OurTupelo

Question:

Is there any legislation currently that puts existing rights and liberties in jeopardy?

Answer:

Some local governments in Mississippi have passed resolutions to protect LGBTQ+ rights, and recently proposed legislation attempting to restrict transgender people’s rights died in committee during the 2022 legislative session. However, there is concern about the lack of legislation that explicitly prohibits discrimination based on gender and sexual identity.

A Timeline:

View the timeline and historic details below for a brief history of state legislation.

In  1802, Mississippi adopted a code that made sodomy a criminal offense. In 1890, when Mississippi created its new state constitution, it included the sodomy law. This law remains on Mississippi’s books but was invalidated by the federal law enacted from the Lawrence v. Texas case. However, after Roe v. Wade was overturned, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas included in his opinion that the Supreme Court should reconsider the validity of Lawrence v. Texas. 

A state law prohibited same-sex couples from being able to adopt. It was only on March 31, 2016, that Chief United States District Judge Daniel P. Jordan III issued a preliminary injunction striking down Mississippi’s ban on same-sex couples adopting, ruling that the law violates the Equal Protection Clause. 

This injunction followed the 2015 landmark decision of Obergefell v. Hodges, in which same-sex marriage was federally legalized and protected. In a swift response, the Mississippi Legislature in 2016 passed House Bill 1523 (H.B. 1523), also called the Religious Liberty Accommodations Act or Protecting Freedom of Conscience from Government Discrimination Act. 

H.B. 1523 states “The sincerely held religious beliefs or moral convictions protected by this act are the belief or conviction that:

(a) Marriage is or should be recognized as the union of one man and one woman;
(b) Sexual relations are properly reserved to such a marriage; and 
(c) Male (man) or female (woman) refer to an individual’s immutable biological sex as objectively determined by anatomy and genetics at time of birth.” 

This piece of legislation was a roundabout attempt to enable discrimination of LGBTQ+ citizens to continue under a thin veneer of expression of religious freedom. 

After the passing of H.B. 1523, many state and local city governments, such as Minnesota, New York, Vermont and Washington banned government employees from non-essential publicly funded travel to Mississippi. The bans were intended to illustrate the widespread dissent with Mississippi’s law.

No provision of Mississippi law explicitly addresses gender identity-based discrimination. State non-discrimination laws extend to categories of “race, religious principles, color, sex, national origin, ancestry and handicap.” Miss. Code Ann. §§ 43-33-723 (2001); 25-9-103 (2001).

According to the Human Rights Campaign, no provision of Mississippi law addresses discrimination based on sexual orientation or addresses gender identity-based discrimination.

Various resolutions passed by local city governments protect LGBTQ+ rights. Hattiesburg, Oxford, Bay St. Louis, and Jackson are among the few cities that have all passed non-discrimination resolutions to support LGBTQ+ residents. 

Mississippi has not prohibited the use of the gay or transgender panic defense as a legal strategy. This legal strategy is employed by lawyers who try to excuse their defendant’s crimes, such as murder or assault, by claiming that the victim being gay or trans caused the defendant to react violently. 

While Mississippi does not protect people’s sexual orientation or gender identity in its existing hate crime law, the federal Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act allows the federal government to prosecute hate crimes, including those based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

Recently, “Real You Act of 2022,” which died in committee, was introduced by Sen. Chad McMahan, R-Guntown, to limit some people from changing their name and gender. This piece of legislation is aimed at curtailing transgender rights, as it would disallow incarcerated individuals from petitioning the court to legally change their name or update their gender marker during their sentence. The bill also makes it impossible for minors to change their gender marker if they so desire. 

Another stressor for Mississippi LGBTQ+ minors is that they are not protected by state law against conversion therapy, where minors could be subjected to harmful practices in an attempt to change their sexual orientation. 

VIDEO: Capital City Pride’s Jason McCarty talks Pride in Mississippi with Robin McGehee

The post A brief history of LGBTQ+ legislation in Mississippi appeared first on Mississippi Today.

In this episode of Mississippi Stories, Mississippi Today Editor-At-Large Marshall Ramsey visits with golfer Ethan Mangum. Mangum is a graduate student and member of the golf team at the College of William & Mary. He’s also a former Jackson resident who was recently named the inaugural Genesis Invitational tournament Pathway Player, awarded to a player with a minority background who is excelling on the golf course and academically.

Mangum tells about how he started playing golf at the age of two, his pathway of success, how his parents influenced him and how he trains to be the world-class athlete and student. His is an inspirational story and a blueprint for anyone who wants to be successful. His story is a perfect blend of talent and hard work.

The post Mississippi Stories: Ethan Mangum appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Despite the current abortion ban imposed by state law, a brave doctor could theoretically perform the medical procedure and argue in court that she was acting based on what the Mississippi Supreme Court said was legal.

Of course, a doctor challenging the law might be labeled as foolish instead of brave since the physician would run the risk of losing her medical license and face the specter of being sentenced to prison under conditions of the state law banning abortion. No telling how judges in Mississippi might rule on the issue.

But the fact remains that Mississippi is in this strange place where abortions no longer are being performed because of state law yet there is a Supreme Court decision saying the Mississippi Constitution provides abortion rights. And a ninth grade civics student learns that the constitution supersedes state laws.

Based on that 1998 Supreme Court ruling in Pro-Choice Mississippi v. Kirk Fordice, Jackson Women’s Health Organization — what had been the state’s only abortion clinic — recently filed a lawsuit asking that the state abortion ban law be blocked. Many assumed that the ultimate outcome of the lawsuit would be that a lower court would grant, perhaps reluctantly, the motion to postpone the ban and then the state would appeal to the Mississippi Supreme Court, which would issue a ruling reversing the 1998 decision that said there was a constitutional right to an abortion.

But Chancellor Debbra Halford of Franklin County, appointed by state Supreme Court Justice Michael Randolph to hear the case, took a different path. She refused to block the abortion ban.

Halford pointed out that the U.S. Supreme Court had reversed Roe v. Wade, which provided the federal constitutional right to an abortion. She reasoned that the 1998 state state Supreme Court ruling was made because the U.S. Supreme Court had ruled in Roe v. Wade that abortion was legal based on rights under the U.S. Constitution. 

But Halford could not cite where the Mississippi Supreme Court said in the 1998 ruling that abortion was a right under the Mississippi Constitution contingent on Roe v. Wade. The state Supreme Court majority opinion said in 1998 abortion was a right under the Mississippi Constitution, separate and apart from Roe.

Further, Halford, proving she was a soothsayer as well as a legal scholar, said that when the case got back before the state Supreme Court, it would reverse the 1998 ruling. She most likely is correct, and we’ll find out soon because the clinic appealed her ruling to the state Supreme Court.

But what if the abortion rights supporters stopped their lawsuit after the Halford decision? The state would have been left in the aforementioned strange place where there was a law banning abortion even though there was a constitutional right to an abortion as stated in the 1998 Mississippi Supreme Court ruling. Halford’s ruling did not overturn that 1998 Supreme Court ruling.

It could be argued that Jackson Women’s Health Organization is doing the state a favor by appealing the Halford decision, giving the Supreme Court the opportunity to reverse the 1998 decision or proclaim unequivocally the state constitution provides abortion rights.

In 1996, then-U.S. Judge William Barbour of the Southern District of Mississippi prevented some restrictions placed on abortion clinics by the state from taking effect.

Barbour of Yazoo City, a relative of former Gov. Haley Barbour, said at the time he was personally opposed to abortion and the decision he was making pained him, but it was the only decision he could make since Roe v. Wade was the law of the land.

Late last month, of course, the U.S. Supreme Court in a landmark decision reversed Roe v. Wade, meaning abortion rights no longer are guaranteed in the U.S. Constitution. That ruling led to the current abortion ban in Mississippi.

But while Roe was the law, scores of federal judges, even those who opposed abortion like William Barbour, issued rulings protecting abortion rights because, they said, they did not have the authority to overrule the U.S. Supreme Court.

Just like Roe v. Wade was the governing authority for Barbour and all those lower court federal judges, Pro-Choice Mississippi v. Fordice was and is the precedent for all the lower court state judges in Mississippi.

Just as the U.S. Supreme Court can and did overturn Roe v. Wade, the Mississippi Supreme Court can and most likely will overturn Pro-Choice Mississippi v. Fordice.

But William Barbour pointed out in 1996 that is a decision for the Supreme Court, not for the lower courts.

READ MORE: FAQ — Abortion in Mississippi post-Roe v. Wade

The post Mississippi, where abortion is technically both legal and illegal at the same time appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Andrew Aydin listens back to old voicemails from John Lewis. 

To Aydin, the congressman wasn’t just a mentor and collaborator. He was the closest thing the former congressional aide had to a father.

Lewis’ voice was booming and deep, even when playful: “Andrew?” the voicemails play. “Where are you, young man?” 

Aydin recorded phone calls as the two were at work on their historical non-fiction graphic novel series. Lewis would fall asleep talking, the recordings capturing his snores. The two would later joke about those snores during book talks for their work on the “March,” a trilogy covering the lead-up to the voting and civil rights acts. 

“I guess the John Lewis I knew is not the John Lewis everyone else knew,” he told Mississippi Today. 

Lewis died on July 17, 2020, from pancreatic cancer. He was 80. His latest graphic novel, “Run,” published the following year picking up where the March trilogy left off. 

Now Aydin and illustrator Nate Powell, who worked closely with Lewis on the books, are faced with a new challenge: touring and speaking about their work without Lewis at their side. When the two come to speak at the Mississippi Book Festival on Aug. 20, it will likely be the first in-person talk they have given since the pandemic began – and since Lewis died. 

“I’m excited to go to Mississippi,” Aydin said. “I’m excited to be back. I’m excited to get to talk to people about this work. These experiences that I’ve had to help keep John Lewis, the human being, alive for people. I don’t want him to become a mythic figure or something that seems unreachable.” 

The two told Mississippi Today that continuing promoting and explaining the comics and their influence is vital. Especially now, when materials used to teach about the civil rights movement in schools are threatened under so-called critical race theory laws across the South and in Mississippi. 

“We know we’re under attack,” Aydin said. “It’s why it’s so important that Nate and I get out on the road and go speak and tell this story. As the congressman would say: ‘Go preach the gospel.’ Because we have to keep these works in schools.” 

The three “March” books follow a young John Lewis and organizers using nonviolent civil disobedience in the fight for civil rights and end to segregation. They chronicle a slew of events, from Lewis first meeting Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to the Mississippi Freedom Summer and Bloody Sunday. “Run” shows the conflicts that arise in the aftermath of the movement’s victories. 

They’re comic books – the same medium as classics such as “Amazing Spider-Man.” There are no super powers, but real-life high stakes. Aydin, Powell and Lewis went to great lengths to make the works historically accurate, down to the dialogue. The panels move quickly and create something easy to digest despite the amount of historical context, which is why they’ve been lauded as an incredible teaching tool. 

In the lead-up to working on the graphic novels, Lewis recalled a comic book about King published in the late 1950s that covered the Montgomery bus boycotts. The comic was sold out of car trunks and passed out in churches. It inspired nonviolent protests across the South. Lewis saw the accessibility comics offered. 

“Congressman Lewis’ context for the power of comics, in educating contextualized nonviolent movements, absolutely not only set the precedent for the book and the mandate for the book,” Powell said, “but it was, by itself already, kind of a proof of concept in John Lewis’ mind.”

Powell has used the books in his personal life to teach his own children history. They’ve also helped him re-examine the gaps in his own education and the sensitized version of the civil rights movements often delivered in classrooms. 

The books have won several awards – the third “March,” a National Book Award – and spent six weeks on the New York Times best-seller list. 

The last time Aydin was in Mississippi it was alongside Lewis. The two were part of a distribution program for “March” that gave the books to students in the Delta. 

“When the congressman and I would tour places like Mississippi or Georgia, or North Carolina, he would often comment about how close we were – or drive by – many of these places that he was either beaten or arrested or where he staged protests,” Aydin said. “And it really drove the importance of what we were doing and being there.” 

“Now doing it without the congressman,” he added, “it’s really hard.” 

It might be a challenge emotionally, but Aydin said it’s not only the best way to protect Lewis’ legacy but also ensure he’s remembered as a full person not an untouchable historical figure. 

“What is so powerful about his story and his life is that it is a model for any of us,” Aydin said. 

READ MORE:

• In ‘The Movement Made Us,’ father and son reflect on the past, both remembered and forgotten
• Beginning to question first impressions: Q&A with author Matt de la Peña

The post John Lewis’ ‘March’ and ‘Run’ collaborators look to Mississippi visit to continue civil right leader’s legacy appeared first on Mississippi Today.

In the Deep South, folks tend to fry everything. The list of fried items is like a rendition of legendary gospel singer Shirley Caesar belting out a litany of Sunday soul food dishes — “beans, greens, potatoes, tomatoes, lamb,” and everything else from A to Z, including okra, fish, chicken, pickles, and, yes, even watermelon.

Visit outdoor events like the Mississippi State Fair or any backyard cookout, and load up on fried oreos, turkey legs, funnel cakes, alligator, Snickers candy bars and even Kool-Aid.

All that fried food is quick to make, tasty and inexpensive. But, the far-reaching results — Mississippi ranks at the top of the nation in obesity, heart disease, high blood pressure and diabetes.

“In this area, you don’t have to go far to find fast-food. And, more often than not, it’s something fried,” said Christopher Deans III, operator and co-owner of Loaded Lettuce, located in the Westland Plaza restaurant in west Jackson. “It’s not just the fast-food restaurants, even the convenience stores and gas stations offer something deep fried.”

Deans III is a former teacher at Provine High School in Jackson. Raising his growing family on a teacher’s salary convinced him to go full-time with the business. His former students work at the restaurant, and he hires from the community with plans to open a second restaurant near Jackson State University.

Loaded Lettuce opened in September 2021, and is the brainchild of Deans’ father, Christopher Deans, Sr., a local physical therapist. The business was first called Simply Salad, but trademark issues resulted in the change to Loaded Lettuce.

“My dad has been in health care for over 20 years. He’s seen the long-term effects of an unhealthy diet, a bad diet,” said Deans. “He gets you after you’ve had that stroke, so he knows. And he cares. Loaded Lettuce is the result of his caring.”

“Here at Loaded Lettuce, we offer a nutritious alternative. Our goal is to bring a hearty, healthy, and convenient choice to the community,” Deans explains. “Our customers tell us that we are a breath of fresh air,” he says with a huge smile.

The post Loaded Lettuce — a hearty, healthy alternative appeared first on Mississippi Today.

U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson wrote a letter on Friday to U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland, asking for a Department of Justice investigation into former Gov. Phil Bryant’s influence over the possible misspending of federal welfare funds.

Bryant, who was Mississippi governor from 2012-2020, was first publicly accused of wrongdoing this week by key defendants in the state’s ongoing civil case regarding the sprawling welfare scandal. The defendants specifically said Bryant directed them to pay former NFL quarterback Brett Favre $1.1 million in welfare funds, among other grant spending.

“This gross misuse of (welfare grant) dollars must illicit a review of former Governor Phil Bryant’s involvement,” Thompson wrote. “Such an investigation should also examine the intolerable activity of retired NFL quarterback Brett Favre and how his actions were aided by Governor Bryant.”

READ MORE: Gov. Phil Bryant directed $1.1 million welfare payment to Brett Favre, defendant says

In his letter, Thompson referenced Mississippi Today’s “The Backchannel” investigative series, which first examined Bryant’s role in the scandal using never-before-published text messages shared with the news organization.

“It is egregious that news reports produce critical information that has yet to be addressed in the current investigations by state and local agencies,” Thompson wrote.

Thompson is not the first to call for a federal investigation of the former governor. In April, following initial publication of Mississippi Today’s “The Backchannel” series, the national president of the NAACP wrote a letter to Garland asking for a federal investigation.

READ MORE: Phil Bryant had his sights on a payout as welfare funds flowed to Brett Favre

Read the letter in full below:

The post Congressman asks feds to investigate former Gov. Phil Bryant’s welfare spending influence appeared first on Mississippi Today.

As police continue to investigate the disappearance of Jimmie “Jay” Lee – the 20-year-old University of Mississippi student who has been missing for a week – his friends and family are organizing search parties and passing out fliers in Oxford. 

Some of Lee’s classmates have also started a GoFundMe to support his family. 

Lee, a Black student who is well-known in the college town’s LGBT community, was last seen on Friday, July 8, at 5:58 a.m. leaving his home at Campus Walk Apartments, according to the Oxford Police Department. 

He was wearing a silver robe or housecoat, a gold cap or bonnet, and gray slippers. 

Police think Lee may have driven to Molly Barr Trails, a student apartment complex seven minutes away from Campus Walk where his car was towed in the afternoon of July 8. Police found his car at a towing company three days later, and it’s now at the Mississippi State Crime Laboratory for processing. 

The University of Mississippi Police Department, which is working with OPD to find Lee, received the first report that he was missing on Friday, July 8, at 8:28 p.m., according to an incident report. 

The report, one sentence long, shows that officer John Boyd conducted a welfare check at Lee’s apartment that night but there was “negative contact.”  

As the family looks for Lee, they’ve increased the reward to $5,000. Crimestoppers, a nonprofit that supports law enforcement, has pledged a $1,000 reward for finding Lee.

Lee was spending the summer in Oxford finishing his bachelor’s degree in social work. He is already accepted into UM’s masters program in social work and is scheduled to start this fall. 

The day he went missing, Lee was supposed to go to a donation drive for baby formula that he organized as part of a summer internship with the Mississippi Department of Child Protection Services in Lafayette County. 

Over the last week, Lee’s family and friends have organized search parties and passed out fliers looking for him.

“This is a loving, caring person that would give you the shirt off his back if you need it,” Tayla Carey, Lee’s sister, told Mississippi Today. “His family is in desperate need of finding him and just making sure he returns safely.” 

When Carey talked with Mississippi Today this Friday morning, she was getting ready to drive to Oxford from Ridgeland for another search party that would meet at the Walmart on West Jackson Ave. She said the family needs more volunteers to help pass out fliers and that anyone who wants to help can contact her on Facebook. 

Carey said she found out that Lee was missing in the evening on July 8 when her mom called to ask if she’d spoken to him that day. The last thing the family heard from Lee, Carey said, was at 2 a.m. on July 8, when he’d texted his mom to wish her happy birthday. 

The family’s theory is that Lee had gone to get coffee or visit a friend early in the morning on Friday, because he was last seen wearing sleepwear. It wasn’t unusual for him to be up that early, but he left behind his dog, Lexus Lola. 

“My little brother, he is the type of person, he’s not gonna leave the house unless he is ten-ten,” Carey said. “I’m talking his dress, his make up. He’s not gonna leave his house until he makes sure he looks good. For him to walk out the door in a house bonnet, a housecoat and his slippers – that lets us know he was going to get coffee or he was going to meet someone that he trusted.” 

Lee was an active member of UM’s student government association and served as the director of LGBTQ Outreach. His family and friends describe him as a confident person who often wears acrylic nails and long, blonde hair.

Friends and family say that many people in Oxford, a small-town that revolves around the university, are terrified for Lee. 

On Thursday night, Kristy Durkin, a professor of social work at UM who taught Lee, went to put up fliers with Alexis Parker, one of Lee’s classmates. They printed more than 50 fliers and taped them up at the central bus transit station, at restaurants and inside men’s bathrooms at Lee’s favorite bars on the Square. 

“There was one point I just kind of broke down and cried,” Durkin said. “Everywhere we went, (people asked) have you heard anything, (and said) well put ’em (the fliers) up.” 

At one point in the evening, they put up fliers in a restaurant where three police officers were eating dinner. One of the officers walked over and said they were praying for Lee. 

Parker said she found out Lee was missing on Sunday, July 10, when the university sent out a campus-wide email about his disappearance. She’s driven past Molly Barr Trail every day this week. On Wednesday, she saw Desoto County sheriff officers walking dogs through the complex. She said an officer told her they didn’t find anything. 

Today in class, Parker said her classmates talked about Lee and how they can help his family in the search. They decided to make a GoFundMe to help his family pay for gas and food. 

OPD has put out several press releases over the last week about its efforts to find Lee. On July 12, the department said it was “utilizing all available resources to track tips, potential witnesses, speaking with friends, running search warrants, canvassing areas, and collecting evidence.” 

OPD’s most recent update, on Thursday, July 14, says the department has conducted “numerous” interviews and is waiting for information to be returned from “around a dozen” search warrants it has “executed on both physical and digital entities.” 

Carey said Lee’s family is receiving the same updates from the police as the public. 

“They are doing their part, they are helping us as much as they can,” she said. “It’s a waiting game, we’re playing the waiting game.” 

Meanwhile, Lee’s family and friends are still searching for him. On Wednesday, OPD released a video of Lee’s dad pleading for help finding Lee. He reads from a statement on the back of an aquamarine flier that Lee created to advertise the baby formula donation drive. 

“I can remember my son coming to this college, you know, being willing to face the unknown without a problem. I’m so proud of him for that. I want everyone to know … he was there to help if he saw the need,” he said.

“I’m asking that, if anyone knows anything or sees anything, say something. Call, contact the law enforcement. Just tell them what you know. This is my plea that you help find my child.” 

The post Community, family searching for missing Ole Miss student Jay Lee appeared first on Mississippi Today.

You don’t need to be loved by everyone when your superpower is raising money.

The post Marshall Ramsey: Money Can Buy You Love appeared first on Mississippi Today.

The Mississippi Department of Health announced on Thursday that the state’s Women, Infants and Children’s Nutrition Program (WIC) is adding new baby formulas to its approved product list to improve access amid the national formula shortage. 

Before the shortage, only four types of formula could be purchased with WIC benefits in Mississippi unless an infant received an exemption through a medical diagnosis. The department made eight new products available on June 1 and have now added six more. These additional options will be WIC-eligible at least through the end of August.

The new options added on Thursday are all alternative Enfamil products, including new formulations and product sizes. A list of new approved formulas can be found here.

Mississippi has the second-lowest rate of breastfeeding in the nation, and the formula shortage has left some parents struggling to feed their children.

There were 84,000 women, children and infants who participated in WIC in Mississippi in 2018, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Supply-chain issues related to the COVID-19 pandemic are one cause of the formula shortage. The shortage was heavily exacerbated by the recall of three major baby formula brands manufactured by Abbott Nutrition after a probe by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration found bacterial contamination at one Abbott facility in Sturgis, Mich. At least four babies were hospitalized and two died after consuming contaminated formula, the Food and Drug Administration said. 

The Sturgis facility, which is estimated to produce one-fifth of the U.S. baby formula supply, shut down in February due to the contamination. It reopened on June 4, but was shut back down again just nine days later due to flooding. The plant resumed operations again on July 1, but has not resumed production of Similac, its most popular formula brand. 

The Biden administration has attempted to bolster U.S. formula supplies through efforts like Operation Fly Formula, which used the Defense Department to fly in formula from other countries. Despite these efforts by the government and others by manufacturers to boost production, stores are still struggling to stock their shelves.

The post Mississippi WIC program again adds baby formula options amid national shortage appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Jackson parents and guardians can soon be fined or jailed if their children commit a gun crime or possess a weapon. 

A $1,000 fine and sentence of six months in jail are part of an ordinance the Jackson City Council unanimously approved July 5. The ordinance is set to go into effect in 30 days. 

“We are hoping it will be a win-win for the parents, young people and the government,” said Ward 3 Councilman Kenneth Stokes, who had the idea for the ordinance.

He and other council members see the new policy as a way to reduce violent crime, encourage parents to be more involved in their children’s lives and a way to prevent minors from getting access to firearms. 

In most cases, children and teens obtain weapons from gun runners who go to shows to get weapons or get them illegally to sell, he said. 

A small portion of minors may get a gun at home, but Stokes said most responsible parents have a safe place to keep their guns. He said another small portion of them may find a gun somewhere else, such as one abandoned outside that may be linked to a crime. 

The ordinance also fines adults who don’t properly store their firearms. Fines are $500 if access to the firearm results in injury to the child or another person and $1,000 if access results in injury or death. Both situations of improper storage can also result in six months in jail. 

“It’s just common sense that you can’t have a gun available to a minor or juvenile,” he said. 

The ordinance adopts the same exceptions for minors to possess handguns already included in state law, including hunting or trapping with a valid license, competing in a firearm competition, using a firearm for target shooting at an established range or using a firearm with permission and control of an adult. 

It also has exceptions for the gun storage, such as if a minor obtains a firearm and discharges it during a lawful act of self-defense or in defense of another. 

Jackson police will be the primary enforcer of the ordinance with involvement from the municipal prosecutor’s office, Stokes said. 

Parents and guardians who try to get help for their children to prevent them from getting involved in crime wouldn’t face punishment under the city’s ordinance, Stokes said. He asked about this situation and received confirmation from the city attorney’s office during the July 5 council meeting. 

Robert Langford is executive director of Operation Shoestring, a nonprofit that has operated in Jackson for over 50 years and works with parents and mostly elementary school-aged students through after school and summer programs, skills training and more. The organization’s goal is to build spaces where children feel safe, he said.

Langford appreciates the council’s goal to hold people accountable and encourage good parenting. But he sees other efforts to support children and families as more effective. 

“My sense is that what would be more effective is to go upstream to create more things that help support children and families earlier on,” he said.

A better investment in time and resources to address youth crime and violent crime would be more support for after school and summer programs, including those for middle and high school-aged children, Langford said. 

Another way to prevent children from getting involved in gun crimes and their parents for bearing responsibility would be to address root causes of crime, he said. 

Many of those Operation Shoestring helps are from low income and high poverty neighborhoods, he said. Some have likely experienced an adverse childhood experience, which includes experiencing violence, abuse or neglect; witnessing violence and having a family attempt or die by suicide.

These experiences are linked to substance use problems later on in life, mental illness and chronic health issues and also negatively impact performance in school, work and relationships, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 

However, adverse experiences are preventable. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said they can be prevented by protecting children from violence and addressing factors that put people at risk for violence. In Jackson, Langford said those efforts can look like increasing early childhood experiences and strengthening economic outcomes for children and families.

Ward 6 Councilman Aaron Banks chairs the Public Safety/Park and Environment Ad Hoc Committee, which crafted the city’s ordinance. During a May 31 meeting, he said the ordinance is just one step to reduce crime. Another long term issue to address would be the state’s gun laws. 

At the meeting, some council members said they wanted to insure the ordinance doesn’t have unintended consequences, such as job loss and incarceration. Others wanted to see a plan to support parents through training and education. 

Other cities have ordinances that address children’s access to firearms. 

In May, the Yazoo Herald reported parents or guardians in Yazoo City can face criminal charges if their child is found in possession of a gun. The Yazoo City police department is seizing guns from juveniles regardless of who owns them, WLBT reported. 

In Seattle, Wash., the city has an ordinance that starts with a $500 fine and increases to $1,000 based on whether the person has safe gun storage and reasonably knows a minor, at-risk or prohibited person can access the firearm. The fine jumps to $10,000 if an injury or death occurs as a result of them accessing the weapon. 

Following the Nov. 30, 2021 Oxford High School shooting in Michigan that killed four students, the parents of the 15-year-old shooter were charged with involuntary manslaughter. A prosecutor said they ignored opportunities to intervene before the shooting, the Associated Press reported.

The couple also purchased the gun used in the shooting for their son, even though minors in Michigan aren’t allowed to possess guns, the AP reported. 

Stokes said having a city ordinance along with community resources to support children and families could have an impact. 

During a town hall last year, he brought community members, Jackson police and groups together to talk about solutions to youth crime. Mentorship and activities like sports or music were suggested as potential options for children and teens. Stokes said education is also a key way to keep them out of crime. 

“If a child is on the wrong path and they are a juvenile delinquent or criminal, they could become an adult criminal,” Stokes said. “You’ve got to break that cycle, keep them on the right track.”

The post Under new ordinance, Jackson parents can be fined, jailed if their children commit a gun crime appeared first on Mississippi Today.