HERNANDO – Between 60-75 people gathered outside the DeSoto County Courthouse on Sunday for a rally organized by a local conservative group called the Patriot Party of Mississippi.

Members of the Patriot Party of Mississippi were among those who attended protests in Washington on Jan. 6 during Congress’ certification of electoral votes.

The group’s leader, John Williams, spent an hour detailing the experience of group members that traveled to Washington last Wednesday to demonstrate at the Capitol. During the rally, Williams also covered the group’s laundry list of grievances, which included railing against establishment Republicans and parroting conspiracy theories related to the presidential election and the deadly Capitol riot.

“On January 6, 2021 (the federal government) became tyrannical,” Williams said at the rally. “I’m just telling you, as far as I’m concerned, Congress declared war on the American people and the American Constitution on January 6. So we’re at that point.”

READ MORE: Congressmen Trent Kelly, Michael Guest met with Mississippi ‘patriot’ group before Capitol riot.

Williams maintains that none of the around 30 group members that went to Washington participated in the Capitol riot. They did travel to Capitol grounds following President Trump’s speech at his “Save America” rally at the National Mall, but never crossed barricades set up by Capitol police, according to Williams. The group then dispersed after tear gas was deployed in their area because of safety concerns for their elderly members, one as old as 82.

Some of the group’s members denied that any of the rioters who entered the Capitol were Trump supporters, while Williams chalks it up to a couple hundred “knuckleheads” that don’t represent Trump supporters as a whole, mixed in with Antifa members posing as Trump supporters.

Antifa is short for “anti-fascists” and used as a blanket term to refer to left-wing, anti-racist groups.

“I’m not trying to say that Trump supporters didn’t break into the Capitol, they did… This was coordinated to give a black eye to Trump supporters, and we’re not the ones who broke into the Capitol,” Williams said.

Williams says that most Trump supporters at the Capitol were peaceful, and that most of the people who stormed the Capitol were far-left Antifa activists. This claim is false and has been debunked by the FBI.

Why do they believe the rioters were members of Antifa? Williams claims one can tell based on their all-black clothing or appearance.

“If you’ve ever been up there, spotting Antifa and BLM is really easy. They’re all young. They’ve got nose rings, and piercings,” Williams said.

BLM refers to those who participated in Black Lives Matter protests last summer.

Williams also claims he saw Capitol police on the east side of the Capitol grounds taking down barricades to let members of Antifa inside. In reality, the far-right rioters tore down barricades and attacked Capitol police officers on their way to the Capitol.

READ MORE: Pro-Trump mob storms U.S. Capitol, members of Congress evacuated.

The rioters — many of whom wore pro-Trump paraphenalia and carried Confederate flags — broke windows and ransacked congressional offices and chambers. The effort to protest and overturn Joe Biden’s election over President Donald Trump was ultimately unsuccessful.

At least five people — including a U.S. Capitol police officer — have died as a result of the riot. One woman died after being shot by Capitol police, and others died after experiencing medical emergencies during the events. The breach marked the first time that the Capitol has been under siege since the War of 1812.

Williams and other group members feel like the backlash they’ve received for protesting is unwarranted, and some even feel betrayed by Trump himself.

“I feel like Trump kind of hoodwinked us too, you know, he sort of threw us under the bus,” Williams said. “We went up there to stand up for him. And we came back like a soldier from Vietnam. Our country (is) trying to spit on us and paint us as domestic terrorists.”

The group was motivated to travel to Washington by claims from President Trump alleging rigged elections in states such as Arizona, Pennsylvania and Georgia. Multiple crowd members brought up theories during the event that have been disproven, such as voting machines from Dominion Voting Systems switching votes cast for Trump to Biden votes. These allegations, spread by conservative media figures and politicians, have been disproven and have resulted in Dominion filing a defamation lawsuit against former Trump campaign legal advisor Sidney Powell.

Trump’s election challenges have been repeatedly rejected by state and federal courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court. Trump’s own attorney general, William Barr, has also said that no election fraud took place on a scale necessary to overturn the election.

Before the violence at the Capitol began, around half of William’s group met with two of Mississippi’s Republican congressmen, Reps. Trent Kelly and Michael Guest. After the violence was quelled and Congress returned to complete the certification process, Reps. Kelly, Guest, Steven Palazzo and Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith all backed a failed effort by lawmakers to overturn Biden’s victory, citing the same disproven theories peddled by Williams and his group.

During the Sunday rally, Williams and crowd members expressed an anger that they said is directed more at establishment Republicans than their Democratic opponents. Williams said that Democratic lawmakers fight for their supporters in a way that Republicans don’t. He even gave Democrats kudos for their alleged theft of the election.

“I believe it was Walter Matthau in The Bad News Bears that said: ‘If you ain’t cheating, you don’t want to win bad enough.’ So I give the Democrats credit for that. Maybe we just need to learn how to cheat,” Williams said.

Williams directed group members to turn their anger toward local and state politicians that supported Congress certifying the results of the presidential election.

“I’m sorry if I offend anybody. Actually, I’m not. (Sen.) Roger Wicker is the worst one of all. And he has to go,” Williams said. “And I’m gonna tell you what, I don’t want to wait for the next election to get him out of there. Because I don’t trust the elections anymore. So I’m up for ideas on how we can pressure him to conveniently retire. But that’s what needs to happen.”

Sen. Wicker did not vote in support of overturning the election results.

READ MORE: Mississippi’s GOP congressmen voted to overturn Biden win in Arizona, Pennsylvania.

Williams wants to turn the Patriot Party group into a registered political party in Mississippi to challenge Republican candidates in down the ticket races. The problem with that is he fears that their attempts at organizing will be impeded by censorship from “big tech” that’s controlled by liberals determined to stamp out conservative dissent, he said. He encouraged supporters to give him their email addresses in order to preemptively prepare for potential bans from social media platforms.

“The First Amendment, freedom of speech, is being suppressed as we speak in this country like it’s never been before,” Williams said. “And if you don’t believe that, you’ve had your eyes closed.”

Their fear of censorship is based on the recent de-platforming of President Trump by multiple social media companies that say Trump’s rhetoric incited the mob violence on Jan. 6. Twitter, Facebook, Snapchat, Reddit and even Pinterest have all suspended President Trump’s accounts indefinitely.

People on the far right have migrated in droves to the social media platform Parler in response to the alleged censorship of conservative voices, mostly pertaining to restrictions being placed on accounts spreading false election claims. Saturday, Amazon booted Parler off its web hosting service, and it was removed from the Apple and Google Play app stores.

Williams and his group’s members say they don’t know what the future holds, but they’re preparing for any scenario, even taking up arms to be the “last line of defense for freedom,” as one supporter put it. They even have a contingency plan in case President Biden declared martial law and came to take their guns.

“We have designated points in DeSoto County that are gathering points,” William said. “One is this courthouse, the other (is) Snowdon Grove. If something happens, you can meet your brothers in arms, at Snowden Grove or here. I’ll just leave it at that.”

Editor’s note: This article first published on Jan. 11, 2021, in the DeSoto Times Tribune.

The post Meet the ‘patriot’ group that scored a meeting with U.S. Reps. Kelly, Guest appeared first on Mississippi Today.

A new state flag was raised over the Mississippi State Capitol on Monday to replace the old flag, which flew for 126 years and featured the divisive Confederate battle emblem.

Flags were raised on the Capitol grounds and over the domes of both the House and Senate in a Monday afternoon ceremony.

House Speaker Philip Gunn and Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann, who this past summer steered passage of historic legislation to retire the old flag and to place a new flag on the November ballot, presided over the flag-raising ceremony.

Before the new flag was raised over the Capitol, where it flapped proudly thanks to the cold northwesterly wind, Gov. Tate Reeves signed the bill into law making the banner approved by voters in November the official flag of the state.

Reeves called it “a historic day, one we all can be proud of.” He cited the past year as one filled with isolation and divisive rhetoric, but that “we are one nation under God,” united in “friendship, trust and joy.” He said the new flag would represent those items that bound the state together.

He said for many the old flag represented history and heritage, but saw the old flag as representing “divisiveness, dismissiveness and even hate. That is not a firm foundation for our state.”

As lawmakers worked during the 2020 session to retire the old flag, Reeves opposed that effort. He maintained that voters, not lawmakers, should decide whether to retire the old flag. Still, Reeves reluctantly signed the bill into law last summer, retiring the flag and putting on a ballot a new flag for voters to approve or reject.

More than 70% of voters approved the new flag in November 2020, and the Legislature ratified that vote last week. Reeves signed the legislation into law in the auditorium of the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum, flanked by the commission that selected the new flag design.

Gunn, who for years was the most prominent Republican leader to publicly advocate for changing the state flag, told stories on Monday of state lawmakers who had been against change this summer – up until just days before the Legislature voted – but who had changes of heart.

“It was their families,” Gunn said of what changed their minds. “It was knowing that history was going to record what they did, and they did not want their spouses and children and grandchildren to be disappointed. They wanted future generations of this state to be proud of what they did.”

“Now we turn the page on this new chapter in our state’s history,” Gunn continued. “It is blank. It has yet to be written. What will it say? What will the history of this new flag be? What will it stand for? That is going to be determined by you, the citizens of the state of Mississippi.

“… It can represent a place of hospitality, a place of goodwill toward all men, a place of sacrificial service to our fellow man, or it can not. It can represent a place where we love our neighbors as ourselves, or it can not … It can represent a place where in God we trust, or it can not. We will determine what is written … Yes, in God we trust, and may he bless the great state of Mississippi.”

Hosemann, who publicly advocated for a change in the flag after House leaders initiated the process this summer, also spoke at the ceremony on Monday.

“Over 900,000 Mississippians voted for this flag to represent the state of Mississippi,” Hosemann said. “It will provide a shade of history and community for our citizens. It will provide nourishment to the roots of our society. It will inspire children for hopefully generations to come, and it will give us a sense of place. We will learn together under this flag. We will work together under this flag, and we will worship together under this emblem.”

State Sen. David Jordan of Greenwood, a longtime legislator and civil rights leader, watched the ceremony and the new flags being hoisted above the state Capitol and remarked to a colleague, “It’s a good day. It’s a beacon of hope for Mississippi.”

Sharon Brown, a resident of Jackson, braved the frigid weather Monday to witness the flag raising ceremony at the Capitol. Brown in 2015 led an unsuccessful push for a voter referendum to remove the old flag and prohibit any reference to the Confederacy being on the state’s flag.

“We have constantly been in the fight since then,” Brown said. “I knew change would come.”

Former Gov. Ronnie Musgrove, who worked unsuccessfully in the early 2000s to change the flag, attended the bill signing and raising of the new flag.

When asked if he believed he would ever see the change, he said, “I was certainly hopeful it would be in my lifetime.”

He praised the new flag design as having “emblems and designs everyone can support… It is a great day.”

The post ‘It’s a great day’: Mississippi raises new state flag after 126 years appeared first on Mississippi Today.

On April 17, 2001, Mississippi voted on replacing its state flag. The debate, as most things in Mississippi do, became an emotional one. I remember that day because of the hate-filled phone calls I had received (I was for changing it). At 5:30, my doctor called and said, “You have cancer.”

I laughed.

He paused and then asked, “Why are you laughing?”

I said, “This is the nicest call I’ve had all day.”

When I was wheeled into surgery a couple of days later, I wondered if I’d survive. I just didn’t think I’d ever see the flag changed. Nearly 20 years later, I have both survived and seen that change.

We have come a long way since 2001 and in many ways are still in the same place. But we now have a banner we can all sit together under. And be proud of our great state together.

The post Marshall Ramsey: A New Day appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Don’t look now, but we suddenly have a competitive Ole Miss-Mississippi State women’s basketball rivalry. At last.

They’ve been playing one another for 45 years now, ever since Title IX compelled colleges and universities – most reluctantly – to field women’s basketball teams. The Ole Miss-State rivalry just never has been really competitive. One or the other has dominated. That appears to have changed, what with 14th ranked Mississippi State’s hard-earned 60-56 victory over Ole Miss on the Bulldogs’ home floor Sunday. The Lady Rebels had two chances to tie the score in the final 90 seconds.

“That is what a rivalry game should look like,” Ole Miss coach Yolett McPhee-McCuin said afterward.

In women’s basketball, Ole Miss-Mississippi State has rarely, if ever, looked like this before.

Mississippi State, 8-2, now has won the last 14 meetings, most by decisive margins. Ole Miss, which dropped to 7-2, has not defeated State since Jan. 25, 2014 – and even then the Rebels needed an overtime to achieve it.

Before Sunday, State had won the previous eight meetings by an average of nearly 20 points per.

If that sounds one-sided, you’ve heard nothing yet. Of the first 51 times the two teams played, Ole Miss won 50. That’s right, the Lady Rebels were 50-1. Rivalry? More like complete and utter dominance.

Interestingly, Van Chancellor, the architect of most of that Ole Miss dominance, is a proud graduate of Mississippi State. He won 37 of 38 games against his alma mater while at Ole Miss

Chancellor, a Naismith Hall of Famer, lives in Texas now, but he watched Sunday’s game with keen interest. “I went to one school, coached for a long time at the other. You bet I’m interested,” Chancellor said in a Monday phone conversation.

His take on Sunday’s game?

“Ole Miss has made unbelievable improvement from last season to this,” Chancellor said. “They are so much more talented. Coach Yo finally has her players playing her way. Now, it’s a matter of learning how to win, and that sometimes is the hardest part. They are good enough to be in every game. Now they have to learn how to win.”

Chancellor will get no argument from State coach Nikki McRay-Penson about the vast improvement at Ole Miss. “They are better in all aspects,” McRay-Penson said postgame. “Coach Yo has done a great job of recruiting talented players.”

And here’s the deal: One of those highly recruited and talented players, 6-foot-5 Shakira Austin, a Maryland transfer, was in foul trouble for much of the game, missed 15 minutes of playing time and scored only six points. Another, Madison Scott, a freshman and the first McDonald’s All American in Ole Miss history, did not play.

Nevertheless, Ole Miss was able to claw back from 12 behind and take the game into the final seconds. Donnetta Johnson, a sophomore transfer from Georgia, was outstanding in defeat, leading both teams in scoring with 23 points. Valerie Nesbit, displaying much grit, added 18.

Junior Jessika Carter led the way for State with 19 points and nine rebounds, and the Bulldogs got a huge boost off the bench from Aliyah Matharu, who scored 16 points in 27 minutes, including four 3-pointers. The Bulldogs won despite a rare off-night from talented Rickea Jackson, who scored just nine points on 3-of-13 shooting. The Bulldogs, as a team, shot just 38 percent.

McRay-Penson used the word “ugly” to describe the victory. She said her team lacked energy.

Part of that came from Ole Miss’s dogged defense. In fact, both teams played hard and well defensively. That brand of defense bodes well for both teams.

“I think both teams are headed in the right direction,” Chancellor said. “Both are well-coached. Both play hard. Both have a lot of talented players. There’s no doubt in my mind this rivalry is about to go to a different level. It’s great for women’s basketball in the state of Mississippi. Think about what the crowds are going to be like for these games when we finally get through this pandemic.

“I told Coach Yo one thing when she got the job. I told her you have to find a way to beat Mississippi State. That’s just the way it is in Mississippi. You have to win your share against the other school.”

The Lady Rebels get their next chance at State on Valentine’s Day at The Pavilion in Oxford.

The post In women’s hoops, we suddenly have a real Mississippi rivalry appeared first on Mississippi Today.

In interview with Mississippi Today’s Geoff Pender and Bobby Harrison, state Sen. Derrick Simmons of Greenville, the chamber’s Democratic leader, praises bipartisan spirit in state Capitol, though he said differences still exist. Simmons also questions whether rioters at U.S. Capitol would have been handled differently had they been African American.

Listen here:

The post Podcast: Senate Democratic leader talks 2021 legislative session, assault on U.S. Capitol appeared first on Mississippi Today.