jfp op/ed
opining, grousing & pontificating
EDITORIAL
To Stop Flight, Be Consistent
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here is a serious disconnect right now in Jackson. Since hysterical media reports of recent weeks about continuing “white flight” out of Jackson caused, well, a degree of hysteria among some city residents, it’s been interesting, and encouraging, to watch many scramble to action to try to counter the loss of residents to the suburbs and beyond. It has also been a tad ironic to see a number of people who have campaigned and screamed and proselytized about how “dangerous” Jackson is suddenly decide to call for a marketing campaign to counter the city’s bad reputation. Uh, you can’t have it both ways. Jackson’s very open secret is that politicians, both in the city and in the state, dump on the city in order to gain political power. They and their campaign organizers are more than happy to twist crime statistics and rankings out of context to scare certain people (frankly, usually white people) into voting for them. The Jackson Free Press has warned for years about the dangers of the kind of empty crime rhetoric—the kind that doesn’t actually discuss the roots of crime or how to prevent it—that politicians just love to put in their mailers to certain neighborhoods in the city. In particular, the Morgan-Quitno (now owned by CQ Press) “dangerous” rankings have been completely wrenched out of context by candidates all the way back to Wilson Carroll (when he ran for district attorney in 2003), as well as Haley Barbour in his first run for the governor’s mansion the same year. (In fact, Carroll actually used rankings from the years before his opponent was DA to run against her.) More recently, the Better Jackson PAC used the “dangerous” rankings to try to get Marshand Crisler elected mayor. And just this year, new Ward 1 Councilman Quentin Whitwell slammed Jackson as the “14th most dangerous” city in his campaign pitch. And we all know that Mayor Frank Melton was elected based on crime hysteria—and what a nightmare that was for our city. Now, a group of Jacksonians is uniting in a new group, Jackson 2020, with talks of “marketing” the city better. Many of the same people who have been involved in pushing “dangerous” hysteria in the past are now part of this effort. We urge this group to consider the cold, hard fact that political rhetoric has hurt this city badly. It is simply no excuse to talk down the city to, supposedly, get elected to help it. The sad truth is that much of this rhetoric sticks and, in turn, drives out residents and hurts our locally owned businesses. As an election year in Mississippi unfolds, we urge the participants in Jackson 2020 and other residents and politicos to think carefully about the kinds of words they choose to get their candidates elected. Words matter. If you care about Jackson, first hold yourself and your own friends accountable before designing expensive marketing campaigns. Talk up the city, and talk about crime causes and prevention. And if you really care about the city, spend quality time tackling poverty, creating jobs and mentoring. We’ve said it before: Crime is not our best problem; it’s our biggest symptom.
KEN STIGGERS
‘My People, My People’
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February 23 - March 1, 2011
ev. Cletus: “This is your car sales pastor bringing you the Car Sales Church radio broadcast. I have a great show for you today, but first, I must go to my on-the-scene and bird’s-eye-view traffic report with Momma Church Hat, live from the Praise-the-Lord-O-Copter. “Say what needs to be said, and tell the people what they need to know, Momma.” Momma Church Hat: “Pastor, all I see is a bumper-to-bumper and potential mass-accident mess. Construction work has shut down two inbound and outbound traffic lanes. A couple of cars have run out of gas and pulled off to the roadside. Drivers rubberneck while passing by a state trooper writing up another driver for an illegal lane change. A lady in a Lexus has a flat tire and waits for the roadside assistance vehicle. Everybody is late for work. And while tail pipes of cars stuck in traffic fill the air with toxic fumes from gas and diesel engines, the good Lord shakes his head and says, ‘My people, my people.’” Rev. Cletus: “To make matters worse, the price of gasoline and food is high, unrest and revolution continue in the Middle East and Egypt, and union workers in Wisconsin must fight for their livelihoods and benefits. “Remember, Momma Church Hat: Those who endure to the end shall be saved. At least folk can ride off with a blessing by purchasing a reliable and inexpensive hybrid hoopty from Rev. Cletus Car Sales Church. 12 “Amen.”
CHATTER
Noise from the blogs @jacksonfreepress.com
“NAACP Asks Barbour to Condemn Klan Plate” Feb. 15 “‘Some people insist that Forrest was in the Klan—like his biographer, Brian Steel Wills, who only questions whether he was Grand Dragon. The historical record is clear as a bell. The (Sons of Confederate Veterans) has their denier hat on. At least they don’t try to pretend he wasn’t a slave trader. —David McCarty “If a few people want to hang on to the skewed perceptions of their forefathers, why not let them? I live in an entire county named after Forrest, and day-to-day it does not affect me in the least who he was.” —Michael Riddell “A far better symbol would be to show a black Union soldier, to commemorate the hundreds of thousands of slaves who fled the plantations to fight for freedom. African Americans helped to ensure the Confederacy’s destruction by refusing to do its labor and by joining the Union military. About 200,000 joined Union forces, and tens of thousands gave their lives to put down the treason of men like Forrest.” —Brian C. Johnson
“I lived in Forrest County for five years, and it did bother me that the county was named after him. I’m just glad the car I was driving was registered in Neshoba County so I didn’t have to drive around with Nathan Bedford’s name on my license plate.” —Mark Michalovic “This issue has gained so much media attention that now the world is watching. We are still thought of as being a racist state and if Barbour, as the leader representing Mississippi, does not speak out against this, it will make our battle of changing our reputation much harder.” —Kim Moss “Forrest was, indeed, a very good strategist in his position rising to the rank of lieutenant general without any formal military or college education. However, he massacred an entire encampment of people. I’m all for the redemption of individuals for past crimes, particularly because of some very Christian ideals instilled upon me by my mother, but this is not a winnable argument.” —Tyler Trent
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