Jackson Jambalaya

Like Derrick Johnson has any flippin' idea what goes on in Brandon. Many kids, black and white, are friends at school.

What he says just sends an incorrect message and he should not comment on matters of which he is NOT INVOLVED IN.

It would be a helluva lot of work but I wonder how many professional services contracts counties and municipalities in Mississippi have given the non-attorney Derrick Johnson over the past decade or so. It won't be a matter of any but rather a matter of how many.

Another case of news reporters not doing their job appropriately. I felt bad for the Asst. Chief, you could tell he didn't even know he was on camera. This was a very bad incident but it does appear isolated.

What is amazing all the questions keep getting asked "Why don't they arrest the others involved?" No law enforcement agency in Rankin County is responsible for these arrests. That lies on the backs of JPD and the Hinds County District Attorney.

I would only assume those agencies do not want to charge them before they have enough evidence to convict.

Also, when did it become legal for school districts for schools to report behavior problems from the past to the media that may relate to current issues?

This was a horrific act, but in no way a reflection of the mindset of the general population of Brandon, MS, Rankin County, or the State of Mississippi.

This whole horrible incident is incredibly telling of the divide that exists between two perceptions of the world.

On one hand, you have those who are blindly committed to what the legacy media reports. Committed to the point of ignoring anything that tarnishes the story that they want to believe about Mississippi remaining steeped in white on black racial hatred.

On the other hand, you have those who almost trivialize the incident in their ardent efforts to characterize this incident as an extreme outlier, point out facts that are being omitted from the media's narrative, bemoan the lack of coverage of incidents where the races are reversed, and just generally "shoot the messenger."

I'm somewhere in the middle, though slightly on the second side. I've long since quit caring what others think about Mississippi because I realized some time ago that 1) in my lifetime, we will never shake the stigma we earned 60 years ago, and 2) most outsiders will never recognize the plank in their own eye.

For better or for worse, I'd venture that more than 95% of the people who read the CNN article are already convinced that the picture in Brandon, Mississippi is exactly as CNN paints it. I'd also venture that nearly all of that 95% would keep their bias against us even if the article recognized Brandon as the most racially tolerant city the world has ever known.

As to this article specifically, my contempt is primarily reserved for Brian Richardson and Ken Johnston, and to a lesser extent Jordan Richardson, Hayden Covin and the mystery "former friend" for aiding and abetting CNN's smear piece. Our reputation for some kind of unique racial intolerance is misplaced, but our reputation for naivety is well-deserved.

You can always find a fish to bite if you know how to bait your hook.

You know good and well CNN never told Richardson, Johnston, Covin or anyone else HOW they were going to spin this slanted piece. Had they known, I'm sure they would have opted out. Many people in Brandon knew how Dedmon acted, and many know how he never discriminated - he attacked white and black alike.

I do not appreciate CNN portraying Brandon in this light, as the actions all happened in Jackson, where many black-on-white crimes occur EACH DAY, yet CNN doesn't mention a SINGLE thing about that.

What a slanted, inappropriate piece.

I think the bloggers didn't go on to read the entire CNN story.
First of all, it makes clear that this sociopathic bully and his " gang" targeted WHITE kids at school who were friends with blacks. Many of those coming forward are WHITES that are unwilling to continue being apologists for racial hatred.
Some of the story, like the Pearl River being a divide , is exaggerated and the statue is hardly significant to this horrible story.
But, make no mistake, prejudice and racial hatred is learned and fostered in a child's environment .
The reports of prior incidents and the failure of the school and police to deal with those incidents effectively are serious .
And,let's not pretend we don't all know the history of Rankin county during the " dry" days. You all know and should remember that crime was the " business" of the county. That legacy of convenient ethics lives on under a thin veneer of respectability.
That " knowing the right people" helps you,not just in Rankin, get by with anything, but in MS is just true , whether you are Peters, Irby or Dedmon et al. And, these misplaced loyalties are hurting us.
Making ANY excuses for this horrendous event and letting any of the participants off the hook that didn't IMMEDIATELY go to the police, is just WRONG. They were ACCESSORIES to the crime. To ignore that inconvenient fact and pretend this is JUST about one sociopath who FOOLED all the adults makes ALL of MS look , if nothing else, CLUELESS.

If you expect CNN to do anything other than run a report slanted against Mississippi, you are an idiot. It is as sure as the sunrise.

This event is a terrible crime, regardless of race. However, almost anyone in America knows that something like this, whereever it happens, is an individual incident, and doesnt reflect on the community from which the criminal came.

In some respects, Dedmon is very lucky that the DA wrote off the death penalty as an option. However, under the Hate Crimes statute, he may spend the rest of his life in prison. If that is the case, he may wish he were dead.

Also, I think he is unlucky to have drawn Judge Weill as the judge. Weill is tough and will no doubt be tough on this guy, if convicted.

I think the bloggers didn't go on to read the entire CNN story.

I think the anonymous thinks too highly of themselves.

What has the history of Rankin County 'during dry days' got to do with this story? Is that a suggestion of some kind of twisted guilt by remote, historical association? If you can unearth evidence that Dedmon's one-armed grandmother was once a maid for Mr. Patel at the motel in question, you'll have passed the true rubicon. Dig on, Sleuth!

CNN is useless.

Shadowfax,
You remember, the "dry days" in Rankin. Back in the late 50's and 60's when every Democrat around was aggressively fighting the Civil Rights movement, William Winter was proudly proclaiming himself a true segregationist, and the Republicans were voting in favor of "the movement". Those days.

Here is the sad truth. There will always be racial strife. Sure things are better but it will never go away on either side. The problem is it does happen on both sides, but only the white on black gets the most attention.

For Example a little over 30 years ago my father was killed by two black males, who had states earlier in the evening they were going to kill a white mother f___er that night. They are now up for parole. Any thing in the media?
Nope and won't be. Oh and the state did n ot even notify us the family we found out on our own.

Mr. Dedmon was wrong period. It does not matter if the person was white or black, or blue or purple, it is a SIN to kill.

Let's focus on that.

It is likely true that some white folks in Rankin county do not like black folks. Just like some black folks dont like white folks in Hinds county.

The kid Dedmon did learn his hatred for all things black from his surroundings...friends, parents, guardians...which is a shame.

Still, CNN cannot malign the entire county based on the behavior of one skin head.

If CNN can do so...then they need to pack their truck up and get back to Jackson and run a story on racial hate mongers Chuckwe and Kenneth.

The anon idiot who repetively suggests that bootleg whiskey crime and/or racism in Rankin or any other county 50 years ago has any connecting with an alleged crime today needs a mental enema. But, alas, he is helpless and plays the Race Card at every opportunity. There are far more black on black and black on white crimes today than there ever were, in converse, 50 years ago.

The David Hamptons, Mitchels and Bill flap-jack Minors of our world simply have control of the bully pulpit.

Shadowfax, it would appear you are the only idiot. Try as I may, I couldn't find any repetitive suggestions in this thread about bootleg whiskey crime. Drink some warm milk, pull your shawl around your shoulders, and take a little nap.

Hate crimnes are heinous regardless of where they occur....

here is a breakdown of hate crime by state in 2009 as reported by FBI

http://www2.fbi.gov/ucr/hc2009/data/table_12.html

This dude should fry. No question as to motivation. Yet, I find it very difficult to take in all this coverage and collective introspection flooding radio, tv, and print when almost at the same time, another homicide by car occured when a young dude from out of state was run over in Jackson by a young perp one early summer morning.
No such attention by local or international media (yes, my friends who grew up here that live in europe ask me about the Anderson story and gauge my responses as to nail down the current civil rights state of our state).
Motive? Who gives a F? Hate crime? How friggin' more hateful does it get than to take another's life, whether it's b/c of color of skin, a woman, or whatever.
Every murder is as hateful as it gets. And despite pundits and columnists stories, a person was murdered....just like dozens of others in the city of Jackson each year, including that young white dude by the actions of another perp this summer who has seen nowhere near the equal coverage of a life shamefully extenguished.

The day we moved into our Brandon home 14 years ago the next door neighbor came, introduced herself and knowing that my husband's job would likely move us away w/in 3 years promptly asked that we "promise not to sell to blacks". I almost choked on my spit. We were raised up North and even though there were plenty of racists up there no one ever actually uttered words that would betray themselves. We lived here for about 3 years then moved. After 2 more moves and 8 years later we happily sacrificed some benefits and some pay to return. Why? Because although that woman and her family as a whole had horrible views of others, it was clear in the 3 years we lived in Rankin cty, shopped in Hinds and Madison cty, worshiped in Madison cty and had friends all over, that her attitude was a huge minority. We have lived in at least 10 different states on all coasts and in between and in the end we CHOOSE to be here. There is no better place, in my mind, to raise a family, to live a life of peace and reason among many other things. There are things very wrong everywhere - this whole world is upside down, we all know that, and frankly, I couldn't care less what CNN says about MS. They are a has-been media outlet and I wouldn't want them to entice anyone of their ilk to move here anyway. One day the majority of people will realize that most of us couldn't care less about the color of anyone's skin, that what we care about is ideology and philosophy - and I agree with Christ Merck - I wish the dude could fry.

Shadowfax, communities develop a set of mores. That is why the past affects the present.

And, 12:49, I agree with you. Unfortunately, the too silent majority is still intimidated by the bullying/loudmouth minority and still tolerates them in positions of power and influence. That is WHY nothing was done about Dedmon. Not because the majority didn't know he was trouble, but because they were afraid to do anything about it.