NAACP alleges state withheld millions that could have helped Jackson’s water system

• The lawsuit contends Mississippi created “discriminatory” practices aimed at limiting Jackson’s slice of the APRA funding pie.

The NAACP sued Mississippi last week, alleging that state officials withheld millions of federal dollars while knowing the City of Jackson’s water system was on the edge of failure.  

A 38-page lawsuit contends that Mississippi “knowingly and intentionally” created policies that stopped Jackson from receiving millions of dollars from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds in May 2021.

The lawsuit, which names the State Treasurer, the head of the Department of Environmental Quality, and the Executive Director of the Department of Finance and Administration, claims state leaders denied the citizens of Jackson equal protection under the law in violation of the 14th Amendment.

With 122,000 black residents, the lawsuit claims the unequal access to funding amounted to race-based discrimination.

“With discriminatory purpose, the state of Mississippi enacted facially discriminated against the City of Jackson by requiring that funds awarded to Jackson and only Jackson were to be held by the Mississippi Treasury in a Capital City Water/ Sewer Projects Fund. S.B. 2822 provided no clear guidance as to what Jackson would have to do to receive those monies. No other municipality was singled out in this way or had its ARPA award withheld,” the lawsuit reads.

It continues, three years on, the city still has not received ARPA funding, while hundreds of Jackson’s low-income black citizens are forced to move after water shutoffs. In recent weeks, JXN Water has closed the spicket of at least one major apartment complex after the owner owed hundreds of thousands of dollars in unpaid water bills.

“[T]he disproportionate harm caused by S.B. 2822 is neither happenstance nor unforeseeable accident. Rather, Defendants are engaging in calculated disregard for the lives and welfare of low-income black residents of Jackson,” the lawsuit alleges.

Senate Bill 2822 created the Mississippi Municipality and County Water Infrastructure Grant Program, of which Jackson was slated to receive nearly $37 million. The program was created months before the city’s August 2022 water crisis.

The lawsuit contends Mississippi created “discriminatory” practices aimed at limiting Jackson’s slice of the APRA funding pie. The suit continues, state agencies placed additional requirements on Jackson to receive funding that were not required of other municipalities.

The NAACP said in its filing that the state knew of the pending water crisis as far back as the mid-1990s, when then-Mayor Harvey Johnson, Jr. requested loans instead of taxes to help repair the aging infrastructure system. Jackson has many state-owned tax-exempt properties.

“The State refused, and instead, diverted federal highway and bridge funds meant for predominantly black Hinds County (in which Jackson is the county seat) to the surrounding counties of Madison and Rankin, which remain predominantly white,” the filing alleges.

JXN Water said in a statement that it “does not know the details of the lawsuit against the state.”

“From JXN Water’s perspective, the state has met its obligations to the city of Jackson’s water and sewer systems,” the third party administrator-run operation stated.

The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court in the Southern District of Mississippi.