Jackson Jambalaya

Hinds County Circuit Judge candidate Ali Shamsid-Deen waxed philosophical on many subjects in his Jackson Advocate columns back in the 1990's. Some of them have been posted here on JJ. Back in 1992, many blacks became upset when rapper Sister Souljah said "Gang members in Los Angeles should take a week and kill white people instead of killing each other." Upset because then-presidential candidate Bill Clinton sharply criticized her for making those statements in a speech that received much coverage from the media. Mr. Shamsid-Deen made a few statements of his own in a July 2, 1992 column:

"Sister Souljah is very articulate and spoke with intelligence (referring to an interview he watched on tv.). "

"Given the frustrations that we as African Americans have to deal with as we try to live the American dream in this society that is dominated by white people who at times show a supreme disregard for the well being of us as a people, it is not too hard to understand how an African American could make a statement that could be seen as wanting to take violent action to confront the problems that we face. I think that because white American makes it so easy for anyone to at times believe that violence is all they really understand, white folks hear the call for violence in every statement that is made by anyone that has not been cleared by them as the spokesperson for African Americans."

"The guilty know what justice that they deserve. We as African Americans want peace in our lives and our neighborhoods. But as long as the violence effects only us then as Sister Souljah said in that same interview, the white power structure is not concerned about us."

"I don't see Sister Souljah saying that African Americans should take to killing anyone as a solution to our problems, but she is saying, what we as African Americans know and that is that as long as we kill each other the chances of getting punished by the system is alot more remote. So if gang members are so tough, then take on the real tough guys. Take on the ones who have the best reputation for killing. Sister Souljah knows just like the rest of us know that African American gang members know how to stay on the side of the law enforcement and that is by victimizing the African American community. "

"If anyone is going to hold themselves out as a leader in our community, then they should at least understand the language of our community and not see our problems through the eyes of those who are oppressing us."