V14n33 A Hunger To Live

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vol. 14 no. 33

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,IVE The Struggle to Interrupt the Cycle of Violence Ladd, pp 14 - 25

Legislators Gone Wild Dreher, Dreher, pp 10 10

Chickens, Eggs, Street Food Helsel, Helsel, pp 26 26

Playing the Love Notez Smith, Smith, pp 30 30

It's Coming!

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Here’s how you can help raise money for local charities: Visit participating local restaurants. (Listing in next week’s issue.)

Keep the ballot that comes with your final check. (ask if you don’t get a ballot!)

Go to www.jxnchefweek.com

Enter the ballot code to validate your ballot. Vote for your favorite chef. For contest and sponsorship info, visit www.jFPchefweek.com or call 601.362.6121 ext 11

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JACKSONIAN MITCH C. DAVIS

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s a professional photographer and branding coach who helps clients seek out roles in modeling and acting, Mitch C. Davis says he enjoys the freedom that working freelance affords him and the chance to meet and help up-and-comers across the state. “Freelancing gives me the ability to reach out to the average individual, to work with Mississippians and help produce quality actors and models as well as photography in the state,” he says. Davis, a 49-year-old Jackson resident, attended Lanier High School and went to Southern Technical College in Jackson, which is now closed. After graduating with a bachelor’s degree in electronics in 1988, he took a job managing a call center for BellSouth (AT&T bought the company in 2006) in Jackson. Davis’ first opportunity to use his photography to help someone be discovered came when he photographed a male model named Ja’kel Marshall. Davis sent some of the pictures he took to the production crew for the movie “The Help,” which was filming in Jackson, and Marshall got the call to be an extra. In 2012, he began to work as a branding coach, conducting photo shoots for prospective models and actors, and helping them work on résumés, networking and preparing portfolios to submit to casting companies. Davis has also been part of larger productions, including assisting casting director and

CONTENTS

producer Maximus Wright with finding actors for the film “Soul Damage,” which was recently in production in Jackson. Davis has completed more than 60 modeling and film contracts for Mississippians so far. “The people I work with are newcomers just entering industry, but they work hard, and I work hard to help them get their roles,” he says. “I give opportunities to people who might not have them. I’m working to help bring more productions to Mississippi and cast locals, so I can show people that Mississippi can be a big part of the movie and modeling industries.” Davis has also been doing freelance work for the Jackson Free Press for five years, including helping out at the monthly Fondren’s First Thursday events and the Best of Jackson party. While working with Mississippi locals and helping local industries are both important parts of his profession, Davis says his favorite thing about freelance photography is being a part of capturing history. “The first opportunity I got to photograph someone professionally was a grandmother who was in a nursing home,” he says. “Her family called me and explained that she was extremely ill, and they didn’t have any pictures of her. I remember she smiled for what they said was the first time in years because all her grandchildren were there. Those pictures became some of that family’s most valued possessions, and I feel like I was part of that.” —Dustin Cardon

cover photo of Jay McChristian and Stephen Butler by Imani Khayyam

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The Mississippi Legislature passed a strained budget, a $415 million tax cut and $205 million in bonds.

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“Our people have fought for decades to rid ourselves of stigmas, both earned and unearned, to make Mississippi a place anyone can call home. A place where anyone can walk down the street or walk into a place of business and not feel like an alien”—Michael Farris Smith, “Mississippi: Another Crooked Letter for Us All”

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Love Notez is helping steer Jackson’s next Motown movement.

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4 ....................... PUBLISHER’S NOTE 6 ............................................ TALKS 12 ................................ EDITORIAL 12 ................................. SORENSEN 13 .................................... OPINION 14 ............................ COVER STORY 26 ......................................... FOOD 28 ....................................... 8 DAYS 29 ...................................... EVENTS 29 ..................................... SPORTS 30 ....................................... MUSIC 30 ....................... MUSIC LISTINGS 31 .................................... PUZZLES 33 ....................................... ASTRO 33 ............................. CLASSIFIEDS

IMANI KHAYYAM; COURTESY MICHAEL FARRIS SMITH; IMANI KHAYYAM

APRIL 20 - 26, 2016 | VOL. 14 NO. 33

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PUBLISHER’S note

by Todd Stauffer, Publisher

The Permission to Care Deeply

W

ith the legislative season coming to a close, those of us who spend a lot of time championing progress for Jackson and Mississippi have had a tough go of it. But, there’s a silver lining from these first few months, at least from my perspective as the publisher of the Jackson Free Press—and that’s our team of reporters and our dedicated readers who have gotten to know each other through the course of this session. I’m extremely proud of what this team has brought to the broader conversation, so I’d like to call out some of their names this week as the session comes to an end. State reporter Arielle Dreher has been digging deep on critical state issues, spelunking in campaign-finance reports and keeping careful watch on bills that affect people’s checkbooks, lives, health and liberty. Of note, her coverage of HB 1523 has gone positively viral online, helping drive two of our best months of web traffic ever, and informing tens of thousands of people about the status of numerous bills as they progressed. Hechinger Education Reporting Fellow Sierra Mannie has kept tabs on all things education-related, from (what I would call) the charter-overreach legislation, to district consolidation, to underfunding of public schools, and some of the critical and engaging stories of the students and teachers involved in these battles. Her coverage of Ridgeland’s struggle with changing race demographics made The Washington Post and drove national awareness of some people’s desire to cross district lines for a better education. Since arriving at the JFP, city reporter Tim Summers has split his time between City Council, endless board meetings and the Capitol, taking only occasional five- to 10minute naps on weekends. His determined work on the Jackson airport takeover bill continues to reveal the maneuvering behind this legislation, with more to come. His coverage

on water, roads and the city’s response to state legislation has been the best on record, and it’s provoked a very serious conversation about the convergence of city, counties and state government around critical infrastructure and resource challenges. (And he’s “broken� Google Analytics once or twice himself.) Deputy News Editor Maya Miller is helping the JFP revamp its crime coverage, focusing not on “if it bleeds, it leads� TVstyle stories, but instead looking for the con-

There’s a silver lining from these first few months. text in the numbers and the real solutions that can come from serious consideration of policing and community challenges. She’s already toured and written about conditions at the Raymond Detention Center, and recently she spent quality time with the Jackson Police Department (along with JFP Photographer Imani Khayyam) that will continue to inform our coverage of crime and violence in Jackson. And Imani, by the way, is killing it, with crazy first-hand photos from all around the city, working with each of the reporters to bring you a better understanding of the news through images. (If you haven’t seen his week-in-review photo galleries online, then check them out at jfp.ms/photos/galleries.) Some of this work that Maya, Imani and others are doing is part of a project that Editor-in-chief Donna Ladd is launching with this week’s cover story—a multi-part series on preventing violence in our com-

munity. As you will see, Donna’s cover story focuses on young men struggling to avoid crime in one of Jackson’s most challenged neighborhoods, but it’s informed by her reporting in the past year in New York City that she has been able to undertake thanks to support from the Solutions Journalism Network, along with grants from the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York and her continued work as a leadership fellow with the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, where she is working to bring more substantive journalism about vulnerable young people to the state. A second Solutions Journalism Network grant will help fund the JFP’s project to examine root causes and present efforts and possible solutions toward eliminating violence from our neighborhoods and schools through community programs and progressive policing practices. So, in other words, you’re going to see a lot more of our news team, with additional help from reporting intern Onelia Hawa, who has already hit the streets on two beats—reporting on Donald Trump’s (rather expensive) appearance in Madison and bilingual reporting on immigration issues during this legislative season. All the while, Web Editor Dustin Cardon helps us break continual news, and the rest of the staff passionately plays that part in getting this work out there. Maybe all of this is why Southern Living recently named Donna one of the “Innovators Changing the South.� The magazine calls her “an old-fashioned muck-raking journalist with a sharp modern voice.� I agree—and not just because of her own shoe-leather reporting and writing, but also because of her determination to pull together a team of reporters, photographers and researchers who also want to do this sort of important work, uncovering truths and building context for important stories, and solutions, in Jackson and Mississippi. At the Jackson Free Press, we have a

phrase we use frequently—“the permission to care deeply.� It’s something that we ask our employees to grant others in the office— allow them to care deeply about the work they’re doing and help each other stay focused while executing well to make a difference. Caring deeply is something that we do as a journalist outlet, as well; our goal is to be fair and accurate, but not so “balanced� as to isolate ourselves from context and the truth. Another phrase I use to explain it is, you can’t “balance the truth with lies� just because it makes the liars happy. We recently completed a reader survey online with the Circulation Verification Council that included, for the first time, a space for reader responses and advice—and 230 people out of the more than 500 who filled out the full survey sent us their (anonymous and unfiltered) thoughts. Nothing we read surprised us. A few folks think we’re too “liberal� or “far left� on the op-ed pages, and we know certain people would die if we left out the horoscopes, crosswords and music coverage one week. One of my favorites was this one: “I appreciate the vigilance of JFP in monitoring all levels of government as well as matters of social and cultural concern in Mississippi.� I love that one because, at the end of the day, that’s what matters to the JFP. Our writers do have a voice, and— on the op-ed pages and the web—we offer opinions and analysis and give you a forum, too. But, most of all, we have an extremely dedicated staff that maintains this level of vigilance because democracy requires it. We know that you, our readers, have jobs to do, so we’ll sit in the meetings, chase down the legislators, ride in police cars and perch on park benches to learn what’s really going on—then we’ll report it back to you. It’s our job. Cheers to our news team, and thanks to you for reading. Email Todd Stauffer at todd@jackson freepress.com.

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CONTRIBUTORS

4

Donna Ladd

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Sierra Mannie

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JFP Editor and co-founder Donna Ladd is a Neshoba County native. After being in exile from Mississippi for 18 years, she came on back where she damn well belongs. She wrote the cover story.

Staff Photographer Imani Khayyam is an art lover and a native of Jackson. He loves to be behind the camera and capture the true essence of his subjects. He took photos for the cover and many photos for the issue.

News Reporter Arielle Dreher is working on finding some new hobbies and adopting an otter from the Jackson Zoo. Email her story ideas at arielle@jacksonfreepress. com. She wrote about state budgets and tax cuts.

Education Reporting Fellow Sierra Mannie is a University of Mississippi student whose opinions of the Ancient Greeks can’t be trusted nearly as much as her opinions of BeyoncÊ. She wrote about charter schools.

City Reporter Tim Summers Jr. enjoys loud live music, teaching his cat to fetch, long city council meetings and FOIA requests. Send him story ideas at tim@jacksonfreepress.com. He wrote about the Neighbors First Lot Program.

Assistant Editor Amber Helsel likes food, art and food-related art. Her patronus is a cat. She wrote about Nick Wallace’s James Beard Dinner, Museum After Hours pop-up menu and the Dinner and a Movie: A Food Truck Festival.

Music Editor Micah Smith is married to a great lady, has two dog-children named Kirby and Zelda, and plays in the band Empty Atlas. Send gig info to music@jacksonfreepress.com. He wrote about the vocal trio Love Notez.

Sales Assistant Mary Osborne is a Lanier Bulldog by birthright and a JSU Tiger by choice. She is the mother of Lindon “Joc� Dixon. Her hobbies include hosting and producing “The Freeda Love Show,� which airs on PEG 18.

Birdsong & Bluegrass

May 7 at the Science Museum Food Music Birds

Su mm e r Camps

REGISTER NOW FOR JUNE CAMPS! MDWFP.COM/MUSEUM

MISSISSIPPI MUSEUM OF NATURAL SCIENCE

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Friday, April 15 Gov. Phil Bryant signs into law a bill that allows some members of churches to provide armed security for their congregations and a bill banning a commonly used second-trimester abortion procedure called dilation and evacuation. Saturday, April 16 Mississippi legislators meet ahead of a deadline to reach agreements on spending and borrowing for the upcoming budget year beginning July 1. Sunday, April 17 House and Senate negotiators file an agreement just before midnight on Senate Bill 2858, which would phase out Mississippi’s $260-million-a-year corporate franchise tax. ‌ Pennsylvania becomes the 24th state to legalize a comprehensive medical marijuana program.

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Monday, April 18 An Associated Press investigation reveals that the Pentagon misled Congress by using inaccurate or vague information about sexual assault cases in an effort to blunt support for a Senate bill that would make a major change in how the military handles allegations of sexual misconduct. ‌ Boston Marathon bombing survivor Patrick Downes finishes the race on a prosthetic blade leg he has needed since losing his left leg in the 2013 attacks.

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Tuesday, April 19 Mississippi State University and the University of Mississippi Medical Center launch a new partnership aimed at addressing health-care challenges such as obesity, diabetes and disparities in healthcare access. Get breaking news at jfpdaily.com.

by Tim Summers Jr.

D

eep, red Yazoo clay, the smell of dogs and damp stick to my clothes, as the spry 70-year-old inspector ahead of me gets down on his hands and knees to crawl under my house. The heavy tool belt around his waist jingles in the dark under the house. He pulls out a tiny magnet on the end of a telescoping rod. The magnet snaps to the pipe that hangs below the house with a sharp clang. Rick Eades, president of the Mississippi Association of Home Inspectors, smiles and nods, snapping the magnet again and again against the pipe. Each time it hits with a sharp twang. “These are old galvanized lines,� Eades said, pointing to the pipe. “This is what they were talking about pH and sloughing off old lead.� After several failed attempts to find a homeowner willing to let a photographer and reporter to follow him through an inspection, Eades generously agreed to do one on my old rental home in Belhaven Heights for this story. At the moment, the three of us are all as far underneath the foundation as we can possibly squeeze. The pipe Eades found runs from the water meter at the street to the inside of my house and is the type of pipe that can leach lead into my drinking water. It is the kind of pipe that could be in older homes all over Jackson. Inside the

house, Eades checks the pipes under the sinks and notes that they are all plastic and new. Outside the house, Eades takes samples

paint on the outside of my house, perhaps layers down, as well as some of the paint on the inside of my house, have elevated levels of lead. IMANI KHAYYAM

Thursday, April 14 The Mississippi Senate approves amendments to Senate Bill 2162, which would give the Mississippi Legislature control over the sale of all Jackson airport land. ‌ The Mississippi Supreme Court rejects a call to remove Chancery Judge David Shoemake on charges that he lied under oath, suspending and fining him instead.

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COURTESY JOSH HARKINS; BJTJ1; ALAN LIGHT; DONYMEDINA0976; FLICKR/ ADAM GLANZMAN; COURTESY WHITE HOUSE; ; COURTESY US AIRFORCE

Wednesday, April 13 Prosecutors determine that Donald Trump’s campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, will not be prosecuted on a misdemeanor battery charge.

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Rick Eades climbs under the foundation of city reporter Tim Summers Jr.’s rental home to check the conditions of the pipes.

of paint chips from the wall and from the ground below the wall, including a pile of discarded scraps from a recent paint job, presumably before I moved in. He tells me that he has to send the samples off to get tested. A few days later, I receive an email with the results, which indicate that the

What Do I Do Now? As far as the galvanized pipes, the Mississippi State Department of Health and the EPA suggest installing a filter on the tap in my kitchen in addition to using only cold water to cook with. Every morning flushing the tap before making coffee is a necessity.

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Who Owns Jackson’s Blight? by Tim Summers, Jr.

Alberta Epps, a longtime resident of Jackson, wants to purchase overgrown property next to her house.

the lot. Then, they issue a recommendation for the price of the property, usually half of the market value, and the governor’s office approves it. Which Lots Qualify? When Alberta Epps arrived at the Jackson Police Training Academy Saturday Legal Loophole for Landlords The lead in the paint raises other questions. Catherine Lee of the Green and Healthy Homes Initiative Jackson advises renters to proceed cautiously. “In the state of Mississippi there aren’t any protections for tenants in the case that they find lead paint in their unit,� she said. “Your landlord at any point can give you 30 days notice and ask you to leave. So you really need to be careful with the way you address it,� Lee said. “It’s the owner’s responsibility to abate the lead, but there are no mandates in the state of Mississippi for landlords to do that.� Lee encourages sharing the results with the landlords, especially in the case of severe chipping paint, inside or out, which she called “unstable paint.� This is important outside the house, where the chips can turn into dust that can float into the surrounding neighborhood. “As a tenant, you need to do some basic kind of precautions,� Lee said. Instead of dry dusting around the

morning, she was looking to find out more than about some overgrown property next to her house. She was interested in whether the Neighbors First Lot program enabled her to purchase the land. “I’m a widow,� she said, standing up during the meeting, “and it is growing up.� The Neighbors First Lot program will not only reassign 150 abandoned or vacant city-owned lots to the tax base, generating revenue for the city, but will also have the side effect of educating the citizens of Jackson about who owns the overgrown, dilapidated lots that dot the poorer sections of town. “There’s no secrets to using the Hinds County landroll,� Anderson said. Residents can look up their street or specific lots and see who owns the property and whether they owe back taxes. Anderson pulled up the Hinds County landroll and entered in the parcel number of the lot Epps wanted to buy. The crowd counted through the years of back property taxes together: “One! Two! Three!� Anderson asked them what would happen next, and a ripple of laughter went across the room. They had all learned earlier in the meeting that after three years of back property taxes, the lot would go to auction in the fall. Epps asked if she should still purchase the property from the owner. “I would not advise you to give him any

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house, she suggested using a wet wipe to catch all the harmful lead particles. Instead of using a vacuum cleaner, one should use a mechanical vacuum to prevent unnecessary stirring of any dust within the home. Dennis Kelly, a lead-paint expert at the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality, MDEQ, suggested using a Swiffer duster and any method to not kick up any more dust than necessary. If the property owner does decide to move forward with more permanent

money,� Anderson said. The program is currently accepting applications. The preference for them begins first with homeowners adjacent to the property, then to other neighbors on the same block, neighborhood associations and community land trusts. If none of those parties is interested, the lots will open up to residents in the City. The land must be zoned R-1 or R-2 residential, and applicants must submit a plan for developing the property and complete said plan within two years. For most of the audience what started about a seminar about Neighbors First ended up an empowering lesson on purchasing the blighted property around their homes. A lifelong resident of south Jackson, Susan Brinston said that she attended the first seminar and left intrigued about the chance to buy up ruined, neglected property around her. “When I went back to do my research, I saw that a lot of it was owned by the State, even in my neighborhood,� Brinston said. “And if it is not state-owned, a lot of it is investment companies out of state.� The next Neighbors First seminar is April 23 from 9 a.m. to 11a.m. at the Jackson Police Training Academy. See local news at jfp.ms/localnews. Follow Tim Summers Jr. @tims_alive on Twitter.

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forms of abatement, such as stripping and repainting the home, there are regulations requiring that certified contractors perform the work. They are trained, Eades said, to use equipment that will suck up all the dust released during renovation, protecting the surrounding community from unnecessary and potentially hazardous contamination. Email city reporter Tim Summers Jr. at tim@jacksonfreepress.com.

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There do not seem to be any regulations requiring a homeowner to replace pipes that could contain lead, according to conversations with the EPA, the Mississippi Department of Health and the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality. An EPA representative from Washington, D.C., who declined to be identified, stated that the “water system that has installed corrosion control but still fails to meet the action level for lead (15 ppb) in their tap samples must replace 7 percent of their lead lines each year.� Documents from the Mississippi State Department of Health indicate that this process of replacing the service lines comes into effect only after “two consecutive 6-month cycles.� Eades provided a packet of options for water filters with prices that range from the low $100 up to$600. For renters and homeowners who cannot afford to replace their pipes, these seem to be the only options, and in every direction significant costs follow.

application process, which may take a minimum of 60 to 90 days, during which their office checks the status of the ownership for TIM SUMMERS JR.

D

uring a short drive around west and south Jackson, one can see burnt husks of old homes, overgrown properties and vacant lots, and as Hinds County landrolls show, there is a good chance that the State of Mississippi owns some of them. Jackson City Planning Department representative Von Anderson explained during the April 16 Neighbors First Lot training seminar that the state might even own some of the lots the City is paying to clear. During the meeting, Anderson pointed out that while the City does have a very small number of lots for the program—around 150—the State controls around 3,000 across Jackson. Most of those properties come into State purview as a result of tax forfeitures. Clearing these lots costs the City of Jackson some of its very limited funds. As a result of state statute MS Code 21-19-11, which requires municipalities to clean up “illegal dumpsites,� the City will have spent $13,902 cleaning up State-owned property as of the April 19 Council meeting. Dennis Love Trucking Inc. performs all the work, and as City Council agenda documents show, it includes “demolition and removal of structures, foundation, steps, driveway, the cutting of grass and weeds and removal of trash and debris.� The secretary of state’s office has an

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DISH | education

Thigpen: ‘No Such Thing’ as ‘Private Charter Schools’ by Sierra Mannie

I

If public schools already exist, and funds are supposed to already exist to enable the success of public schools, then why charter schools?

If your child was in a school where they were not being taught adequately for whatever reason—bad leadership, bad teachers, too much chaos around—and you can’t afford to move to (a place like) Madison County, you’re stuck. You have no options. The focus of our education system ought to be on children, not on a system,

designated by whoever set it up. Then I think there’s a provision in the law that requires ... after the first year for parents to be able to elect a board. So to reroute to “private charter school terminology”—why do you think people say that?

One of the big talking points in opposition to charter schools when the debate was going on, and even now, I guess, is that somehow there are private companies that R.L. NAVE/FILE PHOTO

n an interview with the Jackson Free Press, Mississippi Association of Educators President Joyce Helmick, an educator from DeSoto County, called charter schools “private charter schools.” Helmick believes charter schools are “businesses getting taxpayers’ money” that aren’t subject to the same operational regulations as traditional public schools. Mississippi Center for Public Policy President Forest Thigpen, on the other hand, says there is no such thing as “private charter schools.” When he sat down with the Jackson Free Press in January, the member of the Mississippi Charter School Association insisted that charter schools not only play fair in the state of Mississippi, but have the ability to change the game of Mississippi education by encouraging competition amongst public schools. The Delta State graduate often rubs shoulders with Mississippi’s political elite. He has worked extensively with former Gov. Haley Barbour, appointed by Barbour to his commissions on tax study and charter schools. Thigpen also served twice on the Mississippi Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights.

Forest Thigpen, president of the Mississippi Center for Public Policy, says there’s no such thing as private charter schools.

So you’re saying charter schools, once established, are part of that school district?

They aren’t. The biggest difference between charter schools and public schools are charter public schools come under the authority of the Mississippi Charter School Authorizer Board.

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How are charter schools funded?

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There is no taxpayer money available for start-ups. Until the school actually starts operation, they have to get the building ready, hire staff to be training them, and they have to raise private money. But then once school starts, the charter schools get the same amount of (tax) money per child as the regular district gets. Some of that comes from the state, federal programs, school lunch, etc. And then local district funds have to be provided, too.

Regarding failing school districts: Why are charter schools the appeal? If charter schools are public, then why not just invest more money in traditional public schools?

There is no evidence that adding money in failing school districts will cause them not to fail. In fact, almost all of the worst-performing districts are the highestspending districts. The highest-spending district in Mississippi spends about twice as much as the lowest-spending district, but it’s (a) worse (district). If charter schools have so much freedom to do better or more, then is it feasible to expect regular public schools to adopt those changes?

What is the main difference between public schools and charter schools?

Charter schools are public schools, but charter schools are not under the school district. They’re under the state charter school authorizer board (Mississippi Charter School Authorizer Board). They have more freedom to try different types of ways of educating children than regular public schools.

That might be an attraction, especially in Madison County, where the schools are large, and there are students who may prefer a smaller school. In some states, there are charter schools that specialize in special needs, and so there may be a charter school established in an A, B or C district that is focused on special needs. So, there are a variety of reasons.

not on adults. It certainly wouldn’t be stealing (from public schools). Secondly, this is money provided by the state, so.

own charter schools and are making millions of dollars. And that’s not true?

Minority parents are still less on board with charter schools. Why do you think that disparity exists?

During the charter-school debate, originally, for the current law, there were black legislators that said, “I see the value of it and would like to have one in my district, but I can’t vote for it” because the term “charter schools” has become toxic, because people have been told that this is a segregationist thing, that white people are trying to create a substandard system for black children. I know that’s not true, but that’s the notion in my community. Actually I’m surprised it doesn’t show lower support in the black community because the rhetoric has been so heavily toward the idea that it is a racist thing. How is the board of directors chosen for what many call “private” charter schools?

No such thing as a private charter school, but they are operated by a nonprofit, which is not a government entity. It is a private entity that is created for the purpose of running the school (and) has a board that’s

Even mathematically that doesn’t work. They wouldn’t make millions of dollars. But nobody “owns” them because, now, in some states, I think for-profit companies are allowed to establish charter schools. I think they still have to have a subsidiary that is a nonprofit. So maybe that’s part of it—in some states, for-profit entities are allowed to create charter schools, and that’s especially been used against the idea of having a virtual charter school, or an online charter school, because there are some for-profit curriculum companies that in some states, are allowed to operate a charter school. In Mississippi, those are not allowed. I think if they change the law to allow kids to cross district lines, I think you’ll see some charter schools in A, B, and C districts that’ll be set up, and they’ll try to recruit students from other districts, maybe from failing districts, to come to those charter schools. Why would a charter school be an appealing option in an A school district?

It could be sort of like a magnet school.

That’s one of the elements of having competition in anything. In any portion of the private sector where there’s competition generally, usually prices will fall, and quality improves. You have Apple and iPhones, Google and Androids. If those weren’t in the market to compete, there really wouldn’t be any incentive to improve, unless there were just a desire to improve. And even if there were a desire to improve the public schools, it doesn’t mean that people in regular public schools have no interest, but their interest would be due to just a personal interest. But if there’s that thought that “I could lose my ‘customer,’” then I could lose the income for my school, I could lose teachers for my school. So I’m going to find out what I need to do to serve that parent better so they don’t leave, or to improve so much that if they have left they’ll want to come back. That’s just human nature, to respond better when there’s competition. Where there’s a little competition there’s a little improvement and when there’s a lot of competition, they do a lot better. Sierra Mannie is an education reporting fellow for the Jackson Free Press and the Hechinger Report. Email her at sierra@jacksonfreepress.com. For more education stories visit jfp. ms/education.

TALK | education FACTCHECK:

The Charter Scoop by Sierra Mannie

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he Mississippi Charter School Authorizer Board helped us factcheck some statements made in interviews about charter schools, including by Forest Thigpen in this issue and in the March 9 interview with Mississippi Association of Educators President Joyce Helmick. Since that interview, the laws governing Mississippi charter schools has changed to allow students attending C, D and F school districts to cross district lines to attend charter schools. From Forest Thigpen, when asked how the board of directors for charter schools was chosen: “I think there’s a provision in the law that requires ... after the first year for parents to be able to elect a board.� That provision is not in the law. MCSAB says each charter school has to have a nonprofit board to hold its contract, and that nonprofit board has a governing board of directors. Thigpen says it’s not true that “there are private companies that own charter schools and are making millions of dollars.� Though Mississippi does not currently allow for-profit charters, other states do. The National Alliance for Public Charter Schools says up to 13 percent of charter schools are forprofit. Some for-profit entities like EdisonLearning Inc. and K12 Inc., Connections Academy, before Pearson PLC bought it in 2011, have earned millions of dollars in profits. Non-profit operators also bring in millions of dollars, however; The New York Times reported in 2014 that the superintendent of the KIPP Charter Network in New York earns $235,000 a year, and that Success Academy Charter Schools saw millions of dollars in donations from private businesses. This year, Jackson Public Schools CFO Sharolyn Miller said that, due to the stipulations in the charter law that require Midtown Public Charter School is one the money “attached� to each student to of the two charter schools operating follow them to their charter school, JPS in Jackson. At least so far. paid the charter schools located in Jackson $565,000 from its local tax base. Thigpen: “There is no evidence that adding money in failing school districts will cause them not to fail. In fact, almost all of the worst-performing districts are the highest-spending districts. The highest-spending district in Mississippi spends about twice as much as the lowest-spending district, but it’s a worse district.� A National Bureau of Economic Research study released this year from economists at University of California-Berkeley and Northwestern University in Chicago suggests that money does actually affect school performance. After courts and legislatures were forced to increase education funding, test scores improved in poorer districts. As for the relationship between spending and school accountability: SeeTheSpending. org, a site operated by the Mississippi Center for Public Policy, Clay County School District, which it lists as a C-district, spent $20, 501.49 per student in the 2013-2014 school year. Tate County School District spent $7,103.52, and was a B district. Districts with a higher concentration of special education and students living in poverty can get and spend more money from sources including federal grants, like Title I funds. Current census data show that the median income for Tate County, Miss., is $42, 902. The median income in Clay County is $32,844. Helmick also spoke about charter schools when we interviewed her. Helmick says education laws “do not apply� to charter schools the same way they do public schools. MCSAB says that although charter schools do enjoy flexibility that non-charter public schools don’t, charters must form their curriculum around Mississippi’s College and Career Readiness standards and that the charter law requires annual academic, financial and organizational review of charter school performance. MCSAB also says charter schools are not exempt from anti-discrimination laws, or other laws put in place to protect children. Helmick also calls charter schools businesses that get taxpayers’ money. MCSAB says each charter school in the state is run by a nonprofit organization. Mississippi law does not allow any for-profit operators. It also doesn’t allow any for-profit education service providers. Sierra Mannie is an education reporting fellow for the Jackson Free Press and The Hechinger Report. Follow her on twitter at @SierraMannie. For more education news, visit jfp.ms/education.

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LEGISLATURE | WEEK 15

The Final Stretch: Budget Cuts, Tax Breaks and Bills Becoming Law by Arielle Dreher

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ate into Monday night, Mississippi lawmakers man- budget bills had to keep meeting and re-filing conference re“I can assure you sir I’m not running,” Smith said. “Exaged to pass a strained budget, a $415 million tax cut ports. Before the House finished budget bills, House Ways cept for the county line.” and $250 million in bonds before midnight to meet and Means Chairman Rep. Jeff Smith, R-Columbus, brought The House passed the bill by a vote of 74-43. The bill Monday’s deadline for budget and revenue bills. the Taxpayer Pay Raise Act up to the floor for a vote. needed 71 votes to pass, and seven Democrats voted for the On Monday morning, some state agency budgets Senate Bill 2858 has changed, somewhat, from its origi- bill. Department of Revenue estimates say it would divert were still not finalized. Last weekend, both House Ap- nal form, but after conference, has retained some of its origi- $415 million from the state’s general fund in the next 12 propriations Committee Chairman Herb Frierson, nal proposed tax cuts. The bill, authored by Sen. Joey Fillin- years; this is a drop from the initial estimate of the first verR-Poplarville, and Senate Appropriations Committee gane, R-Sumrall, originally aimed to cut taxes for the 3 and 4 sion, which would have cost the state $575 million. Franchise Chairman Buck Clarke, R-Hollandale, said they had to percent income-tax brackets (the two lowest), the corporate and income tax cuts would not take effect until 2018 if the cut about $73 million from earlier budget plans due to franchise tax, and small business and self-employment taxes. bill becomes law, but the self-employment tax cut would dilower revenue estimates. Frierson and Clarke said many After the House gutted the majority of cuts in the bill earlier vert about $3 million from the budget starting July 1. agencies would take reductions varying from 2 percent to this month, the Senate did not concur on their changes. The House later passed a $250-million bond bill, main12 percent, the Associated Press reported. Late Sunday night, the bill came out of conference, forc- ly to be used for Institutions of Higher Learning construction Early Monday, some lawmakers were wary of the large ing legislators to vote on the tax cut less than 24 hours later. projects. One of the last budget bills to pass included allocatax-cut bill sitting on the calendar and asked tions for some of the state’s BP Oil settleif its potential effects on the budget were ment money. considered in the budgeting process. Frierson explained that $38.45 million Sen. David Blount, D-Jackson, asked of the BP money will go to several projects, Sen. Clarke if tax cuts were calculated into most located on or near the coast including budget allotment when House Bill 1637 some campus buildings at the University came to the Senate floor. That bill would of Southern Mississippi, scholarships, a nadraw funding from the general-fund budget tional diabetes research center and the state’s for the Office of the Capital Post-Convicbicentennial commission. tion Counsel. When the Taxpayer Pay Raise Act came “So the budget that this bill is a part back to the House, some senators voiced of and the overall budget makes no allowtheir displeasure. Sen. Hob Bryan, Dance for any tax cut that may affect them in Amory, and Sen. David Blount, D-Jackson, the next budget year is that correct?” Blount spoke against the bill. asked. “We have a general fund that is unable Clarke said the Taxpayer Pay Raise Act to care for the basic needs of the state,” would cost the state $3 million in fiscal-year Bryan said. “And yet we are giving away the 2017. On Monday morning, that bill was equivalent of 7 percent of the general fund still sitting on the calendar and had yet to be away.” taken up, and Clarke said he was sure that Fillingane said that every person in the appropriations bills would be adjusted with state who pays income tax would “get an tax bills, particularly the ones that had been equal cut” and echoed Smith, saying the bill re-committed. will not take effect for two years. Blount said Rep. Jeff Smith, R-Columbus, (left) helps Rep. Omeria Scott, D-Laurel, show “I am working with the budget that the vote on Senate Bill 2858 is the “most her poster boards displaying income-tax revenue numbers as she spoke on the I’ve got, and I will look at that, as I’ve said, consequential vote of the session.” Taxpayer Pay Raise Act on Monday in the House. it’s an ongoing process with many moving “If you vote for this, you can’t say you parts and there are a lot of bills that were voted to increase the budgets,” Blount said. recommitted,” Clarke said. The current version of the Taxpayer Pay Raise Act would Blount acknowledged that he won’t be able to run for In the House, budget cuts continued to spark an outcry phase out the 3 percent income tax as well as phase out the re-election saying he voted for a tax cut but told senators among Democrats. Lawmakers cut the Mississippi Depart- franchise and self-employment taxes. that they cannot have it both ways. “You’ve got to own up ment of Human Services budget by 13.9 percent, while alSmith told the House that the bill now pushed every- and serve the needs of the people through the state budget,” locating enough funding for the state’s foster-care system to thing off for two years because most of the cuts in the bill do Blount said. “You can’t have it both ways—you cannot.” avoid federal receivership. not take effect until 2018. Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves praised the tax cut bill’s passage. Rep. Steve Holland, D-Plantersville, questioned Public “You need to think real hard about this because it’s not “I believe that we shouldn’t base tax policy on revenues Health Committee Chairman Rep. Sam Mims, R-McComb, going to be done for two years,” Smith said. in any one fiscal year. That’s why you’ve seen a plan that’s about how MDHS would survive the cut. Holland told Smith that almost every state agency has passed the House and the Senate which doesn’t affect rev“How do you think they are going to get through the experienced some kind of decrease in funding this session enues in FY2017 and has minimal effects in FY18,” Reeves year?” Holland asked. and said in his quick calculations that social-services agencies told reporters Monday night. “We’re going to give every per“They are going to have a tough time,” Mims said. alone have experienced close to $60 million worth of cuts. son who pays income taxes in our state a pay raise.” “They are going to have to make some changes, and it’s a Smith said an upcoming tax study will evaluate comprehenThe Taxpayer Pay Raise Act passed the Senate by a vote difficult situation.” sive tax reform in Mississippi by September; the Legislature of 36-14 and heads to the governor’s desk with the rest of the As cuts continued, representatives asked why some can consider the results in the next session. budget bills and the big bond bill. agencies received funding above the legislative budget recom“You’re asking this body to throw out a big ole piece of mendation while other agencies like the state’s departments red meat to the base of taxpayers out here for those amongst Anti-abortion Law Under Scrutiny of health and mental health took large cuts last weekend. you that just might just be running for governor in four years The governor signed the Mississippi Unborn 10 Progress was slow during the day because conferees on or lieutenant governor or whatever,” Holland said. Child Protection from Dismemberment Act into law

TALK | STATE

Running Out of Venues to Change the State Flag by Arielle Dreher

if we are second-class citizens because of the offensive emblem (Confederate symbol in canton of state flag),” Moore told the Jackson Free Press after the hearing. Miracle and Reeves both agreed in the hearing that the flag is a symbol. “When we see the flag what do we see? ARIELLE DREHER

Is the Court the Proper Venue? On April 12, Judge Reeves held a hearing in the Bryant v. Moore lawsuit, which Grenada-based attorney Carlos Moore brought against Bryant, claiming he has suffered personal injury from living and working under the Mississippi state flag. Reeves was concerned with two main questions: Does Moore have standing, meaning he has suffered an injury because of the state flag and he needs redress because of it? And, does the state flag issue need to be resolved in court? Reeves questioned Moore and his attorneys as well as the lawyers representing Gov. Bryant from the Attorney General’s office for over three hours last week. Tameika Bennett, an attorney with Moore’s law office, said that he had standing to bring the lawsuit because he has suffered personal injury in the form of anxiety, sleeplessness and an elevated heart rate because he has to see the state flag at work, going in and out of court buildings, and his guaranteed principle of dignity under the law.

Doug Miracle, an attorney from the attorney general’s office, told Reeves that Moore did not have standing because his case did not prove discriminatory treatment because of the state flag. Reeves asked Miracle in that case if anyone would have standing to bring a lawsuit

A group of Mississippi Senate Democrats called on the legislative leadership to suspend the rules and bring back a bill that would create a commission to design E RI[ WXEXI àEK SR %TVMP &YX XLI 0IKMWPEXYVI LEW XEOIR RS EGXMSR XS GLERKI XLI àEK XLMW WIWWMSR

to remove the state flag. “The flag in and of itself doesn’t create discriminatory treatment,” Miracle told Judge Reeves. “If he (Moore) can’t sue, is there any person or association who can?” Reeves asked. “I don’t believe so, your Honor,” Miracle said. Miracle said that while the state does not chastise what Moore’s beliefs about the injuries the flag may have caused him, Moore has not demonstrated concrete evidence of discriminatory treatment. Moore disagrees. “I have proper standing to bring the case and (prove) stigmatic injury; we feel as

on Friday, which would criminalize dismemberment abortion, commonly performed in the second trimester of a woman’s pregnancy. The bill contains almost verbatim language from dismemberment abortion bills in other states, which are now tied up in litigation. Diane Derzis, owner of the Jackson Women’s Health Organization, said the clinic’s lawyer is looking to see how the bill would affect the state’s only abortion clinic. In Kansas, the Legislature passed an almost identical bill to House Bill 519 in 2015, and the Center for Reproductive Rights filed a lawsuit on behalf of the abortion doctors who would be affected by the bill. The Kansas court granted the doctors temporary injunctions, and blocked the law. The Kansas Court of Ap-

What do African Americans see? What do white people see?” Reeves said. Miracle said that the flag as a symbol does not do anything on its own and while there might be people who misuse symbols, Moore needed to prove that he suffered discriminatory treatment under the flag. Moore argues that the court is the proper venue for his case because he is claiming personal injury. Reeves will get to decide if Moore has standing and if the court is the proper venue to change the state flag. ‘Heart Transplant’ Needed Reeves’ court may be the only option to change the flag for the foreseeable future.

peals ruled the law unconstitutional in January 2016, saying that women in Kansas have a right to abortion under the state constitution. The state appealed to its Supreme Court, but the law is not in effect in the meantime. Derzis said that how JWHO is affected by House Bill 519 could differ from Kansas’ case because abortion in Mississippi is only allowed 16 weeks into a woman’s pregnancy, while Kansas has a longer period for women to have abortions. She said that these types of legislation are shameful because it affects the women who are least able to afford abortions in the first place. “When you’re the highest in maternal and infant mortality in the country and the lowest in aid, the message is there and clear: ‘we’re not going to take

“The message is there and clear: we’re not going to take care of your children or take care of you.”

All bills proposing to change or keep the state flag died in committee back in February. Some senators have attempted to keep the potential to change the state flag alive with a resolution to bring back Senate Bill 2147, which would create a commission to re-design the state flag. On April 1, Sen. John Horhn, D-Jackson, held a press conference with House and Senate Democrats calling on the legislative leadership to suspend the rules and bring back the bill. “What we need is a heart transplant and a change of heart in this state,” Horhn said. In that press conference, several lawmakers said they want the state flag to change by 2017 for the state’s bicentennial as well as the 71st Annual Meeting of the Southern Legislative Conference, which will be held in Mississippi. Sen. Sollie Norwood, D-Jackson, said that many people are not interested in coming to Mississippi if the current state flag is still flying. “We’ve already been advised by some of our colleagues in other states that they’re not interested in coming to Mississippi because Mississippi still flies a Confederate flag,” Norwood said. “I think it would be a tragedy if we lose the opportunity for our colleagues to come to our state and celebrate with us as we’ve gone to their states and (celebrated) with them because of our refusal to take down this flag.” The Senate Rules Committee has not moved on the motion to bring back Senate Bill 2147. Email state reporter Arielle Dreher at arielle@jacksonfreepress.com and follow her on Twitter @arielle_amara.

care of your children or take care of you,’” she said. Amanda Allen, an attorney at the Center for Reproductive Rights, said that the U.S. Supreme Court has held many times that states cannot ban abortion pre-viability, or before the fetus becomes viable to be born, or before the thirteenth week of pregnancy. “The(se bills) are being pushed by politicians and not doctors, and because of that they interfere with a healthcare professional’s ability to provide the right care to the right patient on an individual basis,” Allen said. Allen said she cannot discuss the center’s litigation strategy or say whether they would challenge Mississippi’s newest anti-abortion law in court but did say “We are looking it very closely at it and we have successfully challenge similar measures in other states,” Allen said. For more legislative coverage visit jfp.ms/state. Email Arielle Dreher at arielle@jacsksonfreepress.com and follow her on Twitter at @arielle_amara for breaking state news. 11 «À ÊÓäÊ ÊÓÈ]ÊÓä£ÈÊÊUÊÊ v«° Ã

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rom ballot initiatives to rallies, the Mississippi state flag has gained a lot of attention lately in-state and then nationally following the shootings in Charleston, S.C., a debate exacerbated by the revelation that Gov. Phil Bryant had declared April “Confederate Heritage Month” in the state, causing a national outcry. The proper venue to change the state flag—or keep it the same—has not always been obvious, however. Ballot initiatives to both change and keep the state flag the same are on file at the secretary of state’s office. Bills on both sides of the Legislature died in committee this session. And now judicial involvement to change the state flag lies in the hands of U.S. District Judge Carlton Reeves.

More to Learning Than Standardized Testing

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few weeks ago, students at my school participated in the Third Grade Reading Gate, also known as the day the state tells teachers they aren’t trusted to do their jobs. I have long decried the Reading Gate as a waste of time and money because I don’t believe it adds anything substantial to improving education. Instead, it causes anxiety for students and parents and takes the important decision of promotion or retention out of the teachers’ hands. Since it is a computer-based test, there is a window of several days for schools to have students initially tested. So if your school hasn’t yet participated, don’t worry. It soon will. There have been several pundits and articles of late touting the virtue of the Reading Gate and other high-stakes tests, saying that they have improved education in Mississippi; however, the evidence used to support this claim is shaky at best, and many in the education field have called it into question. Even though initial results show my students scored higher on the Reading Gate test this year than last, it still does not make me any less apprehensive towards it or the entire testing and accountability system in our state. I do believe testing, if used properly and in context with other forms of teacher assessments, can be of benefit. Likewise, standardized testing can give insight, but as a diagnostic tool and not the final word on achievement; however, in Mississippi and other states, we use these tests to determine student promotion and graduation, teacher and principal evaluations, school-accountability rankings, and ultimately, school funding. Even test designers caution states against using these tests in this way, but we still do, because there are agendas to be met that are more important than children and learning. Recently, a teacher came to me very upset over the Reading Gate test. She teaches a lower grade and has a student that, in her opinion, is “middle-of-theroad” academically. But computer assessments used to track student “achievement” show the student could very well fail the Reading Gate. Even though this teacher believes the student has met the reading skills needed to move on to third grade, she questions whether to recommend holding this student back due to fear of the student failing the Reading Gate. This teacher, a very dedicated professional and former Teacher of the Year, is now beginning to doubt her ability because the computer assessment doesn’t match what she sees. This is where we are in public education. Education policy has taken the professional judgment away from teachers and handed it over to corporations that make millions of dollars on making these tests, to state politicians who know nothing about education but look to use our schools to further their political careers, and to education bureaucrats—who have been so long removed from the classroom that they no longer understand what teachers face—that preach “data, data, data.” High-stakes assessments and accountability systems have reduced students to little more than a score on a test and teachers to basically robots in a factory. This is wrong. There is so much more to learning than a Reading Gate score, or a proficiency level, or an ACT result. Students learn much more than is measured on a Subject Area Test, or a multiple-choice test, or a standardized writing assessment that is graded thousands of miles away by a scorer whose main qualification was being hired off a Craigslist advertisement. Schools are doing away with art and music, cutting back on recess and “non-academic” times, because of the pressure to score well on these tests. On the federal and state levels, the mantra has seemingly become, “If it isn’t tested, it isn’t important.” In all my years as an educator, I’ve had plenty of former students thank me for pushing them to do their best in my class. I’ve spoken to parents of former students who have regaled me with pride on what their children have become since graduating high school. We’ve spoken at length on the memories made while the student was in school, the ups and downs, what mattered then and what matters now. I’ve yet to have any of them talk about their scores on a standardized test. So over the next few weeks, as students take the Reading Gate, or the MAP, or the SATP, or the ACT, or any other standardized test, please take time to say a little prayer: for the students to do their best, for the teachers who worked hard all year to prepare them and for this madness to one day end. Shannon Eubanks is the principal of the Enterprise Attendance Center in 12 Brookhaven. Opinions stated here are his own.

Lawmakers: Cashing in on Campaign Promises is Costly and Senseless

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utting state agencies, some by more than 10 percent, is bad. Cutting state agencies and then offering up a tax-break bill that will divert even more money from the state’s general fund is plain stupid. It’s not difficult math. If revenue shortages lead to tight budgets, that’s understandable to a point. If they lead to tight budgets and cuts, and then you offer a deal to divert (a kind word for cut) about 7 percent of the state’s general fund in 12 years, that doesn’t add up. Less money plus less money does not equal more funding. This week, lawmakers proved they either don’t know how to do math or genuinely refuse to accept mathematical logic for the sake of making good on campaign promises. Gov. Phil Bryant’s words at the Neshoba County Fair last year as he campaigned for re-election seem to haunt the halls of the Capitol: “I’ve cut taxes 49 times in my tenure, and if I am re-elected, we are going to make that an even 50!” Fast forward to January, revenues already coming up short, Bryant cut most agency budgets by 1.5 percent. A few months later, some agencies, let’s take the Department of Human Services for example, is looking at a 13-percent budget cut for fiscal year 2017. The mental-health and health departments are in equally bad shape. On deadline day, lawmakers were recommitting budget bills to conference, instilling little confidence in those paying attention that the state’s budget is in decent shape at all. Last weekend, Appropriations Chairmen Rep. Herb Frierson, RPoplarville, and Sen. Buck Clarke, R-Hollandale,

told the Associated Press they were cutting about $73 million from earlier budget plans. Several state agencies will receive cuts of anywhere between 2 and 12 percent. With cuts that severe, diverting any money from the state’s coffers does not make sense. Clarke told the Senate the Taxpayer Pay Raise Act will only divert about $3 million from the state’s coffers in the first year. In the House, bill advocates used a “two years” meme to assure lawmakers that a tax study would be conducted, and the bill wouldn’t really take effect for two years. Some parts of the bill won’t go into effect until 2018, but the point is, the timing isn’t going to stop money from leaving the general fund. Department of Finance estimates the bill could cost the state $415 million in 12 years. The number could be higher or lower, but that’s negligible. The $3 million the Taxpayer Pay Raise Act will cost the state in the next fiscal year could have made cuts a little less extreme this year: Cuts could have gone from $73 million to $70 million. Party politics and making good on campaign promises should never trump common sense—or in this case, math, which leads us to ask lawmakers a question Will you bite the bullet and take responsibility for underfunding multiple state agencies (and likely continuing to do so), possibly leading to salary cuts or job losses because you chose to give every (income) taxpayer a pay raise? Or will you continue to boast about your lack of mathematical sense and cash in on those great “pay raises” you gave Mississippians? We’ll see.

Email letters and opinion to letters@jacksonfreepress.com, fax to 601-510-9019 or mail to 125 South Congress St., Suite 1324, Jackson, Mississippi 39201. Include daytime phone number. Letters may be edited for length and clarity, as well as factchecked.

MICHAEL FARRIS SMITH

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his is what I’d like to know: I’d like a governor willing to put forth such a bill, to know how many times Gov. but that we have state representatives willPhil Bryant or any of his blind leg- ing to vote it into action without so much islative followers have been blocked as a shoulder shrug. And what message have from praying to their God, or attending the they sent? They have once again told everychurch of their choice, or reading their Bible, one outside of our state lines that we are the or going on a mission trip, by a person of same Mississippi you believe us to be. We do another race, ethnicity or sexual orientation. not make everyone feel welcome. We do not I can answer my own question for me make everyone feel safe. If you live here, or and you: never. if you come here, and you are different, then Never has Phil Bryant’s religious free- that is exactly how you will be treated. And dom been at risk. Never has the religious I’m sticking my Bible in your face to prove freedom of a state representative been at to you I’m right, though I have torn out the risk. Never has the religious freedom of any Sermon on the Mount, where Jesus stands citizen of this state been at risk by another in front of the multitudes and tells us how to person. And why is that? It is because they be tolerant and kind. To everyone. already have religious freedom. We all have I love this place. I have swam in her it, and we have had it for creeks, sung in her choirs, a long time. Thousands slid headfirst in her red I know Mississippi dirt. I know Mississippi of people spent their lives making sure we have it. and its people to be full of and its people All of which makes empathy, full of creativity to be full of the following so hate-filled and charm. I know them and hypocritical. empathy, creativity to give to one another in HB 1523 made it time of crisis. I know them and charm. lawful in Mississippi to disto dance together and work criminate against someone together and be filled with because they are different from you, based a vitality that is unique to this country. I on protecting what? You guessed it: religious know how beautiful the sun sets across the freedom. It makes it lawful to prohibit em- rolling hills and how magical it is on a sumployment, housing and service to an indi- mer night to hear the cicadas and watch the vidual because that person does not live by fireflies dance across the dark. the standard, as the governor and our legislaOur people have fought for decades to ture has explained, of God’s law. But there is rid ourselves of stigmas, both earned and unno explanation of whose God, and what the earned, to make Mississippi a place anyone correct interpretation of God is supposed can call home. A place where anyone can to be, and why we are being so selective as walk down the street or walk into a place of to which of God’s laws we are choosing to business and not feel like an alien. legally enforce. Or what makes Phil Bryant Seventy years ago, a Confederate symprivy to what part of the Bible we should re- bol flew over our state, and our laws were ally be paying attention to. filled with language that allowed and enI don’t know any of the representatives couraged discrimination to certain segments who voted for this discriminatory bill. But of our population. Guess what? Today, a I do know that among them are men and Confederate symbol flies over our state, and women who are guilty of at least one of the our laws are filled with language that allows following on a daily basis: They are over- and encourages discrimination to certain weight, smoke too much, drink too much, segments of our population. watch or have watched pornography, lie, take Because Phil Bryant believes sinners money to vote a certain way, engage or en- should be able to legally judge sinners. Begaged in premarital sex, have been unfaithful cause men and women given the power to to their spouse, gossip, judge others and lose govern, but who are without the ability to their temper. All of which, if I’m correct, are think for themselves, followed him down listed right there in the good book they are the rabbit hole of discrimination. It sickens shaking in the shadow of HB 1523. me that our governor and his legislature are Apparently, our spiritually enlightened unwilling to let the rest of the world see us, state government is privy to a list of biblical our Mississippi, for what we have tried so warnings, put in order of worst to first, with hard to become. the sins of public officials being way down Michael Farris Smith is the awardtoward the bottom. Another page I missed winning author of “Riversâ€? and “The Hands in Sunday School. of Strangers.â€? He has two forthcoming novLike so many other Mississippians, I els: “Desperation Roadâ€? and “The Fighter.â€? am stunned by HB 1523. And I am sad- He lives in Columbus, Miss., with his wife dened and hurt. Not only because we have and daughters. #/22%#4)/. ,Q WKH RULJLQDO YHUVLRQ RI .LW :LOOLDPVRQÂśV FROXPQ LQ 9RO ,VVXH $SULO ZH VSHOOHG -HQLIHU %UDQQLQJÂśV QDPH ZURQJ $OVR VKH GLG QRW LQWURGXFH +% 7KH -DFNVRQ )UHH 3UHVV DSRORJL]HV IRU WKHVH HUURUV

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Mississippi: Another Crooked Letter for Us All

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IMANI KHAYYAM

PREVENTING VIOLENCE, PART I

Several members of the “Undivided” crew told their story recently in Sheppards Park in the Washington Addition. From left: 1SRXIVMYW +VMJßR .SVHER %PI\ERHIV 7XIJJSR &YXPIV .SLR /RMKLX 7XITLIR &YXPIV and Jay McChristian.

! (UNGER TO ,IVE The Struggle to Interrupt the Cycle of Violence by Donna Ladd photos by Imani Khayyam

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efore he walked to Jim Hill High School each day, senior Stephen Butler would gather up a sack of weed and pills—bars, tabs, Percocet—to sell to other students. Once he got there with his product, though, his customers had to follow his strict business rules. If Stephen was sitting in class, they couldn’t tap on the glass in the door to get his attention or do anything to distract him from being able to graduate in 2015. His identical twin, Steffon, had made it out with his diploma the year before, and Stephen was determined to follow suit in a community where most young men were lucky if they got a GED or stayed out of prison and where about every boy they knew had been through the youth detention center. 14 “See me in the courtyard,” Stephen told

fellow students anxious to get high. During breaks, he waited outside the school named for a self-taught former slave. Jim Hill, a good friend of anti-lynching journalist Ida B. Wells, won the office of Mississippi secretary of state back during Reconstruction when the Addition was still called Gowdy—the first and last time the state has had black statewide elected officials in its mostly separate-and-unequal history. Sitting on a bench outside the perpetually underfunded school with more than 98 percent black students, most eligible for free lunches, Stephen managed to run his business, selling weed and pills to other kids stuck in a similar generational cycle of destruction. It was easy to get the product. Outside suppliers have long flooded the small neighborhood with illicit and lucrative drugs as they have black neighborhoods for decades; dealing has long been the Addition’s most

consistent industry. Since the twins were little boys, dealers had offered to buy poor youngsters sneakers or give them money for a hamburger to get them hooked on the potential fruits of the drug trade. “If older dudes you look up to ain’t trying to show you the right way, you gone catch bad habits, there ain’t no way about that,” Stephen said. “… Growing up in the community, you see a lot of drug dealers … and want to be just like them. “You feel like it cool,” Steffon interjected. “He cool, why can I can’t do it. He in the hood selling drugs, why can’t I sell drugs?” Stephen said. “Drug dealers were the role models,” Steffon added. “That’s all I grew up on, seeing drug dealers come around you. They show you they money just to get you under them and get you to live that lifestyle they living, you know what I’m saying.” By his senior year in high school—far-

ther than many young men in the Addition ever got—Stephen was selling the contents of the paper bag to survive, while his brother was in jail and his childhood mentor who had pushed him to stay in school was in prison the third time for selling drugs. It was the only way through, Stephen thought then. A Honeybun for Dinner The Butler twins had started selling drugs when they were 17 because they needed to eat and have a place to live, and it was the only obvious way for teenagers to make money in their neighborhood. Their mother had always tried to provide for them as they grew up on Florence Street in the Addition just south of Jackson State University, where she walked to work as a janitor. But she drank a lot, they say, and had a hard time keeping it together. As children, their best shot at getting a decent meal was the food stamps their

Instead of basketball stardom, they ended up members of the Vice Lords, a nowmore-watered-down version of a tough street gang founded in Chicago, and took on the “hood mentality� of most of the role models around them, as they call it. That meant embracing what seemed like the fast and easy money of drug dealing in a world with few options and people who expected young black men to end up in jail or dead. Their mother’s family, who had escaped the Addition, didn’t want to have anything to do with them, they say. “The situation that we were in, they thought that we were gone be in jail. They thought we wasn’t going to graduate, we weren’t going to prosper,� Stephen says. Their choices, and a worsening relationship with their basketball coach at Jim Hill, got them kicked off the team when Steffon was a junior and Stephen a sophomore. The scene was set for Stephen and Stef-

JPD Chief Lee Vance said Mississippi law makes it near impossible to reduce gun violence.

Steffon’s picture and personal information is still visible on multiple mugshot websites, listing the armed-robbery felony charge, but not that it was dropped. “It messed up my mind and my record, and I go on the Internet every day I think about it. ‌ I feel like my life ain’t worth nothing no more because I feel like a criminal. ‌ They still got my picture on there for something I didn’t do; I think about that every day. It hurt me, man.â€? It wasn’t supposed to be like this for the twins. Although not super-tall—they are about 5-foot-8—the two boys had been rising stars in basketball, Stephen a point-guard and Steffon a shooting guard. While still at Blackburn Middle School, they played in tournaments in Arkansas, Texas and New Orleans. They believed they were going to escape the stifling poverty and hopelessness of the Addition with NBA stardom, then come back and help their mother and friends, even if they had to sometimes steal the sneakers they played ball in.

fon Butler to become just another statistic, another set of mugshots of “thugs� leading the evening news, two more young black men who end up in Parchman with people disparaging them on social media and in vicious comments under news stories and on neighborhood websites. But, now 21 with no felony convictions, they are trying to break the chains of their upbringing. It’s not easy, and much of the world may not think it’s probable if they even bother to care, but at least these two young men are not going it alone. ‘I Want to Be a Good Person’ “How you doing, sir?� Stephen Butler had just jumped off the picnic table at Sheppard Brothers Park and grabbed the hand of Jackson Free Press photographer Imani Khayyam to show us the man he hopes to become: a restaurateur and land owner who wears a “clean tuxedo� to greet important clients. He was solemn as he shook Imani’s hand, looking his new

acquaintance in the eye and choosing his diction carefully as his twin and friends laughed at this version of a young man who likes to wear his Jordans, big glittery rings, large gold posts in his ears and round glasses under his bucket hat that matches his brother’s. He dropped Imani’s hand and then made motions more stereotypical of a young black man growing up in the Addition. “I don’t want to come to you (like), ‘What’s up with you, man, what’s going on?’ I don’t want to be that type of man, you know,� Stephen said quietly as he sat back on the table next to me. “I want to be�—he paused—“a good person. I just want to help, you know.� The twins were hanging out in the park late on a recent Friday afternoon with their mentor John Knight, 39, and their “brothers� from the Addition, two of them 17 and two 19, to talk about their new movement. All used to identify with the local Vice Lords’ “9s� subset —a brotherhood the twins say is now focused on being “righteous� men who eschew criminal activity—even as all of them have been in the juvenile-detention center and some arrested more than once. As they talked, small children ran past through the vivid spring-green grass to hop on the new-looking playground equipment. Jim Hill was visible to the southeast. Knight and his mentees all wore black T-shirts with a gold “Undivided� logo on the front. The only exception was the 17-yearold rapper who showed up in the middle of the conversation wearing a colorful California shirt under a gray hoodie and looking at us suspiciously until he decided maybe we really did want to tell their whole story and not just brand them hopeless thugs like they’re used to. “You gone get our story out there and let everybody know our pain or something?� the minor, who asked to be identified as Zeakyy, suddenly asked, silencing the group’s laughter. “Yes, if that’s alright with you,� I responded quietly. Zeakyy, who raps about instances no juvenile or adult should go through, gave the go-ahead in his rapid cadence: “Yeah, so they know what’s going on, the persuasion of doing the things we do, so they won’t be judging about what they hear, what the news tells them.� A tribute to “Sammy�—their friend killed in a February shooting on Fontaine Avenue in the Virden Addition—is in red print on the backs of the shirts around praying hands: “RIP LIL SAMMY AKA YUNG NIGGA.� Red, black and gold are traditional Vice Lords colors. When we had arrived, a casually dressed Mayor Tony Yarber stood talking to them as his bodyguard watched. It was only marginally surprising: Knight, a former prominent drug dealer who grew up in the Addition,

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Steffon had graduated from Jim Hill in 2014, but within months he was in jail on an armed-robbery charge, accused of stealing a purse and a phone from a Jackson State student outside the nearby Walter Payton Center where they liked to play basketball. JSU cops got a report that it was the “twinsâ€? who did it, picking up both of them. Steffon says he finally copped to the crime because he wanted Stephen to graduate, and it was clear it would be put on one of them. He was booked into the Raymond jail. Unable to afford bond, Steffon says he stayed there for seven months without a trial before a public defender helped get the charges dropped due to lack of evidence. It was rough there, he says, and the food was terrible: The water was brown, and he even found a bug in his spaghetti one day. “I don’t want no black brother to go through that,â€? he said. â€œâ€Ś If you ain’t got no strong mind, it’ll get to you.â€?

IMANI KHAYYAM

mother collected, but she sometimes had to sell them to keep the lights on in the small house. Their father was in and out of their lives, often sharing whatever money and food they had, but couldn’t keep a job. Home life was stressful; the boys first ended up in the Henley-Young Juvenile Justice Detention Center when they were 12 or 13 for “disturbing the family peace.â€? The first time, they had to stay for a day or two, the next time for 21 days, they remember. They still talk about the good, filling meals there, though. By the time the twins were in high school, they often had to “find a hustleâ€? to help find the $40 to pay each day so the two of them, their older brother, their mother and often their father could stay another 24 hours in the Regency Inn nearby on U.S. Highway 80. There, off and on for three years, they all crowded into a room with two double beds and a sofa each night for a time. The boys often stayed out and walked all night until it was time for school, sometimes hungry, always “scruffing,â€? they call it. Their grandmama, who lived nearby, would fill them up with cornbread dressing about four days a week—meaning the meal soon lost its holiday charm for them—or they would go to the corner store and get a pack of liver cheese and put it on a piece of light bread, and “be good with that,â€? Steffon says now. “Half the time we’d eat a honeybun for dinner, man,â€? Stephen interjects while sitting atop a picnic table in Sheppard Brothers Park near Jim Hill, his face scrunched up at the memory. Or they would survive by splitting a can of sardines and a handful of saltines. Sometimes, they would beg for food at Boston’s Fish Supreme on Lynch Street or to the manager of Stamp’s Superburger on Dalton. “A lot of nights he gave us hamburgers and fries, and fed us. He understands what we going through,â€? Stephen said. The twins had to wash their clothes in the sink just to “look presentable,â€? as Steffon put it. Their family didn’t have transportation to get to a job outside the area, they say; besides, they didn’t know how to get and keep jobs, especially with a juvy record and no Internet access. The twins understand that their family didn’t provide well for them, but they also understand that they faced similar challenges as kids. “My mama was not there like she’s supposed to be ‌ but we ain’t let that come between us. ‌ She did what she could do. ‌ We had to learn that life is tough early,â€? Steffon said. Selling drugs was not their only criminal activity. When he was 17, Stephen decided to go to Northpark Mall and steal some clothes so they wouldn’t “be looking like a nobodyâ€? at school, especially around the girls. Steffon didn’t want to go, so his twin stole clothes for both of them. Stephen soon went back and tried it again—and was arrested. “He got greedy,â€? Steffon says.

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ANDREW LICHTENSTEIN

had been making the rounds, lobbying the rolling their eyes at their elder the way some eating, chilling, doing all types of stuff. I’ve life, what we done seen, what we done mayor, city councilmen and even the police young, cynical gangsters do the “old cats� been working out, losing weight, man, I’m been through.� chief to help him build a local movement to who come home after doing time. been doing better.� Young people in the Addition and simsave young men in the city. Just the opposite. “That’s the whole purpose,� Knight in- ilar neighborhoods fall into crime because Yarber told me later that Knight is faEven when Knight is not listening, the terjected. few people are showing them or expectmous in the city for his crimes. “If you lived Undivided members tell you how the ex-con The mentor pointed to a mostly quiet ing anything different, said Knight, who in Jackson growing up, you know, you knew fills a void no one else ever would or could or Jay McChristian, 19, who grew up on Wash- dropped out of Jim Hill himself in 1995 John Knight’s name.� He and his crew “ran even wanted to fill for them. ington Avenue and dropped out of Jim Hill, and was behind Parchman bars by Januthe streets,� the mayor said. After Yarber but is now getting his GED at Knight’s urg- ary 1996. Several generations have come in became mayor, Knight approached him for ‘29 Years of Pain’ ing. Jordan Alexander, 17, is still enrolled at there “not taught how to care, not taught help with his mission to redirect younger “Before he started coming around, I Jim Hill and plans to graduate next year—or what real love felt like.� Those young people people. “He told me, ‘Mayor, you run the was like straight-up bull, B.S.,� Monterius face the wrath of Knight. Alexander has no then don’t miraculously turn into good, lovcity. The chief runs the police, ing, stable parents. we run the streets.’ He’s right. “I didn’t have nothing but The bottom line is that at the drug dealers to look up to, gang end of the day, if the killings are leaders,� Knight said. “I didn’t going to stop, it’s going to haphave no positive role models to pen because people like John are look up to. None of my mama’s able to put hands on it and stop boyfriends.� this stuff. To me, he’s a resource Knight considers the twins’ I’m trying to use.� loss of basketball stardom as He’s not sure just how to a personal failure that his own use him, yet, however. vices caused even though he After Knight left his third had long pushed them to stay stint in prison a couple years focused and avoid the streets. “I back, he started a nonprofit, went to prison and lost them,� Jackson Cares Inc., and wants he said, looking at them. “Behelp to put the young men to cause nobody else was out here. work cleaning up their own They was too caught in that neighborhoods, cutting the grass drug life and the hype.� in the empty lots, picking up “Big Brother,� as the young trash, washing cars. men often call Knight, under“I have a building I want stands that hunger for food, over there,� Knight said, pointas well as love and belonging, ing the direction of Valley and is a basic reality of many kids Booker streets, where he wants growing up in the Addition. It Shanduke McPhatter is a former New York Blood who is now a “violence interruptor.� He and to open a barbershop so the has been for generations with members of his organization Gangstas Making Astronomical Community Changes, all former gang young men can have a place to some parents working two or members, help young people avoid a life of crime using the “Cure Violence� model. hang out, work and wash cars. three jobs with others absent, in “We can fix it up, cut the water prison, dead, or strung out on on, but it takes money to do that.� “Mon� Griffin, 19, told me later the same living parents in his life—his mother died the drugs that make outside suppliers very Knight, a tall, confident man with mus- day, standing outside Knight’s mother’s when he was 12—but Knight said he checks wealthy even as it destroys poor neighborcular, tattoo-covered arms, towers above all house on Hill Street, across the street from constantly to see if he’s in school. hoods and creates unhealthy relationships the young mentees around the picnic table. the Lincoln cemetery. “Every day. I hunt his ass down. He with law enforcement. “Without a penny in my pocket, this Griffin grew up in the Addition, but better be there,� Knight said. Like many “inner-city� areas, the Adis what I’ve been doing for years,� he said, moved to south Jackson where he dropped It’s hard for Alexander, though, who dition’s families were first officially and then explaining that he urged the next genera- out of Wingfield High School. He has his still clearly mourns the loss of his mother and unofficially segregated by racism into an area tions to avoid a life of crime even as he had GED now, but still no job. then his grandfather, leaving his grandma in with poor services and minimal job oppormodeled one since he was 14, which led to a It probably doesn’t help that an online the Addition as his only safety net. tunities, with residents traditionally blocked pill overdose, being shot six times and a to- search of his name pops up his mugshot on And his grandmother can’t provide from wealth-building by discriminatory tal of eight and a half years in Parchman and multiple sites, listing three misdemeanors much: He and his best friend and rap part- lending practices, making it difficult to buy working on the Hinds County farm. for a recent arrest for marijuana possession, ner Zeakyy have been hungry together. “We homes. Many of them then, and now, still “Even when I was out in the streets disorderly conduct and failure to obey a were out walking out here and couldn’t even rent from slumlords; the rows of small houses dealing drugs, I always had them young cats citation—the kinds of crimes that any self- find a penny on the ground to go half on are punctuated by dilapidated, boarded-up that I didn’t want to sell drugs.� He looked respecting white frat guy has likely commit- something to eat,� Alexander said. houses that look more like garbage piles than left and right at the young men sitting in a ted without an ominous Google trail. The boy’s anger kept growing until homes, neglected by owners from outside line along the picnic table with him in the Knight is helping Griffin believe he can Knight walked up to him one day, grabbed the Addition. middle. “I don’t want y’all to do this.� go straight, though. “He showed me nothing him by his shoulder and said, “Brother, that “A lot of people was poor,� Knight said The mentor is a natural motivational but righteousness. Led me in the right way,� ain’t the way you want to go. The way you simply as the young men listened intently, speaker—everything Knight says is quot- he said of his mentor. living, you gone end up dead or in the peni- often nodding. “I got tired of being poor, able—and he clearly has long had that way Griffin also has a serious health con- tentiary.� Knight convinced him to apolo- and I got out on these streets.� with words; at least some of it stuck to the dition. “Like, right now, I got one kidney gize to his grandmother and other people Then he could buy everyone else hamyoung men sitting around him who grew and kidney disease,� he said. “I was sup- he’s hurt by cussing and arguing with them. burgers, hotdogs and fries, or ice cream at up alongside some of his own 13 children, posed to have lost weight so I could be bet“That’s why me and my brother rap; school. He and others would hang out at even if they didn’t manage to keep their noses ter.� He wasn’t taking care of his health un- everything we say, it come from the heart,� spotless after they heard the advice. As cool as til Knight showed back up, he said. “Man, Alexander said of his best friend Zeakyy. PRUH +81*(5 VHH SDJH 17 these young men come across, they are not if it wasn’t for him, I’d be still around here “We ain’t dead. We rapping about

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HUNGER from page 17

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Stopping the Virus Shanduke McPhatter is the John Knight of Brooklyn, N.Y., or one of them. Once holding the rank of OG (original gangster) of the early New York Bloods, McPhatter is now 38 and the founder and CEO of Gangstas Making Astronomical Community Changes, or G-MACC. He walks the streets of East Flatbush with a bit of a determined swagger, bumping shoulders with young people not even half his age on streets long known as some of New York City’s most dangerous. Following the man once revered as Trife Gangsta—who did two bids in state prison and was locked up for over a year for a murder another man finally confessed to—means passing makeshift altars to men lost to gun violence. Late one chilly night in December 2015, an altar at the corner of Church Avenue and East 54th Street burned hot with myriad lit candles, surrounded by 19 empty Hennessey bottles in honor of victim Darnell Faustin’s spirit of choice. The 30-yearold was shot in the chest at 4 a.m.; a decade earlier, he was accused of the armed robbery of a 16-year-old in a subway station. McPhatter said Faustin was best friends with the brother of Kimani “Kiki� Gray, a 16-year-old NYPD officers had killed back in 2013, with some of the bullets entering through his back. Police say he had a weapon; many locals including McPhatter believe the cops planted the gun. A memorial to Gray is nearby, with candles burning daily. I first had seen the shrine to Kiki on a stressful Saturday night six months earlier. Then, McPhatter walked down Church surrounded by young men distraught over the murder of Jamel Brown, 26, who was gunned down the night before on nearby East 52nd Street. As he walked, McPhatter explained how “violence interrupters� like him are vital right after a murder goes down: Every death is a tragic loss with the potential to devastate loved ones, even to the point of retaliation. They must use the trust they’ve worked to instill with those who knew the victim, maybe some of those around the Kiki shrine in May, to stop them from hunting down the shooters for revenge. Walking and talking are better than retaliation. 20 Dr. Gary Slutkin is the guru behind the

“Cure Violence� approach that McPhatter and others in New York City carry out, as well as dozens more paid violence interrupters in a couple dozen U.S. cities—the same one Knight seems to be drawn to organically here in Jackson. Slutkin told me that

that wouldn’t happen� as a result of one intervention, Slutkin said. Slutkin is a medical doctor and epidemiology professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago Public School of Health. He specializes in stopping viruses from spreading— IMANI KHAYYAM

the decades-old Dairy Bar on Valley Street, a place black people could go when they weren’t allowed at white ice-cream stores. It became the site of violence over the years by armed men hanging out and settling drug disputes and personal beefs, letting their anger turn violent because they hadn’t been passed down another way to live. “That was worse than being poor, man,� Knight said of his criminal lifestyle. “It was 26 years of pain I brought on myself and my neighborhood,� he added.

Zeakyy, 17 Aspiring rapper

“The news, you know, they always say things in the way they want to put it. To make us look bad, to make them look good, whatever it’s for, but that what the news do, see. Like me personally, I don’t respect the news, I see the news all on Facebook, Instagram, people commenting (about) all them dumb kids out there ‌ they don’t know life, know our struggle; they don’t know ‌ what drove him to go do this, do that. They just thinking we just supposed to be born perfect, we supposed to just have role models in our life when there ain’t no fathers. Some kids I know, my best friends, ain’t got mothers. This stuff harder than what it just seems. Like rappers rap about it make it seem all good and all of that. It ain’t like that, ain’t sweet like that, you don’t go out here and make a hundred thousand dollars by selling drugs; it ain’t go like that. You struggle. ‌ I just want to let it be known that, so, cause I get tired of being misjudged, being looked at like that. They don’t know. ‌ We in school, your teacher, your principal make you feel like you ain’t gone graduate when you know you’re trying; they make you feel like what’s the purpose? Go out of high school, leave, they don’t want you there. That’s how they make us feel. ‌ Yeah, we had it bad our whole life, we done seen money, but we seen even more struggle, even more pain, all that man, people don’t know that, main, they just go by what they hear. ‌ Some people might grow up and all their stuff get took. Their whole life, everything they had got took. They feel like they want to take it back. They gotta go take their whole life back then, boom, they in jail doing time, 30, 40 years because nobody ever told them that ain’t what you gotta do. You should stay in school and get you a job, little brother, and I’ll help you out. ‌ Know what they tell them? You gone be dead, you done be in jail one day. Look at you now, pants all off your butt, pull ’em up. ‌ Inspire you to do bad. This stuff crazy, man. This is a whole different life out here.â€?

one study showed that interrupters, if welltrained, will prevent a retaliation 100 percent of the time. And every murder prevented means the resulting chain of retaliation stops. “I don’t know if it’s 10 or 70 events

and his strategy for changing violent behavior is an extremely effective public-health approach supported by public powerhouses like the Centers for Disease Control when executed well. And, by design, it’s completely

outside the criminal-justice system. The idea that criminal behavior is changed by fear of punishment, he said, is scientifically unsound. “Those are old ideas; these ideas are not correct. Punishment is not the way to change behavior,â€? he said. McPhatter emphatically agrees with him. “I don’t care how many ways you try to flip it: Locking up is not bringing down gun violence; you’re just locking up people until the next people pick up the guns. We’re showing a method of change: preventing and changing the mindset, giving people a different way of life,â€? he said. Men like McPhatter and Knight, who have shared the destructive hunger of young people like the Butler twins, are uniquely positioned to gain trust and interrupt that behavior, thus stopping it from spreading, Slutkin said. But, he warned, training and resources are vital. Slutkin’s message to Knight? “God bless you,â€? he said. “I have a picture of (Knight) in my mind because we’ve run across wonderful, heroic, smart, accomplished, strategic, dedicated, caring people like him everywhere we go. It’s wonderful.â€? But, Slutkin added more to his message to Knight. “There’s more to do than you can do. There needs to be probably a few dozen of you. Two, it might be you should get a check for this. ‌ You can’t depend on volunteers.â€? Plus, serious training—in teamwork, reframing, and dealing with various types of conflict, whether over girls, money, turf or insults—is necessary even for a dynamic man like Knight who seems to get it and believe that his heart and brain will make it happen,â€? the doctor said. “Here you have a worker who is selfappointed trying to be helpful ‌ and out of the goodness of his heart or even experience, he may be effective,â€? Slutkin said of Knight. “It isn’t going to be enough. It sounds like the city is missing the structure around him, and enough of him.â€? Shoot-out on Valley Street During his last year at Jim Hill High School, Stephen Butler was standing outside the barbershop on Hill Street in the Addition, waiting to get his hair cut. Suddenly, he heard a commotion between two guys. One was in a car, the other on foot standing near Stephen. Suddenly the standing one pulled a gun out. “I’ll shoot up your car!â€? he yelled. The man in the car then moved forward, and the driver pulled out his chopper—an AK-47—and started spraying into the crowd. People ran different directions, and Stephen jumped into the barbershop along with the guy who had stood near him with a gun. “You started all this,â€? Stephen told him. PRUH +81*(5 VHH SDJH

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HUNGER from page 20

IMANI KHAYYAM

Stephen Butler, 21

Steffon Butler, 21

“I want to start a business. I want restaurants in every state. ‌ I like to eat. I love money, too, though. I want to have restaurants in every state, every city ‌ I want to rent houses, I want to buy land. I just want to live the right way. I want to be a good businessman. When I come and greet you and meet you, I want to have on a clean tuxedo. I don’t want to be dressing like I been dressing all my life. When I approach you (he got up and shook Imani Khayyam’s hand), “How you doing, sir?â€? (all laughing) I don’t want to come to you, “what’s up with you, man, what’s going on?â€? I don’t want to be that type of man, you know. I want to be (pauses) a good person. I just want to help, you know. ‌ I want to come back to the community, uplift the community, start a foundation, give back to the kids, that I wish when I was a kid I would’ve got. I want to build them houses, I want it right. ‌ I want to help the little kids, get ’em book bags, get ’ em bikes, help the people who be at stores begging for money. ‌ I want to be able to go in my pocket and says here’s a hundred dollars, man. That’s what type of person I want to be. I want my heart bigger than everybody else’s heart. When I was coming up, I ain’t have people giving me money. My own family were against me and my brother. The situation that we were in they thought that we were gone be in jail. They thought we wasn’t gone graduate, we weren’t gone prosper.â€?

“When I was young, guys like John Knight, even though he know we see him do those things, he still motivated us to go to school and do something right, or go play basketball. We had a talent, me and my twin brother, in basketball, we could’ve made it, but the decision we made had caused us not to make it. But everybody got to learn from their mistakes so like they say nobody ain’t perfect. We just got to strive to uplift one another, we got to strive just to be the best, you know what I’m saying. We ain’t never too late, we all just got to keep maintaining. We learn every day. When I was young, I used to want to be a doughboy and all that; I used to see all the guys they G’d up, they looking good. I used to want that because I’m a child, and I’m seeing this around me, and I want the same thing, but I had to. The guys who were older than us ‌ used to explain us that we gone have our chance, just don’t rush it. ‌ I’ve seen crackheads, I’ve seen dope fiends, I seen my uncle smoke dope in front of me, I seen all this. I’d seen drug dealers and meth drug dealers. I’ve seen guys try to influence me to do what they doing. I also seen the good. ‘Man, you don’t gotta be around me to do what I do, man, just be yourself’; I seen that in my lifetime, so it really helped me just become a man, and I respect that now at my age. ‌ At the age of 21, I’ve got more to live so I need to stay focused and humble.â€?

Graduated Jim Hill, 2015

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“You gone get innocent people killed.� Back at the picnic tables in Sheppards Park, this time without Knight and the other young men there, the twins said the Addition is flooded with guns. “Lots of guns,� Stephen emphasized. Growing up, both of them saw many people get shot, often over females, money or drugs, they said. And many people carry guns for protection in the Addition. “People take what you got,� Stephen said. In fact, the big difference between Jackson and the city McPhatter patrols is that New York City has strong gun-control laws, 22 and Mississippi and other southern states are

Graduated Jim Hill, 2014

so liberal about who can own and carry guns that many violent crimes in New York and Chicago are committed by firearms bought in gun stores and pawn shops down south and brought illegally into northern cities. Put another way, the young adult men G-MACC tries to influence in East Flatbush cannot legally own guns; the twins can legally carry firearms as long as they don’t get a felony conviction. Lee Vance, the Jackson police chief, said the flood of legal and illegal weapons makes it hard for police to control gun violence, although they try. Vance said the Legislature won’t even give police the right to charge

someone with a felony for firing a gun inside the city limits. “Because right now it’s a misdemeanor. Right? If I caught somebody out there just firing a gun into the air ‌ right now it’s a misdemeanor,â€? he told me last summer is his downtown office. All the gunshots, he said, causes “fear and discomfortâ€? even when they don’t result in injury. About the shooters, he added, “We’ve got to find a way to turn these people around or impact them to go in another direction.â€? Last year, for about six months, the City of Jackson and Hinds County tried a popular law-enforcement strategy originally designed to lower gun violence, thus

its official name Operation Ceasefire. The local version, which former Sheriff Tyrone Lewis instigated, according to Vance and Yarber, ended up being called the ominoussounding MACE, for “Metro Area Crime Elimination,� and it kicked off last year after breathless local media coverage of it “kicking crime to the curb.� The Operation Ceasefire approach, popularized in the 1990s after a successful stint in Boston, aims to bring a smarter, more modern style of policing to gang and gun violence than the old-school way of massive enforcement by flooding communities like the Addition with police officers stopping anybody who looks like they might commit a crime. The program, originally designed by a writer-turned-renowned-criminology-professor, David Kennedy, is considered more progressive because it adds what is often called a “carrot� to the tough stick of arrest. The idea is the local police, sheriff and district attorney join with the feds, including the FBI, Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms, the Drug Enforcement Agency and the U.S. attorney’s office, to identify members of gangs they believe may commit violence. They then “call in� a variety of gang members to a meeting with those agencies, as well as representatives of social-service groups who may be able to help the young men (they’re the “carrot�). They then sit the young men, some minors, in the middle of the room, and the adults surround them. In a recent call-in in New York City—the city now funds both Operation Ceasefire and Cure Violence approaches, although they employ antithetical prevention approaches—all the agencies talked to the young men, threatening them with arrest, federal conspiracy charges and imprisonment in another state away from their families if anyone in their group committed gun violence. The call-ins end with the “Voice of Pain�—usually the mother of a young man lost to violence—and the young men get cards with a number to call if they need services, such as help getting their GED. At one point in New York’s recent February call-in, a young gang member raised his hand to say something, but the young men weren’t allowed to speak. When I asked the members of Knight’s “Undivided� group what they thought of being threatened into avoiding violence and not allowed to say anything, they all looked disgusted. “They do me like that, I wouldn’t like that,� McChristian said. “Me being a child, it don’t help me,� Griffin added. “I feel like if they come to you in a positive way, they come to you and talk to you like a man instead of demanding you, you will understand.� PRUH +81*(5 VHH SDJH

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23

HUNGER

24

“It’s weird. How you gone get his understanding?” McChristian said. “You gotta know how he feels about his story.” But here in Jackson, that call-in never happened, Vance said. Neither did the social services. The resources weren’t there. “While we did the enforcement piece pretty well, the other pieces did not get developed,” Vance said last year. Mayor Yarber was straightforward that the program wasn’t executed as it was designed to be, even after his administration and others made a “grand announcement” about the program’s potential. “Well, I think a couple of real important pieces were missing,” he said. That included “social development after we went in and cleaned up the neighborhoods.” That is, the carrot. In addition, he said, “we didn’t do as good a job as we should have on data collection.” MACE ended up being another version of multi-agency massive enforcement. Even though it didn’t directly target the Addition, the “Undivided” guys remember a big police push there last year. “They came eight weeks straight every day, for like four hours,” McChristian said. “They locked up a lot of those little guys I had up under me,” Knight added. “They just went crazy. They was locking them up.” Driving me through the 2nd Precinct in his black SUV early the evening of April 15, Vance pulled up at the Big Boys Food Mart on Ellis Avenue near Jane Street to watch an enforcement action. A DART—Direct Action Response Team—officer had pulled over an SUV. As we sat there, no fewer than seven cars filled the parking lot behind the SUV, lights flashing, but the officer just talked to the driver. “They all roll together,” Vance said of the DART cops who travel between precincts watching for trouble spots, rather than responding to calls for service. “There are a lot of people that have mixed feelings about when they see seven cars show up at a traffic spot, right? Actually, it’s a good thing. We got this many cops out here, there’s a far less probability that something’s bad going to happen. Somebody may be inside that vehicle that may be thinking about fighting, running or shooting at the police. You see these many people out there; they’re not going to be thinking about that as much. The odds are stacked against them.” Vance told me it’s important to have a “proactive” show of force, whether flashing blue lights in parking lots or what he called the “MACE-like strategy” that the “Undivided” guys noticed in the Addition to deal with gunfire and open-air drug dealing. That is, be there with lights blazing to send the message that crime isn’t acceptable. The chief also points to a sharp drop in crime in the 2nd Precinct in the last two years

that he believes came from that increased enforcement in the area. But Knight believes more grass-roots efforts such as his are leading to the lower crime rates and making the Addition feel like a safer place. Certainly, I haven’t felt threatened driving through, sitting in the park or standing in front of houses talking to residents in recent months.

promotions for saving lives. We want those in our community to see that there’s another method, another way to deal with gun violence, to prove them through our numbers. “Listen, this is proof that this is possible. If you’re trying to take away that from us, what do we have to show those that are coming up, those we want to change, that this is an effective method?” the Blood-turnedCEO added. IMANI KHAYYAM

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from page 22

After going to prison three times, John Knight attended Jackson State and Virginia College. He now is determined to interrupt the violence in the Washington Addition.

“That’s because of what we’re doing,” Knight said. If they hear about a problem, they try to defuse it. “We load up and gone go see what the problem is. … We’re policing our own neighborhood without violence. The police come to make a name for themselves. Some of them do. I ain’t gone say all of them do,” he said. Knight’s concern about the police wanting or taking credit for all crime drops, no matter what efforts are happening on the ground in those communities, is a massive sticking point for McPhatter in New York and other violence interrupters who believe that status-quo enforcement methods actually make conditions worse and is anything but proactive. Plus, they say, it’s vital for beleaguered community people to start believing that they have the power themselves to stop the crime virus, and not rely on the police who are too often disrespectful to residents. “There are so many naysayers, those who never support us, always looking at negatives. Our work counts the positives. We document everything we do,” McPhatter told me in December inside G-MACC. Unlike the police, he added, “we’re not getting

‘I Want Them to Be Better’ The Butler twins, with the help of one of their girlfriends’ tax check, recently could afford to get their used white Honda out of the shop after several months. Now they can use it to get to their jobs at Waste Management, where they have worked for three months, making $500 a week each. But they hadn’t had the car on the street for a week when they got pulled over on Raymond Road for an expired tag. They told the officer they thought they had 30 days to replace it, but he wasn’t having it, they said. The cop made them get out. “Get your ass on the ground,” he told them. As they sat with their hands on their head, the officer talked about the “Undivided” shirts he had found in their trunk after searching it. “Y’all sell drugs in these shirts,” he said, per the twins. “This is a gang shirt.” “I don’t sell no drugs, man,” Stephen said he responded. None of the “Undivided” young men I spoke to—Knight says there are about 25 total—trust the police, and all say most officers have long treated them disrespectfully, even when they were little kids screwing up. This disrespect of troubled young people is

so ingrained into policing in America that the NYPD’s new post-Eric Garner “Smart Policing” training includes basic kindness skills, asking them not to cuss the people they serve or arrest or call them “scumbags” or “assholes.” When I sat in on one of those trainings, I listened to instructors tactfully explain that such disrespect erodes trust, especially in communities of color where troubled young people are routinely treated as criminals. Then, even when they try to go straight, they prefer to avoid the police. For instance, an officer caught Monterius Griffin, the 19-year-old with one kidney, breaking into his school “back when I was real, real young,” he said. “That man literally slapped me about four times in my face,” he continued. “If I seen him today, I’d know who that officer is. I never pressed charges on him, but I don’t appreciate officers who put their hands on kids, period.” Griffin said a different officer in the Addition has slapped him and threatened him with a gun before as well. “I don’t like polices, period,” Griffin told me on Hill Street. That fact, shared by probably every young person in the Addition, doesn’t help the problem of residents opting to take selfdefense into their own hands instead of asking the police for help, a reticence that can spill over to older adults who fear abuse of young law breakers, and increase the body count. “I don’t even like to call them, period,” Griffin added. Knight looked at me as Griffin talked. “That’s bad, ain’t it?” he said. “I feel more safer calling him,” Zeakyy said, motioning toward his mentor, “and letting him come help me before the police. Police might change sides on me. I’d be the victim; I’d end up going to jail.” Griffin’s attention then turned to his Big Brother. “We need more people like him in every ‘hood,” he said. For now, Knight wants his barbershop, more lawn mowers, fuel and community support so he can help these young men. He points to the twins. “They 21; it ain’t over for them. They still got years to go back to college,” Knight said. “What I’m trying to do now is work them back in shape, keep their minds focused on being something better than what their father was, what their uncle was, better than their role model—me.” “I want them to be better than me. I don’t want them to be equal to me,” Knight added, looking at the young men. This is the first part of a “Preventing Violence” reporting project, supported by a John Jay College of Criminal Justice fellowship and a grant from the Solutions Journalism Network. The project will appear at jfp.ms/preventing violence as it unfolds. Additional reporting in New York by Donna Airoldi.

L

IMANI KHAYYAM

One day, a friend at work invited her to her house. There Knight smoked crack for the first time. She became badly addicted. She’d go to work during the day, and then come home to Hill Street, in the home she didn’t yet own, lock herself in her bedroom and get high. Meantime, she insisted every day that her kids do their homework and stay in school. She was addicted to crack for two years before entering rehab in 1994. She was gone for 42 days, leaving John, then about 17, to take care of his siblings; by then, she’d had two more sons. “I was living in my mama’s house on Hill Street. I had to raise my brothers and sister,” John said. He also used the house as a headquarters of sorts for his business. “I had women living in the house, my home boys, everything. But I made sure one of them women ironed my brother’s by Donna Ladd and sister’s clothes, and we go them to school.” While she was in the hospital, John took an overdose of pills and spent three days in the hospital. inda Knight was only 18 when she snuck into Knight says she came home clean and with a the Afro Lounge on Lynch Street one night in spiritual awakening. She now understands that she 1973 and met the man who would take her out and her son came up in a community that hadn’t been of the Washington Addition. Sitting in her easy trained to expect success. People there were beaten chair in the small house she now owns on Hill Street, down and couldn’t legally vote until the 1960s; her where she looks out the front door at the Lincoln first job was going house-to-house registering people Cemetery, she laughs when she remembers how much to vote, funded by a group outside the state. that mystery man excited her. He was unlike anyone “They were glad to see somebody,” she rememshe had ever met, growing up in a poor, strict Chrisbers of the first-time voters. tian home on Dansby St., where her parents wouldn’t The mother doesn’t blame her family or her let the kids leave the yard, and her mother traveled to neighbors for her mistakes. “Growing up in this Whitfield every night to work as an intake clerk. neighborhood, we were not motivated to want to pur“He was so handsome. He was from another sue careers of any kind,” she said. “… It was never disworld,” she says, cackling cussed. The only thing that was at the memory behind her discussed when we were growing dark-rimmed glasses. She up was service in the church.” wasn’t so bad herself, a “Our parents did not beauty, tall like her son John encourage us to do our homeKnight is now. work,” she said. Her parents “Y’all want a ride?” the weren’t taught to or expected man asked her and her best to do that, either, because they girlfriend. were poor and uneducated They slid into his white themselves, working menial jobs convertible El Dorado with in a city with few opportunities. white leather seats and a After rehab, it wasn’t easy sassy red dashboard. They or solved immediately, but dropped her girlfriend off Knight went to work trying to and continued on to where save her kids, even as all three he stayed out in Hinds boys would end up in prison County where a certain (one is still there now). She went amount of debauchery was back to school at Jackson State common. “He took me on and got a social-work degree and down the road! ... I stayed helped run a dorm there. She with him. That was the first bought her home on Hill Street. real love of my life,” she Now, she’s the matriarch Linda Knight grew up poor in the Washington Addition and got out as soon as she could, said, or at least she thought of the family, with her little Jack even if it meant a life of prostitution and leaving her son behind and, eventually, crack then. “When I met him, he’s Russell terrier named Bobo that addiction. Throughout it all, though, she pushed her children to get a good education. the one who turned me out. likes to bark at all the family He’s the one I prostituted members and friends who come myself for. He pimped me.” in and out of her house now, or Literally. They started her granddaughter as she leaves traveling to military bases where he would line up in the days when it was part of the national street gang to buy clothes for career day at school the next day. johns for her. She gave him all the money, but he took started in Chicago. He was hit by a police car trying Recently, Knight sat in her big chair and shared good care of her, providing for all her needs. “They get to run from the cops. He was shot six times, arrested her story of trying to help her son in mission, as he you. They wine and dine you, and they gradually get often and go to prison three times. stood outside with several of the young men he is tryyou into that kind of a life. They say, ‘I’m right here. “He was so addicted to that lifestyle that he ing to steer to a different life and, at one point, came I’m not going to let him hurt you. He’s only going to couldn’t see the pain he was inflicting,” she said or the in and planted a big kiss on her as she told her truth. be there for two minutes.’ That’s how it goes.” And “brutal” attitude he carried then. She is cheering for her boy to change the Addition, to this was a “common” kind of prostitution, she said. It was a hard time, Knight said, with crack houses interrupt the violence, to build hope, she said. She didn’t get beat up or involved with drugs. popping up all around, cars lining up and down the “God put it in his heart to mentor with these She got pregnant by someone else. By the time street to buy the harsh drug. kids,” the mother said.

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Coming Home to the Addition

the two of them hit the road to Oklahoma and other states, Knight decided to leave her 6-month-old baby boy, John, with his grandmother in the Addition. She would come visit and brought him out to see her, and sent money back for him. She promised herself that she would return by the time he started school. Gradually, as she entered her mid-20s still under her pimp’s control, she decided to make good on her promise and return to Jackson. She was also tired of the lifestyle and the fact that he kept taking on more girls who she had to train and look after. “I woke up and I said, ‘listen, I don’t need you. You’re full of S. You get out of my life. You come get these hoes because I’m outta here. It’s over, baby,” she said. She left that lifestyle behind. But life back in the Addition was about to get even tougher. She got pregnant with her second child, a daughter, when she returned—they didn’t use condoms then, she said. She started working at Whitfield, doing laundry, and later started working at St. Dominic’s as a housekeeper, determined that her kids would get a good education. By the late 1980s the neighborhood started going to hell around her. The crack-cocaine epidemic was heating up. “It was a real, big mess what the drugs started,” she said. As her boy John, whom she worshipped, got older, he started hanging out on the streets. The drug trade, and apparently easy money, lured the bright, charming young man because there wasn’t anything else to do. By his mid-teens, he was dealing drugs, hanging out in crack houses that “looked like they rotted from the inside out.” He became a Vice Lord back

25

LIFE&STYLE

food&drink

The Chicken, the Egg, the Street Food by Amber Helsel

T

he kitchen was busy and loud at the James Beard House on April 13. The Palette CafÊ executive chef and Mississippi Museum of Art culinary curator Nick Wallace, Mangia Bene co-owner Dan Blumenthal and Campbell’s Bakery owner Mitchell Moore, all decked in white chefs coats,

“When we did that first dinner, I cooked my personality, like I always try to do, and they were very intrigued and wanted me to come back,� he told the Jackson Free Press. Wallace says the inspiration for the April 13 dinner was his family. For the menu, he used old family recipes, adding his AMBER HELSEL/FILE PHOTO

LurnyD’s Grille is one of the food trucks that will be at Dinner and a Movie: A Food Truck Festival on April 21 at the Mississippi Museum of Art.

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CHRISTINA CANNON BOTELER

moved around the Beard House kitchen, prepping ingredients and cooking, plating and serving dishes for “Mississippi Mama’s Potluck,� a guest-chef dinner that Wallace hosted. The James Beard Foundation’s live kitchen feed gave viewers an inside look at the kitchen through the progression of the night (see the feed at jfp.ms/WallaceBeardDinner2016). JBF is a nonprofit culinary organization in New York City that aims to celebrate, nurture and honor America’s culinary heritage. Peter Krump, who was a student of food writer, teacher and cookbook author James Beard, founded the organization in 1986. It gives culinary scholarships to students, puts on educational conferences, gives out awards each year and also hosts more than 200 guest-chef dinners a year at the Beard House. This recent dinner marked Wallace’s third time in that kitchen. His first James Beard dinner was in January 2013 when Tom Ramsey gathered six chefs, including Wallace, Jeremy Enfinger, Jesse Houston, Blumenthal and Moore, for the “Southern Comfort Redux,� which was a Friends of James Beard Dinner event. The most recent time Wallace served at the Beard House was in December 2013, when he hosted the 26 “Southern Hospitality� dinner.

Nick Wallace cooked for the “Mississippi Mama’s Potluck� dinner at the James Beard House on April 13 and will prepare a pop-up menu for Museum After Hours on April 21 at the Mississippi Museum of Art.

touches to them. “It still all speaks Mississippi because that’s where it started,� he says. His favorite dish for the dinner was the tomato-crusted Simmons Farm Delacata catfish with Delta Mississippi rice grits,

Garden Farmacy kale, a preserved lemon jus and pepper bacon. “It had really eclectic flavors on the whole dish,â€? he says. â€œâ€Ś All the ingredients couldn’t be eaten separately. They had to all be eaten together, and it was just a perfect combination. And it was an old dish so I used (3-month-old) lemon preserves ‌ in the sauce. It’s a beautiful thing when you can preserve items and actually use them on something as wonderful as a James Beard dinner. It was perfect.â€? This week, Wallace will serve up his “Chicken and the Eggâ€? pop-up menu, featuring eggs and chicken from Mississippi, for the Mississippi Museum of Art’s Museum After Hours event, “Pop Goes the Culture.â€? The pop-up menu, which will include dishes such as hot chicken with a pink-peppercorn aioli, American cheese, pickles, bread and fries, among other dishes, will be served from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., and at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, April 21, and the followingFriday and Saturday from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Third Thursday at MMA will also have the third annual “Dinner and a Movie: A Food Truck Festival.â€? The museum and the Jackson chapter of the American Advertising Federation partner for the event, and the proceeds are split between the organizations. Cindy Minton, the chapter’s incoming president, says this is one of the publicservice events the Jackson AAF hosts each year. She has been the public-service chairperson for five years, except for 2014, when Jessica Russell from the Godwin Group served in the role. Minton accepted the position again last year and approached Julian Rankin, MMA’s director of marketing and communications, about doing another food-truck festival. “It’s a great thing,â€? Minton says. “(We) make a little money but also bring a lot of awareness to the museum and to movie nights for the spring and summer. It’s just another outreach that we do to try to help within the city, and the food truck was something that was really popular in other places, so that’s where the original idea came from.â€? She says that because the food-truck movement has been growing in Jackson and throughout the state, the Jackson AAF wanted to give the vendors a chance to showcase their food. Events like this are important for the city and the state, she says. “Hopefully, it’ll be something that we continue to do,â€? Minton says. â€œâ€Ś The food trucks will actually come downtown and sell their wares ... if (people) know that (they’re) there. We’ve just got to support each other, and it’s actually helping the museum along with that because there are

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so many people that don’t go to the museum or any of our museums. They need to be aware of what’s here and available for them, and support our state—not just the city, but the state.� While last year’s festival had 10 trucks and mobile food vendors, this year will have 13 eatery options lining up on both sides of Pascagoula Street to make the crowd flow a little easier. Some of the local trucks and vendors include LurnyD’s Grille, 2 for 7 Kitchen, Hog Heaven BBQ and Pop Culture Pops. The event will also feature trucks and vendors from around the state, such as Small Time Hot Dogs and one visitor from Tennessee: Memphis Soft Serve Ice Cream Truck. In the case of rain, Minton says the festival will be postponed, possibly to May. The Museum After Hours “Pop Goes the Culture� event at the Mississippi Museum of Art (380 S. Lamar St.) on April 21 will feature work from artists such as Will Brooks, Justin Ransburg, Steve Hendrix and Chris Mitchell. The food trucks will begin serving at 5 p.m., but Museum After Hours doesn’t begin until 5:30 p.m. For Screen on the Green, the museum will screen “Toy Story 3.� In addition to the mobile-food vendors and the pop-up menu, the event will have a cash bar. Museum After Hours is free and open to the public. For more information, visit msmuseumart.org, call 601-960-1515 or find the events on Facebook.

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THURSDAY 4/21

SATURDAY 4/23

SUNDAY 4/24

The Ultimate Fashion Show and Champagne Brunch is at the Country Club of Jackson.

Party for the Planet is at the Jackson Zoo.

“For the Love of Latin Music” is at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Cathedral.

BEST BETS APRIL 20 - 27, 2016

COURTESY ROLSTON QUARTET

WEDNESDAY 4/20

History Is Lunch is at noon at the William F. Winter Archives and History Building (200 North St.). Tougaloo College English professor Ebony Lumumba speaks on the topic, “Sew to Speak: Quilts, Black Women, and Justice in the Works of Eudora Welty and Alice Walker.” Free; call 601-576-6998.

THURSDAY 4/21

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Museum After Hours: Pop Goes the Culture is from 5:30 to 10 p.m. at the Mississippi Museum of Art (380 S. Lamar St.). Enjoy an exhibition of popculture-inspired work from Mississippi artists. Also enjoy the concurrently held events Dinner and Movie: A Food Truck Festival and Screen on the Green. Cash bar available. Free; call 601-960-1515; msmuseumart. org. … Jackson Days, New Orleans Nights is at 7:30 p.m. at The Hideaway (Deville Plaza, 5100 Interstate

Comedian Rita B. emcees Jackson Days, New Orleans Nights on Thursday, April 21, at The Hideaway.

55 N. Frontage Road). Honeycomb Enterprises is the host, and local comedian Rita B. is the emcee. Includes music from the Southern Komfort Brass Band, New Thousand, “American Idol” contestant Jerrica Rayel and DJ Phingaprint. $13.50 in advance, $18.50 at the 28 door; call 601-502-3373; thehoneycomb.biz.

(Left to right) Luri Lee, Jeffrey Dryda, Hezekiah Leung and Jonathan Lo of the Rolston String Quartet perform Friday, April 22, at St. James Episcopal Church.

FRIDAY 4/22

Art Is Word is from 7 to 10 p.m. at Big Sleepy’s (208 W. Capitol St.). Inspire Jackson hosts the open mic for youth who are poets, musicians or performance artists. Includes music from DJ Spre. If you are performing with a music track, please provide a flash drive. $5 cover, $3 to perform; call 863-9516; email bigxsleepy@gmail.com; facebook.com/ inspirejacktown. … Rolston String Quartet performs at 7:30 p.m. at St. James Episcopal Church (3921 Oakridge Drive) in Fowler Hall. Luri Lee, Jeffrey Dyrda, Hezekiah Leung and Jonathan Lo make up the ensemble. Additional date: April 23, 7:30 p.m. $20; call 601-594-2902; email info@mscmg.net; mscmg.net. … The Taj Mahal Trio performs at 8 p.m. at Duling Hall (622 Duling Ave.). The blues artist has been performing for more than 50 years. $40 in advance, $45 at the door, $3 surcharge for under 21; call BY MICAH SMITH 601-292-7121; ardenland.net.

SATURDAY 4/23

SUNDAY 4/24

The A-TEAAM Awards and Book Unveiling Ceremony is at 4 p.m. at Jackson State University (1400 John R. Lynch St.) in the Student Center Ballroom. The book is called “I Can Imagine: Voices of Young Authors.” The authors are members of the Ambassadors of the Evers Academy for African-American Males. Free; call 601-366-8309.

MONDAY 4/25

The Hometown Teams Speaker Series is at noon at the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame and Museum (1152 Lakeland Drive). The speakers are former governors William Winter, Ronnie Musgrove and Haley Barbour. Included with admission ($5, $3.50 seniors, military and students ages 6-17, children under 6 free); call 982-8264; msfame.com.

4/26 EVENTS@ TUESDAY Charlie Spillers signs copies of “Confessions of an Un-

JACKSONFREEPRESS.COM FAX: 601-510-9019 DAILY UPDATES AT JFPEVENTS.COM

Walk MS: Jackson is at 9 a.m. at Trustmark Park (1 Braves Way, Pearl). The annual charity walk also includes live music, food and children’s activities. Benefits the National Multiple Sclerosis Society’s Alabama-Mississippi Chapter. Fundraising encouraged; call 800-FIGHT-MS; walkms.org. … “Carmen” is at 7:30 p.m. at Thalia Mara Hall (255 E. Pascagoula St.). The Mississippi Opera presents the Georges Bizet production. Local choirs and dancers from Ballet Mississippi also perform. $60; call 601-960-2300; msopera.org.

dercover Agent” at 5 p.m. at Lemuria Books (Banner Hall, 4465 Interstate 55 N., Suite 202). Reading at 5:30 p.m. $35 book; call 601-366-7619; email info@lemuriabooks.com; lemuriabooks.com.

WEDNESDAY 4/27

Boys & Girls Clubs of Central Mississippi’s Steak & Burger Dinner is from 5:30 to 8 p.m. at the Mississippi Agriculture and Forestry Museum (1150 Lakeland Drive). Club members receive burgers and negotiate with adults to exchange the burgers for their steaks. $25-$100; call 601969-7088; email sdrennen@bgccm.org; eventbrite.com.

Jackson 2000 Friendship Ball Gala April 23, 7 p.m., at Mississippi Museum of Art (380 S. Lamar St.). This year’s honorees are civil rights icon Dr. Hollis Watkins and UMMC Department of Medicine interim chair Dr. Dan Jones. Attire is business or semi-formal. $30, $20 students with ID, $200 gala host; call 960-1515; email todd@ jacksonfreepress.com; jackson2000.org.

#/--5.)49 Events at Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame and Museum (1152 Lakeland Drive) UĂŠ œ“iĂŒÂœĂœÂ˜ĂŠ/i>Â“ĂƒĂŠ-ÂŤi>ÂŽiÀÊ-iĂ€ÂˆiĂƒĂŠApril 20, noon. The speaker is Dr. Chuck Ross, director of African-American studies at the University of Mississippi. Included with admission ($5, $3.50 seniors, military and students ages 6-17, children under 6 free); call 601-982-8264; msfame.com. UĂŠ œ“iĂŒÂœĂœÂ˜ĂŠ/i>Â“ĂƒĂŠ-ÂŤi>ÂŽiÀÊ-iĂ€ÂˆiĂƒĂŠApril 21, noon. The speaker is stadium architect and Jackson native Janet Marie Smith. Included with admission ($5, $3.50 seniors, military and students ages 6-17, children under 6 free); call 601-982-8264; msfame.com. UĂŠ œ“iĂŒÂœĂœÂ˜ĂŠ/i>Â“ĂƒĂŠ-ÂŤi>ÂŽiÀÊ-iĂ€ÂˆiĂƒĂŠApril 25, noon. The speakers are former governors William Winter, Ronnie Musgrove and Haley Barbour. Included with admission ($5, $3.50 seniors, military and students ages 6-17, children under 6 free); call 601-982-8264; msfame.com. Events at William F. Winter Archives and History Building (200 North St.) UĂŠ ÂˆĂƒĂŒÂœĂ€ĂžĂŠ ĂƒĂŠ Ă•Â˜VÂ…ĂŠApril 20, noon. Tougaloo College English professor Ebony Lumumba speaks on the topic, “Sew to Speak: Quilts, Black Women, and Justice in the Works of Eudora Welty and Alice Walker.â€? Free; call 601576-6998. UĂŠ ÂˆĂƒĂŒÂœĂ€ĂžĂŠ ĂƒĂŠ Ă•Â˜VÂ…ĂŠApril 27, noon. Author and scholar K.C. Morrison discusses his book, “Aaron Henry of Mississippi: Inside Agitator.â€? Free; call 601-576-6998. /i>“ 8 ĂŠ ÂŤĂ€ÂˆÂ?ĂŠ Ă•Â˜VÂ…iÂœÂ˜ĂŠApril 21, 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m., at Mississippi Museum of Art (380 S. Lamar St.). This month’s topic is The District at Eastover. $30, $20 members; call 960-1515; teamjxn.com. Ă•ĂƒÂ?ÂˆÂ“ĂŠ Ă•Â?ĂŒĂ•Ă€>Â?ĂŠ Ăœ>Ă€i˜iĂƒĂƒĂŠ ÂœÂ˜ĂŒÂ…ĂŠ*Ă€Âœ}Ă€>“ April 21, 5:30-7 p.m., April 22, 6-8 p.m., at Arts Center of Mississippi (201 E. Pascagoula St.). Includes a presentation on a specific part of Muslim culture and dialogue. Free; call 601-960-0440. *>Ă€ĂŒĂžĂŠvÂœĂ€ĂŠĂŒÂ…iĂŠ*Â?>˜iĂŒĂŠApril 23, 10 a.m.-1 p.m., at Jackson Zoo (2918 W. Capitol St.). Learn how to save the planet and why the environment is important. Includes games and related activities for children. Included with admission ($10.25, $7.75 children); call 601-352-2580; email tfrancis@jacksonzoo.org; jacksonzoo.org. ˆÂ?Â?Ăƒ>ÂŤĂƒĂŠ Ă€ĂŒĂƒĂŠEĂŠ iVĂŒĂ•Ă€iĂŠ-iĂ€ÂˆiĂƒ\ĂŠ Â˜ĂŠ"Ă›iĂ€Ă›ÂˆiĂœĂŠ ÂœvĂŠĂŒÂ…iĂŠ,iVÂœĂ€`ˆ˜}ĂŠ ˜`Ă•ĂƒĂŒĂ€ĂžĂŠÂˆÂ˜ĂŠ >VÂŽĂƒÂœÂ˜ April 26, 7 p.m., at Millsaps College, Ford Academic Complex (1701 N. State St.). Dr. Woody Sistrunk and Wolf Stephenson talk about blues recorded in Jackson, record labels and more. $10, $5 students; call 601-974-1130; millsaps.edu/conted.

+)$3 Ă€ĂŒĂŠ ĂƒĂŠ7ÂœĂ€` April 22, 7-10 p.m., at Big Sleepy’s (208 W. Capitol St.). Inspire Jackson hosts the open mic for young poets, musicians or performance artists. Includes music from DJ Spre. $5 cover, $3 to perform; call 863-9516; email bigxsleepy@gmail.com; facebook.com/inspirejacktown.

œ“iĂƒV…œœÂ?ĂŠ >ÞÊ>ĂŒĂŠĂŒÂ…iĂŠ Ă•ĂƒiՓ\ĂŠ/Â…iĂŠ ÂˆĂƒĂƒÂˆĂƒsippi Story April 23, 9:30 a.m.-noon, at Mississippi Museum of Art (380 S. Lamar St.). In the BancorpSouth Classroom. Activities for homeschooled children ages 4-12 and their families include a guided tour of the exhibit The Mississippi Story, a hands-on art activity and lunch. Pre-registration by April 16 required; space limited. $20 per student; call 601-960-1515; msmuseumart.org. +Ă•iĂƒĂŒÂˆÂœÂ˜ĂŠ ĂŒÂśĂŠ ÂˆĂƒVÂœĂ›iÀÊ ĂŒtĂŠ->ĂŒĂ•Ă€`>Ăžp œ˜½ĂŒĂŠ iĂŠ Shy April 23, 10 a.m.-2 p.m., at Mississippi Children’s Museum (2145 Highland Drive). Learn how to approach and play with children with disabilities. Included with admission ($10, children under 12 months free); call 601-9815469; mississippichildrensmuseum.com.

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ÂœĂ•Ă€ÂˆĂƒÂ…ĂŠ9ÂœĂ•Ă€ĂŠ Âœ}}ÂˆÂ˜ĂŠ `Ă•V>ĂŒÂˆÂœÂ˜>Â?ĂŠ-iĂ€ÂˆiĂƒ April 21, 10-10:45 a.m., at St. Catherine’s Village (200 Dominican Drive, Madison). The Alzheimer’s Association co-hosts the event. Attendees learn strategies for maintaining a healthy brain, caregiver tips and more. Free; call 987-0020; email ms-info@alz.org.

Events at Duling Hall (622 Duling Ave.) UĂŠ/ÕÀŽÕ>âĂŠApril 21, 9 p.m. $12 in advance, $15 at the door, $3 surcharge for under 21; call 601292-7121; ardenland.net. UĂŠ/Â…iĂŠ/>Â?ĂŠ >Â…>Â?ĂŠ/Ă€ÂˆÂœĂŠApril 22, 8 p.m. $40 in advance, $45 at the door, $3 surcharge for under 21; call 601-292-7121; ardenland.net. UĂŠ >Ă›iĂŠ,>ĂœÂ?ˆ˜}ĂƒĂŠ >V…ˆ˜iĂŠApril 23, 8 p.m. $35 in advance, $40 at the door, $3 surcharge for under 21; call 601-292-7121; ardenland.net.

7>Â?ÂŽĂŠ -\ĂŠ >VÂŽĂƒÂœÂ˜ĂŠApril 23, 9 a.m., at Trustmark Park (1 Braves Way, Pearl). The annual charity walk also includes live music, food and children’s activities. Proceeds benefit the National Multiple Sclerosis Society’s AlabamaMississippi Chapter. Fundraising encouraged; call 800-FIGHT-MS; walkms.org.

the best in sports over the next seven days by Bryan Flynn

For the first time all season, Mississippi State lost a baseball series. Texas A&M, who scored 30 runs in the three-game series, swept the Bulldogs. THURSDAY, APRIL 21 NBA (8:30-11 p.m., TNT): The Golden State Warriors look to push the Houston Rockets to the brink of elimination as the series moves to game three.

MONDAY, APRIL 25 MLB (7-10 p.m., ESPN): The /iĂ?>ĂƒĂŠ Rangers host the iĂœĂŠ9ÂœĂ€ÂŽĂŠ9>˜ŽiiĂƒ, giving us a glimpse of what could be a playoff matchup this fall.

FRIDAY, APRIL 22 College baseball (7-10 p.m., FS2): The top two teams in Conference-USA battle it out as Southern Miss hosts Rice this weekend.

TUESDAY, APRIL 26 College baseball (6-9 p.m., SECN): The Rebels and Bulldogs face off at Trustmark Park for the 2016 Governor’s Cup.

SATURDAY, APRIL 23 College baseball (7-10 p.m., ESPNU): Watch the second game in an important SEC West series, as -1 and Mississippi State try to catch Texas A&M in the division.

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 27 College softball (6-9 p.m., SECN): 1 looks to keep battling for the post season in a midweek matchup against 1 . Mississippi State went from first the in feated them on the diamond. The Aggies outscored the Bulldogs 30-14 in the series but face second-place LSU this weekend.

SUNDAY, APRIL 24 College baseball (1-4 p.m., SECN): The 1Â˜ÂˆĂ›iĂ€ĂƒÂˆĂŒĂžĂŠÂœvĂŠ ÂˆĂƒĂƒÂˆĂƒĂƒÂˆÂŤÂŤÂˆ is in danger of falling out of the SEC West race, but a sweep over Auburn could get the Rebels back in the mix.

Follow Bryan Flynn at jfpsports.com, @jfpsports and at facebook.com/jfpsports.

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ˆ˜˜iÀÊ>˜`ĂŠ>ĂŠ ÂœĂ›Âˆi\ĂŠ ĂŠ œœ`ĂŠ/ÀÕVÂŽĂŠ iĂƒĂŒÂˆĂ›>Â?ĂŠApril 21, 5-8 p.m., at Mississippi Museum of Art (380 S. Lamar St.). The annual party in the Art Garden includes a cash bar, food for sale from local food trucks and the Mississippi Museum of Art’s chef Nick Wallace’s ‘sipp Sourced pop-up food menu, a screening of the film “Toy Story 3.â€? Free; call 601960-1515; msmuseumart.org.

Âş ÂˆĂŒĂŒÂ?iĂŠ-Â…ÂœÂŤĂŠÂœvĂŠ ÂœĂ€Ă€ÂœĂ€ĂƒÂť April 20-22, 7:30 p.m., April 23, 2 p.m., April 23, 7:30 p.m., at Belhaven University Center for the Arts (835 Riverside Drive). In Blackbox Theatre. The play is a science fiction story about an R&B-singing plant that thrives on human blood. $10, $5 seniors and students, free for Belhaven students and employees; call 601-965-7026; belhaven.edu.

ÂœĂžĂƒĂŠEĂŠ ÂˆĂ€Â?ĂƒĂŠ Â?Ă•LĂƒĂŠÂœvĂŠ iÂ˜ĂŒĂ€>Â?ĂŠ ÂˆĂƒĂƒÂˆĂƒĂƒÂˆÂŤÂŤÂˆ½ĂƒĂŠ Steak & Burger Dinner April 27, 5:30-8 p.m., at Mississippi Agriculture and Forestry Museum (1150 Lakeland Drive). As club members receive burgers and adults receive steaks, the club members negotiate with the adult to exchange their burgers for steaks. Sponsorships available. $25-$100; call 601-969-7088; email sdrennen@ bgccm.org; eventbrite.com.

Âş,i`Âť April 21-23, 7:30 p.m., April 24, 2 p.m., at New Stage Theatre (1100 Carlisle St.). The play is about the internal struggles of artist Mark Rothko. $28, $22 seniors and students; call 601-948-3533, ext. 222; newstagetheatre.com. Âş >À“iÂ˜ÂťĂŠApril 23, 7:30 p.m., at Thalia Mara Hall (255 E. Pascagoula St.). The Mississippi Opera presents the Georges Bizet production. Local choirs and dancers from Ballet Mississippi also perform. $60; call 601-960-2300; msopera.org.

Â…ÂœĂ€>Â?ĂŠ>˜`ĂŠ6ÂœV>Â?ĂŠ Ă€ĂŒĂƒĂŠ œ˜ViĂ€ĂŒ\ĂŠ >VÂ…ĂŠ>˜`ĂŠ Â?Â?ĂŠ /Â…>ĂŒĂŠ >ââĂŠApril 23, 7:30 p.m., at Belhaven University Center for the Arts (835 Riverside Drive). In the concert hall. The Belhaven Concert Choir and Chorale present Bach arrangements from Ward Swingle. Includes music from pianist Margaret Ingram. Free; call 974-6494; belhaven.edu. ÂœĂ€ĂŠĂŒÂ…iĂŠ ÂœĂ›iĂŠÂœvĂŠ >ĂŒÂˆÂ˜ĂŠ Ă•ĂƒÂˆVĂŠApril 24, 3 p.m., at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Cathedral (305 E. Capitol St.). The Metropolitan Chamber Orchestra presents selections from Bizet, Cangelosi and Albeniz. Includes a marimba solo from Warren Ertle. Free.

,)4%2!29 3)'.).'3 ‡/ ĂŠ Ăœ>Ă€`ĂƒĂŠ>˜`ĂŠ ÂœÂœÂŽĂŠ1Â˜Ă›iˆÂ?ˆ˜}ĂŠ iĂ€imony April 24, 4 p.m., at Jackson State University (1400 John R. Lynch St.). In the Student Center Ballroom. The book is called “I Can Imagine: Voices of Young Authors.â€? The authors are members of the Ambassadors of the Evers Academy for African-American Males. Free; call 601-366-8309.

%8()")4 /0%.).'3 Ă•ĂƒiՓÊ vĂŒiÀÊ ÂœĂ•Ă€Ăƒ\ĂŠ*ÂœÂŤĂŠ ÂœiĂƒĂŠĂŒÂ…iĂŠ Ă•Â?ĂŒĂ•Ă€i April 21, 5:30 p.m.-10 p.m., at Mississippi Museum of Art (380 S. Lamar St.). Enjoy an exhibition of pop-culture-inspired work from Mississippi artists. Also enjoy the concurrently held events Dinner and Movie: A Food Truck Festival and Screen on the Green. Cash bar available. Free; call 601-960-1515; msmuseumart.org.

,'"4 7Â…ÂœĂŠ ĂƒĂŠ Â?ÂœĂ€Âˆ>ĂŠ Ă•Â˜L>ÀœÊ Â˜ĂŠ `Ă•V>ĂŒÂˆÂœÂ˜>Â?ĂŠ/Ă•ĂŒÂœĂ€Âˆ>Â?ĂŠ by Katherine Day April 21, 8 p.m., at Hal & Mal’s (200 Commerce St.). On the patio. Jacksonnative trans-comic Katherine Day gives a onewoman show. Ages 18 and up. $5; call 948-0888; email theevolutionofkatherine@gmail.com. HB 1523 Communal Gathering April 24, 5:30 p.m., at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Cathedral (305 E. Capitol St.). All are welcome to congregate for a period of support and rest. The event is in reaction to the signing of HB 1523 into law. Free; call 3541535; email aphelps@standrewscathedral.org.

"% 4(% #(!.'% 1Â?ĂŒÂˆÂ“>ĂŒiĂŠ >ĂƒÂ…ÂˆÂœÂ˜ĂŠ-Â…ÂœĂœĂŠ>˜`ĂŠ Â…>“>}˜iĂŠ Ă€Ă•Â˜VÂ…ĂŠ April 21, 11 a.m.-1 p.m., at Country Club of Jackson (345 St. Andrews Drive). Includes refreshments, a fashion show and a car giveaway from Patty Peck Honda. Proceeds benefit the Diabetes Foundation of Mississippi’s awareness and education programs for children. $70, $10 raffle tickets; call 601-957-7878; msdiabetes.org. Check jfpevents.com for updates and more listings, or to add your own events online. You can also email event details to events@jacksonfreepress.com to be added to the calendar. The deadline is noon the Wednesday prior to the week of publication.

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DIVERSIONS | music

For the Love of Love Notez by Micah Smith

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ver the past 23 years, followers of the local music scene have become well acquainted with the modernday soul and R&B style of cover band Compozitionz, but for about six years, the group has also helped to steer the next movement in Jackson Motown in the form of the singing, dancing double-threat trio Love Notez. “We’re not just pleasant to the ears, as one would say, but we give a visual response to all our music, as well,� vocalist Monica T. Shepherd says. “(We’re) following the spirit of Motown-sound music, which is what we do most. We do all genres, but that is our favorite, the Motown era. If you look back at all the videos and pieces from that time— the Temptations, the Spinners, the OJays, all

became the third member of Love Notez. The newest addition to the lineup, Amira Carey, was also hesitant to join the group at first, albeit for entirely different reasons. She found a flyer on Facebook advertising an opening with the trio in August 2014, shortly after Casper left to focus on her nursing-school studies, and at the time, Carey says, she just wanted to be singing with anyone. “I was living in Vicksburg with my mom, and I was just trying to find something to do,� she says. “I wasn’t singing like I really wanted to. I was kind of just trying to find something to where my pipes wouldn’t get rusty.� As a self-professed owner of two left feet, Carey reconsidered trying out for Love Notez once she reached the line on the flyer that read, “You must be able to dance.� She chose to give it a shot anyway, hoping that Shepherd and Roberts would let her dancing skills slide after hearing her sing. She was right, and in November 2014, Carey moved to Jackson as the new third “Love Note.� Of course, with a little time and weekly two-hour rehearsals in full dresses and heels, her dance moves eventually made the cut, as well. “She’s been the perfect fit for the group,� Shepherd (Left to right) Amira Carey, Elisha Roberts and says of Carey. “She’s learned Monica T. Shepherd perform as Motown-inspired countless eight-counts, her singing trio Love Notez. voice is one to be reckoned with, and just the chemistry between her, Elisha and me of them—they did a lot of energetic chore- is nothing short of amazing.� ography with their performances.� Chemistry certainly factors into the The idea of adding a female singing Love Notez mix. On the technical side, group to Compozitionz’s entertainment each vocalist is charged with selecting group as a sort of umbrella music com- songs that fit their vocals, with Shepherd pany came long before Love Notez first leaning toward high-octave tunes such as formed in 2010. Vocalist Elisha Roberts Natalie Cole’s “This Will Be,� Roberts was still a student at Provine High School singing powerhouse hits including Whitwhen she first became a fan of Com- ney Houston’s “I Will Always Love You,� pozitionz, which led to her hearing about and Carey taking on lower-range songs Love Notez six years later. such as Gladys Knight’s “Midnight Train “To be honest, I knew what Motown to Georgia.� was but never was really into it,� Roberts While Love Notez is currently looking says. “To hear that they were going to have for local restaurants and venues for regular some females singing Motown, I kind of performances, the trio stays busy with private downplayed it. I was like, ‘I don’t want to events, providing Top-40 pop hits, counsing with older people.’ I thought they were try songs and disco anthems in addition to old. I didn’t get it!� the Motown favorites. “And sometimes the Then, in 2010, Roberts decided to bride just wants some hip-hop,� Shepherd attend a vocal audition for the trio, where says with a laugh. she met her future singing mates, Shepherd For more information, find Love Notez and former vocalist Seora Casper, and then on Facebook or visit compozitionz.com.

IMANI KHAYYAM

MUSIC | live

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CUPSESPRESSOCAFE.COM

HONG KONG TEA HOUSE In Tau Mo, Yong Sheng Zhu, Siu Har Cheng Geoffrey Mo (manager) and Derek Anderson (manager) The members of Hong Kong Tea House LLC intend to make application for an On-Premise Retailer Permit. As provided for by the Local Option Alcoholic Beverage Control Laws, Section 67-1-1, et seq., of the Mississippi Code of 1972, Annotated. We propose to operate as a limit liability company.

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Daylight Saving’s Hours Come in and try our... Philly Steak Footlong Bourbon St. Burger New Orleans Shrimp Poboy Bourbon St. Wings Shrimp & Broccoli Alfredo Pasta New Orleans Seafood Gumbo Smoked Turkey Cheesemelt Salads: Shrimp / Chicken / Crawfish / Chef

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Sugar’s Place Downtown

1693 Lakeover Rd. Jackson, MS Next to Quest Fitness Club and Farm Bureau Monday - Saturday: 11 am - 2:30 pm, 5 - 9 pm Friday-Saturday: 11 am - 2:30 pm, 5 - 10 pm

Catering Available: 769-524-6803

Monday - Thursday 7am- 6pm Friday’s 7am- 10pm Closed Saturday & Sunday Ask about our weekend catering.

242 Hwy 51, Ridgeland | 601.605.9393 Facebook: Repeat Street Metro Jackson Twitter: @RepeatSt | www.repeatstreet.net

168 W. Griffith St. Jackson, MS 39201 Monday-Friday: 7am-5pm Phone: 601-352-2364 Fax: 601-352-2365 www.sugarsdowntown.com sugarsdowntown@bellsouth.net

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French & Spanish classes for kids (6-12), teens (13-17) and adults ¡ Small groups (4-6 students) or private lessons ¡ Dedicated and experienced team of native instructors ¡ Affordable rates Accepting applications for this Summer (2 sessions) on a rolling basis. Starting Dates (twice per week): Session I: May 16th – June 16th Session II: July 13th – Aug 12th We are sure you will find a level that perfectly suits your purpose.

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33

E TH G

O RO M

E RE N

-Pool Is Cool-

We’re still #1! Best Place to Play Pool Best of Jackson 2016

INDUSTRY HAPPY HOUR Daily

11pm

-2am

DAILY 12pm

-

7pm BEER SPECIALS

POOL LEAGUE Mon

-

Fri

Night

DRINK SPECIALS "52'%23 s 7).'3 s &5,, "!2 GATED PARKING BIG SCREEN TV’S LEAGUE AND TEAM PLAY B EGINNERS TO A DVANCED I NSTRUCTORS A VAILABLE

444

Bounds

St.

Jackson

MS

601-718-7665

0LANNING 9OUR &AMILY 2EUNION 0LACE 9OUR #ATERING /RDER 4ODAY 970 High St, Jackson

(601) 354-4665

www.chimneyville.com

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Visit www.jfpdeals.com today!

34

THANKS FOR THE VOTES

THURSDAY

Best Jukebox in Jackson

4/21

POLYRHYTHMICS 10 P.M.

FRIDAY

Best of Jackson 2016

4/22

SAM HOLT BAND

LIVE MUSIC

SATURDAY

10 P.M.

4/23

SOUTHERN KOMFORT BRASS BAND

Every Saturday - APRIL 21 -

$9.99 TAMALE THURSDAY 4-9PM LADIES NIGHT 9PM

10 P.M.

- APRIL 22 -

SUNDAY

MUSIC THERAPY

4/24

BEER BUCKET SPECIAL (5 Beers for $8.75)

DVDJ REIGN & SPECIAL GUEST DJ: VIOLATOR ALL STAR DJ

ALL DAY LONG!

- APRIL 23 -

MONDAY

DARK WATER

4/25

OPEN MIC NIGHT

$5 APPETIZERS

601-960-2700 facebook.com/Ole Tavern

(DINE IN ONLY)

416 George St, Jackson, MS

TUESDAY

4/26

SHRIMP BOIL 5 - 10 PM

Listings for Fri. 4/22 – Thurs. 4/28 The Huntsman: Winter’s War

WEDNESDAY

Meet the Blacks

PG13

Elvis & Nixon R The Jungle Book

PG

10pm - 12am

R

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice PG13

4/27

DAVID ALLAN COE

W/ GEORGE JONESTOWN MASSACRE DOORS 7 P.M. SHOW 8 P.M.

My Big Fat Greek 3-D The Jungle Book PG Wedding 2 PG13

UPCOMING SHOWS

Barbershop: The The Divergent Next Cut PG13 Series: Allegiant

4/28 - Space Kadet

Criminal

R

The Boss

R

God’s Not Dead 2

PG

PG13

Miracles From Heaven PG Zootopia

PG

4/29 - The Heavy Pets 4/30 - Andrew Bryant Band (Andrew of Water Liars) w/ Young Valley 5/13 Cedric Burnside Project

GIFT CARDS AVAILABLE

6/16 - Pure Luck (Featuring JD Pinkus of Butthole Surfers & the Melvins)

DAILY BARGAINS UNTIL 6PM

WWW.MARTINSLOUNGE.NET

Online Tickets, Birthday Parties, Group & Corporate Events @ www.malco.com

Movieline: 355-9311

See Our New Menu 214 S. STATE ST. DOWNTOWN JACKSON

601.354.9712

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ALL STADIUM SEATING

$1 PBR & HIGHLIFE $2 MARGARITAS

35

Metro Teens: Apply now to join this summer’s

Be part of the diverse, dynamic YMP newsroom, reporting on issues to juvenile justice $ # related #' # and preventing crime. Learn writing, reporting, editing, video, photography and podcast skills.

NOW OPEN ON SUNDAY!

Crawfish Live & Boiled

$ " "# Project is June and July in downtown Jackson.

Enrollment is%$ free; 20 students selected. # Must %" be age 14 to 19. & " $ # Visita youthmediaproject.com applicar. Newpara Location! Sea la noticias! The Bayou

Metro Teens: Apply Now to join this summer’s Youth Media Project Project is June and July in downtown Jackson

in Flowood

5649-C Hwy. 25 (Behind Burger King) (601) 326-2723 Hours: Wed-Thurs:11am-8pm Fri - Sat: 11am - 9pm Sun: 11am - 6pm

Enrollment is freel 20 students selected. Must be age 14 - 19

The Shack

941 Highway 80 East l Clinton, MS (601) 926-4793 Hours: T-Th: 12pm-8pm, Fri-Sat: 11am-9pm, Sun: 12pm-6pm www.facebook.com/tbeauxscrawfish

ÇÎäĂŠ >ÂŽiÂ?>˜`ĂŠ Ă€°ĂŠUĂŠ >VÂŽĂƒÂœÂ˜]ĂŠ /iÂ?\ĂŠĂˆä£Â‡ĂŽĂˆĂˆÂ‡ĂŽĂˆÂŁĂŽĂŠÂœĂ€ĂŠĂˆä£Â‡ĂŽĂˆĂˆÂ‡ĂˆäĂŽĂŽ Fax: 601-366-7122

DINE-IN OR TAKE-OUT!

Sun-Thurs: 11am - 10pm Fri-Sat: 11am - 11pm

WE DELIVER!

Fondren / Belhaven / UMC area

WE ALSO CATER! VISIT OUR GROCERY STORE NEXT DOOR.

# !! $ " % & % " "#

NOW HIRING

For Host and Servers Apply in person Monday-Thursday 2pm-4pm

Visit youthmediaproject.com To Apply Be the Media!

The Swamp 5752-B Terry Rd. l Byram, MS

(769) 230-3855 Hours: T-Th: 11am-8pm, Fri-Sat: 11am-9pm, Sun: 12pm-6pm www.facebook.com/tbeauxsbyram

Lunch Special

11:00 am - 2:00 pm Now Open for Lunch on Saturday 11:00 am - 2:00 pm

2481 Lakeland Drive Flowood | 601.932.4070

WWhhyy nnoott eennjjooyy ssoommee bboonnddiinngg ttiimmee?? !FFrroomm ccuuffffss ttoo ccrrooppss,, ttrryy aa sshhaaddee ooff GGrreeyy ttoonniigghhtt aanndd wwaattcchh yyoouurr rroommaannccee ggeett ccoolloorrffuull!!))

!7755 HHwwyy 8800 EEaasstt iinn PPeeaarrll ** 6600!..993322..2288!! MM-­-TThh:: !00-­-!00pp FF-­-SSaa !00-­-MMiidd SSuu:: !-­-!00pp ** wwwwww..sshhoopprroommaannttiiccaaddvveennttuurreess..ccoomm

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