Issues > Racial
Profiling
PSA Encouraging Formerly Incarcerated
People To Register To Vote
For Immediate Release: October 3, 2006
For More Information Contact Nsombi Lambright at 601-354-3408
Jackson, MS--The Mississippi Voter Empowerment
Coalition (MVEC) has developed a public service announcement
encouraging people who have been convicted of misdemeanors
and felonies to register to vote or to have their voting
rights restored. The PSA features Mississippi rapper
Kamizake.
Although state law in Mississippi only identifies ten (10)
crimes that take voting rights away {Murder, rape, bribery,
theft, arson, obtaining money or goods under false pretense,
perjury, forgery, embezzlement or bigamy}, there is a wide-spread
belief that all felony convictions take voting rights away.
In response, MVEC launched an Unlock The Vote Campaign to
educate Mississippians about their voting rights.
MVEC
is a statewide coalition whose mission is to end the state
law that takes voting rights away from citizens who have
been convicted of certain felonies. Organizational members
include: American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the MS
State Conference NAACP, the MS Worker’s Center for Human
Rights, Country Oaks Recovery Center, Action Communication
and Education Reform, and SPEAR (Southeast Prison Education
and Advocacy Restoration).
Download and listen
to the PSA here (file is in .wma format)
August 9, 2006
NOTE:
ACLU citations & quotes highlighted articles
listed chronologically, and appear in full after summary
section.
SPECIAL EDITION: JACKSON, MS
1. Nat’l - Mayor's
tough tack on crime stirs up racial sensitivities
His actions have ignited a debate about how much
crime there is in the city. Melton says he is
fulfilling a campaign promise. The ACLU says Melton's tactics
have gone too far. August 4, 2006 (Christian Science
Monitor). Read full article.
2. MS - ACLU
decries Melton tactics
While Jackson Mayor Frank Melton patrolled the
capital city as part of the National Night Out, about 50
people gathered Tuesday for what meeting organizers declared
was a "call to action" to protect civil liberties in Jackson. August
2, 2006 (Jackson clarion-Ledger). Read full article.
3. Nat’l - ACLU
accuses Miss. Mayor of profiling
The national American Civil Liberties Union on
Tuesday accused the city's black mayor of civil rights
violations including racial profiling in his crusade to
stem crime in Mississippi's capital city. August 1,
2006 (Associated Press: appeared in New York Times, Washington
Post, Los Angeles Times, USA Today, London Guardian (UK),
Houston Chronicle, and numerous local television networks).
Read full article.
4. MS - A
Mayor by Day, a Lawman by Night
Frank Melton,
elected as a crime fighter, takes part in the hunt
for bad guys. He also takes some home to save them.
Not everyone's applauding. July 29, 2006 (Los Angeles
Times). Read full article.
5. MS - Mayor:
Officers accused of assaulting suspect to remain on force
Jackson Mayor Frank Melton said he will not fire
three Jackson police officers caught on camera allegedly
assaulting a handcuffed suspect. July 28, 2006 (Jackson
Clarion-Ledger). Read full article.
6. Nat’l - Jackson
mayor questioned about U.S. Capitol badge
Mayor Frank Melton caused a stir in the nation’s
capital Wednesday when congressional staffers noticed he
was wearing a U.S. Capitol badge reserved for armed law
enforcement. July 27, 2006 (Jackson Clarion-Ledger). Read
full article.
7. MS - Jackson
mayor to set curfew on homeless
During an 11 a.m. news conference at City Hall,
the mayor made the announcement. Melton did not take any
questions from the media. Melton also did not say how much
it would cost or how much manpower would be needed to transfer
homeless people to the gymnasium. July 13, 2006 (Jackson
Clarion-Ledger). Read full article.
8. MS - AG
asks TV for mayor footage
Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood sent subpoenas
on Wednesday to three Jackson television stations ordering
them to turn over any videotapes showing Melton carrying
weapons in public. The subpoenas say the videotapes are
to be used in an "ongoing criminal investigation" and
that the material can be presented to his office and ordered
news executives to appear before a Hinds County grand jury
on Aug. 7. Read full article.
9. MS - Hood
Threatens Melton
In a letter dated May 26, Mississippi Attorney
General Jim Hood made it clear to Melton that the mayor’s
statutory duty to enforce laws “does not convey authority
upon a mayor to act as a law enforcement officer” without
proper training and certification. Mayor Frank Melton claims he
has authority to carry a gun, and documents to
prove it, but the attorney general says the letter is of no
legal value. Read
the attorney general’s letter to the mayor. June
7, 2006 (Jackson Free
Press). Read full article.
10. MS - Batman
v. Melton, et al?
Among all the possible violations of the law by
Frank Melton that District Attorney Faye Peterson presented
to the attorney general recently, the charge of filing
a false arrest warrant against Albert “Batman” Donelson
was the most serious. Why? Because it’s a felony—and
a felony conviction would get Melton removed from office.
However, Attorney General Jim Hood ruled that Melton never
actually filed a written arrest warrant, despite the mayor’s
assertions to the contrary. Thus, Melton was not in technical
violation of the law. But, Hood added, Donelson could file
a civil lawsuit and claim that the mayor had harmed him. June
7, 2006 (Jackson Free Press). Read full article.
11. MS - Melton's
Mile-High Gun Club
“I do not carry guns on planes, I carry
two guns,” Melton told WLBT reporters on May 28,
admitting that he had carried a weapon on almost every
commercial flight for years. June 7, 2006
(Jackson Free Press). Read full article.
12. MS - Melton
pulls over buses to get a hug
Jackson Mayor Frank Melton said he impulsively
asked his police escort to pull four Callaway High buses
over on I-220 on Friday afternoon because he needed a hug. May
4, 2006 (Jackson Clarion-Ledger). Read full article.
13. 'Batman'
Speaks: The Jackson Free Press Interview with Albert
Donelson
Following his acquittal for murder, the man the
mayor admittedly obsessed over talks of his... April
26, 2006 (Jackson Free Press). Read full article.
14. MS - Crime
Fighting Questioned
The mayor's crime-fighting tactics are raising
eyebrows throughout the capital city as well as questions
about possible civil rights violations and his authority
to act as a police officer. April 12, 2006 (Jackson
Clarion-Ledger). Read full article.
15. MS - Melton
closes strip club
Jackson Mayor Frank Melton ordered an adult entertainment
club closed early Sunday after he and police detectives
visited the club and witnessed what the mayor said were
violations of the city's nudity laws. January 30, 2006
(Jackson Clarion-Ledger). Read full article.
16. MS - Melton's
Honeymoon, Part III: Crime and Punishment, Melton Style
Mayor Melton could claim responsibility for the
drop in crime—if it weren’t for crime figures
for the first half of 2005 suggesting a pre-existing trend
already in effect, and a dramatic drop in homicides for
the first six months of the year—before Melton took
office. Jackson’s crime rate—which has dropped
steadily for five years and 24 percent overall—follows
a national trend recorded in 2004, with the murder rate
dropping to its lowest level in 40 years. In fact, rates
for all seven major crimes were down in 2004, and the overall
violent crime rate reached a 30-year low. November
18, 2005 (Jackson Free Press). Read full article.
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