Brittney Reese of Gulfport and Ole Miss goes for Olympic gold Monday in Tokyo, still another chapter in Mississippi’s long and rich history of long jumping excellence.
We are often called a football state because so many of our small-town heroes go on to record-setting pro football stardom. In recent years, we have been more of a baseball state because of our well-documented college baseball excellence.
But, on a global basis, we probably should be known more as a long jumping state. Again, our history in the event is incredibly rich, including Reese, perhaps the most decorated Mississippi long jumper of all – which is saying something. She is a seven-time world champion, a 13-time national champ. She has won both gold and silver Olympic medals. She was an NCAA champion at Ole Miss. At 34, she is competing in her fourth Olympics – and that’s not even the most by a Mississippi woman.
Rick Cleveland
The late Willye B. White holds that distinction – and if you’ve never heard of White, here’s a quick history lesson. Born on New Year’s Eve, 1939, in the Delta town of Money, she was raised by share-cropping grandparents. At 10, as a fourth grader, she began competing and winning ribbons for her high school track team. She did this while spending many days picking cotton for money to help feed her family.
She did it all: sprinted, long-jumped, high-jumped and as a young teen often won track meets by herself. That’s right: She accumulated more points than many other teams while competing for Broad Street High in Greenwood.
And here is one of my favorite stories in all of Mississippi sports: In 1956, at 16, White competed in the Olympics at Melbourne, winning the silver medal in the long jump. Imagine: 16 years young, a 10th grader – from one of the poorest towns, in one of the poorest counties in the poorest state in the U.S. – and she won the first U.S. Olympic women’s long jump medal in history.
How in the world did she accomplish that?
“A dream without a plan is just a wish,” White once said.
Willye B. White clearly had a plan. So did Larry Myricks and Ralph Boston, two more Mississippi long jumpers to claim international fame.
Myricks is the more recent. From Clinton and Mississippi College, Myricks, as Reese, was coached by Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame coach Joe Walker. He was a four-time national champion and four-time Olympian who persevered despite terrible Olympic luck. In 1976, at Montreal, Myricks suffered a broken foot in warm-ups that knocked him out of the Olympics. In his prime, in 1980, he was supposed to compete in the Moscow Olympics, but the U.S. boycotted the games. In 1984, at Los Angeles, he finished in fourth place, just inches away from a medal. Here’s perseverance: In 1988, at age 32, he won the bronze medal with a leap of 27 feet, one inch.
Boston, from Laurel, gained international acclaim in 1960 when he broke the long jump world record that had been held for 25 years by none other than the incomparable Jesse Owens. Boston has the complete Olympic collection of medals: gold (1960 at Rome), silver (1964 at Tokyo) and bronze (1968 at Mexico City).
Jesse Owens (left) and Ralph Boston after Boston broke Owens’ 25-year-old long jump world record. (MSHOF archives)
Boston remains one of the great gentlemen in Mississippi sports history, which was evident back in 1968 at Mexico City when Boston won the bronze and Bob Beamon won the gold with a historic leap of 29 feet, 2.5 inches, breaking the world record by a seemingly impossible two feet. Boston didn’t tell me this story; Bob Beamon did, when he came through Jackson years ago and agreed to an interview.
“What people don’t know is that I wouldn’t have done that if it hadn’t been for Ralph Boston,” Beamon told me. “I fouled on my first two attempts and was about to get disqualified when Ralph told me I needed to adjust my footwork leading up to my takeoff. I figured I had better listen to the master, and I did. The rest, as they say, is history. I owe a lot to Ralph Boston.”
The next day, I called Boston and recounted Beamon’s telling. Boston corroborated the story and then laughed. “He beat me by two feet,” Boston said. “That’s a heck of a way to treat your teacher. If you see Bob again, tell him I am waiting for my check.”
Boston tells another of my favorite Mississippi sports stories, which brings us back to Willye B. White, who died far too young in 2007 at age 68. Boston knew White well. They competed for the U.S. in three straight Olympiads.
Once, when we were talking about White, Boston asked me: “Do you know there was someone in her high school class at Greenwood who became more famous than her?”
I did not.
“Ever hear of Morgan Freeman?” Boston said, chuckling.
Same school, same time?
“Yes,” Boston said. “I was with Morgan one time and I asked him if he ran track in high school. Morgan said he did not. He said he knew if he ran track, he would have had to run against Willye B. White. Morgan said he didn’t want to lose to a girl.”
Given House Speaker Philip Gunn’s recent testing of the waters for a challenge of Gov. Tate Reeves, there was some anticipation their back-to-back Neshoba Fair stump speeches could serve as a soft launch of a Gunn gubernatorial campaign.
But if Thursday’s speech by Gunn was intended as any sort of a launch, it didn’t make it off the pad.
And except for a couple of mild jabs at each other, the two state leaders mostly threw out the same red meat for the GOP base and mostly espoused similar policies. In case you missed it, they both really, really, really oppose critical race theory being taught in Mississippi schools and vow to prohibit it. They both detest any liberal, socialistic, Democratic federal overreach coming from Washington, D.C., and they both want to eliminate the state’s individual income tax — although their plans do differ.
If Gunn plans to put any significant daylight between himself and Reeves on policy or politics, he didn’t do it at the fair on Thursday. One would doubt that “vote for me just because I’m not Tate Reeves” would be a way to entice much of the GOP base to jump ship from a well-financed Republican incumbent in 2023.
The only major policy difference between the two evident at Neshoba is that Gunn wants to eliminate the individual income tax by swapping it with increased sales and other taxes. Reeves wants to just eliminate the income tax period, and let the loose end drag.
Gunn is reportedly still undecided about a run. His speech would indicate he’s keeping his powder dry — although there’s a fine line between keeping your powder dry and giving a pretty blah stump speech at the fair.
Much of the speaker’s presentation sounded like a 1950s civics book warning of the evils of socialism and “how it continues to creep its way into this country.” He also reminded fairgoers that he warned them a couple of years ago about Democratic U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, and now “she’s become a national figure … known as AOC.”
He also doubled, or maybe tripled, down on his opposition to Medicaid expansion in Mississippi — a policy he also shares with Reeves.
Gunn in his speech gave relatively scant attention to his income tax-sales tax proposal, despite having been touring the state pitching it (with limited success) for months and having called it the most important proposal of his legislative career.
Gunn’s only — subtle — jab at Reeves was over the federally funded $300-a-week pandemic unemployment stipend that Reeves recently halted for Mississippians.
Gunn took credit for halting it.
Gunn said, “The government needs to stop subsidizing people to stay home and not work. That’s why we called on the governor to stop the excess payments. In response to our appeal, he did so.” He was referring to a letter Gunn sent Reeves in May calling for an end to the payments that about 87,000 unemployed Mississippians were receiving. Reeves promptly initiated a halt to the payments, but never acknowledged he did so at Gunn’s request.
In his speech, Reeves’ main jab at Gunn was on the income tax-sales tax swap, and he wasn’t very subtle.
“There are some folks at the Capitol that are proposing we swap the income tax for an increase in sales taxes … or agriculture taxes, or increases in other taxes,” Reeves said. “I want to be clear, I am opposed to taking less here and more here. I am opposed to robbing Peter to pay Paul … What we need is a lower tax burden, period.
“And I will insist on it, no matter who in the Legislature stands in the way.”
Reeves has not been known as a fiery orator. In fact, in years past in his long political career, his speeches have been noted for their cringe-worthiness and stilted delivery. No one’s every mistaken him for Daniel Webster or even former Gov. William Winter.
But he’s gotten better, and while his keynote address Thursday didn’t shuck the corn or rattle the roof on the Founder’s Square pavilion, it was the highlight of the fair, complete with breaking a little news: that he plans to push for a large teacher pay raise next year.
Reeves bashed the media, pandemic health experts, and masking recommendations, and praised his administration’s work in education, economics, supporting law enforcement and fending off liberalism despite unprecedented natural disasters and COVID-19. He appeared to be at ease in pandering to his base and not too concerned about any challenge from Gunn or elsewhere.
Reeves, who in the past has struggled to even get an awkward chuckle out of a crowd, even managed to land a few jokes including one about “if the radical Democrats had their way, they’d have law enforcement policing the streets with squirt guns — but given their Second Amendment stance, they may ban those, too.”
Mississippi Today journalists Bobby Harrison and Geoff Pender recap events from the recently completed Neshoba County Fair and address other issues facing the state, ranging from medical marijuana to teacher pay raises to Critical Race Theory.
Adam Ganucheau: Welcome to The Other Side, Mississippi Today’s political podcast. The Other Side lets you hear directly from the most connected players and observers across the spectrum of politics in Mississippi.
Bobby Harrison: Hello, I’m Bobby Harrison political reporter with Mississippi Today. Welcome to The Other Side podcast.
I’m here with my colleague, Geoff Pender, and we’re going to cover a lot of topics today, focusing primarily on the Neshoba County Fair. Geoff, how you doing?
Geoff Pender: Hey Bobby.
Bobby Harrison: Well, we got the fair back after last year, where it was canceled because of COVID. It came back this year with political speakings. And of course this year as political speakings were going on, it was going on against the backdrop of rising COVID cases.
So that was in the back of a lot of people’s minds. But what did you think of the speeches this year?
Geoff Pender: Yeah. You know, nothing earth shattering that I saw or heard. You know, we’re in a, I guess in the off season, so to speak. So a lot of times they’re you know, not quite the fire and brimstone speeches you see during campaign years, but a few news nuggets.
I guess one of the biggest things we saw came from Governor Reeves’ speech. He broke a little news. Tell us about that.
Bobby Harrison: Well, he during the 2019 gubernatorial campaign, he and Jim Hood, his democratic opponent, Jim Hood came out early on with a teacher pay raise plan that was substantial, and late in the campaign Reeves introduced his own plan which was a $4,300 raise.
And since that campaign he’s done really, not much, at least some people believe he hadn’t done enough to try to push that race through. There was a thousand dollars pay raise passed this past session, but he was not, you know, most people would argue he was not in the forefront of getting that pay raise passed.
Geoff Pender: But a lot of people pointed out last year or this year actually that he didn’t include a teacher pay raise in his budget recommendation at all.
Bobby Harrison: That’s right. He did not. He included a bunch of stuff. I mean, he got down into the weeds in some of the stuff he proposed, but the teacher pay raise was not in his budget recommendation. Yet the legislature passed it during the session, and he signed into law.
And, you know, during the fair speech last week, he proposed a $1,300 pay raise for the upcoming 2022 session in a thousand dollars each year after that for two years to get up to his 4,300 to, I guess, meet his commitment he made during the campaign. Some people would argue that, you know, we’re at the point now with the way revenues are coming in— you wrote about that while I was out on a little vacation, the way revenues are coming in right now.
With the surplus the state has, maybe the state should provide a bigger pay raise for teachers than what Reeves what is proposing. So we’ll see what the legislature as a whole thinks.
Geoff Pender: Yeah. To that point, we’re seeing year over year, double digit, like 15% revenue growth, nine hundred million change.
Bobby Harrison: More than the previous year.
Geoff Pender: Yeah, year over year not just over estimates. The state budget is is actually pretty flush going into next year.
Bobby Harrison: Of course, everybody, all the politicians at the fair, were excited to take credit or at least tap that large surplus. And it’s funny, they were tapping that large surplus by the same time, cursing the federal government and cursing you know the federal government wasted money and spending money, but most most economists if they were being truthful would argue that surplus in a large part was caused by the massive amount of federal money that has been put into this state during the pandemic. So it’s kind of ironic to hear politicians complain about the federal government yet tap that big surplus and say they were responsible for it, but yet most people would argue that at least a large part of that surplus was caused by the federal government and a large amount of money that they put into the state during both the Trump administration and the Biden administration.
Geoff Pender: Sure. One thing everyone anticipates or expects or looks for at the Neshoba County Fair are the political stump speeches as political fireworks and everything. You know, we really didn’t see much of that this week, did we?
Bobby Harrison: No, I don’t think so. You know, you’ve written about the speaker, you know, considering run for governor against Tate in the Republican primary in 2023.
And I think that’s a legitimate possibility and you know, it was all set up at the fair. The speaker spoke right before the governor.
Geoff Pender: There was some anticipation of that maybe big kind of a harbinger or even kickoff or a soft launch of that contest. But I don’t think we really saw that as the saying goes, listening to their speech there wasn’t a dime’s worth of difference between them on most policy issues. And they each took what could be called maybe a mild jab, subtle, subtle mild jab, each other. I think Reeves reiterated his opposition to Gunn’s income tax sales tax swap. He pretty strongly out of hand said that he’s not for that. Gunn took a kind of, again, mild jab at Reeves over the supplemental unemployment.
Bobby Harrison: Yeah. He’s taking credit, right?
Geoff Pender: Gunn said that, ‘Yeah, we oppose that. And as soon as the House wrote the governor a strong letter, he did away with that supplemental.’ I don’t think Reeves has viewed it that way or ever acquiesced that he did it because Gunn wrote him a terse letter.
Bobby Harrison: Late at night when he’s thinking about things that really has to make him mad that Gunn takes credit for that, just knowing Tate Reeves and how his mind operates. That really has to bother him.
Geoff Pender: I do not know, but like I said, that was probably about the extent of the jabs there and nobody that I heard this season really shucked the corn or came out with the fire and brimstone speech like maybe we’ve heard in the past. I believe Michael Ted Evans might have provided a little entertainment at the fair as he typically does.
Bobby Harrison: Yeah. State house member from the Neshoba County area.
Geoff Pender: Right, right. One thing that didn’t get talked about a lot, but that’s still kind of the premier political issue of the summer— in fact had barely got addressed in pretty much most of the top leaders’ speeches is the ballot initiative and medical marijuana initiative issue. That really didn’t get brought up much, did it?
Bobby Harrison: No. And of course, just for background, the Supreme Court, as probably everybody listening to this podcast knows, but just for background, the Supreme Court overturned the medical marijuana initiative that was passed in November and in doing so they invalidated the entire initiative process.
So just about all legislative and leaders and then the governor have said in the past that their intent is to fix that and to pass a medical marijuana law and to fix the ballot initiative so that Mississippians can take advantage of that again, to bypass the legislature and place issues on the ballot.
And you’re right. I don’t think, I believe, Gunn or Reeves addressed it at all in their speeches. I may be wrong.
Geoff Pender: I think that’s correct.
Bobby Harrison: Lieutenant Governor Hosemann, who spoke the day before the two headliners, if you will, based on the fact that they may oppose each other in a gubernatorial election, Lieutenant Governor Hosemann, who most people believe is going to run for reelection, did say in his speech— he didn’t spend a lot of time on it, but he did say in his speech that he believed that the legislature would address that and fix those two issues in the coming months, but he didn’t say anything. You know, a lot of people want to fix both those, at least one of them in a special session. And there’s people working to be able to do that in the special session before January when the regular session begins.
But he didn’t say anything about a special session. He just kind of committed to the legislature addressing both of those issues.
Geoff Pender: Right, right. And then I guess the week before the Senate had held its final medical marijuana hearing. And at that point, Kevin Blackwell—
Bobby Harrison: He’s kind of in the forefront on this.
Geoff Pender: On the Senate side, he’s in the forefront. Representative Lee Yancey has been leading the charge in the House on the medical marijuana issue. Both felt like we could see a special session I think they both said mid August was perhaps doable. They plan to, and from what I heard have been meeting this week, I guess, trying to to figure out particulars and see if they can reach a compromise.
But I don’t know. I’ve heard a lot of, a lot of it both ways. And I think Speaker Gunn at some point this week, maybe after his speech made it sound doubtful that there is a clear compromise. So I don’t know, a summer special session still appears to be iffy.
Bobby Harrison: Yeah. Yeah. And of course the governor has said, and I think most people agree with him, at least most legislators agree with him, that he does not want to call a special session. And on these issues, well, it’s not clear. He wants to call a special session on fixing the ballot initiative. But he doesn’t want to call a special session on passing the medical marijuana bill until there’s agreement between the House and the Senate so that they won’t be so they won’t get down there—
Geoff Pender: and sit there and stare at each other for two weeks.
Bobby Harrison: Because as we said the devil’s in the detail on both of these issues. I mean, everybody seems to agree that, at least most people will agree that based on the vote, that there should be a medical marijuana law in the state of Mississippi. And also most people agree that the ballot initiative should be brought back. But in what shape, form and fashion, I mean, especially on medical marijuana. You know, there’s all sorts of, as you’ve written about, there’s all sorts of issues.
How strict is the regulation going to be? Is it going to be closer to a recreational marijuana like they have in Oklahoma? Is it going to be a more restrictive medical marijuana law, like they have in Utah
Geoff Pender: or Alabama? I mean, pick your comparison state. Arkansas is fairly restrictive.
Bobby Harrison: And the initiative that passed in November was not very restrictive at all. It was pretty wide open.
Geoff Pender: A lot of people have compared that to Oklahoma, which you know, we’ve seen Oklahoma has a lot of marijuana dispensaries, in the thousands. One in 10 people have a card and as one of their legislators, told our legislators in a hearing, one in 10 people have a medical marijuana card and they estimate that each of those cards is used by another two or three people.
So yeah, that’s been the debate. You know, how restrictive it’s going to be. I don’t know. You got a lot of people who support initiative 65 that are not going to be happy if it is probably on the restrictive side.
Bobby Harrison: Yeah, these people say that Initiative 65, the medical marijuana initiative passed by such a wide margin, that all the legislature should do is come in and essentially ratify that with a few changes.
So we’ll see. I mean, I don’t think that’s going to happen.
Geoff Pender: No, no. Particularly, I mean, you know, follow the money is one of the main rules in politics.
Bobby Harrison: What do you mean by that?
Geoff Pender: I mean, Initiative 65, basically didn’t really allow for standard taxation of medical marijuana, and I feel like you can rest assured whatever the legislature comes up with will have some sort of taxation structure that goes into the general fund.
Bobby Harrison: Yeah. Well, you know, to add on to that, Initiative 65 did not give the legislature the authority to tax.
Geoff Pender: Right. Right.
Bobby Harrison: And curse the legislature if you want but they are elected by the people and the constitution gives them the authority to tax. And as somebody who got all his knowledge from ninth grade civics, I kinda thought that’s the way it was supposed to work, that the legislature had the power to tax and no power to purse string.
Geoff Pender: Well, you don’t remember in civics, they probably spoke to the constitution trumping any kind of law or anything as well.
Bobby Harrison: Of course the Supreme Court said in this particular case, the constitution didn’t change.
Geoff Pender: Right. Right.
Bobby Harrison: So it kind of goes around in circles.
Geoff Pender: Sorry, we’re still faced, and we’ve talked in this podcast at length about it, we’re still faced with with a lot of uncertainty over what you know is one of the biggest issues to come down the pike in awhile. I don’t know. I don’t know if I would handicap a special session at this point, and certainly a mid August one is starting to look a little doubtful or or whatever, but we’ll see. Things can sometimes turn on a dime if Senator Blackwell and Representative Yancey announce that peace has broken out and Speaker and Lieutenant Governor agree to that. I mean things can move pretty quickly, I would think.
Bobby Harrison: Yeah. Yeah. Hey, Geoff, going back to the fair for a few minutes and the speeches. One thing as you said, that wasn’t a dime worth of difference on between the speaker and the governor on a lot of issues.
Of course, you know, you touched on one of those issues where there was a little bit of differences. The speaker has his tax plan that passed the house this past session that eliminates the income tax, and I’ll say stop revenue loss by increasing the sales tax. And the governor just wants to eliminate the income tax over a period of years, which would take away about a third of the state’s general fund revenue.
And a couple of things struck me about that. One, as you said, the governor said he would not agree to a tax swap if the sales tax was increased, but the second thing was the speaker, as you reported, as has been going across the state touting his plan.
Geoff Pender: Right.
Bobby Harrison: He touched on it at his fair speech, but he really didn’t spend much time on it.
Geoff Pender: Right, right. Yeah. Given he’s described this as the the most important and biggest proposal he’s ever worked on as a lawmaker, and you’re right. He was a fairly down into his speech and he touched on it. And nothing like we’ve heard him recently. Much of his speech sounded like a 1950 civic textbook warning against the evils of socialism.
Bobby Harrison: He spent a lot of time on socialism.
Geoff Pender: He didn’t give a very strong sell of that in his Neshoba speech. Maybe he figured that wasn’t the right format for that. But yeah, he has been traveling the state, but yeah, he didn’t come out too strongly on that, which was kind of surprising.
But I think it’s safe to say that both Governor Reeves and Speaker Gunn spent a lot of time throwing out so-called red meat issues that were receptive to the conservative fair audience and to conservative Mississippians in general.
I don’t know if you heard Bobby, but both don’t like Critical Race Theory.
Bobby Harrison: I got an inkling of that.
Geoff Pender: Did you, did you get that? That was a main tenant of both their speeches, and they both vowed that that they’re gonna stop it. I guess we don’t know that it’s going on here, but nevertheless, they’re going to nip it in the bud as Barney Fife would say.
Bobby Harrison: Governor Reeves restated his support for his, what was it called? Patriotic—
Geoff Pender: Yeah, patriotic education fund I believe.
Bobby Harrison: Which he proposed in his budget last year when he did not propose a teacher pay raise. And , he talked about that again, and wanted to do that so that patriotic history can be taught in our schools. And, you know, I’m kinda confused about what Critical Race Theory is.
I mean, I think that, you know, in a lot of people’s minds, it’s just making sure that people understand that this country has made mistakes and has grown from those mistakes. And there’s still areas to grow in terms of race and other things. And I, you know, I thought that’s kind of what Critical Race Theory was or what’s being taught in the schools.
I don’t know what, like I said, Critical Race Theory is, but I thought that’s what’s being taught in schools. It’s kind of hard to argue that those things aren’t true, that this country has made some mistakes through the years, and hopefully grown through those mistakes.
Geoff Pender: It’s been a big issue nationwide.
And on the national level, we’ve seen a lot of a lot of folks in opposition to it feel like it’s going beyond what you’re talking about. And that it’s actually, well, as the speaker and governor put it, feel like it’s crossing the line into actually bringing racism into the classroom.
So, again, that’s a huge national debate at this point, it’s been really unclear, but it would appear it’s not happening here.
Bobby Harrison: Well, , you know, I’m not sure. I just would argue that they argue that it’s bringing racism into the classroom. You know, a counter argument might be that you shouldn’t stick your head in the sand and pretend that racism doesn’t exist.
Geoff Pender: Which we saw over many decades, certainly through the Jim Crow era or whatever. I mean, there were certainly issues with what was being taught, particularly in the deep south, but anyway, regardless, it would appear that there’s going to be a prohibition forthcoming from the 2022 legislature on this.
Bobby Harrison: Yeah, I think that’s the safe bet.
Geoff Pender: Right.
Bobby Harrison: There may be a special session on that before there’s special session on medical marijuana. And before we go, just another issue that’s out there: legislative redistricting. You know, they’re going to have to redraw the districts for 174 House and Senate seats and the four U.S. congressional seats.
Geoff Pender: Wait, do we not have five?
Bobby Harrison: No.
Geoff Pender: Bad joke.
Bobby Harrison: The way we were losing population we’re fortunate to have four, but that process kind of officially kicks off to a large extent this week. I think it’s Thursday. The first of nine public hearings across the state is going to be held to allow people to provide input on what they think the House and Senate districts should look like.
And early in the 2022 sessions, they’re going to tackle congressional redistricting, and then later, I guess they’ll do the state House and Senate redistricting. You know, we’re talking about here in August about a special session, but they may need that special session just to get some issues out of the way because 2022 is shaping up to be a real busy session.
Geoff Pender: Yeah, redistricting typically is like kicking a hornet’s nest, is it not?
Bobby Harrison: Yeah.
Geoff Pender: Among the legislators.
Bobby Harrison: And I actually had a little experience with that earlier this month, but that’s another story that we’ll talk about another day. Geoff, anything else we need to talk about?
Geoff Pender: I think we covered most of the bases, Bobby.
Bobby Harrison: I appreciate it.
Adam Ganucheau: As we cover the biggest political stories in this state, you don’t want to miss an episode of The Other Side. We’ll bring you more reporting from every corner of the state, sharing the voices of Mississippians and how they’re impacted by the news. So, what do we need from you, the listener? We need your feedback and support.
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One Democrat in the Mississippi Senate – Hob Bryan of Amory – represents a district that does not have a majority African American population.
Republicans hold 36 of the seats in the 52-member chamber. There are currently 14 Democrats. Two Democrats resigned this summer and special elections have not been held to replace them. Those two vacant Senate seats as well as 13 other districts represented by Democrats not named Bryan have a Black population of more than 50%.
In the coming months, as U.S. Census data comes in, legislators will begin the task of redrawing the 52 Senate districts and 122 House districts to match population shifts found by the decennial census. Legislators on the committee tasked with overseeing the drawing of both state legislative districts and the four U.S. House seats will hold nine public hearings across the state, starting at 6 p.m. Aug. 5 at Meridian Community College’s McCain Theatre, to garner public input. Then in the 2022 session, legislators will try to complete the redistricting process.
Presumably, Republicans who control the Senate could redraw the districts in a manner to increase their numbers, but at this point that would be just running up the score.
There are past federal court precedents that would seem to prevent the Legislature from reducing the number of Black majority districts. But in recent court rulings, the federal courts – particularly the U.S. Supreme Court – have seemed less willing in the eyes of some to protect minority voting rights.
Still, it is safe to assume the Senate leadership would have little interest in garnering national attention by reducing the number of African American districts.
And as far as Bryan is concerned, a district in northeast Mississippi most likely could be drawn to reduce his re-election chances. But it also is unlikely the Senate leadership is inclined to do that. Most senators have at some point cursed Bryan’s occasional outbursts and eccentricities. At the same time, most senators, including members of the leadership, have made no secret of their respect for his intellect and knowledge of the legislative process.
Perhaps that is best exemplified by the fact that Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann placed Bryan on the committee charged with redrawing the districts.
Over in the House, the situation is much the same. There are five Democrats who represent districts that were majority white when they were drawn in 2012.
Like in the Senate, the House Republicans, who control all the power with their 76 members, could increase their numbers through redistricting to the extent they would not be blocked by federal courts, but at some point such an effort might just look like poor sportsmanship.
There are currently 40 Black members in the House.
The point being that in the redistricting after the 2010 Census there was an urgency by both Republicans and Democrats to redistrict in such a manner to ensure their respective party’s control of the Legislature. That fight is over. The Republicans won, and they won big.
If Democrats had prevailed in the 2011 election and controlled redistricting in the 2012 session, they could have drawn districts in a manner to give members of their party more of a fighting chance, particularly in the House.
But House Democrats, who held the majority before they lost the 2011 election by a narrow margin, lost the ability to control the redrawing of the districts in the 2012 session. The result was Republicans drew districts where they had significant advantages. For instance, before the redrawing of the districts in 2012, 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.
Conventional wisdom has been that such districts give white Democrats the best chance to win in Mississippi. 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 went from 11 districts with a Black population of more than 35% but less than a majority to three.
In other words, Republicans did their redistricting work in 2012 to ensure their legislative dominance. Redistricting this time will be more about maintaining.
But even if Democrats had won the House in the 2011 elections, there would have been no guarantee that they could have drawn districts that would have ensured their continued control of the House. The bottom line continues to be that in Mississippi the vast majority of white people vote Republican and most African Americans vote Democrat.
And any amount of legislative redistricting will not change that voting pattern and give Democrats a fighting chance to regain control of the Mississippi Legislature in the foreseeable future.
Here are some of the common questions Mississippians have, with answers provided by Kate Royals, our lead education reporter, and Molly Minta, our higher education reporter.
Has the vaccine been required for students and staff to attend school?
No. The vaccine has not been made mandatory for students or staff returning to Mississippi schools. The Mississippi Department of Health has strongly recommended all eligible students and staff be vaccinated before returning to school.
Are masks mandatory for students and staff?
No, masks have not been made mandatory for students and staff returning to Mississippi schools. Gov. Tate Reeves, the only individual capable of issuing such a statewide order, has repeatedly said he will not be issuing any executive orders mandating that masks be worn in schools. The Mississippi Department of Health has strongly recommended that all individuals, regardless of vaccination status, wear masks in indoor settings.
Will students or staff need to show proof of vaccine?
No, although employers (in this case schools) may legally ask their employees if they are vaccinated.
Are there any plans to require vaccines if the vaccines get full approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)?
The only school district considering such a requirement that Mississippi Today is aware of is the Natchez-Adams School District. The Mississippi Department of Education has said it is unaware of any other school districts planning to require the COVID-19 vaccine.
Since students are not required to be vaccinated or wear masks, what, if anything, will be done to protect teachers and students from possible COVID exposure?
The Mississippi Department of Health’s recommendations include mask-wearing for all individuals regardless of vaccination status, maintaining three feet of physical distancing between individuals at all times and quarantining or routine screening testing of unvaccinated individuals who are exposed to COVID-19. Several schools have used federal funds to purchase additional personal protective and cleaning and sanitation equipment, in addition to improving ventilation.
Will the State Department of Education create and enforce a unified standard for all districts?
No. “The Mississippi Department of Health leads on these issues and has been providing the COVID-19 information and guidance to districts,” a spokesperson for the Mississippi Department of Education said.
Will schools be allowed to administer vaccinations to students at the schools?
Yes, with parental consent. The Mississippi Department of Health also has an Adopt-a-School program that links schools with COVID-19 vaccine providers to make on-site vaccinations for individuals 12 years old and above available. Part of the program involves working with schools to send out consent forms and other required forms home to parents, which will help the school estimate how many staff are needed and how long the clinic should last.
Have the state’s public universities required students be vaccinated?
No. The Institutions of Higher Learning Board of Trustees has not made the vaccine mandatory for students. However, the University of Mississippi Medical Center will require, with limited exceptions, students to get fully vaccinated once the mRNA COVID-19 vaccines receive full authorization from the FDA. The Mississippi Department of Health has strongly recommended all students be vaccinated before returning to school.
Have the community colleges required that all students and employees be vaccinated for COVID-19?
No. Community colleges have not made the vaccine mandatory for students and employees.
Can universities and schools establish their own masking and distancing policies, even if the state government does not ?
The school board attorney for the Greenville School District said she turned in the names of the bus drivers involved in the alleged bus driver strike to the Attorney General’s office on Thursday.
The board previously instructed Dorian Turner, the attorney, to draft the documentation for their review and approval last month. Board members indicated they had no questions or concerns about the documents to discuss at their regular meeting this week, so Turner mailed the information to Attorney General Lynn Fitch, she said.
A request for comment to Board President Jan Vaughn was not immediately returned on Friday.
A spokesperson for the attorney general’s office also did not immediately respond to questions submitted by Mississippi Today.
Between 13 to 20 bus drivers for the Greenville Public School District skipped work in April to protest reduced pay and what they called poor work conditions. Following the strike, which is explicitly illegal in Mississippi, the school board reversed a previous decision to reduce the number of work days for the drivers for the next school year by five days.
This was one of the first organized work stoppages in Mississippi public schools since 9,429 teachers walked out in a 1985 strike, after which lawmakers passed the demanded pay increases but also enacted one of the nation’s most stringent strike laws.
Johnson also said bus drivers were given an increase in pay the following year. It’s unclear if their names were ever turned over to then-Attorney General Jim Hood at the time.
Several bus drivers who previously spoke to Mississippi Today said they had not been paid by the district for hours worked. One driver said she was not paid for the duration of her quarantine after being exposed to COVID-19 while at work.
In May, Turner advised board members that what occurred was indeed a strike. Board officials, however, delayed taking any action for weeks.
The strike law passed in 1985 clearly states that school board members themselves are responsible for reporting the names of those who went on strike to the Mississippi Attorney General’s Office. For each day that those names are not reported by the board to the state, the individual board members and school administrators can be fined between $100 and $250.
With the federal eviction moratorium ending on Saturday, concern is growing around the rental debt in the state of Mississippi.
New data published by the New York Times estimates that 23.2% of renters in Hinds County owe some amount of back rent. Most counties in Mississippi are in a similar position.
To address this rental shortfall, the December 2020 COVID-19 stimulus bill provided $25 billion for rental assistance across the country, of which Mississippi received $186 million (Harrison and Hinds counties each received an additional $7 million). The statewide program, Rental Assistance for Mississippians (RAMP), is being administered by the Mississippi Home Corporation.
Mississippi Today reported last month that RAMP had distributed just $3 million or 1.7% of its allotment. One month later, they more than tripled that number to $11.6 million, or 6.2% of the total allotment.
Mississippi Home Corporation Director Scott Spivey attributed this increased disbursement to a streamlining of the application process and efforts to increase awareness of the program.
While this progress has provided assistance to more families, Sara Miller of the Hope Policy Institute pointed out that “most of those funds have remained unspent.” Miller continued, “We’re concerned because of the mismatch, all of those funds remain available and yet so many people haven’t been able to access them and will be at risk of eviction in a couple of days.”
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled at the end of June that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had exceeded its authority in extending the moratorium repeatedly, placing the onus on Congress to provide further extensions. President Joe Biden asked Congress on Thursday to extend the moratorium, but it is unlikely action will be taken before the current moratorium expires.
While the eviction moratorium has provided assistance to some tenants, evictions have never stopped during the pandemic. According to the Hope Policy Institute, around 300 evictions were filed in Hinds county just this month.
The moratorium could only provide protection to those who knew to ask for it, with tenants having to file an eviction protection declaration with their landlord to be eligible. Miller also pointed out that the moratorium didn’t necessarily cover everyone who could be at risk of eviction. Despite this, she still felt that extending the moratorium would be beneficial for tenants to “provide some protection from a looming crisis of evictions.”
“We’re hoping that the (RAMP) program administrators, court staff, and community organizations can work together to have an outreach process for people that are in immediate risk, and a path for court staff to acknowledge when people have applied for rental assistance and are just waiting on payment,” Miller said.
One of the key ways to get RAMP funds into the hands of tenants is by partnering with local organizations that can more easily pinpoint needs, according to Miller. The Home Corporation has made strides in pursuing this avenue, sharing a map on the RAMP website that shows local nonprofits that have agreed to help tenants submit applications and collect proper documentation.
“Evictions have far-reaching effects on our communities beyond just the people directly affected — who would carry deep scars for a long time from the process and would be affected in their ability to get housing in the future — but we also know it’s not good for the whole community to have so many folks evicted,” Miller said. “The magnitude of the problem is greater than we can comprehend.”
To apply for rental assistance through the RAMP program, visit ms-ramp.com. If you live in Harrison County, you may also contact the Open Doors Homeless Coalition at 228-604-8011. For rental assistance in Hinds County, visit hindsrentalaid.com or call 601-514-0137.
The Natchez-Adams School District could require all its employees to be vaccinated against COVID-19 to work in the district next year.
Phillip West, the vice chair of the school board for the Natchez-Adams School District, said he’ll be introducing a motion at the board meeting Tuesday to require all eligible employees of the district to receive the COVID-19 vaccination. The policy would allow for employees with legitimate medical conditions or religious reasons to be exempt.
The board discussed the matter in a recent work session, and most members were in favor, he said. Several had concerns about an “exodus” of teachers walking off the job or potential legal challenges to such a requirement.
“It is my position, and a number of others agreed with the position, that this is a public health crisis,” said West, a former state legislator and the mayor of Natchez from 2004 to 2008. “I’m trying to be proactive instead of reactive.”
Amos James, the president of the board, said he had no opinion on the matter at this time.
Cecile Bunch, the board secretary, declined to comment when reached on Thursday. Bruce Kuehnle, the board attorney, said he is still researching the matter after being asked by the board to do so.
He said it would not be appropriate to discuss the issue until he reports back to the board.
Mississippi is currently facing a fourth wave of COVID infections. Adams County had the 14th highest number of cases of the state’s 82 counties over a two-week period in July, according to the Mississippi Department of Health. It also had a test positivity rate of 18.1% from June 30 to July 13, meaning nearly one in five tests for COVID-19 came back positive.
Thirty-two percent of Adams County residents are fully vaccinated as of Thursday.
West maintains that requiring eligible employees to be vaccinated is a “no brainer,” though it would take some logistical adjustments, including that teachers have already signed contracts for the school year that do not include a requirement they be vaccinated.
West said he believes the school board must be the one to act because Gov. Tate Reeves and the state education department are making decisions based on the “political climate.” At the Neshoba County Fair on Thursday, Reeves said “1.2 million Mississippians have chosen to get vaccinated. Others have chosen a different path. I will always defend those people’s right to decide what is best for them and their families.”
West continued: “As a result of that, I think we could be causing harm as opposed to preventing harm, if we don’t do something. And maybe by us doing this some other districts might consider it themselves,” he continued. “But I’m mainly concerned with my district.”
It’s unclear whether other Mississippi school districts are currently considering a similar mandate. Jean Cook, a spokeswoman for the Mississippi Department of Education, said the department is not aware of any other districts planning to require the vaccine.
Generally, employers in both the public and private sector have the ability to require certain vaccinations of their employees, Joseph Adams, a Jackson employment and labor attorney who represents the Mississippi Professional Educators, said.
“I do not know of any law whatsoever that would prohibit private or public employers in Mississippi from putting a mandatory vaccine program in place,” said Adams. “ … I think in the school system it would be an even more compelling interest to do that because you have teachers being around kids, everybody going home and so forth.”
But Adams said he’s not aware of any challenges that have gone through the court system, and it’s new legal territory.
“Generally speaking, employers have a lot of leeway in this regard. But the facts and circumstances of individuals who object (to the vaccine) are going to have to be considered,” said Adams.
Nationally, President Joe Biden on Thursday announced that federal employees and contractors must confirm they’ve been vaccinated or else be tested twice a week for the coronavirus.
While children who attend public schools and colleges and universities in the state must receive certain vaccines unless they have an exemption, teachers and school staff are not required by law to show proof of any vaccination, according to the Mississippi Department of Health.
“This has been done in the health care area, in colleges throughout the United States requiring students who come to their schools to show proof of vaccination and by people in private sector business,” said West, also referring to the recent discussion of requiring federal employees to be vaccinated against COVID-19. “It’s a no brainer to me. People can sue you for a ham sandwich, but it doesn’t mean it’s not a frivolous lawsuit.”
The University of Mississippi Medical Center recently announced that it will require its employees and students to get the COVID-19 vaccine once the mRNA COVID-19 vaccines receive full approval from the Food and Drug Administration. The policy will be phased in over the course of three months.
The new school year begins on Monday for the district.
