This week Jackson Mississippi has found itself on the receiving end of criticism amid reports that it wants to make some otherwise unpopular changes to how local justice systems work. On Monday, a proposal went public which revealed that city officials are trying to create what amounts to a two-tiered justice system based on the skin colour of local residents. In essence, white people would be in charge of a population that is nearly 82% Black.
Click here to read about the House Bill 1020.
Known as House Bill 1020 the area’s white-dominated legislature wants to expand a ‘Capitol Improvement’ like a project that would also see an expanded police force emerge in the area.
The proposed district would put all governmental decision-making on issues involving its majority-white neighbourhoods into the hands of white officials. Of course, non-white folks arrested in these areas would be significantly more likely to have white judges universally decide their fate.
Unironically, the elected officials who would represent the special district in the area are quite literally all of whom are white.
Fun fact: Mississippi despite its Black population has not elected an African-American individual to higher office since the Reconstruction era.
In a city plagued by very real kitchen table issues (including its infamous water issues and the lack of aid for such), the special district would be granted not only a newly pumped-up police force but would essentially have full power over its own court system.
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