There was a time when throughout the South racial segregation was brutally enforced by whites over Blacks.
Many whites worked for over a half century after Reconstruction to centralize political power in the South, as Black residents of Mississippi and elsewhere suffered from harsh and unequal segregation policies enforced by state officials, the police and the Ku Klux Klan.
A bill recently passed by Mississippi lawmakers, whether intended or unintended, threatens to undo at least some of the advances Blacks made in remaking the state’s political structure since the 1950s.
House Bill 1020 (HB 1020) was debated for four hours by the Republican-led House at the tail end of the 2023 Legislative session and passed after an intense debate.
As part of HB 1020, the Capital Complex Improvement District (CCID) set up in Hinds County would be expanded. The CCID consists primarily of the downtown area of Jackson and state government offices.
This bill establishes a separate court system for the CCID: two judges, four state prosecutors, four public defenders, and a court clerk. Both the Mississippi Supreme Court chief justice and the state attorney general, both white, are to appoint these officials.
Some say this is reminiscent of the racist Jim Crow laws of the late 19th and 20th centuries by permitting an all-white panel of state officials to appoint unelected judges and prosecutors to oversee Jackson courts, a predominantly Black area.
Although HB 1020 has been criticized for its racial undertones, the working class in Mississippi inevitably suffer as the living conditions deteriorate across racial barriers as its capital city adopts anti-democratic measures.
Whenever such measures are enacted, the working class will suffer the most.
As a result, the working class has little influence over who will run the city's court system and is effectively denied the right to vote.
What does this mean for the future?
In my opinion, I believe this is a law that is putting us on the road back in time to the horrible era of Jim Crow.
It’s just a slower process.
I think it’s only a matter of time before other states implement this way of serving justice across the scale.
I believe this is an attack on the civil rights many people from different backgrounds, lifestyles and skin colors have fought for here in the State of Mississippi.
Could we honestly say the people’s votes matter if they can’t vote for those occupying an office, which is usually an elected position?
I’m awaiting the long-term result of implementing this unusual style of the court system. It’s getting scary…
