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February 10, 2023

White Mississippi Lawmakers Approve Bill to Disenfranchise Voters in Majority-Black Jackson
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In Mississippi, a supermajority of white Republicans in the state House
of Representatives has approved a bill to establish a separate court
system and an expanded police force within the city of Jackson, which is
80% African American. If the legislation becomes law, it will place
Mississippi's public safety commissioner - who is currently white - in
charge of an expanded Capitol Police force in Jackson. Local judges
would be handpicked by Mississippi's Supreme Court chief justice, who is
white. And prosecutors and public defenders would be selected by the
state attorney general, who also is white. Voters in every other county
court system in Mississippi elect judges and prosecutors. After viewing
Tuesday's debate in the Mississippi House gallery, Jackson Mayor Chokwe
Antar Lumumba said, "It reminds me of apartheid."


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