Mississippi Today
U.S. Supreme Court ends efforts to right wrongs of the 1890 Mississippi Constitution
For decades, starting primarily in the 1950s, the federal courts have stepped in to right the wrongs of Mississippi's racist 1890 Constitution.
Let it be known that on June 30, 2023, the U.S. Supreme Court said in its view the wrongs had already been corrected. The nation's highest court announced its refusal on that day to hear a case challenging the centuries-old Mississippi Constitution provision that imposes a lifetime ban on voting for people convicted of certain felonies.
The provision, it was clear at the time — even boasted by the framers of that 1890 constitution — was enacted as one of the many tools to keep Black Mississippians from voting.
There was a racist belief then that African Americans were more prone to commit certain crimes, so they imposed the lifetime felony voting ban. At the time, the provision imposed a lifetime voting ban on a person convicted of bigamy or perjury, for instance, but not for someone who committed murder or rape.
The Mississippi Center for Justice and other groups that filed the lawsuit in 2017 on behalf of people who have lost their right to vote argued before the federal court that because of the racist origin of the provision, it should be struck down. The federal courts in landmark cases have struck down other Mississippi constitutional provisions designed to keep African Americans from voting, such as the poll tax and so-called literacy tests. And, of course, other provisions of the state's 1890 Constitution not related to voting, such as the absurdly labeled separate-but-equal schools, have been famously invalidated by the federal court.
READ MORE: Few options remain for Mississippians convicted of certain felonies to regain voting rights
The Supreme Court justices did not say why they refused to hear the felony suffrage case.
But a majority of the U.S. 5th Court of Appeals ruled in 2022 the provision was not unconstitutional because “the racial taint” from 1890 had been removed by actions taken in the 1950s and 1960s by the Mississippi Legislature. The 5th Circuit reasoned that legislators passed resolutions approved by voters to add murder and rape as disenfranchising crimes. The changes removed the racial taint, the judicial majority ruled. Notably, the electorate was not given an opportunity to vote on whether to keep the original racially motivated crimes as disenfranchising crimes.
So, some including Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown, who disagreed with the majority decision not to hear the case, questioned whether the racial taint had been removed.
“Constitutional wrongs do not right themselves,” she wrote.
Those who say the racial taint had been removed perhaps would have a stronger argument if the Legislature would allow voters to decide if they want to maintain the provision banning people from voting for life even after they complete their sentence. Most other states — more than 40 — do not have lifetime bans on voting.
In 2020 Mississippians were given an opportunity by the Legislature to remove another provision placed in the 1890 Constitution to discriminate against Black people. And given the opportunity, Mississippians by an overwhelming majority — 79% to 21% — voted to remove the provision.
The provision required all elections for statewide office to be decided by the Mississippi House if a candidate did not obtain a majority vote and win a majority of the 122 House districts. The provision was placed in the Constitution to prevent Black residents, who were a majority at the time, from winning statewide office. The framers also had drawn House districts in a manner to keep Black candidates from winning a majority of them, thus making it difficult for African American statewide candidates to gain approval from the House.
Of course, voters had the opportunity to repeal the provision thanks to the action of the courts.
U.S. District Judge Daniel Jordan of Mississippi's Southern District told state officials if they did not remove the provision that he might be inclined to do so himself. But first, he said, he hoped the Legislature would give the citizens the opportunity to remove the provision.
The federal courts took no such action on felony suffrage.
While the federal courts appear to have stopped its crusade on the racist provisions of the Mississippi Constitution, federal judges now are being asked to strike what some say is a racist Mississippi law. The law takes away the right to elect judges to newly created judicial posts in predominantly African American Hinds County and instead gives the white state Supreme Court chief justice the authority to appoint those judges. The right to elect judges is not taken away in any other area of the state except for Hinds County, where Black residents make up 75% of the population.
Whether the federal courts see a racial taint in the controversial law remains to be seen.
READ MORE: Key GOP lawmaker says ‘it's past time' to address Mississippi's lifetime felony voting ban
This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
Did you miss our previous article…
https://www.biloxinewsevents.com/?p=267924
Mississippi Today
On this day in 1896
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.
Did you miss our previous article…
https://www.biloxinewsevents.com/?p=359301
Mississippi Today
Renada Stovall, chemist and entrepreneur
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.”
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.
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.”
This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
Mississippi Today
On this day in 1954
MAY 17, 1954
In Brown v. Board of Education and Bolling v. Sharpe, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously ruled that the “separate but equal” doctrine in Plessy v. Ferguson was unconstitutional under the 14th Amendment, which guaranteed equal treatment under the law.
The historic decision brought an end to federal tolerance of racial segregation, ruling in the case of student Linda Brown, who was denied admission to her local elementary school in Topeka, Kansas, because of the color of her skin.
In Mississippi, segregationist leaders called the day “Black Monday” and took up the charge of the just-created white Citizens' Council to preserve racial segregation at all costs.
This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
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