Jackson Jambalaya

Kenneth I Stokes: Hello! God is good all the time. Want to say good morning to everyone in radio land. Want to start off by saying hello because I know you said, "Well, Kenny ain't been there a little while." Kenny feeling a whole, whole, whole lot better. Now let me say this, let me say this. We thank you for your prayers and your support, and we're going to start off with a prayer.

Heavenly Father, it is once again we come to say thank you. Thank you for being so good to us. Thank you for your son Jesus who died on the cross. Dear Lord, we know you're the Alpha and the Omega. We know that you're the beginning and the end, the Alpha and the Omega. Thank you over and over for your kindness and your goodness. In Jesus' name, I pray. Amen.

Wrap your seat belts on because we're going to do a little bit of this and a little bit of that this morning. And I got a lot to say, but I want to start off by saying Floyd Smith, you know, Floyd helped a lot of people during campaigns and Floyd passed, so you know, we want to pray for the family. We want to pray for the family.

I'm going to read a letter a young man brought to my house. Now he spelled my name incorrectly, but it's alright. He said, "I saw what you said at the meeting on TV using the word... hello." You did the right thing. Keep up the good work. Really to JSU. That's a little brother been up the parade blowing the horns and everything else. Now, people going to say different things. What came out of my mouth was that, that hell no, I cut her out.

Now people would say that I said, that hell no, I cussed her out. I never heard of anything such as cut her out. Now I understand people will put their own text, technology, and put their own spin, that's fine. However you do it is fine.

But understand this. Some people love their mama, even though they gone on the other side, that love will never be diminished. Reverend Williams used to say that his mama told him, "Baby, I didn't come here to stay. Just a temporary home." But that does not stop the love that he has for his mother. Do not cross those lines. Do not cross those lines where you going to say the wrong thing about people's family members. Do not cross those lines because it leads to situations that you're not going to get yourself out of. And in our dance school, they call that playing the dozens. Many a person got a behind whipping by playing the dozens. Now I'm just saying that as a warning, 'cause others going to try it, and they going to get their feelings hurt.

Kenny, do you want to apologize? I'm never going to apologize for standing up for my mama. Never. Never, ever. And I'm advising all, all men and women who love their mother, who miss their mother, don't let nobody say negative things.And if you trying to say you were saying something about me, but you insinuate my mama may have been a prostitute? I told somebody, if that was a man, we'll still be fighting. You don't say or do those kind of things.

Now, I'm going to move on 'cause there's a lot to talk about. I want to talk about Reverend Banks on the council. More people should have said a little  more, 'cause he told that he was going to run for mayor, he made a mistake. When you trying to run for mayor, they trying to raise money. At one time, I was in that mayor's race. Banks and I were going to some of the same people trying to raise money. At that time, I was running hard. My son told me, he said, "Daddy, you'll win, but it'll kill you." I said, "What?" He said, "It'll kill you dead." So I told Banks that I was not running any longer.Instead of Banks letting me tell some of the people that we were trying to get money from to run, he told them, he said, "Well, Kenny ain't running no more, y'all can help me." So when I called the people to tell them I wasn't running anymore, they said, "Well, we already know."

But the point I'm trying to make to you, when you look at these votes, you going to see that Banks was voting against Lumumba on all these illegal activities. They tricked Banks by trying to tell him they would let him help select people who going to run get the minority participation of the garbage contract, Richard's the garbage contract. Now, if you look at how Grizzell was voting, he voted every time with Lumumba. Why he wasn't indicted? Why he's not going to jail? Whose toes was he sucking? Because Banks getting ready to go to the penitentiary. Think about that. Everything that you do in city hall in a meeting is recorded. If you think what Kenny saying is not true, you go research it, and you're going to see Banks was voting against Lumumba. Banks was even getting ready to get in that race, everybody was shocked when Banks changed his vote against the garbage contract. Everybody was shocked.

Banks' daddy is a preacher. I'm not saying that because they're preachers they supposed to get special privilege, but what I'm saying is, be fair and equal. Why not Grizzell? You saw him voting with Lumumba on everything. You know what happened. Put a pin in that, 'cause I got to talk a minute about the Evers family.

Ladies and gentlemen, it's important that you understand that a lot of the history with the Evers family, Kenny Stokes has been a part of. When you talk about the airport, we received a letter from the congressman, well, he was a representative out of Baltimore, Maryland. He felt, he stated in the letter, why when he fly into Jackson, Mississippi, the airport is not named for Medgar Evers. I called him, he sent one to all the elected officials, nobody called him but Kenny Stokes. I told him how I'd talk to Mr. Tisdale, and we can get on that. And I did. We had a meeting at Shoney's restaurant, Mr. Tisdale used to love to eat at Shoney's right there on High Street. In that meeting it was me, Mr. Tisdale, my wife Larita, Charles Evers, the congressman, the state representative out of Maryland. In that meeting, Charles Tisdale told everybody, he said, I pay for everything that need to be done. He said I have one request. They said what's that? He said that you don't let that man, he pointed to me, have anything to do with it, 'cause the white folks hate him as much as they hate me.

Mr. Tisdale said, Brother Stokes, what we going to do? I said, Mr. Tisdale, we'll get Miss Pittman. We went through the process with Miss Pittman, and we got Jughead, Gene Jughead Young, who was the person who was out front speaking, 'cause a lot of Black people and white people were against naming that airport for Medgar Wiley Evers. They said, you already got a street named for him, ain't that enough? So I knew the process, from starting with the planning board, we can move it forward. So we got it done to Evers, it was first the Jackson-Evers Airport. Charles Evers called me. He said, "Son, I don't want that, I want y'all to vote it down, I don't want y'all to have that... that could be any Evers, that could be Jonathan Evers, anybody. I want my brother's full name on it." I said, "Mayor, we're going to accept what we got, because we got to crawl before we walk." I said, "But I'll get it done, but let's take these baby steps." He was mad at me for a long time. We got it at Jackson-Evers, and then from Jackson-Evers, I was able to get some other council members, and I was able to change the law. Once we changed that law, we put Jackson-Medgar Wiley Evers Airport. That's how the airport got named. Check with people who still alive. Alice Tisdale is alive at the Jackson Advocate, you can get some old Jackson Advocates, they'll tell you how the airport got done. Kenny Stokes. 

Kenny Stokes is the same one who met with Charles Evers, with Bo Brown, bless his soul, and we told Charles Evers, let's bring the Medgar Evers Homecoming Parade to Jackson. That's how the parade is in Jackson. He said, "Son, I'll do it, 'cause it was in Fayette." He said, "But I can't put no money in it." I said, "We'll do it without your money." Because we have never had bands be late, and it was Charles Evers' daughter, granddaughter, the Cockrells, who paid for the first bands.

Now, I'm saying that to say that they are wrong. Reena, you're absolutely wrong by coming out against this young man, from Senatobia that was killed, to have a street honorary named in his honor. You are wrong, and for you to fall in left to wonder, you must be brain dead or something. That don't make no sense.

This is the order how it read. Ordinance of the City Council of Jackson, Mississippi, Honorary, that mean the name ain't changed on the street, for them to say they changed the name of part, they ain't changing nothing! Honorary renaming Medgar Evers Boulevard at the intersection of Martin Luther King Jr. Drive, which is Freedom Corner, to Pocahontas Avenue, to Colin Wiley Street. Now, what's wrong with that? If you look at Martin Luther King Jr. Drive, we have it honorary named for Mr. and Miss Payne, who owned Church's Chicken, who bought the first monument. We have an honorary name from Woodrow Wilson to Maple Street for my wife, Judge LaRita Cooper-Stokes. We have an honorary name from Maple Street to the gym for Rob Jay, they just haven't put up the signs. When you honorary name something, the street is not changed. It's still Medgar Evers Boulevard, but we need to honor this young kid so that he'll be remembered through our life, just like we tried to make sure that Emmett Till is always remembered. You can't allow law enforcement to kill these Black babies and they dead forever. Why they said Medgar Evers, Medgar Evers is 49 highway.That's the way from the, they tell you from the coast to the capital, but that's the way through the Delta. It wasn't I-55, people used to have to go 49 highway to get everywhere through that Delta and everywhere. Senatobia, Mississippi, ain't gonna name something for that kid. We have to do it in Jackson. We do it in Jackson, then other cities will follow our lead. Jackson got to be the leadership for Black people.

I'll never forget, Reverend Williams was wise enough, so smart, that when Mr. Tisdale brought Emmett Till's mother to Jackson, Reverend Williams taped it. 'Cause these people today would say, "Oh, she ain't come to Jackson, she wouldn't ever..." We got it on tape, and one of the things she talked about was Medgar Evers coming to the trial of those white killers who killed her baby. Others who could have come didn't come, some of the people talked down to her because they didn't like the idea of they were fighting white folks. That's the kind of Medgar Evers was. He was for all Black people.He wasn't just for Black people who may have had a nickel or dime. He was for the poor, too. That's how when Charles Evers decided to keep his brother's name alive, he started having the homecoming, he had somewhere poor people could participate, and remember Medgar Wiley Evers.

The homecoming, when we started the parade, you know like he told us, he wasn't gonna put any money in, he didn't.Then they got B.B. King involved, B.B. used to come here every year, B.B. King, on Friday night he'd be in Indianola, Saturday he at Freedom Corner. Keeping Medgar Evers' dream alive. You cannot come out against poor Black children.That wasn't right, they killed that baby! That wasn't right. And as Black leaders, we need to be opening our mouth and saying, "No, you can't kill our babies!" If that was a white child, a white family, stealing something from Walmart, some diapers, ain't no way they would have shot in that car. Even if that was a white family, stealing those diapers and it was a Black police officer that shot and killed that white baby, they'd be putting them under the jail.

We got to fight for all Black people statewide. Because some of them live in all kinds of horrible situations. The way they got to live in that Delta, that sharecropper mentality. You can't let people get away with killing our babies. It should be more than Kenny Stokes saying Kenny you right. We not changing Medgar Evers Boulevard. We are making sure this young baby is alive, he may have family members come into Jackson 20, 30 years from now. And they'll see his name. He won't be dead forever. Even though he's not in human body, he'll be here in spirit, that's what we tried to do for Emmett Till. We had the park, we changed the old Negro fairground, and they still fighting against it, saying, "Well, we, we, we can't find where it was done." You can't put city property on church-owned property. We transferred it to the city.

Emmett Till wasn't from Jackson. But these are worldwide people that wrong was done to. That's why as Black leaders you got to show sensitivity to your people, whether they poor, rich, or whatever. Somebody need to say wrap! Now ladies and gentlemen, that was that issue, now let me tell you about this other one.

I'm going to read it to you. Ordinance of the City Council of Jackson, Mississippi, rescinding and repealing the ordinance adopted on July 14, 2026. Establishing a temporary moratorium on the development and expansion of data centers until a regulatory framework is approved by the governing authorities. When is that? Man, that ain't never happen. You got to untie the mayor's hands so he can start negotiating with some of these people. They bringing money in, it ain't gonna last for so long. It ain't gonna last for so long, some saying Ridgeland gonna get $150 million dollars. Now, we ain't talking about just going to the general fund, we don't know the framework.

But let me explain something to you, ladies and gentlemen. If you got children or grandchildren in Jackson, Mississippi now, you normally taking them to Madison or Rankin County to the parks. Because our parks are in poor shape. Grove Park is closed, Battlefield Park, you ain't got restrooms so they don't even open Battlefield Park the community center no more. You got red lights out all over the city. You got potholes. Yes, I know Mayor Horne trying to improve it, and I see it, he doing it, he thought enough 'cause we should have had, Lumumba should have done it, well, we fixing to get Martin Luther King paved. Should be paved in time for the parade. They just about through with Reverend Williams bridge on Martin Luther King.

We see the progress, but we need more money. There are no lights on the Bailey Avenue bridge. Those people been crying for years. There are no lights on Fortification Street bridge. The Main Street bridge is completely closed, we need money.We need money. Let the mayor negotiate and find out where, where, and who we can talk to about what. You don't know how much money coming in, they're not going to come in, 'cause the mayor's hands are tied. Let me explain now.Whenever you talk about money for the city, it's going to start with the mayor's office because the mayor's got to negotiate. Now from that position, then we'll know what's going on. We'll know whether they offering this, offering that.There's nothing illegal about putting the landfills in the, about putting the data centers in landfills. Yeah, we passed a law that I introduced, if the neighborhood don't want it, they can't go there.

There's nothing near landfills, garbage dumps. Put it out there! They got it on it on the on the law, that you can put it in near the airport. Yeah, that's right, don't let them folks trick you about letting these white cities, whether it's Brandon or Clinton, or Ridgeland. They fixing to get bank, they fixing to get all kind of money. And you going to keep complaining about, I got these abandoned houses next to me, they can't tear down. I got these potholes I'm hitting every day. I was in the dollar store trying to get some flowers put on the grave, I put flowers on Mr. Tisdale's grave, I put flowers on former Mayor Chokwe Lumumba's grave. And the lady in the drug and in the dollar store said, why they ain't paved Mill Street?I said, you need to ask your councilman. They gonna ask Kenny, but Kenny gonna tell them. Yeah, they should have paved Mill Street.

These citizens see that other parts of this city, other neighborhoods getting service, and the poor neighborhoods ain't getting nothing, better not go down Terry Road like you going to Byram, look like you been in a war zone, look worse than Vietnam. People in South Jackson, most of them gonna start going to Byram to shop and everything. That's tax money that should, and be coming to Jackson. Untie the mayor's hands! That's all we saying! Let him talk to these folks and see what they offering. Ain't nobody going to put no data center in your backyard, we already passed a law against that.

Now let me tell you this now. On Wednesday, we going to cut the veterans' hair, in observance of Veterans Day. We cutting all the veterans' hair, absolutely free. You can call my office at 601-960-1090. Again, 601-960-1090. One that you lie. I'm gonna tell you on my show. You ain't called my office. Miss Jones and Miss Cobb work too hard to make sure that when people call, they get a chance to talk to Kenny Stokes. Now you know and I know and everybody else will tell you, man you can't call Kenny directly. You going to call Kenny, you going to call him at home, or you'll come by his house.You can't call him and just say, he ain't called me back. You ain't called! Don't make me, don't make me start cussing.

Now, free haircuts for the veterans. Reena, you wrong, coming out against that baby. You know the Evers name has been a great name, even though Charles said he had issues. But when you come out against babies, they going to start changing their opinions of the Evers family. Now, we know Carolyn and the others, we, we not talking about y'all. We know y'all good, have been there. Carolyn and Cockrell family, they kept the homecoming going forever, ever and ever. Now, we know that.

Again, again, understand, we could put the landfills at, I mean, we can put the data centers at landfills, put them at garbage dumps. And then who is this, Tariki? Ain't that the man, Reverend Williams, that was helping the folks turn off the people water? Working with Jackson Water? All the people when they got them high water bills, you owe $50,000, you owe $10,000. Ain't that that Tariki man? Where he come from? Then talking like he's so Black. How is you Black when you turning off these poor people water? And some of the people still don't have water today. You might not like what I say or how I say it, but I'm telling the truth. When I said that Chokwe Lumumba, the mayor, need to stop smoking that dope, you might not liked it, but I was telling the truth. When I said Mayor Lumumba needed to stop lying, that's why we start calling him Lyin' Lumumba, you might not liked it, but I was telling the truth. When I said that Grizzell was a bad word, lie, and a sissy, you might not like it, but I was what?

Ladies and gentlemen, my name is Kenny I. Stokes. I fight for the people, and I don't give a doggone who I have to fight.Black, white, I fought the Ku Klux Klan. And ain't a lot of Black people can say that, and I'm still standing. Don't you worry about them lying talking about, "Kenny took some money." I told y'all a long time ago, when they brought, I said, watch, Kenny ain't going nowhere. Kenny don't smoke dope, I ain't got no bill with no women, I'm in the same house I been in. I don't have no house note, no car note. Kenny got his own money. I don't have to steal. Kenny ain't going nowhere. When they got them folks taking them bribes, whose name didn't come up? Kenny's name didn't come up. I'm out of time! Y'all know Kenny telling the truth! Y'all pray for Floyd Smith and pray for the Smith family. They good people. 

You know how it is, ladies and gentlemen. As long as you helping somebody, you alright, but when you're dead, you're done, you're gone, and you got to understand, Battlefield Park closed, Grove Park closed. Traffic lights in bad, bad shape. We need more police officers, we need more firemen, you got some of the fire stations closed 'cause they don't have enough firemen. And then you sitting up here letting people talking about, "We don't need no money." Don't you go for that okie doke! I got to go! Bye-bye!