Mississippi Today
Mississippi Democratic Party asks judge to dismiss ousted leader’s lawsuit
Leaders of the Mississippi Democratic Party has denied allegations that former party Chairman Tyree Irving filed in a September lawsuit and asked a judge to dismiss his complaint.
Irving, a former appeals court judge, sued the Democratic Party in September claiming he was improperly ousted in July after 46 members of the party's 80-member executive committee voted to remove him.
The party, represented by Jackson-based attorney Gerald Mumford, wrote in a Nov. 7 response that Irving's initial suit should be dismissed over procedural issues and rejected the assertions in his complaint.
Irving's suit also asked a judge to prevent party officials from conducting official meetings, to reinstate him as leader of the party and to restrict current Democratic Party Chairman Cheikh Taylor from operating as the organization's leader.
The basis for the suit revolves around a July meeting the Mississippi Democratic Party executive committee convened where it voted to remove Irving, after Mississippi Today published emails that he had sent Democratic National Committee staffers. One of Irving's emails, in particular, was filled with personal attacks on the state Democratic Party's executive director.
Party leaders at the time feared Irving's comments would jeopardize a $250,000 commitment the national party had made to the state party during the key statewide election. So they voted to remove Irving from office and replace him with Taylor, a state House member from Oktibbeha County.
In the lawsuit, Irving alleges that the meeting was improperly called and he was not given the proper notice about his potential ouster that's afforded to him under the state party's constitution.
Chancellor Tiffany Grove, the judge assigned to the case, has not issued any rulings or set a hearing about the complaint. If Grove were to grant Irving any type of relief, it could paralyze the party from functioning in the short-term.
READ MORE: Mississippi Democrats vote to remove leader, appoint new one in wild emergency meeting
Although Democratic candidates suffered a bruising defeat in the Nov. 7 statewide election, the party's leadership in a Nov. 8 statement said it remained optimistic of the future and pledged to rebuild the organization's infrastructure.
It read: “We have a chance to rebuild our party and create a modern apparatus: one that is nimble enough to respond to the short-term threats we face, can endure the very real long-term challenges facing our state and our country, and one that is ready to win some elections down the road.”
In the middle of the lawsuit and rebuilding its infrastructure, the party must prepare for the 2024 legislative session that begins in January and next year's U.S. Senate race, where Republican incumbent Roger Wicker is up for reelection.
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
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
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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