www.mississippilink.com VOL. 25, NO. 47 SEPTEMBER 12 - 18, 2019 50¢ Report: States with history Mississippi Round UP of voter discrimination The Associated Press have far fewer polling Offi cials: Man used fully automatic guns to wound deputies places since ‘Shelby’ A Mississippi man is accused weapon” resulting in a “barrage hol, Tobacco, Firearms and Ex- tional Firearms Act. The state of possessing two fully auto- of gunfi re” Thursday. Sheriff’s plosives offi cials say the use of Bureau of Investigation is inves- matic weapons in a shootout that spokesman Heath Hall con- such weapons in the commission tigating. Supreme Court ruling wounded two deputies last week. fi rmed the guns were “full” au- of a crime is extremely unusual. Egbert is jailed for now on Madison County District At- tomatic. Illegally possessing or using a charges including kidnapping torney John Bramlett said Edgar The Clarion Ledger reports fully automatic gun carries stiff and attempted murder of law en- Egbert used a “fully automatic state and federal Bureau of Alco- federal penalties under The Na- forcement. Driver dies and 8 children are injured as school bus crashes A school bus driver is dead and eight children have injuries after a school bus rolled over in northern Mississippi. The Mississippi Highway Patrol tells news outlets that the bus driver died in the Tuesday morning incident, with the bus ending up on its side in a ditch. Offi cials tell WMC-TV that the Voters wait to vote at Byram City Hall during the midterm elections 63-year-old driver, Chester Cole, Tuesday, November 6, 2018. ERIC J. SHELTON, MISSISSIPPI TODAY/ REPORT likely suffered a medical emergency. FOR AMERICA Benton County Coroner Larry Hobson said Cole appeared to clutch his chest By Bobby Harrison changes in states like Missis- and slumped over in his seat before the Mississippi Today crash. sippi that have a history of voter The number of locations to Eight injured children were taken discrimination. The Supreme vote in states and jurisdictions to Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital Court left open the possibility of with a history of minority voter in Memphis, Tennessee. The hospital Congress restoring the need for suppression has been reduced said four are in serious condition and federal approval if the preclear- by at least 1,173 since 2013, ac- four others are being released Tuesday. ance was based on updated data. cording to a study by the Lead- Troopers say no other vehicles were Wrecker crews inspect the damage to a Benton County School bus that was involved in wreck along The Voting Rights Advance- ership Conference Education involved in the wreck on U.S. High- U.S. Highway 72 near Walnut, Miss., Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2019, that resulted in the death of the driver ment Act would update the orig- Fund. inal Voting Rights Act to require way 72 west of Walnut. and sent several students to the hospital. THOMAS WELLS/THE NORTHEAST MISSISSIPPI DAILY JOURNAL VIA AP The reduction comes, the federal approval for jurisdic- report fi nds, after the U.S. Su- tions with more recent history of preme Court in June 2013 struck discrimination. Under the bill, Mississippi man gets 11 years for his part in cross burning down a portion of the Voting states with 15 or more voting Rights Act of 1964 that required rights violations within the past A white Mississippi man re- Revette expressed remorse vette and Williamson or others other men burned a cross more those jurisdictions to obtain fed- 25 years or 10 or more if one of ceived an 11-year prison sen- at his sentencing hearing, the will return and harm the family. than 6 feet (1.8 meters) high in eral Department of Justice ap- the violations was enacted by a tence Tuesday for his part in Hattiesburg American report- Cross burnings have his- the front yard of an interracial proval to make changes to their state would be covered. Under burning a cross near the home ed. torically been used by racist couple’s home in Port Richey, elections. the proposal Mississippi still of an African-American fam- “I want everyone to know groups such as the Ku Klux Florida, in 2012. The Education Fund deter- would be covered. ily. I’m not proud of what hap- Klan to rally supporters and Other cross burnings in the mined the number of closed “Next to the ballot itself, the Louie Bernard Revette, 38, pened,” Revette said. “I hate terrorize black people in the past decade have occurred in polling places by surveying 757 most identifi able element of our was sentenced by U.S. District what I did. I can’t even believe South and elsewhere. Richmond Hill, Georgia; Mi- of the 861 counties covered by democracy’s voting process is Judge Keith Starrett in Hatties- I did that. I never done anything “Those who instill fear and nor Hill, Tennessee; Woodland, the Voting Right Act. The study the polling place. It should – burg, the Justice Department like that before in my life.” terror into our neighbors and Pennsylvania; Salado, Arkan- did not compile information and it must – be accessible to said. Seminary is a town of about our fellow citizens because of sas; and Bennington Township, from the counties where it could all. When it is not, the barriers to Revette pleaded guilty in 300 residents, located about 70 the color of their skin will face Ohio, among other places, ac- not garner accurate information. participation can be high. Mov- April to one count each of in- miles (115 kilometers) south of the full weight and force of the cording to Justice Department The segment of the national ing or closing a polling place terference with housing rights, Jackson. law from the U.S. attorney’s records. report that focused on Missis- – particularly without notice or which is a federal civil rights Revette’s accomplice, Gra- offi ce,” Mike Hurst, U.S. At- Eric Dreiband, an assistant sippi found the number of poll input from communities – dis- violation, and of using fi re dur- ham Williamson, pleaded torney for south Mississippi, attorney general in the Civil closures at 98, which closely rupts our democracy,” said the ing the commission of a federal guilty to the same two charges said in a Justice Department Rights Division, said in the coincided with the totals found report, titled Democracy Divert- felony. in August and is scheduled to statement Tuesday. “There is statement Tuesday that Revette by Mississippi Today in 2018 ed, which was released Tuesday. Revette acknowledged re- be sentenced in November. absolutely no place in our soci- “terrorized members of a com- before the November mid-term Leigh Chapman, program cruiting someone to help him None of the victim’s rela- ety or our country for this type munity simply because of their elections. director for voting rights at the build a cross to burn near the tives were in court Tuesday, of behavior, and we will do all race and where they lived.” The Education Fund, a re- Education Fund, said the clo- home of a teenager in a pre- but the newspaper reported that that we can to prevent these “The Department of Justice search arm of the Leadership sures of the voting locations dominantly black area of Sem- the victim’s grandmother, Rose racist acts and bring to justice will not tolerate these acts of Conference on Civil and Hu- come at a time voter turnout is inary Oct. 24, 2017. He also Marie Shears, told the U.S. at- those who are intent on com- hate, and we will continue man Rights, based on its re- increasing, potentially leading acknowledged building the torney’s offi ce that the cross mitting these crimes.” to prosecute hate crimes like port, is urging for congressional to long lines at polling places. cross to threaten, frighten and burning revived fear and terror In 2017, a man pleaded these to the fullest extent of the passage of the Voting Rights “Long lines can lead to voter intimidate people because of of the past. She told prosecu- guilty to federal charges after law,” Dreiband said. Advancement Act to, among disenfranchisement,” she said other things, restore the need their race. tors that she is afraid that Re- prosecutors said he and three Voting for federal approval of elections Continued on page 3 Flying While Black: Stop the U.S. Congress from raising air travel taxes By Dr. Benjamin F. Chavis Jr. COMMENTARY one more expense to that list. fees on top of what is already cally enforced but federally amount they want. President and CEO NNPA On Capitol Hill, some law- required. Lawmakers who sup- authorized fee that every pas- Some have proposed rais- Working fami- car payment, trip to the grocery makers are championing what port the increase insist that the senger must pay at U.S. com- ing the PFC to $8.50, nearly lies in the Afri- store, stop at the gas station, is essentially a regressive tax on money will be spent on infra- mercial airports. Nearly every doubling the current tax. That c a n - A m e r i c a n or utility bill that shows up in airline passengers that would structure improvement projects airport in America charges it. would add a signifi cant cost for community and the mail is a reminder of how raise the cost of fl ying – pain- at airports. But, if our commu- The fee is currently set at $4.50 all American families. Under beyond have a expensive it is to afford basic fully, on working families.