Jackson Jambalaya

The majority of the citizens of the City of Jackson simply don’t give a fuck about books. If they did then this would’ve been an hot political issue long ago.

My lifelong city makes me sick.

who the hell trashes books? that was way before the current pogrom

Eudura Welty is next.... or they will change the name.

Imagine if Ludumba was white!! OMG! CNN, MSNBC, and the whole gag of liberal media would descend onto Jackson for massacre. But no...doesn't fit the narrative. Guess they could use the white flight excuse again....but that one is getting a bit tired.

Looks just like 90% of Jackson, soon to be 100% within a decade, or less. We seemed to have hit warp speed with the descent.

What is the purpose of this post? The current voters occupying Jackson do not care about libraries. They have not protested or even spoken at the City Council meetings.

Looks as organized as most other places in Jackson!

Those damn gun shows!!!!! This is their fault!!! Btw what happened to those “fire safety” fees that gun show exhibitors had to pay?

I'm sorry, did Lumumba stop the library commission from packing up the books and moving them to the remaining branches, even temporarily? They were placed in charge but when a difficult situation arose, they abdicate all responsibility?

Lumumba doesn't care.
Not about the library, the (so far) 50 murders anywhere in the city, the car jackings in Eastover, the condition of the streets, the water, the business community or anything else.
He will never care.

Kenneth Stokes at least cares about 2 of those things. There could be no worse person elected to be the leader of a city that he cares nothing about.

@PittPanther -- Seriously bro? Takes money to do this, and oversight. Ludumba is the CEO of this organization called Jackson. He is in charge of all, and if this requires him to delegate...then delegate. Possibly, there aren't enough funds to fund the library because we're trying to fund a zoo we can't afford. Which is most important? Zoo or library?

Just like the water/sewer/crime issues that are occurring within the city limits of Jackson. The library slogan should be "Keeping the Illiterate, Illiterate" Shame...shame...shame...

Libraries in Jackson Mississippi have literally proven to be pearls before swine.

2:32pm takes money?

Between the JHLS executive staff, and the board of trustees, I count more than a dozen people who get paid to care about libraries in Jackson. You telling me they couldn't be bothered to all meet at Tisdale one weekend and pack up everything of value? Record it all and take it to people's basements if necessary. That's what people who care would have done, instead of crying to the media about needing money while the books rot.

There's an old saying in Jackson—I know it's in
Ridgeland, probably in Jackson—that says, 'Fool me once, shame on...shame on you. Fool me—you can't get fooled again.'

@3:17 I don't think anyone in charge in Jackson black, white, green, or purple is competent enough to think or implement a solution. Foote sits there like a bump on a log while Virgi cries out "next!". Northeast Jackson needs to take ownership for their terrible elected officials just like the rest of the city.

Serious question for any legal folk out there, does MS have "squatter's rights" laws? Looks like people have been living in there... probably for a while.

Pitt, Furr went to the city numerous times begging for help with Tisdale. She warned them repeatedly she needed a place to move the books to. Blaine studied it to death, no surprise as he was an incompetent CAO. The City Council did nothing. The Mayor did nothing . The city owns the building and is responsible for finding another site. She would suggest available sites but they would drag their feet and they would go off the market.

Why all the negative comments? It's been broken into several times and Nothing has been stolen. They will never steal a book! That's one good thing about Jackson.

Do we really need taxpayer funded libraries anymore? Everyone has a cell phone.

When I was a youngster in the city I would go to the Northside Library a lot. I remember writing several papers for both my classes at Chastain and Callaway there. It was a great place to find new reading.

I am sure that Charles Tisdale would be so distressed to see how the city now honors him. Of course if I need to get a book I would go the Willie Morris branch on Old Canton -- as long as it stays open and someone cares.

We must always remember that the way the present city council operates is the Bernie Sanders way -- take away all incentive for self-determination and make everybody mind-numbed robots, all equal and all poor (except for the leaders).

If I was related to Mr. Tisdale I would be there today taking his name off the building. Horrible way for the Democratic leaders to honor a good man. https://mississippiencyclopedia.org/entries/charles-tisdale/

I wonder if Charles Tisdale, Jackson Advocate publisher and race-baiter extraordinaire, would be happy about what happened to this library named for him. I think he was a mentor of Lumumbas pere et fils.

There's PittPanther, carrying Lumumba's water again. Should probably start calling him Gunga Din.

It’s not like books will be missed in this illiterate trash heap of a state.

who needs libraries anyway? “dr google” is just as free...

The mayor doesn't want an educated constituency. That's why Jackson's public schools will always be failures.

I seem to remember the mayor telling the news media the city had a buyer for the library building & that a deal was immenient. That was last year or maybe earlier - just another of the mayor's lies, apparently.

" When I was a youngster in the city I would go to the Northside Library a lot. I remember writing several papers for both my classes at Chastain and Callaway there. It was a great place to find new reading."

Same memories 3:45 !

And after that, it was as a two minute ride down Northside Drive to get an icee at the Triangle Mart Tote-Sum,
a Seal-Lilly banana split, or if we were lucky ... anything from Pasquale's / El Burrito.

But as is often said ...that was a long time ago, in a galaxy ... far far away.

@5:50
I was born in 1991 and never knew anything except modern Jackson. I am curious why you all let things get so bad? Why didn’t you do anything fight the crime and decay? I will never understand how you could let this happen.

Jackson need one big Library in downtown Jackson. Have a memorial of all the writers from Mississippi displayed on a Memorial wall. Get a wrecking ball, or sell off the other branch libraries in the city. It will save on cost.

The sad fact is that a lot of civil rights leaders back in the ‘60’s fought, protested, and finally won the right for blacks to use the public libraries. Guess all that effort was wasted.

The only thing more sad than the photos are the comments.

When a society treats their books this way, they will do the same to human life...OH WAIT....

@10:02pm Well mentioned, and could be said about the Civil Rights Act on a national level. Millions of POC are suffering because a few bad apples in their own communities have decided to go anarchist on a racist platform that doesn't even apply.

As someone who has donated books to a library before, this makes me absolutely sick. The mayor should be f*****g ashamed of himself.

I heard that the building suffered so much water damage over the years (while it was still operating) that the books were eventually deemed too moldy/mildewed to move. That’s just word on the street, though. Can anyone confirm or deny? Regardless — it’s ridiculous and inexcusable what has happened to that library.

If anyone takes responsibility for this building......they need to have the air quality checked for presence of black mold. Might be good to wear a haz mat suit before going in.

Forget the books, the City of Jackson OWNS this building. Meaning, taxpayers own this building. So, like all the other assets the city owns and squanders, the building is allowed to deteriorate to the point that it will likely have to be torn down. Lumumba had a chance to fix this building early in the process. What did he do? He did NOTHING. He can't blame his inaction on white flight, Tony Yarber, climate change, the State wanting the airport or anything else. Lumumba did NOTHING except flap his gums over and over and over again.

Well 3:32, this also explains why the Employment building hasn't been broken into or has no damage to it!!!!!

The only thing that is missing are Chowke's "brown shirts" to burn the books.

"@5:50
I was born in 1991 and never knew anything except modern Jackson. I am curious why you all let things get so bad? Why didn’t you do anything fight the crime and decay? I will never understand how you could let this happen."

Well little one, we tried and failed.

I'll try to explain:

Around the time you entered this world, a "new crowd" was in charge. This new changing of the Guard also had new priorities. Education, streets, water pipes, economic expansion and crime ... never seemed to interest the new leaders. (But they were experts at giving made-up awards to each other).

By the mid to late 1990's, many tax paying Jacksonians saw what was happening and left.

The new Guard experienced some serious internal conflicts, but still never seemed to care about education, streets, water pipes, economic expansion, crime and such.

So after 25 plus years of this mentality ... this why you've only known the embarrassing & deadly town that Jackson is today.

I hope that helped you understand what happened to the capitol city.

There was a fire in the Ole Miss library several years ago, and about half of their books were lost. The sad thing is most of them hadn't been colored in yet.

We have a WINNER from 6:49pm poster!! LOL!!!

I just spent 7 days in and out of the city. Absolutely disgusting! Embarrassing - I’ve loved MS my entire life until now - Third world gaggle of thugs

"I heard that the building suffered so much water damage over the years (while it was still operating) that the books were eventually deemed too moldy/mildewed to move. That’s just word on the street, though. Can anyone confirm or deny? Regardless — it’s ridiculous and inexcusable what has happened to that library."
May 15, 2021 at 9:30 AM

AND
"If anyone takes responsibility for this building......they need to have the air quality checked for presence of black mold. Might be good to wear a haz mat suit before going in."
May 15, 2021 at 9:38 AM

It's obvious you're with the city's current ruling 'regime', and are here trying to muddy the water, and thus DEFLECT BLAME.

The photos here, taken years after the initial abandonment of the building, clearly show reasonably dry conditions - even now, long after the climate control has presumably ceased to function. Clearly, the problem was very slight, back then, and the mold was used as an excuse, by shirkers/layabouts/do-nothings.

There ARE dehumidifiers, which quickly reduce humidity, when buildings develop leaks. And, there ARE emergency generators, for running sump pumps and dehumidifiers, when the electricity goes out. I am curious, though, about that "Word on the street", to which you refer. On what street, are people discussing mouldy libraries? Do you hang-out there, often? ...with whom?

Both of my kids attended St Richard's school. We used that library a lot back then. Albeit before the internet made library books near obsolete.
Still, to let the building and contents go to this level of disrepair is inexcusable.

Shame on the city for not doing its part. This absolutely did NOT have to happen. The Richard Wright branch has been closed over a year because the city will not repair the plumbing. Now the Morris Branch is closed and the city says it does not have the money to repair the air conditioning. Shame.

I grew up in that area close to Chastain Jr. High in the 50's and 60's. Used that library all the time for doing research and finding books I needed. Spent many hours there. I haven't lived in Jackson since I graduated from Murrah HS in 71. I have lived in many cities in the south and southwest and am so glad I never returned to Jackson. What an absolute sh#t hole of a city. A shame, I had a great childhood in Jackson, so I have those memories. Why any person that can afford to leave Jackson is still there is beyond me.

Looks like the Willie Morris Library has been closed since the beginning of this month due to A/c Issues. Will soon be another Tisdale scenario. Hope they have dehumidifiers running.

Considering who it's named after I think the condition is appropriate.

This library is a shame, but the entire capital city of Mississippi is a shame and a huge embarrassment. I wish I knew who or what group could be approached to do something. I fear we will never recover from the cesspool Jackson has become.