YP Daily Roundup 6/17/20

The vote on Tuesday by the Gulfport City Council—to remove the state flag from city property and ask the state legislature to change it— is not a new concept.

The issue has roiled cities and counties across the state for years.

The Mississippi Gulf Coast Chamber of Commerce asked the legislature to change the state flag in 2015. Their position hasn’t changed, and they supported Gulfport’s move Tuesday.

Fifteen minutes into Tuesday’s committee confirmation hearing for Burl Cain, the former warden of the Louisiana State Penitentiary whose exit came amid three state investigations, a Mississippi senator asserted that information he had been given on those allegations proved to him that Cain had been “exonerated.”

Cain, tapped by Gov. Tate Reeves to lead Mississippi’s corrections system, agreed with the statement from State Sen. Brice Wiggins, R-Jackson County, saying he was indeed exonerated in the cases which revealed misspending of taxpayer dollars and business relationships with alleged ties to inmates Cain himself supervised…

…“To have someone to come in that’s not really concerned about the money, not really concerned about the political backlash that he or she may receive from doing things in a manner in which others may not like, I think that’s what’s needed,” said State Sen. Juan Barnett, who chairs the corrections committee. “[We need] someone with some direction and someone who’s not afraid to make those tough changes.”

A famous Mississippi actress is joining the chorus denouncing the Confederate emblem on the state flag.

Actress Aunjanue Ellis recently created a video directed to First Lady Elee Reeves to support the cause.

“They say that Southern women are husband-whisperers. Whisper to your husband and say he could be first governor of courage for the state of Mississippi.”

In a video on Facebook that has now gone viral, Ellis could bee seen appealing to First Lady Elee Reeves. She wants her to encourage Governor Tate Reeves to remove the Confederate battle emblem from the Mississippi flag that she believes reflects slavery and division.

WTOK – Tyrone Johnson confirms he’s running for mayor in 2021

Former Ward 2 city councilman Tyrone Johnson confirmed his intentions to run for mayor of the city of Meridian in 2021.

Johnson mentioned the idea a couple of weeks ago and reconfirmed with a post Tuesday on Facebook. Johnson posted an update saying, “The election will get messy next year. We should all get behind a candidate. #mayorTyroneJohnson #Johnson2021.”

Johnson was removed by the city council after the panel determined he no longer lived in Ward 2, the ward which he was elected to represent.

DAILY JOURNAL – Mississippi official: Black people ‘dependent’ since slavery

After the meeting, Sanders, a Republican, was quoted by the Commercial Dispatch as saying that other groups of people who had also been mistreated in the past — he cited Irish, Italian, Polish and Japanese immigrants — were able to successfully “assimilate” afterward.

“The only ones that are having the problems: Guess who? The African Americans,” Sanders said. “You know why? In my opinion, they were slaves. And because of that, they didn’t have to go out and earn any money, they didn’t have to do anything. Whoever owned them took care of them, fed them, clothed them, worked them. They became dependent, and that dependency is still there. The Democrats right here who depend on the black vote to get elected, they make them dependent on them.”

Democratic State Rep. Kabir Karriem of Columbus, who is African American, told The Associated Press on Tuesday that Sanders should resign. Karriem called Sanders’ remarks “appalling.”