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jackson mississippi
Groups Press Biden EPA to Take Emergency Action Amid Jackson's Ongoing Water Crisis
"Water is life," said one organizer. "This petition is about making sure our voices, and our needs as residents, are centered in this process."
Aug 10, 2023
A coalition of Mississippi and national advocacy groups on Wednesday filed an emergency petition with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency imploring urgent action to provide relief for communities suffering an ongoing water crisis in Jackson, the state capital.
The Mississippi Poor People's Campaign (PPC-MS) and the People's Advocacy Institute (PAI) led the petition on behalf of the Mississippi Rapid Response Coalition. The filing—which was submitted under a provision of the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA)—asks the EPA to use its emergency powers to order national, state, and local government agencies to ensure Jackson residents have access to safe drinking water and real-time alert systems to notify them about tap water issues.
"We are absolutely committed to ensuring that our communities are heard," PPC-MS organizer Danyelle Holmes said in a statement. "We are talking about our health, our lives, our ability to make a living. Water is life. This petition is about making sure our voices, and our needs as residents, are centered in this process. It's only right."
As the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), a coalition member, explained:
In August 2022, flooding shut down Jackson's main water treatment plant, leaving thousands without safe drinking water. For the 160,000 residents of this 83% African-American city, this was only one episode in a multigenerational environmental injustice that has included lead contamination, hundreds of "boil water notices" due to the risk of the presence of disease-causing pathogens, and three complete shutoffs. A lack of trust in the system led most residents to stop drinking the water years ago.
Last November, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) sued Jackson on behalf of the EPA over the city's failure to provide residents with safe drinking water. City and state agencies subsequently agreed to accept federal oversight of Jackson's water system. The DOJ hired Tedd Henifin—the retired manager of the Hampton Roads Sanitation District in Virginia—for one year at $400,000 to oversee an overhaul of Jackson's water system.
But coalition members allege Henifin "has excluded community members from regular, institutionalized engagement; failed to consistently and transparently inform residents about the status of the water system and repairs that led to the EPA filing the SDWA suit; and contracted with nonlocal businesses."
Brooke Floyd, co-director of coalition member JXN People's Assembly at the PAI, said: "What's been missing in this process is community. This is about our health and safety, and these issues are too important to be decided without our participation."
Republican Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves—who on the campaign trail cited the role he played as lieutenant governor in blocking funding for Jackson's failing water system as proof of his fiscal conservatism—said last year that he is open to privatizing the system, which was suffering from decades of discriminatory neglect long before the current crisis.
Although Congress has allocated over $600 million to fix Jackson's water system, it is unclear how much of that will actually be spent on its intended purpose, given Reeves' boast.
As CCR noted, "The Jackson water crisis is similar to those facing other majority-Black and Latinx cities and communities around the country."
"Corroded and outdated water and wastewater systems," the group says, "are threatening the health of residents in, among other places, Alexandria, Louisiana; Baltimore, Maryland; Laredo, Texas; and Lowndes County, Alabama."
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Progressive Groups Sue Mississippi Over 'Unconstitutional' Anti-Protest Law
"We should not have to risk arrest and imprisonment for exercising our constitutional rights, including freedom of speech and equal protection under the law," asserted one of the plaintiffs.
Jun 05, 2023
Progressive advocacy groups are suing Mississippi officials over a new state law requiring permission to hold public protests near state government buildings in the capital city of Jackson.
A lawsuit filed last week by JXN Undivided Coalition, Mississippi Votes, Mississippi Poor People's Campaign, Black Voters Matter, and a trio of activists challenges S.B. 2343, which is set to take effect on July 1. The legislation required prior approval from Public Safety Commissioner Sean Tindell or Capitol Police Chief Bo Luckey for public demonstrations on the grounds of or near state government buildings including the Capitol Complex, Governor's Mansion, state Supreme Court, and other edifices.
"The JXN Undivided Coalition and its members have for years engaged in the deeply American tradition of peacefully gathering on public property to convey to elected officials what matters most to us," the group said in a statement on Monday. "What matters most to us is the right to vote and the right of political self-determination for Jackson residents."
"We have spoken, and the state has responded with a sweeping prohibition of speech next to properties in Jackson occupied by state officials absent prior authorization," JXN Undivided Coalition added. "We should not have to risk arrest and imprisonment for exercising our constitutional rights, including freedom of speech and equal protection under the law."
\u201c.@JxnUndivided files lawsuit to stop new law requiring the Public Safety Commissioner or Capitol Police Chief\u2019s permission to protest or gather in Jackson anywhere near buildings occupied by a state employee \u2014 aka damn near all of non-residential Jackson. https://t.co/ISwW2dakw1\u201d— Blake Feldman (@Blake Feldman) 1685977958
According to the suit:
This year, Mississippi made peaceful protests on public sidewalks and streets next to state government buildings in Jackson without written prior permission from one of two state officials. The new law... is an unconstitutional prior restraint that does not further a constitutionally sufficient or permissible purpose. Those who peacefully protest without state government authorization and who are charged with crimes for doing so may be prosecuted and sentenced to prison. This chills protected speech.
As the Associated Pressreported Monday:
Critics say the majority-white and Republican-controlled Legislature passed the laws to take away local autonomy in Jackson and surrounding Hinds County, which are both majority-Black and governed by Democrats. Supporters of the laws say they are trying to control violent crime.
Several protests have been held near state government buildings in downtown Jackson during the past year, including some in January, February, and March against the legislation dealing with courts and policing. The Poor People's Campaign held events on a street outside the Governor's Mansion last fall to protest what organizers said was the state’s inadequate investment in Jackson's struggling water system.
In recent years, numerous states have passed laws criminalizing or restricting protest activity and protecting motorists who kill or injure protesters under certain circumstances.
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