By Ralph E. Moore Jr.,
Special to the AFRO
It is outrageous! If you speak to longtime residents of Jackson, Miss. You learn that their water system has been unreliable and has produced increasingly undrinkable water for decades until the system completely failed this summer.
In case you missed it, there was a water crisis in Mississippi’s capital city, Jackson. It just so happens that 82 percent of the residents there are Black, so the fixable crisis lasted for seven weeks.
Starting in late July, residents were advised by the state’s Governor, Tate Reeves, to boil all water drawn from household spigots after he declared a state of emergency. At the announcement of the water boil, Tate declared “the water crisis has no end in sight.” Subsequently, President Joe Biden pledged federal aid.
Imagine the inconvenience of boiling water before household use and going to water distribution stations around the city for cases of bottled water to drink, cook and brush teeth with. What most of us take for granted: access to as much water as we want and when we want it, becomes a chore similar to those who carry empty vessels long distance, only to return home with heavy filled buckets and pots.
Residents of Jackson quickly went from being advised to boil their water to no running water in their homes at all because of the collapse of Jackson’s main facility; the O.B. Curtis Water Plant shutdown, following the flooding of the Pearl River. Though many Black Mississippians stopped drinking tap water years ago.
Bill Gilmore, a longtime native of Jackson, said, “The problems with water go back decades, 40 to 50 years. Nothing has been done to the city’s infrastructure or to maintain the water plant for years.”
Gilmore went on to say that “the Governor is a Trumper, so many here don’t trust him. He appears to make anything available for predominantly White institutions, for example, and nothing for Black buildings.”
Another resident from Jackson, Frank Figgers, remarks how people there are still dependent on bottled water from the distribution centers– even with the governor’s lift of the boiled water advisory.
“Donations are coming in from all over the country,”said Figgers, who also gave the historical perspective on the water crisis.
“The Pearl River Reservoir was dug out in 1950 at 58 and 59 square miles. It was sold to the public that it would be for the benefit of citizens of Jackson– but twenty years later, messages on water bills said methane type carcinogens had contaminated the water supply.”
Black municipal elected officials are blamed for the water issues, while the state government is actually responsible. Mississippi has not elected a Black statewide official in the 140 years since the Reconstruction Era that followed slavery.
The Mayor of Jackson is Chokwe Antar Lumumba, an attorney by profession. He and other Black local officials have wrongly been targeted by the media for water problems and many other issues. Figgers said “the false narrative being pressed by the state is that Blacks are incapable of governing.” That is an old lie.
Insult added to injury: Brett Favre and how the rich get richer– the Mississippi way
There is a lot of outrage, not so coincidentally, about the Brett Favre scandal, also in Mississippi. Recently and notably, Mississippi Congressman Bennie Thompson (D-MS-02) responded to the AFRO with the following statement when asked about the scandal:
“My office has submitted complaints to The Department of Justice around the misuse of resources. My understanding is that federal agencies are investigating the issue. This robin hood in reverse scheme is illegal, and those who are found guilty should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.”
The Brett Favre scandal is one more example of the neglect and rip-off of poor Black folks in the poorest state in the USA.
Favre, who played for several NFL teams, is best known for his quarterbacking years with the Green Bay Packers (1992-2008). He also played for the Atlanta Falcons (1991-1992), the New York Jets (2008-2009) and the Minnesota Vikings (from 2009-2011). His 20-year football career made him a very wealthy man, creating a net worth of $120,000,000. So why did he seek and accept funds for his pet projects from the Mississippi state government?
Favre secured $1.1 million from a welfare program for his daughter’s volleyball practice center in July of 2017. Two years later, on July 28, 2019, he reportedly requested more state government funds– to the tune of $5.5 million– from a pot of money allocated for assisting poor people. Favre and those in control of the money instead sought to build an indoor practice facility for his alma mater, the University of Southern Mississippi’s football team. He was not successful that time. The state’s Republican governor at the time, Dewey Phil Bryant (2012-2020), eventually warned Favre in text messages that his solicitation of government dollars for his personal private projects was involving federal money for children and poor adults or TANF funds marked for use as Temporary Assistance for Needy Families.
Bryant told Favre that TANG money “is tightly controlled” and “improper use could result in violation of federal law.”
Incidentally, Governor Bryant is the nephew of Roy Bryant, who admitted to the brutal 1955 murder of 14-year-old Emmett Till. His wife, Carolyn Bryant’s exaggerated her encounter with Till resulted in his murder near Money, Miss. She lives peacefully in Kentucky to this day.
Brett Favre, himself, is at the center of Mississippi’s largest [known] public corruption scandal. So far, neither ex-Governor Bryant nor Favre have been criminally charged. But the state has filed a civil lawsuit naming them to recover $20,000,000 of the money meant for the poor but given to the rich.
John Davis, the Governor Bryant appointed director of Human Services at the time of the Favre giveaway, has resigned and pled guilty to federal and state felony charges of misappropriation of welfare funds. The NAACP and non-profits in the state have sued.
A rich, former pro football player, sought and received government money intended for poor residents of the state of Mississippi. At the same time of the misspent dollars, residents of Jackson, Miss. saw their water system gradually deteriorate from government neglect.
In a state where hungry children are neglected, homeless people are left out in the open air, schools struggle and healthcare programs are known to be turned away, sports facilities are built for rich folks kids.
It is disgraceful.
Taking from the poor to give to the rich is outrageous. No wonder Nina Simone released a song in 1964 entitled, “Mississippi Goddam.” No wonder!
Help us Continue to tell OUR Story and join the AFRO family as a member – subscribers are now members! Join here!