Mississippi Today

‘He’s never stood where I’ve stood’: Brandon Presley and Tate Reeves trade blows over police, public safety

Published

11 months ago

June 22, 2023

FLOWOOD — Democratic gubernatorial candidate Brandon Presley last week told reporters that Republican Gov. Tate Reeves can save his “hot air for somebody else” after Reeves insinuated the Democratic candidate was dodging questions about crime and law enforcement.

The remarks came after Reeves at the Mississippi Press Association's annual conference on Friday said reporters have not asked Presley questions about a newly passed law that creates a new court system in the capital city of Jackson.

“I sure think it's a good thing to have more people working toward public safety in our state capital,” Reeves said to reporters. “But a lot of Democrats in the Capitol opposed it passionately. My opponent is just hoping that you won't ask him the question.”

Presley hammered back that Reeves shouldn't cast doubts about Presley's history of backing law enforcement officers, given that a suspected criminal killed the Democratic candidate's uncle, Harold Ray Presley, while he was serving as sheriff of Lee County in north Mississippi.

“I've got the badge he was wearing, I've got the gun that was on his hip and the flag that was draped over his coffin,” Brandon Presley said of his uncle. “So I don't want to hear Tate Reeves open his mouth to me in this campaign about backing law enforcement because he's never stood where I've stood.”

Harold Ray Presley served as Lee County's sheriff from 1993 to 2001, and his life was cut short when the county officer participated in a manhunt for a suspected kidnapper. The suspect burst out of a building and shot the sheriff multiple times.

The remarks from the two leading candidates for governor were centered on questions about House Bill 1020, which creates a new court district within the majority-Black capital city of Jackson with judges who white officials would appoint.

Conservative legislators and Reeves said the law is meant to curtail crime in Jackson, but Democratic lawmakers, many of whom are Black, believe the legislation strips power away from one of the Blackest cities in the nation. Reeves supported the legislation and signed it into law.

“When you take away the right of people to elect their officials who have traditionally been elected, how else are they going to see it?” longtime Democratic Rep. Ed Blackmon of Canton said earlier this year.

Presley said he was against the intent of House Bill 1020 because it usurps the authority of local officials and prevents Hinds County voters from electing their own judges like nearly all other types of judges throughout the state.

“I was a small-town mayor,” Presley said at the Mississippi Press Association's annual conference on Friday. “I wouldn't want the state Legislature coming to tell me how to run my police department. Simple. I do not agree with unelected judges.”

Federal courts have blocked the law from going into effect pending litigation. U.S. District Judge Henry T. Wingate issued an order last month barring state officials from appointing temporary judges in the new court district, and attorneys for the NAACP have filed a motion asking the judge for an injunction to block the entire law from going into effect on July 1. Attorneys for the state oppose the request.

But the legislation has still sparked questions during the campaign cycle about crime, race and voting rights.

Presley, the current utility regulator in north Mississippi, told reporters that if he were elected governor, he would work to find a solution that legislative leaders and local officials can agree on instead of dragging litigation out in court.

“As governor, I want the ego to go out the window,” Presley said. “Out the window because the future of the city of Jackson is important to the citizens in all other 81 counties in this state. Call me naive if you want to; I still believe an attempt at personal relationships in politics matters.”

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

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Mississippi Today

On this day in 1925

Published

6 hours ago

May 19, 2024

Staff Editor

MAY 19, 1925

In this 1963 photo, civil rights leader Malcolm X speaks to reporters in Washington. Credit: Associated Press

Malcolm X was born Malcolm Little in Omaha, Nebraska. When he was 14, a teacher asked him what he wanted to be when he grew up and he answered that he wanted to be a lawyer. The teacher chided him, urging him to be realistic. “Why don't you plan on carpentry?”

In prison, he became a follower of Nation of Islam leader Elijah Muhammad. In his speeches, Malcolm X warned Black Americans against self-loathing: “Who taught you to hate the texture of your hair? Who taught you to hate the color of your skin? Who taught you to hate the shape of your nose and the shape of your lips? Who taught you to hate yourself from the top of your head to the soles of your feet? Who taught you to hate your own kind?”

Prior to a 1964 pilgrimage to Mecca, he split with Elijah Muhammad. As a result of that trip, Malcolm X began to accept followers of all races. In 1965, he was assassinated. Denzel Washington was nominated for an Oscar for his portrayal of the civil rights leader in Spike Lee's 1992 award-winning film.

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

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Mississippi Today

On this day in 1896

Published

1 day ago

May 18, 2024

Staff Editor

MAY 18, 1896

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 7-1 in Plessy v. Ferguson that racial segregation on railroads or similar public places was constitutional, forging the “separate but equal” doctrine that remained in place until 1954.

In his dissent that would foreshadow the ruling six decades later in Brown v. Board of Education, Justice John Marshall Harlan wrote that “separate but equal” rail cars were aimed at discriminating against Black Americans.

“In the view of the Constitution, in the eye of the law, there is in this country no superior, dominant, ruling class of citizens,” he wrote. “Our Constitution in color-blind and neither knows nor tolerates classes among citizens. In respect of civil rights, all citizens are equal before the law. The humblest is the peer of the most powerful. The law … takes no account of his surroundings or of his color when his civil rights as guaranteed by the supreme law of the land are involved.”

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

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Mississippi Today

Renada Stovall, chemist and entrepreneur

Published

2 days ago

May 17, 2024

Staff Editor

mississippitoday.org – Vickie King – 2024-05-17 11:53:33

Renada Stovall sat on the back deck of her rural Arkansas home one evening, contemplating life when she had a life-altering epiphany…

“I gotta get out of these woods.”

She heard it as clear as lips to her ear and as deep as the trees surrounding her property. Stovall's job as a chemist had taken her all over the country. In addition to Arkansas, there were stints in Atlanta, Dallas and Reno. But she was missing home, her parents and friends. She also knew, she needed something else to do.

“I thought, what kind of business can I start for myself,” said Stovall, as she watered herbs growing in a garden behind her south Jackson home. Some of those herbs are used in her all-natural products. “I know when I lived in Reno, Nevada, where it's very hot and very dry, there really weren't products available that worked for me, my hair, and my skin suffered. I've got a chemistry degree from Spelman College. I took the plunge and decided to create products for myself.”

A variety of soaps created by Renada Stovall. Stovall is a chemist who creates all natural skin and hair care products using natural ingredients.

In 2018, Stovall's venture led to the creation of shea butter moisturizers and natural soaps. But she didn't stop there, and in December 2022, she moved home to Mississippi and got to work, expanding her product line to include body balms and butters, and shampoos infused with avocado and palm, mango butter, coconut and olive oils.

Nadabutter, which incorporates Renada's name, came to fruition.

Renada Stovall, owner of Nadabutter, selling her all-natural soaps and balms at the Clinton Main Street Market: Spring into Green, in April of this year.

Stovall sells her balms and moisturizers at what she calls, “pop-up markets,” across the state during the summer. She's available via social media and also creates products depending on what of her ingredients a customer chooses. “My turmeric and honey is really popular,” Stovall added.

“The all-natural ingredients I use are great for conditioning the skin and hair. All of my products make you feel soft and luscious. The shea butter I use comes from West Africa. It's my way of networking and supporting other women. And it's my wish that other women can be inspired to be self-sufficient in starting their own businesses.”