out free cases of bottled water to a line of arriving cars last week – a new normal in a state capital that has struggled with the fallout of a failing water system.
But inside the church, a parade of pastors and organizers addressing the crowd railed against another threat they described as dire to the city’s future: their state legislature.
Republican state lawmakers are pushing “a takeover of the city of Jackson and disenfranchising local voters,” declared Danyelle Holmes, a local activist. “They’re banking on us to be quiet. They’re banking on us to back down.”
The T-shirt she wore underscored the political mood of the event – and the siege mentality that city leaders say they’re feeling: JACKSON VS. EVERYBODY.
A proposal in the Mississippi legislature to reshape Jackson’s criminal justice system has erupted into a high-stakes battle between the Republican-dominated state government and the Blackest big city in the US over some of the most incendiary flashpoints of American politics: voting rights, public safety, and race. Read more
