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Yes, says former Mississippi State baseball great Jake Mangum, he wishes he had been allowed to earn money from endorsements when he was hitting line drives, stealing bases and was the face of the popular Bulldogs baseball program from 2016-2019.

“There’s no doubt I could have made some money,” Mangum said. “Would have been nice.”

Mangum famously put off earning hundreds of thousands of dollars in professional baseball to play his junior and senior seasons at State. (Mangum was age-eligible for the Major League draft after his sophomore season.)

“It would have helped me make up for some of the money I lost,” he said. Mangum made it clear he thinks college baseball players, most of whom pay at least part of their way through school, should have an opportunity to earn money through endorsements.

Under separate bills passed this week by both the state Senate and House, college athletes would be allowed to contract with an agent for their names, images or likenesses to be used, for instance, to endorse a product and receive compensation for that endorsement. Mangum was one of the first athletes I thought of when the legislation was passed. He was the square-jawed, handsome darling of State fans. A car dealership or insurance company could have done a lot worse than have him endorsing their products.

And can you imagine the kind of money a star football quarterback — a Dak Prescott or an Eli Manning — could have made on the side during their collegiate days?

But Mangum, a smart guy who has professed a desire to some day work as a college athletics coach or administrator, does see possible pitfalls of an open earnings market for college athletes.

“If this is going to happen, and it looks like it will, I don’t just think it should be allowed for underclassmen,” Mangum said. “It never should become part of recruiting. I believe it should be for juniors and seniors.”

Mississippi athletic directors and coaches privately fear they will be at a competitive disadvantage against colleges from more populous states with more and richer corporations that might seek endorsement contracts with collegiate athletes.

“Sooner or later, you know it will eventually become a recruiting tool,” one in-state athletic director told me. “I don’t see how that is going to help us.”

And it is difficult to see how it will help more than a few of the brightest athletic stars.

In other words, the all-conference quarterback could make thousands. But what about the guards and tackles who block for him?

“The devil will be in the details,” said Deuce McAllister, the former Ole Miss and New Orleans Saints standout running back, and one of the most popular players in Rebel football history. McAllister believes he could have made hundreds of thousands of dollars in endorsements over his Ole Miss career when he rushed for more than 3,000 yards and scored 41 touchdowns for teams that won 30 games, including three bowl games.

What details?

“When do you become eligible for making endorsements?” McAllister answered. “What products can you endorse? Are there any limits? How do you keep it out of recruiting?”

Social media, McAllister says, will make it easy for college athletes to make endorsements. Many of the best known college athletes have Twitter followers in the tens of thousands.

The NCAA must decide those details. It is a task the organization has put off for years. But the clock is about to run out. At least four other states already have passed similar laws. Legislation is pending in many other states. Meanwhile, the NCAA has said it is waiting for the U.S. Congress to pass legislation to provide guidance on the issue. The U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments in a relevant lawsuit in March and is expected to rule on the issue later this summer. Clearly, change is coming.

In big-time college athletics, coaches and administrators make millions of dollars and often move from school to school for larger contracts. They are free to make endorsements, and coaches such as Nick Saban and Mike Krzyzewski make hundreds of thousands of dollars in endorsements on top of their salaries, already large enough to make corporate CEOs drool. Meanwhile, college athletes, at least above the table, get only tuition, room and board, and a modest stipend, can’t endorse anything and have little, if any, free time to even hold a part-time job. College baseball players often don’t get full scholarships.

That’s not right.

But McAllister is right. The devil will be in the details. And there are so many. Here’s one more: If you limit endorsements to upperclassmen, what does that do to the many elite college basketball players who normally play only one or two seasons before going pro?

The NCAA should have gotten ahead of this years and years ago. It did not. And now it faces a devil of a time and momentous change.

The post Where endorsements are concerned for college athletes, the devil is in details appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Below is a map where COVID-19 vaccines are being offered in Mississippi.

The map, which is updated weekly, includes Mississippi State Department of Health drive-thru sites, hospitals and other private partners, and Walmart pharmacy locations offering the vaccine.

For more information about how to receive a COVID-19 vaccine in Mississippi, click here to visit the MSDH’s vaccine information page.

READ MORE: Frequently asked questions about COVID-19 vaccines in Mississippi.

The post MAP: Where Mississippians can get the COVID-19 vaccine appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Power linemen and water department employees working through cold nights to restore public services to thousands of Mississippians. Road engineers getting six hours of sleep all week working to keep major interstates and highways open. Police working overtime to respond to thousands of weather-related traffic accidents.

After the historic 2021 winter storm wrecked the state of Mississippi this week, officials are welcoming the winter weather’s forecast exit on Thursday and reflecting on the week.

“I have worked with (the Mississippi Department of Transportation) over 25 years, and have never seen such an event,” MDOT engineer Mark Holley wrote on Facebook. “Some might say we were not prepared. But in reality, we were more prepared than we have ever been.”

Holley continued: “I sincerely hope that in 25 plus years from now, we are still talking about this event as the ‘worst one ever.’”

The effects of the storm on the state:

• Several state highways remain closed Thursday after many of the state’s major interstates and highways were closed at different points during the week. By Thursday late morning, every major interstate had at least one lane open in both directions.

• At least 250,000 Mississippians lost power at some point during the week, including about 170,000 who were still without power on Thursday late morning.

• Residents in dozens of Mississippi cities and towns are without water or have low water pressure.

• Hundreds of schools and colleges across the state cancelled classes. In the north part of the state, many schools have already announced cancelling classes on Friday.

While the National Weather Service has forecasted that winter precipitation will end across the state by Thursday evening, freezing temperatures could still affects water and electric systems. A hard freeze warning is in effect through Thursday night for much of the state.

“Unlike a hurricane or tornado, where the event comes furiously and then ends, this has been a slow-moving disaster,” Gov. Tate Reeves tweeted on Thursday. “We have been in response mode, not recovery, constantly. There has not been a significant break in the freeze—it just keeps coming.”

READ MORE: Ice reported on roads in 74 of 82 Mississippi counties.

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Lawmakers are trying to revamp incentives to businesses that expand or relocate to Mississippi, to simplify the process, provide more transparency and prevent boondoggles that in the past have left taxpayers holding the bag.

“This will be performance-based, not promise-based,” said Senate Economic Development Chairman David Parker, R-Olive Branch, author of Senate Bill 2822, the Mississippi Flexible Tax Incentive Act, or “MFlex.”

To qualify for MFlex incentives, a business would have to make a minimum investment of $2.5 million and create a minimum of 10 new full-time jobs. The application would be only a few pages, compared to hundreds of pages of code companies have to sift through for many current state incentive programs. A company using the MFlex program would not be able to participate in other tax incentive programs.

Scratching for jobs and development for a poor state, lawmakers over many years have created dozens of tax breaks, credits and incentives for new or expanding businesses. Many sit in the books unused by or unknown to qualified businesses. Others, economic experts have said, provide little benefit to the state. Lack of oversight on the incentives has in the past resulted in businesses taking the incentives then defaulting on providing promised jobs and investments, leaving the state on the hook for millions with little way to recoup.

Around 2010, the state gave seven “green” energy companies more than $400 million in loans and incentives on the promise of them creating at least 5,000 jobs. Instead, many of the companies failed or floundered, creating a little over 600 jobs. KiOR, a company pledging to make cheap bio-crude, received about $75 million in loans and other state incentives, but went bankrupt leaving taxpayers a $69 million bill. Nearly two decades ago, the state saw the famous “beef plant scandal,” where a Yalobusha County beef processing plant heavily subsidized by the state cost taxpayers millions when it went belly-up after just three months. The list goes on.

In its recent annual report on economic development programs on tax incentives, the state Institutions of Higher Learning reported that of 20 state incentives it examined for 2020, only nine “generated a positive return on the state’s investment and two generated a negative return.” Others had not been used in recent years, and “five could not be analyzed because of insufficient information.” It noted that the Department of Revenue had no info available on how much tax breaks for the Tourism Tax Rebate Program had cost in forgone taxes, despite 11 projects, including the Biloxi baseball stadium, a children’s museum and the King Edward Hotel, receiving the rebates.

The move to overhaul incentives is being championed by Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann, who has in the past opined that Mississippi has lacked oversight and accountability in the tax breaks and other incentives it provides prospective businesses. Gov. Tate Reeves, who has also in the past called for more accountability on incentives, local economic development officials and the Mississippi Development Authority have all been involved in drafting the overhaul, Hosemann and Parker said.

Hosemann said the MFlex plan would help the state shift further from risky upfront incentives for businesses to rebates and credits. It would be attractive to businesses in its simplicity and ease of application, and would better protect taxpayers by providing more stringent annual accounting of jobs and investments created before companies would receive the incentives. Parker said it would also provide better “clawback” provisions for the Department of Revenue to use should a company be proved to have received more credits than it deserved.

MFlex would not create new incentives, Hosemann said, but would consolidate and simplify the process for applying for them, and require more accurate accounting of whether companies were producing the jobs and investments they promised in exchange. A “companion” bill would eliminate or change several of the dozens of incentives on the books that either are not often used or have shown not to provide a return-on-investment for taxpayers.

Both measures passed the Senate Finance and Economic Development committees on Wednesday and are expected to be taken up by the full Senate by the end of the week.

David Rumbarger, president and CEO of the Community Development Foundation in Tupelo, is among several local economic developers who helped draft the MFlex measure. He said it would not only provide more accountability but more flexibility for new and existing companies. He said the state likely loses out on business or expansion when companies can’t figure out incentives or don’t realize they exist.

“It just streamlines the system,” Rumbarger said.

MFlex tax credit basic calculations would be based on:

• 1.5% of the total purchase or value of all manufacturing or processing equipment for a new or expanding business

• 7% of the total purchase or sales price or value of all non-manufacturing equipment

• 2% of the total contract paid for construction or improvements

Plus, if applicable:

• 15% of the of the total derived by multiplying the average wage by the number of full time jobs, if the average wage is equal or more than 75% of the average state or county wage

• Increased incentives if the number of full time jobs is 50 or more, the average wage is 110% more than the state or county average, and all full-time employees are offered health insurance, then 30% of the total from multiplying the average wage by the number of full-time jobs

• Increased incentives if a company creates 25 or more jobs and the average wage is more than 125% of the state or county average

Companies would have to provide a full accounting of their jobs, investment and tax liability to MDA each year before receiving the credits, instead of DOR or others having to dig for such information, Parker said.

Sen. Barbara Blackmon, D-Canton, was among several lawmakers who quizzed Parker on what the program would mean for economic development statewide, and what it would cost.

“This is not a new incentive, this just makes it easier and cleaner to apply,” Parker said. “The actual dollar amount going to companies might even be a little bit less overall, but the ease of application will far outweigh that … I think it will encourage economic development and new expansions in every area of this state.”

Sen. David Blount, D-Jackson, said he has in the past been frustrated by the inability to look at incentives and “see if they’re working, a net positive or net negative for taxpayers.”

“There’s no way to do that presently,” Blount said. But he said he is also concerned about language in the bill that would exempt much of the MFlex transactions from the state Public Records Act.

“It looks like MDA would get the info, the governor and lieutenant governor and speaker and IHL would get the info, but nobody else – no public access,” Blount said. “… That transparency is the heart of accountability. This is a step in the right direction, but any time you’re hiding information from the public, that gets my antenna up.”

Parker promised to work with Blount and others to amend such language in the bill if needed.

“I agree with you,” Parker said. “We are trying to balance our desire to get companies here, and there is certain info they would not want shown in the public air, but I think we are both trying to reach the same result. I will continue to work on that, and I’ll be glad to meet with you on figuring that out.”

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Sitting in his home in New Orleans, Andrea Lane watched in alarm as his toes began turning a dark color. 

Fearful, he headed to the hospital. “My toes just busted open and started filling with pus,” Lane said.

Doctors amputated eight of his toes. 

That’s when Lane, who has since returned to his native Vicksburg, learned the cost of diabetes. 

One of nine children, he said his mother also had diabetes – a family history that would have put him on his doctors’ radar as being predisposed to the dangers it presented and possibly headed off the outcome.

But Lane, 52, never had a doctor. He never underwent an annual physical. He has no insurance.

Since his toes were amputated in 2019, Lane has waited to be approved for Medicaid coverage. He’s twice been turned down. Four hospitalizations ranging from five to 15 days have left him owing more than $100,000. 

And like so many other Mississippians lacking health insurance, he’s turned to a patchwork of resources to save him from further complications and an early death. He’s leaned on the Jackson-Hinds Comprehensive Health Center to get the insulin he can’t afford and the Diabetes Foundation of Mississippi to provide needles and glucose monitoring. 

The father of three, who prepared food when he worked in New Orleans and also washed cars, saw his work history cut short by a chronic condition that caught early might have prevented the loss of his toes. He lost his food preparation job when he had difficulty standing for long periods of time. 

He’s trying to save the remaining two toes on his right foot. He’s treating with betadine a sore that’s developed on the left foot where his toes were removed while dealing with the pain. “My foot like it is, I stay off of it. I use a four-legged cane,” Lane said.

He’s also now dealing with high blood pressure.

“I need wound care, but when I try to go in, the first they ask is do you have insurance,” he said.

“I need a primary care doctor,” he said.

“Diabetes can take a wrong turn. … I don’t want anybody to have to take care of me,” said Lane, who lives with a sister.

Those lacking insurance, like Lane, turn to organizations like the Diabetes Foundation of Mississippi and the Health Advocacy Center Program for help.

Both try to help those who could qualify for Medicaid to enroll or direct them to free or sliding-fee clinics if they don’t. 

The foundation serves as a conduit connecting diabetes patients to resources, like federal community health centers that can supply an older formulation of insulin at less than $25 a vial. 

“Insulin analogs are so expensive,” Irena McClain, associate director of the Diabetes Foundation, said, referring to synthetic-made insulins.

Insulin retails at $300 to $400 a vial, she said. “A lot of oral medications are running at $600 a month. That’s out of our (the foundation’s) price range” to provide, she said.

Pharmacy companies have patient assistance programs but require a doctor’s signature. 

Finding help requires knowing where to go, what to ask and education. 

“When kids with a chronic illness turn 19, they lose their Medicaid,” McClain said. “But their heart condition doesn’t go away. Their diabetes doesn’t go away.”

Roy Mitchell, executive director of the Mississippi Health Advocacy Program, said 64% of Mississippians suffer from chronic disease, such as diabetes, asthma and heart disease.

Those who fall into the coverage gap “don’t have a lot of options,” he said. 

And there are plenty of Mississippians who fall in that gap. More than one in five Mississippians don’t have health insurance.

“We screen people to see if they are eligible for Medicaid or if their children are eligible for Medicaid,” Mitchell said.

“There are little-known ways to gain Medicaid eligibility that we have found over the years to find people eligible for Medicaid,” he said. “We’ve had to do a lot of Medicaid outreach. We’ve done it not just with providers but also hospitals.”

If individuals don’t qualify for Medicaid, Tammy Bullock, Medicaid consumer advocate with Mississippi Health Advocacy, said she checks to see if they can sign up under the Affordable Care Act. “But a lot of these people work part-time jobs,” she said. “In rural areas, they don’t even make enough to afford the premiums.”

She said she’ll then refer them to the few free clinics in the state or sliding-fee clinics like the federal community health centers. The sliding fees are based on household size and income. But there is no consistency in how much uninsured patients have to pay out of pocket. It may be as low as $10 a visit or, in one case, as high as $65, she said.

For specialized treatment, Bullock said she’ll connect them to financial assistance programs at hospitals. If they are still working, Vocational Rehabilitation will pay for such things as cataract removal with laser surgery, hearing aids and rotator cuff surgery. But Vocational Rehabilitation rarely covers hip and knee replacement surgery because such expensive procedures drain the agency’s funds, Bullock said.

The Mississippi Health Advocacy Program’s consumer assistance program was originally funded under the Affordable Care Act to help people enroll in the Health Marketplace. When the funding expired, the Trump administration didn’t renew it. Through private funding, the consumer program continued with a different objective, Mitchell said.

“It came out of people ending up on our doorstep, people who don’t have health insurance or who are having trouble with their health insurance carrier or provider,” Mitchell said.

Like the Health Advocacy Program, the Diabetes Foundation helps people navigate the system, McClain said. “If they are on Medicaid, we get them a case worker. The durable medical equipment companies seem to change every year. We have mothers calling: ‘Who can I contact to get my child’s (insulin) pump supplies?’ ”

Even Mississippians on Medicaid are limited to what they can get, she said. “Mississippi is one of the only states that Medicaid doesn’t pay for prostheses to those who have lost a limb.”

Because there are so many Medicare providers, the foundation tries to hook patients up with the equivalent of a case manager, she said.

The foundation has helped people taken in by Medicare provider companies’ “slick commercials” that say you may not have to pay a premium or deductible, she said. “These patients may wind up in that ‘donut hole’ where they have to pay for their medical supplies.”

Under Medicare Part D, this coverage gap (donut hole) begins after the insured and his or her drug plan have spent a certain amount for covered drugs — $4,130 on covered drugs in 2021. 

There has been a revolution in diabetes management with new medications, protocols, insulin pumps and glucose monitoring devices, but none of that is available to those without insurance, McClain said.

“You can have the best technology in the world, but if you can’t get it into the hands of those who need it, what good is it?” he asked. “You’ve got to have a level playing field.”

Medicaid expansion would help do that, McClain and Mitchell said. 

McClain said Medicaid would decrease amputations, keeping people healthy and working.

“Medicaid expansion saves lives,” Mitchell said. “It just says how high the stakes are. Health insurance is life or death.”

This report was produced in partnership with the Community Foundation for Mississippi’s local news collaborative, which is independently funded in part by Microsoft Corp. The collaborative includes the Clarion Ledger, the Jackson Advocate, Jackson State University, Mississippi Center for Investigative Reporting, Mississippi Public Broadcasting and Mississippi Today.

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State senators plan to bundle up on Wednesday morning after they slip and slide into Jackson — Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann informed lawmakers that the heat, which was out at the Capitol on Tuesday, won’t be restored until Wednesday afternoon, “hopefully.”

“Take that into consideration when you dress for tomorrow morning,” Hosemann told senators, who gaveled in Tuesday, took up no real business, voted to relax the Senate’s dress code, then gaveled out a few minutes later with plans to return Wednesday at 10 a.m..

“We appreciate everyone’s patience while we work in the cold for the citizens, literally,” Hosemann said.

The House, meanwhile, met by Zoom online briefly Tuesday for what is certainly a first in the state’s history: Speaker of the House Philip Gunn presided over the lower chamber via video call. The House plans to reconvene Wednesday at 2 p.m.

The unprecedented winter storm that has impacted most of the state has ground work of the Mississippi Legislature to a near halt.

READ MORE: Ice reported on roads in 74 of 82 Mississippi counties as more winter weather approaches

But in terms of the legislative calendar, the winter storm came at a good time. The storm hit after legislators met the deadline of taking up bills that originated in their own chamber. If the storm had hit a week earlier, most likely multiple key pieces of legislation would have died because of the inability of many lawmakers to make it to the state Capitol to take up those bills.

Now legislators have a brief respite in their calendar.

Legislators have until March 2 to pass out of committee bills that had passed the other chamber. Before then, legislators face a key deadline of Feb. 24 to take up revenue and appropriations bills on the floor of the chamber where the bill originated.

READ MORE: Medical marijuana, transgender athletes, teacher pay: Bills to watch this legislative session

This deadline could impact several key pieces of legislation. For instance, Gov. Tate Reeves’ proposal to phase out the income tax must be taken up on the floor of one of the two chambers by Feb. 24 to remain alive.

But later this week, both the Senate Finance Committee and the House Ways and Means Committee are expected to meet. Those are the two committees where tax bills, such as a phase out of the income tax, would originate. The Senate called a Finance Committee meeting for Wednesday.

In addition, the House and Senate Appropriations committees also are expected to meet in the coming days as work on developing a state budget intensifies to meet the Feb. 24 deadline.

But on Monday and Tuesday, there was little activity at the Capitol. The House met completely via Zoom on both Monday and Tuesday. The Senate came in both days, but disposed of motions on bills passed or killed last week on Monday and did little on Tuesday.

On Monday, Gunn, R-Clinton, presided over the House session from the House chamber. Rep. Bill Pigott, R-Tylertown, was the only other House member in the chamber making the trip from his home in southwest Mississippi in the midst of the winter storm. Other members were on Zoom. The Senate on Monday met at the Capitol, with some members having to hitch rides in or home afterward with those with four-wheel-drive vehicles.

On Tuesday, Gunn presided via Zoom, presumably from his Clinton home, in a very informal meeting. He said he would be back in the Capitol to preside when the House convenes Wednesday afternoon. Other members also are expected to be in the chamber, though participating via Zoom still will be an option.

House Ways and Means Chair Trey Lamar, R-Senatobia, said he might preside over a meeting of his committee from his home in north Mississippi later this week, especially if another winter blast impacts north Mississippi as is currently forecast.

Gunn said during Monday’s session he had proposed pushing back legislative deadlines by a week to accommodate the winter storm, but Senate leadership had rejected the proposal. Earlier this session, Gunn rejected the proposal by Hosemann, who presides over the Senate, to postpone the session because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The post Icy weather chills Mississippi Legislature action appeared first on Mississippi Today.

The Mississippi State Department of Health announced Monday it confirmed the first case of a COVID-19 variant in the state that is known to spread more easily and quickly than other strains. The United Kingdom first identified the strain, called B.1.1.7, last fall.

So far 40 states have also reported cases, including neighbors Alabama, Louisiana, and Tennessee. Florida has the most known cases in the United States with 379.

While U.K. experts reported last month that the variant may be associated with an increase risk of death, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said more studies are needed to confirm that finding.

“Current available vaccines are expected to be effective against variant strains, but further research continues,” MSDH said in a release, adding that the department will expand surveillance for variants. The department said it hasn’t found any spread or international travel associated with the case but is still investigating.

MSDH advised the public to continue taking the same precautions, including wearing masks, avoiding gatherings and washing hands.

The CDC is also monitoring two other variants — one traced to South Africa and one to Brazil — both of which have less than 20 known cases in the U.S. However studies over the weekend identified several other variants that apparently originated in the U.S, the New York Times reported.

The post Faster-spreading COVID-19 variant found in Mississippi appeared first on Mississippi Today.

A smile can be seen behind Rep. Jim Beckett’s Ole Miss mask when he is asked if his colleagues are already coming to him to talk about the redrawing of their legislative districts.

After all, nothing is more important to most legislators than having a district in which they can be re-elected.

“A day doesn’t go by when somebody doesn’t want to share his or her opinion,” said Beckett, a Republican from Bruce. “My response is we don’t have the (Census) numbers yet. I tell them they will be given an opportunity…That is my intention to talk with the members about their districts.”

Beckett, though, stressed that he is making no promises that House members will get all they want in the process of redrawing the 122 House districts to match population shifts found by the 2020 Census.

Beckett, a small-town attorney who is in his fourth term in the House, was tabbed by Speaker Philip Gunn to head up the all-important-to-legislators task of redistricting.

On the Senate side, Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann is playing his cards close to his vest. He has yet to name a chair of the Senate redistricting panel.

Hosemann said he does not want to make appointments to the redistricting committee until he sees the Census numbers to ascertain what areas of the state will be the most impacted by population changes.

The states were scheduled to receive the numbers from the U.S. Census Bureau by the end of 2020 to begin the process of redrawing the district, which must be done every 10 years to ensure the principles of “one person, one vote” or equal representation. The COVID-19 pandemic has delayed the receipt of those numbers. The Census data is now slated to be delivered to the states no earlier than July 30.

Fortunately for Mississippi, the Legislature has plenty of time to complete its redistricting process since state legislative elections will not be held until 2023. The Legislature most likely will redraw its districts in the 2022 session.

Ideally, Beckett said, the redrawing of the four U.S. congressional districts could be completed this fall during a one-day special session. For that to occur, though, the state would have to receive the population numbers and Hosemann would need to appoint a chair and members of the committee in a timely fashion.

Beckett said that would be ideal since the congressional elections will be held in 2022, and qualifying to run for those offices would begin in January.

The Census is not expected to result in Mississippi gaining or losing a member of the U.S. House. But, most likely, there will be some reconfiguring based on growth in certain areas of the state and population declines in other areas. But the end result most likely will be the maintaining of one African American majority district, concentrated on the Delta and including a large slice of the Jackson metro area.

READ MORE: How a college student exposed racial gerrymandering, prompted a lawsuit and forced Mississippi to redraw a voting district.

As far as the Mississippi Legislature, there are currently 15 majority African American districts in the 52-member Senate and 42 in the 122-member House. The state has a Black population of about 38% based on past Census data.

Rep. Ed Blackmon, D-Canton, who has been a member of the House since 1980 and played a key role in redistricting battles that led to increases in the number of African Americans in the Legislature, says under court precedent it would be difficult for the number of Black majority districts to be reduced in the redistricting effort.

But in reality, Blackmon said, the Republican majority has no intention of reducing the number of Black majority districts.

“Having Blacks packed into districts serves the purposes of the Republican majority,” he said. In Mississippi, most African Americans vote Democratic and most whites vote Republican. By “packing” African Americans in districts, it limits their influence in other districts, making it easier for Republican candidates to prevail.

In 2000, when Democrats controlled the House, there were 13 House districts drawn with significant but not dominant African American influence – a Black population of more than 35% but less than a majority. During the last redistricting, after Republicans had wrestled control, that number dropped to two districts with a Black population of more than 35% but less than a majority. In the Senate, the change was even more pronounced, going from 11 districts with a Black population of more than 35% but less than a majority in 2000 to three after the 2010 Census.

At one time, as the vestiges of Jim Crow laws designed to keep African Americans from voting were more pronounced, Blackmon said it was important to construct Black super majority districts. But with African Americans now more likely to exercise their right to vote, Blackmon said the pronounced “packing” can be used to limit the influence of Black voters.

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