In this episode of Mississippi Stories, Mississippi Today Editor-At-Large Marshall Ramsey sits down with businessman, philanthropist and former politician Dick Molpus. Molpus, born and raised in Philadelphia, Mississippi, was the first person Governor William Winter hired for his staff. As one of the “Boys of Spring,” Molpus helped push through education reform which became a signature piece of legislation during the Winter administration. After working for Winter, Molpus successfully ran for Secretary of State and held the office from 1984 to 1996. Molpus unsuccessfully ran for governor in 1995 and after losing the election, pivoted by founding the successful Molpus Woodlands Group, LLC. It was during that time that he and his wife Sally found Parents for Public Schools, which now has chapters across the nation. Molpus has received numerous awards for his efforts to promote both eduction and racial equity. He also is a member of the Mississippi Business Hall of Fame and the University of Mississippi Hall of Fame. Ramsey and Molpus discuss his long career, what he hopes for his beloved Mississippi and even the time Jon Stewart had to apologize to him on air on The Daily Show.
Mississippi will not lose a congressional seat even though it was one of only three states to lose population during the past decade, according to early U.S. census data released this week.
State leaders had said for some time they did not believe the census would result in a loss of a congressional seat for Mississippi.
“We have a cushion, but if the trend (population loss) continues, it does not look good for the future” in terms of not losing a seat, said Mississippi House Apportionment and Elections Chair Jim Beckett, R-Bruce.
While the state will not lose a congressional seat, the Mississippi Legislature will have little time to redraw the state’s four congressional districts before the 2022 mid-term elections to match population shifts found during the 2020 Census.
The goal, both Beckett and Senate Apportionment Committee Chair Dean Kirby said, is to present a plan to redraw the four U.S. House districts to their legislative colleagues early in the 2022 session, which starts in January.
“We have to be ready to go when we first get there” to start the session, Kirby said. “That will be one of the first things we have to do.”
The reason for the need for swift action on congressional redistricting is because the deadline for candidates to qualify to run for the congressional seats is March 1. The primary election will be held June 7.
Both Kirby and Beckett said they do not anticipate trying to convince Gov. Tate Reeves to call a special session to redraw the four congressional districts late this year before the 2022 session begins.
The intent, Beckett said, is to have nine public hearings across the state, most likely beginning in October, and later develop a redistricting plan to present in the 2022 session for approval.
While the preliminary census numbers were released this week, the final numbers that include the precinct-level data needed to redraw political districts, is not expected to be available to the states until September.
After both the 2000 and 2010 censuses, the Legislature was unable to agree on a plan to redraw the congressional districts. In 2000, the state lost a seat, making redistricting particularly contentious. In both 2000 and 2010, the federal courts ended up redrawing the districts.
“Our intent is for the Legislature to draw the districts this time and not the courts,” Kirby said. “It is going to be an experience.”
Kirby said the most difficult part of the effort will be dealing with the loss of population in the 2nd Congressional District that encompasses much of western Mississippi, including the Delta. The 2nd is the state’s only African American majority district, represented by Bennie Thompson, D-Bolton.
Based on existing federal law, the state will have to maintain a Black-majority district, especially since the state’s African American population increased slightly, based on the census data.
While legislators will face a tight time frame on congressional redistricting, Sen. Angela Turner Ford, D-West Point, said, it is important to make sure “the districts are reflective of our population.” Turner Ford, the chair of the Legislative Black Caucus, said she would be willing to spend the time needed to ensure that goal is met.
To deal with the population loss in the Delta, the Legislature may have to expand the 2nd District into fast-growing DeSoto County in northwest Mississippi or into the Natchez area in southwest Mississippi.
Overall, Beckett said, a few areas of the state — the Gulf Coast, an area stretching from DeSoto County east into Lafayette County and into the Tupelo area, and suburban Jackson — gained population, while the vast majority of counties lost people during the past decade.
The number of congressional seats also determines a state’s influence in electing the president. The number of electors a state has is equal to a state’s total number of senators and U.S. House members, meaning Mississippi has six electors to cast in presidential elections.
While the Legislature will need to pass a congressional redistricting plan early in the 2022 session, later in the year legislators will need to redraw the 122 House districts and 52 Senate district to match population shifts.
But legislators will have more time to complete that task since legislative elections will not be held until 2023. But since legislators will be redrawing their own districts, that process is likely to be more time consuming and potentially more contentious.
At least 32 states have resumed the use of Johnson & Johnson’s one-shot COVID-19 vaccine, but Mississippi is not one of them.
“As of now, the Mississippi State Department of Health continues to pause Johnson and Johnson vaccine. The agency will review additional information and will advise the media and public if and when Mississippi resumes administration of the vaccine,” Liz Sharlot, director of communications at the Mississippi Department of Health, told Mississippi Today in a statement on Tuesday.
Less than 5% of Mississippians who have received a COVID-19 vaccine received Johnson & Johnson, so the pause has had little impact on the state’s overall vaccine supply-chain. Still, the effects of its absence will likely be more pronounced in rural areas, where the shot’s more lax storage requirements and singular dose requirement have helped ease logistical issues in vaccine distribution.
It is still unclear how the pause will affect Mississippi’s already high rate of vaccine hesitancy. The number of COVID-19 vaccines being administered in Mississippi has decreased 35% over the last two weeks, marking a growing rift between the state’s supply of vaccines and the population’s demand for them.
Federal health agencies ended their recommendation for a temporary pause in the use of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine on Friday, and since then a majority of states have resumed its administration. The pause recommendation only lasted 10 days, and was changed after an extensive safety review by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration.
Acting out of an abundance of caution, federal health agencies issued the pause recommendation after six people were discovered to have developed a rare blood clot, known as cerebral venous sinus thrombosis, after receiving the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. A subsequent safety review found that 15 of the nearly 8 million people that have received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine in the U.S. developed the rare blood clot.
A new warning will now be placed on the Johnson & Johnson vaccine label, and health care providers administering the shot have been instructed to inform patients of the associated risks.
Dr. Janet Woodcock, acting FDA commissioner said in a press release: “We have concluded that the known and potential benefits of the Janssen COVID-19 Vaccine outweigh its known and potential risks in individuals 18 years of age and older. We are confident that this vaccine continues to meet our standards for safety, effectiveness and quality. We recommend people with questions about which vaccine is right for them have those discussions with their health care provider.”
Mississippi saw its first population decrease in 60 years, according to preliminary 2020 U.S. Census Bureaudata released this week.
The data reported Mississippi’s resident population as 2,961,279 million people, marking a decrease of 6,018 since 2010. This is only the third time a population decrease in Mississippi has been recorded. The first was a decrease of 6,496 recorded in 1920, and the second was a decline of 773 recorded in 1960.
Mississippi was one of only three states to see a population decline in the 2020 census, though its decline was the smallest among them. Illinois’ population decreased by 18,124 and the state lost one of its 18 congressional seats as a result. West Virginia saw the greatest population decline, losing 59,278 residents.
Though 47 states increased their population over the last decade, the national rate of population growth has slowed. A declining birthrate and lower immigration numbers caused the U.S. population to grow at the second slowest rate recorded since the first census was conducted in 1790. The national population increased by 7.4%, just above the lowest ever increase of 7.3% recorded in 1940.
The release of redistricting data from the 2020 census has been delayed due to many logistical challenges the COVID-19 pandemic posed for collecting accurate counts. The U.S. Census Bureau originally planned to have all redistricting data to states by March 31, but pushed that back to Sept. 30 in February.
The bureau announced today that it will deliver the Public Law 94-171 redistricting data to all states by Sept. 30, 2021. COVID-related delays and prioritizing the delivery of the apportionment results delayed the Census Bureau’s original plan to deliver the redistricting data to the states by March 31, 2021.
The release of the redistricting data will offer insight into the demographic changes Mississippi has seen over the last decade and allow the state’s legislative boundaries to be redrawn ahead of the 2022 midterm elections.
Rep. Robert Johnson, the minority leader in the Mississippi House of Representatives whose measured and respectful demeanor has brought recent policy success to Democrats in a ruby red state, is disgusted.
He’s disgusted that months after lawmakers voted to remove the Confederate battle emblem from the state flag after 126 years, Mississippi is once again celebrating Confederate Memorial Day.
He’s disgusted that Mississippi is — once again — garnering a negative image on front pages and in news broadcasts across the nation because some prominent leaders continue to embrace the ugliest parts of the state’s history.
He’s disgusted by Tate Reeves, the governor who codified the official state holiday after claiming during the 2020 flag debate that he wants to unite Mississippians.
Rep. Robert Johnson III speaks to media on Tuesday, March 17, 2020. Credit: Eric J. Shelton/Mississippi Today, Report For America
“I don’t understand how a man with a reputation of being reasonably intelligent who says he wants to move Mississippi forward keeps wrapping his arms around these things that make us all look so bad,” Johnson told Mississippi Today on Monday. “We have so much to be proud of and to love. The relationships we’ve built have done wonders for us, especially this past year. Removing the flag was a seminal moment for this state, and it signaled to the world who we really can be.
“Is this really what Tate believes is important?” Johnson continued. “It does nothing to build relationships or foster unity. It unravels it in many ways.”
The states of Mississippi and Alabama are officially observing Confederate Memorial Day on Monday, perpetuating a decades-long practice even as government-sanctioned adulation of The Lost Cause has been reversed in recent months. The day marks an official state holiday, meaning most state employees have the day off.
The holiday is the first since most Mississippi statewide elected officials supported the June 2020 legislative effort to remove the Confederate battle emblem from the state flag — a move most of them rightfully touted as morally responsible in the state home to the highest percentage of Black residents.
Depending on the venue, Reeves has been quick to take credit for the flag change even though he did not publicly support the legislative effort until the morning lawmakers banked the necessary votes. He said at the time he would work to bring Mississippians together: “… the job before us is to bring the state together, and I intend to work night and day to do it.”
But close observers of the governor knew, even at the time of the flag change, that he was not in the morally responsible camp.
“I know there are people of goodwill who are not happy to see this flag change,” he said shortly before signing the flag bill into law in early July 2020. “They fear a chain reaction of events erasing our history — a history that is no doubt complicated and imperfect. I understand those concerns and am determined to protect Mississippi from that dangerous outcome.”
Earlier that day, Reeves posted to social media: “No matter where you are … I love you, Mississippi.”
Confederate Memorial Day is the hallmark of Confederate Heritage Month, which Reeves tried to quietly declare this year after the state’s governors did the same in each year dating back to Kirk Fordice in 1993. Mississippi is the only state in the nation that officially designates an entire month for the confederacy.
The initial proclamation in 1993 — the language of which was mirrored nearly word-for-word in this year’s document signed by Reeves — was signed by former Gov. Fordice at the request of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, the Military Order of the Stars and Bars and the Order of the Confederate Rose, Mississippi Today reporting and an analysis of public records shows.
These groups have worked for decades to whitewash the horrors of the time and the reality that the Civil War was fought by the Southern states to uphold slavery. The second line of Mississippi 1861 secession papers says it all: “Our position is thoroughly identified with the institution of slavery — the greatest material interest of the world.”
The continued romanticizing of that era through state-sanctioned celebrations like Confederate Memorial Day exposes the deep gulf between those who are working to perpetuate Lost Cause narratives and those who are fighting for a better future for Mississippi.
“I believe that any mention or observance of Confederate Memorial Day flies in the face of the unity that lawmakers — Black and white — intended to create when we took the historic step of ridding Mississippi of the old Confederate battle flag that had so long represented insults, shame and division among races in our state,” said Sen. Derrick Simmons, the Democratic leader in the Senate. “I would like to see all references to that evil past dropped as would many other lawmakers, both silent and vocal. Let’s pray that in the future we all can learn better and do better and drop all references to the confederacy and the evil that it represents.”
Johnson, a critical ally of Republican House Speaker Philip Gunn’s as they whipped votes to change the flag in 2020, said that Confederate Memorial Day serves as “a stumbling block” for those who are truly fighting for that continued progress.
“There are so many things that we could unify around right now — anything that doesn’t elicit feelings of hate or intimidation for at least half the state’s population,” Johnson said. “We felt so much hope for progress after the flag changed. This man (Reeves) is undoing that, and he can’t even see it.
“Worse than that, it signals to all of those people across the country and world who want to believe that Mississippi is this backwards, racist place that they’re right,” Johnson continued. “All he’s doing is giving that to them.”
The number of COVID-19 vaccines being administered in Mississippi has decreased 35% over the last two weeks, marking a growing rift between the state’s supply of vaccines and the population’s demand for them.
A declining vaccination rate does not bode well for Mississippi improving its national standing in vaccine rollout. The state continues to rank last in the nation for the share of its population that has received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, according to CDC data. As of Monday morning, 30% of Mississippians had received at least one dose, much lower than the United States total of 42%.
As of Monday morning, more than 67,000 vaccination appointments were available in Mississippi through the MSDH vaccine scheduler.
It is still unclear how the temporary pause in administering the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine will affect Mississippi’s already high rate of vaccine hesitancy. Federal health agencies ended the pause on Friday after an extensive safety review by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration.
Dr. Janet Woodcock, acting FDA commissioner said in a press release: “We have concluded that the known and potential benefits of the Janssen COVID-19 Vaccine outweigh its known and potential risks in individuals 18 years of age and older. We are confident that this vaccine continues to meet our standards for safety, effectiveness and quality. We recommend people with questions about which vaccine is right for them have those discussions with their health care provider.”
The pause recommendation was issued out of an abundance of caution after six people developed a rare blood clot, known as cerebral venous sinus thrombosis, after receiving the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. The review by health agencies found that 15 of the nearly 8 million people that have received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine in the United States developed the rare blood clot.
A new warning will now be placed on the Johnson & Johnson vaccine label, and healthcare providers administering the shot have been instructed to inform patients of the associated risks.
After the pause recommendation was issued on April 13, The Mississippi State Department of Health instructed vaccine providers to refrain from using the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. MSDH has not yet updated these instructions, and did not respond to questions on if the agency planned to do so.
Less than 5% of Mississippians who have received a COVID-19 vaccine received Johnson & Johnson, so the pause in its use had little impact on the state’s overall vaccine supply-chain. Still, the effects of its absence will likely be more pronounced in rural areas, where the shot’s more lax storage requirements and singular dose requirement have helped ease logistical issues in vaccine distribution.
When COVID-19 hit Mississippi last spring, students at Northeast Mississippi Community College in Booneville flooded Michelle Baragona’s office to withdraw from their classes.
They cited similar reasons, said Baragona, the college’s vice president of instruction. Their parents were laid off, so they needed to work. They no longer felt safe attending class in-person.
As the year wore on, withdrawal requests kept coming in as students struggled to overcome pandemic-related academic challenges. In the fall semester, Baragona said one student requested to withdraw because his grades had suffered after he was exposed to COVID and quarantined four times.
In a bid to get these students back, several community colleges across the state are doing something they’ve never done before: making summer classes free.
The colleges are paying for the free summer classes with money from the Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund (HEERF), the portion of the federal stimulus package that’s set aside for colleges and universities.
Nearly $150 million in HEERF funding has poured into the coffers of Mississippi colleges and universities since last March. At least half of the funds must be spent on emergency financial aid grants for students. The rest is meant to cover institutional expenses related to the pandemic, like upgrading computers for distance learning or purchasing hand sanitizer stations and masks.
So far, three community colleges are using HEERF funds to cover summer tuition and some other expenses for students: East Mississippi Community College (EMCC), Northeast Mississippi Community College (NEMCC) and Hinds Community College.
Baragona hopes the free classes will provide a do-over to the students who left the college due to COVID-19. So far, that appears to be happening. NEMCC has seen 957 students register for summer classes since it opened enrollment on April 1 — about 200 more than they’d normally expect this time of year, Baragona said.
EMCC also saw its enrollment tumble after COVID-19 hit. Last fall, the college’s executive cabinet used some of its HEERF funds to try and fortify its three campuses against the virus, investing heavily in sanitation supplies, masks, plastic dividers and hands-free door handles. The executive cabinet hoped these safety measures would bring students back to campus, but enrollment “did not rebound as much as we had hoped,” said Julia Morrison, EMCC’s director of external relations.
Morrison and other EMCC cabinet members looked for other ways stimulus funding could be used to increase enrollment and eventually settled on offering free classes.
“Historically, community college students are facing some financial barriers, and that has all been heightened by the pandemic,” Morrison said. “We wanted to craft an initiative that helps students where they’re at.”
The increased financial aid is also removing barriers that existed for some before the pandemic. Candace Bradley, a single mother, dropped out of community college in 2015 because she didn’t have enough time or money to be a full-time student and provide for her son.
Bradley has wanted to finish earning her associate’s degree ever since, but going back to school meant taking out loans. Bradley had already paid off the student debt from her first go at college, but the process was so stressful that she wasn’t willing to put herself in debt again.
The combined boons of the direct payments from the stimulus bills and the HEERF financial aid have changed that. She’s applied for admission at Hinds and plans to register for the maximum 12 credit hours of HEERF covered courses to get the most bang for her buck.
“I didn’t believe it at first,” Bradley said. “Something like this just doesn’t happen for people like me.”
Registration is still open at NEMCC and EMCC; neither schools are limiting the number of students they accept this summer term. Cathy Hayden, the director of publications and media liaison at Hinds, said the college has signed up “all the students we want right now” after opening summer registration on April 12.
At EMCC, Morrison is looking forward to seeing students back on campus. Teachers have reported being stopped at church or in meetings by community members asking about classes. The excitement around free classes has created “a new energy” after a traumatic year, she said.
“It almost feels a little bit like a rebirth,” Morrison said.
