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Mississippi lawmakers are considering a bill that would ban gender-affirming care for trans kids this session, sparking fear among LGBTQ+ Mississippians and their families and allies. 

House Bill 11125, also known as the “Regulate Experimental Adolescent Procedures” (REAP) Act, would prevent Mississippi’s roughly 2,400 trans kids and their families from getting hormone therapy or puberty blockers in the state. Lawmakers, contradicting the recommendations of every major medical association in the U.S., have likened gender-affirming care to child abuse and say the bill will protect children. 

Trans Mississippians and their allies have said the bill is part of a coordinated attack on their rights. The bill comes two years after lawmakers banned trans athletes from competing on sports teams that align with their gender identity. 

As the bill moves through the legislative process, Mississippi Today compiled answers to some commonly asked questions about HB 1125 and gender-affirming care. 

What is gender-affirming care? 

Gender-affirming care refers to a broad range of interventions, from medical treatment to psychological and social support, that aims to affirm an individual’s gender identity, especially when it is different from the one they were assigned at birth, according to the World Health Organization. It seeks to reduce gender dysphoria, the distress trans people can experience when their physical features do not match their gender identity. The Transgender Care Navigation Program at the University of California, San Francisco, says gender-affirming care can range from “coming out” to friends and family, using different pronouns and changing one’s hairstyle, clothing to going on puberty blockers, hormone therapy or surgery. 

Puberty blockers are a type of medication that prevents sex organs from producing estrogen or testosterone. They are reversible and have been used for decades for precocious puberty, the development of secondary sex characteristics at a young age, in cisgender kids. Hormone therapy – the prescription of estrogen or testosterone – typically starts at 16-years-old for trans kids. 

For trans kids, who must have parental consent, the goal of gender-affirming care is often to give them time to determine if they want to go through puberty corresponding to the sex they were assigned at birth or if they want to transition, said Lee Pace, a nurse practitioner and co-owner of Spectrum: The Other Clinic, the only transgender medical clinic in Mississippi. 

Gender-affirming care is recommended by every major medical association in the United States. It is also evidenced-based and, contrary to the title of HB 1125, not considered “experimental” by the medical community. 

In a blog post on the American Medical Association’s website, the president, Jack Resneck, wrote that, “studies have consistently demonstrated that providing gender-affirming care that is both age-appropriate and evidence-based leads to improved mental health outcomes. Conversely, denying such care is linked to a greater incidence of anxiety, depression and self-harm.” 

Nationally, trans youth attempt suicide at a rate more than four times their cisgender peers due to social stigma and discrimination. Research has repeatedly shown that gender-affirming care significantly boosts the chances that trans kids will live to see adulthood. A study published last year in the peer-reviewed Journal of the American Medical Association found that over the course of a year, gender-affirming care was associated with 60% reduced odds of moderate to severe depression and 73% less odds of suicidal thoughts. 

Are trans youth undergoing gender-confirmation surgery in Mississippi? 

No. On the House floor, Rep. Nick Bain, R-Corinth, could not name a single instance of a trans kid undergoing gender-confirmation surgery in Mississippi. 

There is no medical clinic in Mississippi that offers gender-confirmation surgery to trans kids, according to Pace and other advocates for the state’s trans community. In general, surgery is not recommended for trans kids by medical organizations that support other forms of gender-affirming care for youth.  

No clinic in Mississippi provides what’s commonly called “bottom surgery” to trans people of any age, though adults can access chest surgery in the state. 

A handful of trans kids in Mississippi are receiving gender-affirming care. At Spectrum, Pace estimated that in the last two years, he has seen 30 trans kids for care and less than half have had parental consent to go on puberty blockers. The number of trans kids across the country who are on puberty blockers is similarly small. According to an investigation in Reuters based on insurance claims, just 1,390 trans kids ages 6-17 in the United States were prescribed puberty blockers in 2021. 

How would HB 1125 be enforced? 

HB 1125 is enforced by a civil, not criminal, process in which anyone who “aids or abets” gender-affirming care for a trans child could be sued for monetary damages for up to 30 years. In addition, doctors who continue to provide gender-affirming care after the bill passes could lose their license. 

The State Board of Medical Licensure, which would enforce the bill’s provision revoking providers’ licenses, didn’t respond to questions from Mississippi Today. The University of Mississippi Medical Center, which has provided gender-affirming care to trans kids at its LGBTQ-focused TEAM Clinic, said, “we have no comment for now.” 

McKenna Raney-Gray, staff attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union of Mississippi’s LGBTQ Justice Project, said on a call last month that the bill is designed to make it so doctors in Mississippi have no incentive to provide gender-affirming care. 

How would this legislation affect access to gender-affirming care in Mississippi? 

The bill will go into effect immediately. Spectrum is likely the one provider in the state offering gender-affirming care to trans kids, Pace said, and he will stop treating the handful of 16 and 17-year-old trans teenagers in his care the moment the bill passes. His wife and co-owner of the clinic, Stacie Pace, said they will likely post signs on the clinic’s front door saying they no longer accept trans children. 

It is unclear if the bill will prevent doctors in Mississippi from referring families and trans kids to out-of-state providers. 

Still, the small number of families seeking gender-affirming medical care involving puberty blockers or hormone treatment will have to go out of state if the bill passes, though some people worry this also would not be allowed under the bill’s “aids and abets” clause.

During a Senate Judiciary B committee hearing last month, Sen. Joey Fillingane, R-Sumrall, said he did not think the bill would prevent families from going out of state for care. 

“We only control the law within the boundaries of the state of Mississippi,” he said. “Now if parents use it to go to New York or wherever they want to go – L.A. – and do this, that would be controlled by the laws in that state.” 

Who supports HB 1125, and why? 

The bill is authored by Rep. Gene Newman, R-Pearl. He has not responded to a request for comment from Mississippi Today. It is backed by a coalition of powerful Republican lawmakers in Mississippi, including Gov. Tate Reeves and House Speaker Philip Gunn, and endorsed by conservative and religious organizations like the Alliance Defending Freedom. 

These lawmakers and groups have cast the measure as a way to protect children in Mississippi, sometimes likening gender-affirming care to child abuse. At a rally last month, Gunn said he did not think children in Mississippi should be allowed the choice to transition with puberty blockers or hormones. 

“We have decided as a society that children are not always capable of making decisions based on age, lack of maturity and lack of understanding,” he said. “Is there any more consequential decision than changing one’s sex?”  

Reeves echoed Gunn during his State of the State address.

“The fact is that we set age restrictions on driving a car and on getting a tattoo,” Reeves said. “We don’t let 11- year- olds enter an R-rated movie alone, yet some would have us believe that we should push permanent, body-altering surgeries on them at such a young age.” 

What do trans Mississippians, their supportive families and providers of gender-affirming care think of the bill? 

Trans Mississippians call the bill an attack on their rights. Jensen Luke Matar, director of the nonprofit Trans Program, said on a call last month that lawmakers are using trans Mississippians as political bait. 

“It’s just chess,” said Matar, a trans man. “They’re playing chess, and they’re using the most vulnerable population as their pawns.” 

Supportive parents are devastated by the measure and afraid of what will happen if their trans kids can no longer receive gender-affirming care, Pace said. Many parents are still trying to figure out how to tell their kids that Mississippi is considering this bill, according to parents who spoke with Mississippi Today on the condition of anonymity. Some are considering the possibility of moving away to states like California and Colorado that have laws protecting gender-affirming care. 

Providers of gender-affirming care in Mississippi say the bill will contribute to increased mental illness among LGBTQ+ Mississippians and are worried it will lead to higher suicide rates if it passes. 

“The number one thing, if this bill goes into effect? A lot of dead kids,” Stacie Pace told Mississippi Today. “This law goes into effect, it is, in my opinion, the direct cause of youth suicide.” 

What forms of gender-affirming care for trans minors would still be permitted under HB 1125? 

Raney-Gray of the ACLU said the bill will not ban social transitioning, such as using new pronouns or wearing different clothes, for trans youth in Mississippi. 

It remains unclear how the bill could affect access to gender-affirming care that is provided through a counselor or if that would fall under the measure’s “aids and abets” clause. Counselors across the state who have worked with trans people told Mississippi Today that if they accept a trans child as a client, they would seek legal guidance. 

READ MORE: ‘Kids will kill themselves’: Providers of gender affirming care say anti-trans bill will be a direct cause of suicide

The post What to know about gender-affirming care in Mississippi  appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Editor’s note: Mississippi Today will publish stories about all public polls released during the 2023 governor’s race. We will always clearly report on a poll’s methodology and note any concerns with the provided data shown.

Incumbent Republican Gov. Tate Reeves trails Democratic challenger Brandon Presley in a new poll, and Reeves scored low marks for his handling of the Mississippi welfare scandal.

The poll, conducted among 500 Mississippians between Jan. 21-25 by Tulchin Research, found 47% support for Presley compared to 43% support for Reeves, who is running for his second term as governor and for his sixth four-year term in state office. Ten percent of respondents were undecided.

Additionally, a sizable 64% majority of respondents had an unfavorable impression of Reeves for firing the state attorney tasked with recouping misspent welfare funds. Just 25% of the poll’s respondents had a favorable view of the governor related to the welfare scandal.

The poll was commissioned by the Southern Poverty Law Center Action Fund and its affiliated political action committee. The pollster did not immediately release full crosstabs, which can help observers determine whether those polled represent an accurate snapshot of the electorate. Black voters, who typically vote Democratic in Mississippi, comprised 33.9% of the poll’s participants. The poll has a margin of error of 4.38%, which means Reeves and Presley could be tied or Presley could be up by 8 points.

Tulchin Research has a B/C rating from FiveThirtyEight, and in the three Tulchin polls the site has graded, it averaged a slight mean-reverted bias toward Republicans.

This is the second public poll on the governor’s race released in 2023. Shortly before Presley officially announced his candidacy, a Mississippi Today/Siena College poll showed Reeves led Presley by 4 points (43% to 39%). Additionally, 57% of respondents said they preferred “someone else” besides Reeves in the 2023 governor’s race.

READ MORE: Poll: Majority of Mississippi voters prefer new governor in 2023

The sprawling welfare scandal has emerged as one of the top issues of the 2023 governor’s race.

State officials and others have pleaded guilty in the case, which has been referred to as the largest public corruption scandal in Mississippi history where at least $77 million in welfare funds intended for the state’s poorest residents were misspent and used for pet projects and other programs that did not help people in poverty.

The misspending, at times, led to perks and financial boons for those friendly with both former Gov. Phil Bryant and Reeves, who at the time was lieutenant governor.

In his January gubernatorial campaign announcement, Presley panned Reeves for his involvement in the scandal, including that Reeves’ personal trainer, Paul Lacoste, improperly received more than $1 million in welfare funds.

In 2022, Reeves abruptly fired Brad Pigott, a former U.S. attorney in the Bill Clinton administration, who was originally hired by the state’s welfare department to try to recoup the misspent funds in civil court.

READ MORE: Gov. Tate Reeves inspired welfare payment targeted in civil suit, texts show

According to the poll released on Monday, 55% of the respondents had heard “a lot” about the scandal, while 29% had heard some and 9% had heard a little.

Reeves said he replaced Pigott because the attorney was making the investigation political and because Pigott did not have the resources to adequately pursue the case alone. Pigott said his efforts were solely to recover public funds that have been misspent.

“I guess I was getting too close,” Pigott told Al Hunt this week for Hunt’s Sunday column in The Hill. “Gov. Reeves has appointed himself commander in chief of the cover-up.”

Presley, who has held a Public Service Commission office since 2003, is at a significant disadvantage in terms of statewide name identification.

Reeves is viewed as unfavorable by 54% of poll respondents, with 40% viewing him as very unfavorable, while he is seen as favorable by 42%, including 16% seeing him as very favorable. Presley, a Nettleton resident on the Lee and Monroe County lines in northeast Mississippi, is viewed as favorable by 39% and unfavorable by 18%, but he had only 58% name identification.

The Tulchin poll found 55% said the state was on the wrong track, 34% on the right track and 11% did not know.

READ MORE: Gov. Tate Reeves says ousted welfare scandal lawyer had ‘political agenda,’ wanted media spotlight

The post Poll: Reeves trails Presley in 2023 governor’s race, welfare scandal a top issue appeared first on Mississippi Today.

FEBRUARY 13, 1960

Students began sit-ins in downtown Nashville, Tennessee, many of them students from Fisk University.

In the months that followed, more than 150 were arrested.

Rather than pay fines, they served their time in jail. When a mayor’s committee suggested separate “Black” and “White” sections at the lunch counters, the students balked.

Two months later, a bomb exploded, nearly destroying the home of Z. Alexander Looby, the defense attorney representing many protesters. Later that day, more than 3,000 marched to city hall. Diane Nash asked the mayor if it was wrong for a citizen of Nashville to discriminate on the basis of color.

The mayor admitted it was wrong. Confronted about the lunch counters, the mayor acknowledged they should be desegregated.

Weeks later, six downtown stores desegregated their lunch counters, serving Black customers for the first time. James Lawson, who knew the principles of nonviolent resistance, led the students, many of whom became important leaders in the civil rights movement: Nash, John Lewis, James Bevel, C.T. Vivian, Marion Barry and Bernard Lafayette.

David Halberstam captured their story in his book, The Children.

The post On this day in 1960 appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Why are lawmakers trying to ban gender-affirming care for trans kids? Mississippi Today’s Molly Minta talks with Jensen Luke Matar, the director of the nonprofit TRANS Program, about gender-affirming care, what it is and what it is not, and why powerful lawmakers are trying to ban it for the small number of trans kids in Mississippi. While lawmakers say they’re trying to protect kids, Matar says this effort will lead to higher rates of suicide and poor mental health.

The post Podcast: Why lawmakers are trying to ban gender-affirming care for trans kids appeared first on Mississippi Today.

House lawmakers last week passed a bill that would dramatically revamp how Mississippi spends taxpayer dollars on college financial aid. 

The vote on House Bill 711, sponsored by Rep. Donnie Scoggin, R-Ellisville, marks the furthest a bill to change state financial aid has gotten in the legislative process since talks of redesigning the programs began in 2018. 

Supporters of the bill, including the Office of Student Financial Aid, say this effort is succeeding where prior ones failed because it was created by a coalition of powerful officials who, behind closed doors, were able to reach a consensus. What that looks like is, overall, less money for college for low-income students and an increased emphasis on workforce development. 

Critics of the bill have questioned whether that trade-off is worth the impact it’ll have on low-income students. In committee meetings and on the House floor, lawmakers so far have focused on how this bill will harm the bottom line of Mississippi’s five regional and historically Black universities. 

But these institutions might actually gain money under the proposal, according to an OSFA analysis. Instead, it’s low-income students at the state’s three top-tier research institutions who stand to lose the most dollars under the proposal. 

The bill will make big changes to two of Mississippi’s three state financial aid programs: The Mississippi Resident Tuition Assistance Grant, or MTAG, and the Higher Education Legislative Plan for Needy Students, known as the HELP grant. 

The Mississippi Eminent Scholars Grant, unlike the other programs, does not consider family income. It's based solely on ACT scores and GPA and is the state's most racially inequitable program. Under the proposed bill, it would remain untouched.

Mississippi’s student financial aid programs are not stackable. This means students can only receive one grant at time, whichever one awards them the most money. For example, a student who gets a 30 on the ACT but comes from a family that makes more than $75,000 a year likely qualifies for both MTAG and MESG. But they would only receive MESG, because the grant is higher.

Currently, MTAG awards $500 per year for freshmen and sophomores and $1,000 per year for juniors and seniors. While it is intended to be a broad-based grant — the minimum ACT score required to get it is a 15, lower than the state’s average — it has a significant limitation. Low-income college students who are eligible for the full federal Pell Grant are excluded from receiving this award. This means that most MTAG recipients in Mississippi come from families that, on paper, can already afford to pay for college. 

The new MTAG, rebranded “MTAG Works,” would broaden eligibility to include full-Pell-eligible students and part-time students. It will also come with a new income cap. Students from families who make over the median family income, ($74,888 in 2022 for a four-person family, according to the federal government), would no longer be eligible. 

By expanding to include part-time students, supporters of the bill hope the new MTAG will be easier for adult students, who tend to go to college part-time while working full-time, to get. MTAG is the only undergraduate state aid program in Mississippi that does not have to be applied for within two years of college graduation. But recipients must be enrolled full-time, a requirement that excludes most adult students. 

The grant will also be increased. The award amounts under the bill would be upped to $1,000 for freshmen and sophomores and to $2,000 for juniors and seniors. Students who major in certain subjects deemed “high-value pathways” by the state’s workforce development office will receive an additional $500. It is unclear what majors will be considered “high-value pathways” or how the workforce development office will determine that. 

These changes would double the number of students who could get MTAG, according to HCM Strategists, a consulting firm that was hired by a Mississippi-based nonprofit to help write the proposal that became Scoggin’s bill. 

All this would entail Mississippi spending an extra $21 million in taxpayer dollars on state financial aid each year.

These changes are complicated and the final award would vary based on test scores, family income, and a student's year in school. Here's a sketch of how they might play out for certain kinds of students: 

A student from a family that makes more than $39,500 attending Alcorn State University with an ACT of 19:

Cost of tuition for four years: $31,476 

Current total state aid: $3,000 

New total state award: $6,000

A student with the same family income, attending the same school and with the same ACT score who majors in a “high-value pathway”:

Cost of tuition for four years: $31,476

Current total state aid: $3,000 

New total state award: $8,000 

A student whose family makes $250,000 a year attending Pearl River Community College full-time with an ACT of 27:

Cost of tuition for two years: $6,500

Current total state aid: $3,000

New total state award: $0

A part-time adult student attending Coahoma Community College:

Cost of tuition for two years: $6,400 or less

Current total state aid: $0

New total state award: $2,000

Though some studies have shown that MTAG is one of the state’s most inefficient college financial aid programs — one lawmaker remarked earlier this session that it can go to any student who “breathes air” — the Office of Student Financial Aid believes these changes will make the grant more effective. 

Education policy experts say the higher award amount might not be enough to help students afford college considering the increasing cost of college tuition in Mississippi. They also say the $500 “bonus” is too small an amount to have any effect on student behavior. 

MTAG recipients at four-year universities will gain far less money than HELP recipients stand to lose. Where some MTAG recipients who don’t major in a high-value pathway will gain $3,000 in college financial aid over four years, HELP recipients will lose an estimated $9,100 based on the average tuition at the four-year universities, according to a Mississippi Today analysis. 

HELP, the only financial aid program geared to low-income students in Mississippi, currently pays the full cost of tuition for all four years of college, no matter what institution a student attends. It is one of the state’s most effective programs, according to studies commissioned by OSFA. HELP recipients — students from families that make less than $39,500 a year – take more credit hours, have higher GPAs, and are more likely to graduate on time than their low-income peers who don’t receive other state financial aid. 

The grant is also the state’s most racially equitable. By and large, most HELP recipients — who have higher than average ACT scores based on HELP’s eligibility requirement of a 20 or higher — chose to go to four-year universities.

The bill seeks to re-route where these students attend college by converting the HELP grant into what’s commonly called a “2+2” program. It will reduce the award for freshmen and sophomores to the average cost of tuition at community colleges (roughly $3,300), but juniors and seniors will continue to receive the average cost of tuition at the four-year universities (roughly $8,900). 

This change means that future HELP recipients will lose thousands of dollars in financial aid for college. 

Here’s what that looks like for HELP recipients over the course of four years: 

A low-income student who goes to Mississippi State University for all four years with an ACT score of 28:

Cost of tuition for four years: $36,992

Current total state aid: $36,992 (estimated based on 22-23 tuition)

New total state award: $24,400

A low-income student who goes to Mississippi Valley State University for all four years with an ACT score of 34:

Cost of tuition for four years: $29,096

Current total state aid: $29,096 (estimated based on 22-23 tuition)

New total state award: $24,400

A low-income student who goes to Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College with an ACT score of 20:

Cost of full-time tuition for two years: $6,600

Current total state aid: $6,600 (estimated based on 22-23 tuition)

New total state award: $6,600

The extent to which changes to the HELP grant will affect recipients at different universities in Mississippi will depend on a variety of factors, like the cost of tuition at the university they’re attending and whether they qualify for private institutional aid or scholarships.

The post Big changes could be coming to state financial aid. Who are the winners and losers? appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Mississippi Stories goes in person this week with our first in-studio guest, Vicksburg native and world-known designer Raymond Banks. Founder of Hoodvenchy, Raymond talks about how a single bow tie led to his fashions being seen on the world’s runways. He also talks about growing up and how his parents and Alcorn State University led to his career.

The post Mississippi Stories: Raymond Banks appeared first on Mississippi Today.

The post Marshall Ramsey: The Sue-per Bowl appeared first on Mississippi Today.

FEBRUARY 12, 1900

Five hundred Black students at a Jacksonville, Florida, school sang a new song, “Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing.”

Their principal, James Weldon Johnson, had written the words, and his brother had finished the tune in time to honor Abraham Lincoln’s birthday. The brothers moved on to New York City, but the children kept on singing the new song and soon others joined them.

“Within 20 years, it was being sung over the South,” soon gaining the nickname, the “Negro National Anthem,” Johnson recalled. He became executive secretary for the NAACP, a crusader against lynchings and an important voice for the voiceless, coining the phrase “Red Summer” to describe the 1919 summer filled with race massacres.

But he remains best known for the song, which talks of the exodus from brutal slavery to the promised land. The lyrics continue to resonate today:

“We have come, treading our path through the blood of the slaughtered, out from the gloomy past, ’til now we stand at last where the white gleam of our bright star is cast.”

The song continues to be recorded by top celebrities, including Beyoncé, and is now being played at NFL games, alongside the National Anthem.

The post On this day in 1900 appeared first on Mississippi Today.

For a brief period in Mississippi’s political past, there was suspense going into the November statewide general elections about which party would control the Legislature.

For much of the state’s history, though, the minority party had no mathematical chance to capture the state Legislature in the general election. And that is certainly the case now.

If all the candidates Democrats found to qualify to run for state House and Senate seats won their November general elections, the Republicans still will have sizable majorities when the 2024 session begins.

Eleven Democrats qualified by the Feb. 1 deadline to run for House seats currently held by Republicans. But few expect all of the Democratic candidates to defeat the Republican incumbents. It would be more likely that all would lose.

But even if all 11 Democrats won, Republicans would still control a majority in the House. There are currently 76 Republicans, 41 Democrats and three independents in the 122-member chamber. Two seats are vacant — one held for years by a Democrat and one that traditionally is a Republican seat.

If the Democrats won all of those 11 seats, they would have 53 members, including the current vacancy, in the 122-member House. Democrats also will be favored to win another seat currently held by Michael Ted Evans, an independent from Preston in east Mississippi, though a Republican will be on the ballot. Democrats also could pick up a seat in House District 64, currently held by Rep. Shanda Yates, an independent from Jackson.

Over in the Senate, the outlook is not much better for the Democrats. Republicans currently have a 36-16 advantage in the 52-member Senate. Democrats are challenging five of those 36 Republicans. Even using the new math, there is no way in November that Democrats can gain control of the Senate.

The state is not quite in the same position it was for decades when it was a given that the Democrats would control the Legislature and there would be only a handful of Republican lawmakers at best. No matter what happens in November, there will be a healthy number of Democrats in both the House and Senate.

For a few election cycles in the late 1990s and 2000s, as state politics evolved from Democratic to Republican control, there was suspense going into the November general election about which party would control the Legislature.

That culminated in the 2011 elections, when Republicans by a narrow margin won the House for the first time since Reconstruction and captured the Senate by a wider margin. Those Republican majorities grew during the four-year term as House and Senate members changed from Democratic to Republican.

As a result of the 2015 elections, Republicans gained more seats and captured a three-fifths majority in both chambers. That was significant since a three-fifths majority gives Republicans enough votes to pass a tax cut or tax increase without any Democratic support if all the Republicans stick together.

Going into the 2023 elections later this year, Republicans have two-thirds majorities in both chambers — enough to pass by the required two-thirds majority a resolution to amend the Mississippi Constitution.

Should Democrat Brandon Presley prove political prognosticators wrong and defeat Republican incumbent Gov. Tate Reeves this November, Republicans without any Democratic help would have the required two-thirds majority needed to override a Presley veto.

Some other interesting legislative nuggets resulting from the deadline to qualify to run for office:

• Republicans are running in seven House seats currently held by Democrats. They are likely to win at least two of those seats.
• Republicans are challenging in four Senate districts held by Democrats.
• Twenty-eight House Republicans, including 27 incumbents, are unopposed this year without opposition in the party primary or in the general election from Democrats or from third party candidates.
• Nineteen House Democrats are running with no opposition.
• Sixteen Senate Republicans are running unopposed.
• Seven Senate Democrats are running with no opposition.

Under the current political climate, there is most likely no legislative map that could be drawn where the Democrats could capture control of the Legislature. But by the same token, the Republicans have gerrymandered the districts to such an extent that there are currently few competitive districts. Under the current legislative districts, there are a lot of Republican districts where the Democrat has little chance of winning and a fewer number of Democratic districts where the Republican has little or no chance to prevail.

A more balanced map with more competitive districts could be drawn.

But in the current political climate with the current legislative districts, the bottom line is that while there might be some individual races of interest on Nov. 7, there will be no questions that night about which party will control the Mississippi Legislature.

For decades it was the Democrats. Now it is Republicans.

In Mississippi, the more things change the more they stay the same.

The post Republicans again a lock to control Legislature after November election appeared first on Mississippi Today.

FEBRUARY 11, 1790

The Pennsylvania Abolition Society, believed to be the first American society dedicated to the cause, petitioned Congress for emancipation of all who were enslaved.

Educator and abolitionist Anthony Benezet started the organization after the creation of a school in Philadelphia for Black Americans. Benjamin Franklin served as president of the Pennsylvania Abolition Society, which sought to create schools for Black Americans and to help them find jobs.

The society became a model for other abolitionist groups that followed. One of its members, Robert Purvis, a Black abolitionist, helped form the American Anti-Slavery Society in 1833, using his home and farm to hide those who had escaped slavery before helping them escape to other cities and to Canada by way of the Underground Railroad.

The society still exists, combating racism and seeking to reduce harsh sentencing and the over-representation of Black Americans in prison.

The post On this day in 1790 appeared first on Mississippi Today.