Jackson Jambalaya

Aaaand of course, Tom Head is already on it! Says FBI stats can't be trusted...I assume because facts are racist.

I find it interesting that the most divisive politician in Jxn is now calling for unity. I guess the view from the top is a bit different and creates a different perspective. He can only hope no one does to him what he has been doing to other leaders for years.

Okay, it is what it is. Now we have our clowns, many who are the source of the problem and others who are just too plain ignorant to see their hand in front of their face, try to stop the acknowledgement of the second ammendment. It is bad and it is getting worse. It will even get worse with the new law but it will get better . . . in time. The checks and medicaid budgets will get some room and DHS won't have as many newborns to take care of. The thugs will all end up changed or dead in a paupers grave.

lets just leave Jackson out of it for a minute...now, how many of these cities are run by democrats?

Look, NOBODY should be happy that Jackson is on such a list. Even those of us who live outside the city do not rejoice in the demise of Jackson. However, this buttresses the argument many of us have been making in regard to Jackson's decrepit state, and there is some satisfaction in that, considering the sanctimonious barrage of smug denial and name calling that comes from the Tom Head/JFP/apologista crowd.

I'm tired of being called a racist because I point out obvious problems with a city I love. I didn't go running off to New York for a decade then come riding back to town, clothed in arrogance, to start an alt weekly expressly for the purpose of bashing "ignorant rednecks" and patronizing black people. I've lived here my entire life and only left Jackson proper when my city's administration and residents turned hostile toward me.

Crime and neglect ran me off. When I and people like me complained about our safety, we were (and still are) called names and accused of awful behavior. Then we were mocked and ridiculed and all but called liars with phrases like "perception of crime" and "fear of black faces". Streets turned to rubble and sewers backed up while the likes of Leland Speed and Jeff Good demanded a convention center and the mayor turned his eyes totally toward downtown, ignoring many of us because we "didn't vote for him".

I've been made to feel guilty because people who were in charge when my grandfather was a young man discriminated based upon race, yet I'm called a bigot when I decry the exact same behavior by black officials today. I've been told that I'm the bad guy when I point out all the black criminals, but I'm chastised as part of an old racist caste and told I should shoulder the blame when a misguided white fool drives to Highway 80 to murder a random black man.

Jackson is rotten and it's largely so because of crime, neglect, and the ugly spectre of racism...reverse racism that we're seeing manifested even today in the new mayor's odious past (a past that would exclude him from public service were he white) and the reprehensible actions of the HC board of supervisors. So maybe I do engage in a bit of I-told-you-so schadenfreude when I see my legitimate concerns independently verified, but I'm not happy about it.

I'm not happy about it at all.

Its not the FBI that is the problem, its the raw data itself. Different standards and means of collections for different cities.

Well said 11:33 .

23 of the 25 cities listed here are under democratic control and yes these facts have been checked multiple times just to make sure

Suddenly Kingfish is a 'data collection' expert. Perhaps he will also opine as to 'consequence of and margin of error' and 'data manipulation' as well as 'sampling methodology'.

On the other hand, if the data are all that questionable, it just may be that Jackson is actually number 4 instead of 8.

No data collection or sampling process is 100% accurate, ever. But, we have what we have and published data should not simply be scoffed at out of hand. Would Kingfish rather the FBI state, "Well, we thought about publishing something on that, but since we can't absolutely be sure every city has the precise same rules of collection and publication, we don't do that any more". This table is a yardstick by which many decisionmakers will measure. Well, not counting Head, Allen and Mal.

Hmmm, 1:15. Which are the two that are 'republican controlled'? As an aside, I've heard Cleveland is the only town in the MS Delta that has not ever been 'democrat controlled' (mayor/board of aldermen/county board) and remains the only one that has not either gone slap ass broke or had major, serious financial problems repeatedly over the past twenty years.

1:49, the FBI considered a "spate" of white violence against black people in Jackson to come to the conclusion that it did. Can you really blame Kingfish for expressing some minor suspicion? How accurate do you really think this report is, given the high amount of instances in which "white people attack black people" around here?

What I found most interesting is Atlanta being on the list. This is a city that promotes itself as very "progressive," whatever that means. By far the city with the largest population on the list.

Recently, a fellow Fondrenite had the "perception" of someone kicking his door in, and "perceived" that several items of jewelry and electronics were stolen.

Yes, running to the formerly-cow-pasture, cookie-cutter faux-French Madison subdivisions is one answer. Another is to stay here in the pretty older Jackson neighborhoods, and get a good alarm system.

This isnt the highest we have been on said list nor is it the first time we have been on this list. Same crime has been happening for decades. Get a life.
Everybody has gotten so g*d Damn dramatic

2:40, the minor concern you (and Kingfish) seem obsessed with, white against black crime, if it affects the rankings at all, would only serve to place Jackson in a lower ranking than it deserves. If the false assumption that there is white against black crime is totally removed from the data, that might push Jackson into 7th place.

As MSU Coach Dudy Noble famously said, "Gentlemen, we are talking about rat shit and there are elephant turds lying all around."

I lived in Jackson all my childhood life and was then safe and happy--what a sad city!!

The Jackson crime statistics were higher in 1998 and have been going down since then.

Crime has not kept those in Philadelphia or New Orleans from loving their cities or kept tourists from going to those cities.

It is fine to move if you don't believe you can ensure your safety or that the benefits of living in a city do not outweigh the risks and inconveniences for you.

It is fine to be concerned about crime anywhere.

The reason, 11:33 am , that you get such a reaction is that your comments are ultimately insulting to those of us who choose to commit to finding solutions and working for a better day. You overlook the good things happening like the new construction and plays at New Stage being held over and successful events being held and focus on those crimes that are black on white. You seem to think the Capitols,the hospitals, the cathedrals ,the federal buildings and colleges that anchor Jackson are going to disappear. And, you don't understand that Flint and Detroit didn't and don't have the same features.

Then, the folks who share your view seem to dismiss the crimes that are white on black just as the Dedmon crime has been above. There is more outrage and doomsday predictions over a burlarly where a woman was wounded than a deliberate murder where a man died.

Karen Irby,Linda Harmon, Bell,the Fraziers, Ebbers etc...none of those crimes caused comments about the deterioration of the white community and white thugs among us or mentioned as a reason Jackson was in demise. And, not a one of those white criminal were liberals, Democrats and every one supported the GOP. Should we foolishly conclude Republican conservatives enable criminals since they have so many white criminals in their ranks here?

I find the character assassinations to be nothing other than an indication of mean spiritedness. It doesn't matter to me if it's KF or Ladd. I'm fine with attacking their points of view on an issue or any behavior which is objectionable. But, the fact is armchair quarterbacks like you are criticizing those who are in the game trying to make things better. We may disagree with them, but they are, in my mind, finer people than those who simply bitch about what is wrong.
I know Leland Speed and Jeff Good and while I may not agree with every idea they have, the fact is they are successful men who are trying to do something other than wring their hands. The same is true for Ben Allen and even Lumumba. They do so knowing that they will be attacked by those who are too cowardly to risk criticism in the effort to make a difference.

So, I was with you on sentence one, but then you revealed your character in your personal attacks.

BS. Crime went up a lot under melton.

7:59 sounds like j good to me...

Crime has gone up gradually over the past 20 years, King. Melton or not. Sure, it has periodic dips when the stats are not posted by JPD or when they manipulate the charges to keep them out of the stats. However, it's an upward trend for decades.

But, the current and new mayor says he is all about community PO-leecin'.

1:12 you can't stop lying even on Independence Day . It phucking has not.

I don't know where y'all are getting your stats.

I checked 3 different sites that were all government generated.

Crime has been going down and crime was higher in 1998 than it is now.

I thought we are discussing the now and the direction we are headed, not whether some types of crime vary from year to year.

The debate, I thought, is whether or not Jackson is to be a more dangerous place to live and whether or not the future is hopeless.

The rednecks can't help themselves. They can't. I realized that years ago and gave up on them. Jackson has bottomed out years ago, is on the way back, and the white flighters can't handle it.

You people absolutely AMAZE me!! It is simply not acceptable that Jackson is on this list PERIOD!!! It is totally irrelevant if the ranking today is one or two slots better than it was five years ago. Whether it was #1, #5, #7 or #10, it was a crying-damn shame!! The city I grew up in would have ranked closer to be the #1 SAFEST city. That city today is a cesspool. THAT is the problem and NOTHING is being done to change it because nobody who CAN change it is willing to admit that anything needs to change! As for tourists, WHAT about the city of Jackson is going to make it a destination for any tourist?? There isn't even a decent place to shop in Jackson much less a tourist attraction.

My hometown was once called the Athens of Southwest Lowndes county. I think that it should be renamed Piccolo Soweto.

Why do you not post comments you don't agree with, Donna?

Crime, lawlessness, rampant disregard for societal rules. All merely 'an incovenience' according to 7:59. Head on down to Mookies for a soda and pizza and pretend you're being accommodated by a girl in a hoopskirt on roller skates.

And if your 'spell' is broken suddenly by someone with good sense, you can cup your hands around your lips and shout "Redneck!".

there is a difference between 'thugs' and the white devil 'thieves' you alluded to, wll of whom went,are in, or are going to jail. the jxn thugs for the most part don't suffer consequences.

you can take your holier-than-thou attitude and roll in it. i accept that you are happy in jacktown, so don't lambast me for being ecstatic in madison county.

There continues to be posts that criminals get away with crime in Jackson.

I decided to see if these claims had merit as repetition doesn't make a claim true.

I can find the jail capacity and find that the jail is near or above capacity consistently. Indeed, there was a high of 142 prisoners over capacity at one point.

I can find that last week 83 arrests were made within the city limits.

There are crime maps posted each week by precinct which indicates that precinct 4 and the area downtown are not high crime areas if one looks at the crime dots.

Indeed, I'm impressed with the detail provided by JPD. It does not appear they are trying to hide their performance record at all. Nor are crimes reported being hidden.

I can find the state average for plea agreements which is in line with the national average of 49%.

I cannot find any conviction rates for the District Attorney's office on line.

They surely exist KF. Can you get them?

Name calling is something any pre-schooler can do. Some facts would be more useful.

If the District Attorney's office is performing below national averages, we need to know and make that the issue.

If our judges are being overturned, I'd like to know that as well.

Given that most crime continues to happen in black neighborhoods, I'm sure the black community also wants this information so they can vote for those who would better protect them.

Name calling is something any pre-schooler can do. Some facts would be more useful.

And you've not posted ONE damn link to substantiated anything ... TROLL.

6:09 pm if you can post, you can google. I'm not doing your homework for you.

/\/\ Troll /\/\

http://247wallst.com/2013/06/13/the-most-dangerous-cities-in-america-3/2/

Paste and see where Jackson is.

Jackson was not listed????? Will this mean a "new" column by JJ praising the upgrade???

To July 4, 7:59am

Thank you for proving my point with your leaps of logic and your grand assumptions. QED.

Your post is so full of holes it could be renamed "Spongebob". I don't dismiss crime of any kind. I find the Dedmon case horrible, but I'm no less distressed when the killer is the same race as the victim or when the murder occurs on "the other side of town". I don't focus on black on white crime. I focus on crime, period, most of which is black on black.

If you're going to try to equate a drunk driver, an embezzler, and a corporate fraudster with the hundreds of violent crimes committed each year in this city, then you have ZERO credibility.

Here's a rundown of your cited criminals (6 in total, which you term as "so many white criminals"):

Bell, 2007
Harmon, 2008
Irby, 2009
Frazier, 2010
Dedmon (your most current criminal), 2011
Oh, and let's not forget Bernie Ebbers from way back in 2002, in Clinton if it can be pinned locally at all.

Not a single criminal act you mention is from the past two-and-a-half years and some are ancient history. Irby was four years ago and got a damn sight more publicity than any of the 150+ murders that have occurred in the city since (except maybe Dedmon). And as tragic and odious as it was, it was negligent homicide, not murder.

Compare that to almost weekly murders of black people by black people, not to mention rapes, assaults and robberies. It's a false equivalence and a ludicrous comparison to say they're the same. And where is the proof that all these people were GOP supporters? Did you just assume that because they're white?

Since folks here "dismiss the crimes that are white on black", maybe you could provide us with some violent white on black crime statistics from the past 12 months. Dedmon was two years ago, but I'll give you that one. Can you name 10 more? 5 more? How about 2 more?

Crime has not been going down since 1998. If anything, it's trending flat. I'll cite my sources. Here are two links to crime rates through 2010/2011:

http://www.cityrating.com/crime-statistics/mississippi/jackson.html#.UdtQsdJwpMM
http://www.city-data.com/crime/crime-Jackson-Mississippi.html

Notice violent crime in particular. There have been dips, but it's far from a steady decline. But New Stage is holding over plays, so I guess that makes up for it.

Last Friday night, a 27-year-old black man named Lateze Hogan was murdered at the corner of Lamar and Livingston in Jackson and JPD has no suspect. The incident barely got a mention in the local news. If they find his assailant was black, there may be another 30 second mention on WLBT.

What do you think the reaction will be, from Lumumba, to Ladd, to the actual media, if his killer is found to be a white man? Do you think anyone, including thTry to answer honestly.

The last sentences of my prior post were supposed to read as follows.

Do you think anyone, including those on this blog who "dismiss white on black crime" will ignore it? Try to answer honestly.

July 4, 2013 at 7:54 AM is a well known and highly recognizable troll. Why did you bother?