News & Commentary

By Jed Oppenheim, Advocacy Coordinator

I was born in November 1965, a little over a year after my next oldest sister, Bettye. She was born in the middle of Freedom Summer. We grew up with our older siblings in Meridian, MS. 2505 ½ Fifth Street, within walking distance of our parents’ house, was the home of the Council of Federated Organizations (COFO) office opened by Michael Schwerner. The COFO office was the headquarters of the Freedom Summer operation in Lauderdale County.

By Jennifer Riley-Collins, Executive Director and Charles B. Irvin, Legal Director

By Carmel Ferrer

As I watched Spies of Mississippi by Dawn Porter, I am struck by that odd feeling of déjà vu. While the focus of the documentary is the Sovereignty Commission, it plumbs truer to capturing the modus operandi of a powerful segment of Mississippi: when confronted with uncomfortable cultural issues of the day (any day), the Mississippi legislature comes through with legislation that puts us on the wrong side of history.

“There comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular, but he must take it because conscience tells him it is right.”

This is my last day at the ACLU of Mississippi, and it is a bittersweet moment for me. Working at the ACLU has been an amazing opportunity to be part of systemic change and at the same time impact individual lives.

Sadly, throughout our history, religion has been used to discriminate against African-Americans and other racial minorities. Mississippians still face such shameful discrimination. Bills like SB 2681 says to those who seek to discriminate based on race that they can use their religion as justification. This is not just theory. Religion used to oppose interracial relationships During the Civ