Only 1 Black rep gets role in talks on Mississippi policing
Associated Press— One Black lawmaker and nine white ones have been chosen to negotiate final versions of bills that could expand the territory of a state-run police department inside Mississippi’s majority-Black capital city. Since January, the Mississippi House and Senate have passed different versions of two bills that would give the state-run Capitol Police department wider territory to patrol inside Jackson. One of the bills also would create a wider role for judges who are appointed rather than elected — a proposal that critics say would strip away voting rights in a state where many older Black people still remember being denied access to the ballot before the federal Voting Rights Act of 1965 became law. The Senate voted to expand Capitol Police territory to the entire city, but the House voted for an expansion only into relatively affluent shopping and residential areas, including some predominantly white neighborhoods.
History of this topic
‘Affront to democracy': Concern about appointing Mississippi judges where most are elected
Associated Press
NAACP sues Mississippi over ‘separate and unequal policing’
Associated Press
Mississippi OKs more state policing in mostly Black city
Associated Press
Mississippi closer to more state police in mostly Black city
Associated Press
Mississippi pushes more state policing in mostly Black city
Associated Press
Mississippi Senate OKs bill that expands police in majority-Black state capital
NPR
Slain man’s mother decries plan to expand Mississippi police
Associated Press
Black residents of Jackson, Miss., decry plans by white-dominated Legislature for more state control
LA Times
Lawmaker: Power struggle is ‘decapitation’ of Black-run city
Associated Press
Mississippi House OKs court with unelected judges in Jackson
Associated Press
State capital mayor: Plan for courts is like apartheid
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