Lawmaker: Power Struggle Is ‘Decapitation’ of Black-Run City

Black lawmakers in Mississippi are denouncing efforts by the majority-white and Republican-led state Legislature to grab power from the majority-Black and Democratic-led capital city of Jackson.

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The state Senate voted Tuesday to create a regional board to eventually take control of Jackson’s struggling water system, which is now overseen by a federally appointed administrator.

Hours later, the House voted to create a new court in part of Jackson with judges who would be appointed rather than elected.

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Nearly 83% of Jackson residents are Black, and the city has had Black mayors since 1997.

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Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba has likened the court proposal to apartheid. During a nearly five-hour debate on the court bill, several Black lawmakers said the proposal would strip away voting rights in a state with a racist history of voter suppression.

Democratic Rep. Zakiya Summers of Jackson said at the news conference Wednesday that the proposal would create a “separate but unequal court.”

“This is a return to the old Mississippi –- to slave patrols, to convict leasing, to installing ‘the folks we like because we never wanted y’all to vote in the first place,’” Summers said. {snip}

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Jackson has struggled with water problems for years. The crisis culminated in late August and early September, when the system came near collapse and most people in the city of 150,000 went several days without running water. Some lost water again after a cold snap in December.

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